My Book-Mrs. Paddington and the Silver Mousetraps
Anti-Bullying Resources
Bell Ringers!
Updated regularly
Mrs. Portulaca Purpilopilis
and the Purple Adventure Goggles
Facts to Wow your Friends!
Teaching Ideas!
Mrs. Waffenschmidt
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Mail Gail:
Gail Hennessey
by The JavaScript Source
NOTE: I will not be able to update my website until 4/19.
Welcome to My Website for Educators!
Welcome to My Website for Educators!
Teach PEACE and TOLERANCE
Try doing an act of kindness for someone, today!
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT AND SIGN MY GUESTMAP. I'D LOVE TO SEE WHERE MY VISITORS CALL HOME! Click on the GLOBE ICON on the left to open the map.
7/2020:Mrs. Paddington and the Silver Mousetraps won a 1st place Purple Dragonfly Book Award in the Picture Books 6 & Older category. Thank you, Story Monsters!
3/24/20:Excited to have my latest children's book, Mrs. Paddington and the Silver Mousetraps, chosen as a 2019 Story Monster Approved winner!
Highlighted FREEBIES for APRIL:
1. April Fool's Day:April Fools' Day, Freebie
2. TREES(great for Arbor Day) Interactive Notebook Activity:TREES, A Freebie
3. Earth Day: Possible Interactive Notebook Activity: Earth Day Freebie
4. World Ocean Day Freebie: Ocean Fun Facts
5. Amazing Book Facts: Amazing Book Facts
6. Tulips: Tulip Fun Facts
7. Holocaust Remembrance Day: 4/20 Holocaust Memorial Photograph
8. Elephants! Elephant Fun Facts
9. Hans Christian Andersen: Han Christian Andersen Freebie
2. Learn lots of fun facts with this Exploring the Ocean Blue: A Webquest.There are nine informative web questions. Fun Facts, comprehension questions, extension activities and links. National Week of the Ocean is coming. Exploring the Oceans, A Webquest
3. Studying the ocean? Looking for a resource for Earth Day or World Ocean Day? Introduce your students to Jacques Cousteau with this informative Reader's Theater Script. Oceanographer, photographer, scientist, inventor, writer and filmmaker, Cousteau spent his life studying the oceans and the marine life that lived in the oceans. Part of Ms. Bie Ografee Talk Show Series(extensions/comprehension questions, Did You Know?, key)Jacques Cousteau, A Reader's Theater Script
4. The Library of Congress, called our Nation's Library has over 33 million books. Learn more about the Nation's Library with this fun and informative webquest. National Library Day April 15th and Library of Congress Day, April 24th Library of Congress, A Webquest<>/p>
5. Save the Elephant day is April 16th Did you know that every 15 minutes a poacher kills an African elephant?Kenya had about 170,000 elephants 30 years ago-now it's 30,000! Did you know that the elephant has the largest brain of the animal world?This informative webquest has extension activities, additional trivia and the key. Learn about Elephants, a Webquest
6. History of Candy. Licorice Day is April 12th. Great for a Friday or before a vacation.Show your students that even candy has a history! Learn facts including marshmallows date back to 2000 BC and King Tut's Tomb contained licorice. Several additional resources and extension activities, too. History of Candy, A Webquest
7. Earth Day! Learn about the history of Earth Day and, our planet, EARTH, with this informative web quest. There are 15 web questions as well as comprehension questions and a Did You Know? fun fact section. The teacher page includes extension activities, the key, and additional links. Earth Day,A Webquest
8. April 23rd is William Shakespeare's birthday. Considered to be the greatest writer of the English language, learn about William Shakespeare with this fun/informative play. Shakespeare introduced about 3000 words to the English language . It is said that next to the Bible, his works are the most quoted! This play uses the format of Shakespeare being a guest on a talk show and the studio audience asks questions about his life. Part of my Ms. Bie Ografee's Talk Show Series. Also includes: Comprehension/Did You Know?section, LOTS of extension activities/links/key: William Shakespeare, A Reader's Theater Script
9. Arbor Day is 4/29: Learn about the history of Arbor Day and all about trees with this web quest. There are 11 web questions, a Did You Know? section, comprehension questions and a teacher section with keys, additional links and lots of extension activities. This could also be something to use with EARTH DAY, when you are studying TREES and, of, course, for ARBOR DAY.Arbor Day, A Webquest
10. Learn about Rachel Carson: A Biologist and marine zoologist, Carson's books shared her love of nature, especially the ocean and its inhabitants. Her book, Silent Spring, sparked concern in how chemical pesticides were harming our environment. Carson helped to start the environmental movement in our country, which led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This Reader's Theater Script could be used as a STEM biography any time of year or especially during the time of Earth Day or Arbor Day. Rachel Carson, A Reader's Theater Script
11. Use this reading passage to show students that everything has a history, even pretzels! The resource includes a reading passage, a Did You Know? section of fun facts about pretzels. For example: Baldies are what saltless pretzels are called! There is also a short map skill activity to show students the location of where pretzels originated. There are comprehension questions and a teacher page with extension activities and links. April 26th is National Pretzel Day! Pretzels, A Reading Passage
12. Hans Christian Andersen's birthday is 4/12: Students will have fun acting out their parts and learning some interesting facts about fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen. Comprehension questions, discussion questions, extension activities and resources are included.Hans Christian Andersen, A Reader's Theater Script
13. Jules Verne, A Reader's Theater Script): Jules Verne, A Reader's Theater Script
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Use my THINGY letters to have kids write spelling words, vocabulary words or as an art activity! Have students try and guess what some of the THINGY Letters are.(also have Black/White option):ClipArt: Alphabet Thingy Letters!
Check out my series of Children's Books from Aadarsh Publishing!
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Stop Bullying!
To any young people visiting my website. Please,if you are being bullied, seek help...SPEAK TO AN ADULT today!And, if you SEE something that looks like bullying-SAY something to an adult!
Check out my Pinterest page to see all my resources in one easy place!Click here to learn more:Gail's Social Studies Emporium(and More)
IN THE NEWS 4/8/2024:
NASA is working on creating a time zone for the MOON. The next mission manned mission to the moon is scheduled to take place in 2026 and that is when the new time zone needs to be created. Called LTC(Coordinated Lunar Time), it isn't yet known whether there will be more than one time zone on the moon. Did you know that time moves a bit faster on the moon than on Earth? That is because of the lower gravity that exists on the moon. It is a tiny difference of 58.7 microseconds. Having a LTC would be helpful with future manned missions to the moon.
Photographs from WpclipartBacteria that cause teeth to decay has been found on two teeth. It would seem that this isn't really newsworthy as all of us have bacteria on our teeth. Brushing our teeth helps to limit the amount of bacteria living on our teeth. However, these two teeth are about 4000 years old. The molars belonged to a man from the Bronze Age and were found in a cave in the country of Ireland. Interestingly, scientists say the bacteria(called streptococcus mutans) was still living after all these years!
Photograph from BBCA total social eclipse is coming on April 8th. Fifteen states should be able to see some parts of the event when the moon passes in front of the sun starting around 3:30(EST) in the afternoon. A total social eclipse is an especially rare event. If you miss this one, you will have to wait until August 23, 2044, to see the next one! Learn more about the eclipse:Learn about a solar eclipseREMEMBER, never LOOK directly at the eclipse!
Photograph from NASAPhotograph from NASAArcheologlists found some unbaked bread in an oven in the country of Turkey. Bread in an oven wouldn't be very newsworthy except this bread is thought to be 8,600 years old. Thought to be the oldest bread ever found, there is actually a finger print in the dough! Archeologists used some of the organic material to help determine the age of the round ball of bread dough. It is believed that a thin clay covering helped to preserve the bread which was found in a partially damaged oven at the archeological site called Catalhoyuk.
Photograph from KansascitystarEarly Happy April Fool's Day. A news story was posted the other day saying the famous landmark in England, a ferris wheel known as the LONDON EYE, was being dismantled. After about 25 years, the wheel was being relocated to Scotland, specifically Loch Lomand. There were even photographs of the famous landmark being dismantled. The article went on to say that a convoy, 2 miles long, would be transporting all the pieces of the ferris wheel up to Scotland. However, the story was a FAKE! It seems with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can create amazing "real-like" photographs or even the voice of a famous person, it is getting harder to determine real from fake. How can you spot something that isn't true? When you see something that makes you say "really?",try checking for other stories to confirm or deny what you have read. Use some critical thinking powers. Do you really think the city of London would remove one of its most famous landmarks? Be careful what you read and hear and THINK before you share something before checking it out! More than 10,000 read the posting on Facebook and shared it with other people! And, if you are wondering, the photographs showing the dismantling of the ferris wheel, were actually taken in 1999 when the ferris wheel was first being ERECTED in London!
Photograph from Pixabay.About a million Joshua trees were destroyed in the fires(called Dome Fire) of 2020. Then, another mega forest fire (York Fire), in 2023, did more devastation. Since that time, Chico, Sully and Herbie have been volunteering their services to help in an effort to replant Joshua tree seedlings in the Mojave National Preserve. Unlike many of the volunteers lending a hand, these three are camels! The camels are transporting Joshua tree seedlings ,supplies and water into a very inhospitable terrain. The goal is to plant 4,000 trees with both human volunteers and the three camels taking on that challenge.
Photograph from Vox.com
PAST NEWS STORIES
A total social eclipse is coming on April 8th. Fifteen states should be able to see some parts of the event when the moon passes in front of the sun starting around 3:30 (EST) in the afternoon. A total social eclipse is an especially rare event. If you miss this one, you will have to wait until August 23, 2044, to see the next one! Learn more about the eclipse: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/23/april-2024-total-eclipse-guide/73065430007/REMEMBER, never LOOK directly at the eclipse! Photograph from NASAimg src="images/IMG_3397.jpeg">
About Gail:
I retired from teaching after 33 1/2 years in the classroom. Of that time, I taught Grade 6 Social Studies teacher for 31 1/2 years.I earned my BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies from SUNY Oneonta, New York, and my MST in social studies education from Binghamton University in New York. In 1988, I was awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Classroom Teacher of the Year Award from the New York State Council for the Social Studies. Additionally, in 1988, I was also awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. I am the author of 8 books for teachers and over 35 books for children(Purple Turtle Series by Aadarsh Publishing and Odd History Series by Red Chair Press).
My work has appeared in most children's publications including:
Highlights for Children,News-O-Matic,Appleseed,,Scholastic's Super Science,,Scholastic's Science World,Jack and Jill,National Geographic World, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Faces, Muse Magazine,Contact Kids, US Kids,Action Magazine(Scholastic),Girls' Life,Boys' Life,American Girl, Instructor,Creative Classroom,Middle Years,Time for Kids,Scholastic News,Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids , Ask Magazine, Dig,Calliope, Cobblestone, FACES, Studies Weekly, Glo Adventurer, and more.
