Friday, December 24, 2010

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Christmas Bells



"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"


Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Lunar Eclipse 12/20-21 2010









This is with my new camera - a Kodak Z981.

Monday, December 06, 2010

"I Spy" or "Find It" Jar

When I was Christmas shopping, I saw this game at Target called "Find it." It looked pretty neat, but definitely expensive at nearly $20. The idea is to find the objects hidden in the container (without opening it, of course). So, I decided to make my own.

I used bird seed and mason jars and various little things inside the jars. When I was looking for things to put in the jars, I found some wood beads that had letters on them and put the whole alphabet in each jar so the jars could also be used for spelling practice and word-finding.

I've gotten good feedback on the few I made so far - kids and adults both enjoy them. I think I may leave one in my classroom as well.