Craft an Animated Skeleton

Skeleton by Ken Murray.

      An animated skeleton – that glows brightly in the dark can be used for all kinds of harmless but amusing Halloween pranks. The skeleton is jointed so that a slight shake will cause the arms and legs to swing about in a realistic manner. The figure may be gripped at the neck from behind, or you can attach a screweye and suspend it at the end of a long pole that has been painted black. Black threads can be attached to the arms and legs, if desired, to operate them from a distance as you would marionette figures.

      A skeleton that is already printed on heavy paper, as well as small bottles of luminous paint, can be purchased inexpensively at most any novelty or 5 & 10c store. Disjoint the figure into nine pieces and attach them with glue to 1/4″ plywood or composition board, then cut them out on the scroll or band saw. To rejoint the skeleton use tubular rivets with small washers, taking care that they fit loosely. At least two coats of luminous paint should be applied; three coats are not too many and will assure greater brightness. Blacken the edges of the figure with black stove polish or similar material and it is ready for use. It should be subjected to a bright light before exhibition and will glow for hours thereafter. The effect of this skeleton, shining out of the dark, is really startling and it should not be tried out on persons with weak hearts.

Ken Murray presents his skeleton.

Craft More Skeletons for Halloween:

• Skeletons made from Q-tips
• Skeletons made from paper plates
• Skeleton made from cork
• Skeleton made from pasta
• Skeleton made from bottle caps

Who was Johnny Appleseed?

The Legend of Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed Plants Apple Seed.

      Jonathan Chapman, known and loved in the wilderness as Johnny Appleseed and Appleseed Johnny, was born in the same year as the battle of Lexington, the capture of Ticonderoga, the appointment of Washington as commander-in-chief, the battle of Bunker Hill and the siege of Quebec. That a stork flew through the powder clouds and battle smoke to Boston, and the little baby boy was born, was nothing short of a miracle. He opened his infant eyes in those stirring times, and no doubt stared in wonder at the excited men he saw about him bent on killing each other. It may be that the bloody scenes of his boyhood made a lasting impression, or it may be that in later years thoughtful study of the writings of that great teacher, Emanuel Swedenborg, exerted a powerful influence upon him, or it may be that this pure-minded, forgotten hero was sent by heaven to teach the doctrine of peace; but whatever the cause, the fact remains that in the wilderness of the Ohio valley, where even the Quakers were fighters, the only disciple of peace was Jonathan Chapman of Boston. My own grandparents were among the pioneers of the Ohio valley, and many an evening have I sat by my grandmother’s knee watching her busy knitting needles and listening to the adventures of this great man, who not only planted every open glade of the wild forest with apple trees, but also planted the seeds of his new faith in the minds of the settlers.

      With the courage equal to that of the great Daniel Boone or the famous Simon Kenton, Appleseed Johnny traversed the dark forests alone; but, unlike the other men, he went unarmed; think of that, boys, there was courage for you in days when the woods were full of natives and wild animals. Once he crawled into a hollow log for shelter, but finding it already occupied by two cub bears, rather than disturb the little animals, he crept out again and made his bed in the leaves beside the log. He was never known to purposely kill a living creature, and he himself subsisted on corn mush or porridge. The forests were infested with distrusting inhabitants but there was always a welcome for Johnny at their wigwam and village. The river banks were the resorts of desperate river pirates who lived by robbing flatboats and immigrants, but every robber’s den had a cozy corner for Johnny. The backwoodsmen’s cabins were small, one-roomed log buildings filled with children, but they were never so crowded that a hearty welcome and a place by the fireside were not ready for Appleseed Johnny, and a cot or buffalo robe ready for him when he chose to sleep under their roofs.

      Appleseed Johnny was a highly educated and cultured gentleman, but he dressed in coffee sacking and a pasteboard cap. He did this not to be queer, but because when he had any clothes that were fit to wear, he gave them to some poor immigrant. Often he had shoes, but just as often he took them from his feet and gave them to some shoeless pioneer settler whom he met on the trail. It was clear that Johnny had money, because he always had a bunch of new ribbons for the little tow-headed girls who ran out to meet him from the log cabins in the dark forests.

      Coming to a log house he would enter, throw himself on the floor by the fire, and pulling out some fragments of the works of his great religious teacher, would exclaim, “Listen to the last message from God!” and robber and honest settler alike listened to the pioneer teacher.

      From the cider press in Pennsylvania or at Fort Pitt, where Pittsburg now stands, he secured bags of apple seed, with witch he loaded his dugout canoe, and with this strange cargo he paddled his lonely way down the Ohio, planting orchards wherever an opportunity offered, ministering to the sick, giving to the needy and living his life only for the good he could do.

      The natives looked upon him with awe, because when his bare feet would be cut and torn with the brush and frozen mud, he would calmly seat himself by their campfire, heat an iron white hot and burn out the cuts and wounds, which then readily healed.

      Quaint and weird as this young man of twenty-six must have appeared, in his ragged garments, bare feet and pasteboard cap, on one, not even the small boys, ever laughed or jeered at him; but he was universally treated with respect by bandit, native, ignorant squatter and refined, cultured officers of the revolutionary army who settled in the wilderness. He lived to be an old, old man, beloved by young and old, and passed over the great divide telling about the glory he saw beyond.  Original text by Dan Beard (1907), edited by Grimm

^{More Related Content:}

• "Johnny Appleseed: A Pioneer Hero" from Harper's Magazine, November 1871.
• Johnny Appleseed Festival in Sheffield, PA
• Searching for Johnny film documentary by director Miroslav Mandic
• Searching for Johnny Official movie site
• "Johnny Appleseed Trail in North Central MA"
• Donald Greyfield (Jan 01, 2001). "John 'Johnny Appleseed' Chapman". Folk Hero and Patriot. Find a Grave. Retrieved Aug 18, 2011.
• The Swedenborgian Church of North America

Craft with old-fashioned Halloween silhouettes . . .

      Use these stencils to trace around with a white lead pencil onto black construction paper. Then hang them in your windows or cut them out for cards and stationary.

A black cat with glowing eyes peers into the darkness.

An old hag, witch, flies on her broom at night.

An owl perches on a fir branch with the moon behind.

More Vintage Fall Silhouettes:

• Paper cuts for Halloween of black cats here
  
• Vintage paper cuts for fall
• Paper cuts of more black cats... 
• Halloween silhouettes for paper treat bags
  

Two red-eyed owls perch in a tree in front of a big red moon.

Wise - Owl

At Night the Owl comes out
To sit and look about.
His wife and he 
Live in a tree-
Like other owls, no doubt.

 

At night he's very wise,

But he's blind in the bright sunrise,

And he turns his head

Clear 'round, 'tis said,

As he stares with his owlish eyes. 

 

by George Cassard

Thanksgiving Silhouette Puzzle

      Paste this puzzle on thin cardboard. When the paste is dry, separate the squares by cutting along the perpendicular and horizontal lines. Then reassemble the squares into a proper picture. There are seventy squares in this puzzle. See who can get them all in their proper positions in the shortest length of time.

Stuff The Turkey Puzzle

      Stuff this drawing of a turkey with all of the items pictured above; cut them out carefully so that you will be able to fit them into the line drawing. None of the objects should touch each other or the turkey outline. Time the game and it will become even more difficult.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

      The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade presented by the U.S. chain store business Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, with both parades four years younger than the 6abc Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. The three-hour Macy's event is held in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. EST on Thanksgiving Day.

      In the 1920s, many of Macy's department store employees were first-generation immigrants. Proud of their new American heritage, they wanted to celebrate the United States parade of Thanksgiving with the type of festival their parents had loved in Europe.
      In 1924, the parade (originally known as the Macy's Christmas Parade and later the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade) was staged by the store. Employees and professional entertainers marched from 145th Street in Harlem to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street dressed in vibrant costumes. There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of that first parade, as has been the case with every parade since, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square. At this first parade, however, the Jolly Old Elf was enthroned on the Macy's balcony at the 34th Street store entrance, where he was then "crowned" "King of the Kiddies." With an audience of over a quarter of a million people, the parade was such a success that Macy's declared it would become an annual event.

       Anthony "Tony" Frederick Sarg loved to work with marionettes from an early age. After moving to London to start his own marionette business, Sarg moved to New York City to perform with his puppets on the street. Macy's heard about Sarg's talents and asked him to design a window display of a parade for the store. Sarg's large animal-shaped balloons, produced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, replaced the live animals in 1927 when the Felix the Cat balloon made its debut. Felix was filled with air, but by the next year, helium was used to fill the expanding cast of balloons.

      At the finale of the 1928 parade, the balloons were released into the sky where they unexpectedly burst. The following year they were redesigned with safety valves to allow them to float for a few days.  Address labels were sewn into them, so that whoever found and mailed back the discarded balloon received a gift from Macy's 

      Through the 1930s, the Parade continued to grow, with crowds of over 1 million lining the parade route in 1933. The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934. The annual festivities were broadcast on local New York radio from 1932 through 1941, and resumed in 1945 through 1951.

      The parade was suspended 1942–1944 during World War II, owing to the need for rubber and helium in the war effort. The parade resumed in 1945 using the route that it followed until 2008. The parade became known nationwide after being prominently featured in the 1947 film, Miracle on 34th Street, which included footage of the 1946 festivities. The event was first broadcast on network television in 1948 (see below). By this point the event, and Macy's sponsorship of it, were sufficiently well-known to give rise to the colloquialism "Macy's Day Parade". Since 1984, the balloons have been made by Raven Industries of Sioux Falls, SD. 

      Macy's also sponsors the smaller Celebrate the Season Parade in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, held two days after the main event. Other cities in the US also have parades on Thanksgiving, but they are not run by Macy's. The nation's oldest Thanksgiving parade (the Gimbels parade, which has had many sponsors over the years is now known as 6abc Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade) was first held in Philadelphia in 1920. Other cities include the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade of Chicago, Illinois and parades in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Fountain Hills, Arizona. A parade is also held at the two U.S. Disney theme parks. There is even a 2nd Thanksgiving balloon parade within the New York metropolitan area, the UBS balloon parade in Stamford, CT, 30 miles away. This parade is held the Sunday before Thanksgiving to not compete with the New York parade and usually does not duplicate any balloon characters.

      The classic "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" logo was, with one exception, last used in 2005. For 2006 a special variant of the logo was used. Every year since a new logo has been used for each parade. The logos however are seen rarely, if at all, on television as NBC has used its own logo with the word "Macy's" in script and "Thanksgiving Day Parade" in a bold font. The logos are assumed to be for Macy's use only, such as on the Grandstand tickets and the ID badges worn by parade staff. The Jackets worn by parade staff still bear the original classic parade logo, this being the only place where that logo can be found.

      New safety measures were incorporated in 2006 to prevent accidents and balloon related injuries. One measure taken was installation of wind measurement devices to alert parade organizers to any unsafe conditions that could cause the balloons to behave erratically. Also, parade officials implemented a measure to keep the balloons closer to the ground during windy conditions. If wind speeds are forecast to be higher than 34 miles per hour, all balloons are removed from the parade.

Related Content:

• Official 2012 website
•  Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: 85th Anniversary Special

How To Make "Pumpkin Spice" or "Pumpkin Pie" Playdough

      

      This video from TheParentingChannel shows you how to make Pumpkin Pie Play Dough KEY INGREDIENT Pumpkin Spice This is great for Halloween Parties, Halloween Crafts, Fall Parties, Fall Crafts, Thanksgiving Parties, and Thanksgiving Crafts.

Use a Light Table to Teach About Colors and Shapes

Above is the light table in our early learning center. The table is softly lighted with special bulbs that do not harm
the children's vision. This is a lovely center idea but I think that a number of games should be developed to
compliment the device. Our students often appear disinterested in it. Sometimes teachers must become
more proactive in centers in order for small children to get the most beneficial use from educational props or aids.

      In our classroom we have a center for teaching colors and shapes that is a little unusual I think. It consists of a light table (very soft light) and a basket containing wood framed, plastic shapes. These shapes glow with luminous color when placed on the light table. Students can move the shapes around to build pictures; teachers can point to the colors and shapes to identify them verbally. I think it is fitting for a church preschool center. The shapes remind me of stained glass. Our church windows also have similar shapes and colors. Perhaps I should invent some sort of treasure hunt or find the shapes/colors game for my young students that will utilize this table more and also introduce them to seeing colors and shapes in the environment that shelters them?

More Methods To Teach About Colors and Shapes:

• Why Colors and Shapes Matter
• Teaching Colors and Shapes to Young Children Through Music
• Teaching color and shape vocabulary with games
• Learning Station Idea for Colors and Shapes
• Color Wheel for Toddlers and another aid for increased manipulative difficulty
• Teaching shapes and colors Christmas theme
• Color sorting and matching for toddlers using pom-poms
• Gumball Machine Color Matching with Craft Pom Poms
• Color Sorting and Matching Activities for Toddlers
• Tot School - Red
• toddler "busy bag" swap!
• Sorting Colors and Shapes
• Shape Monsters
• Five fun ways to teach with tape

The "Act" of Tearing Develops Small Muscles

      Sometimes the simplest of activities can be challenging for a young student. It took quite a while for this little one to tear her red construction paper into pieces in order to fill in an outline of an apple. She was so proud of her picture afterwards. The muscles in her hands are still developing but training such as this distracted her from the arduous nature of the task. Because art doesn't feel like work to the young, teacher's often use it to enhance child development.

• More complicated apples on a branch for first graders to fill in with torn construction papers.
• A very simple squirrel pattern for fall themed lessons - preschool - kindergarten may tear grey or reddish orange papers to fill this one in...
• Print this giant pumpkin out and have first and second graders fill it in with torn orange, green and brown papers

The simple act of tearing construction paper
 may present a real challenge.

Eating Should Be A Happy, Healthy Experience!

These little tikes sure can eat; they consume as much food as the teachers!

      Lunch time is a happy, healthy experience at our little school! Students may either bring their lunch from home or order their lunch from the big cafeteria at the middle school. The hot lunches are brought special delivery to our classroom everyday. Children sit together in a pleasant environment. No loud distractions or music is played during this time. Students say a little prayer before eating and are encouraged to have pleasant conversation while dining. There's no rush; food is consumed at a leisurely pace. Lots of fruits and veggies are included with the lunches too. Two teachers eat with the students at their table to ensure that an adult is always available should a child begin to choke.

Cut and Paste The Yellow School Bus

The yellow school bus project appears to be nothing more than child's play.
But does it serve a purpose more important than mere entertainment?

      Earlier this week, our young students experienced their first cut and paste art lesson. During the lesson, we discovered how much dexterity each child possessed. Each student was also observed while given a set of simple tasks:

• Could the student remain seated during a ten to fifteen minute project?
• Did he or she listen to directions attentively while the teacher was speaking?
• Did the student follow the directions to the best of their ability?
• How did he or she handle the scissors or glue stick?
• Did the student appear to identify the colors easily? (yellow, black, grey, white, and red)
• Did the student know and/or name the shapes?
• Did the student appear happy or frustrated by the activity?
• How much did the students engage with children sitting at the same table?
• Did the student loose interest quickly?

      This kind of informal assessment helps teachers evaluate how much to expect initially of their students and to what point their learning skills need to progress within a reasonable time frame. It is typical to ask very young children to perform a simple series of tasks at the beginning of a school year in order to make this general analysis. Parents should not be alarmed to learn of it because it is a sign of quality control on the part of the staff. It means that your child's environment with be adjusted to their specific needs. Your son or daughter's growth and welfare will be ensured by those who are trained to meet his or her individual constitution. This is one of the primary differences between childcare/daycare and early learning.

Back To School Books

      Our lead teacher has an abundance of books for children to read and explore according to the theme she is teaching. "The first week of school" is our opening theme for preschool this week, and as you can see, there are plenty of books in the classroom based upon this topic:

• "First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg
• "Little Critter's This Is My School" by Mercer Mayer
• "The New Bear at School" by Carrie Weston
• "D.W.'S Guide to Preschool" by Marc Brown
• "Pooh's First Day of School" by Kathleen Zoshfeld
• "If You Take A Mouse To School" by Laura Numeroff
• "Tucker's Best School Day" by Susan Winget
• "It's the First Day of School!" by Charles M. Schulz
• "Class Clown" by Michael Martchenko

      Actor and author John Lithgow talks from his own experience about why reading aloud to children is important. Lithgow visited the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library on September 15, 2012, to read from his children's books and visit with Kansas City Symphony conductor Aram Demirjian.

Find out more about the Library's Building a Community of Readers initiative at http://www.kclibrary.org/building-com....

Learn more about Family Read Aloud month and the Turn the Page KC for city-wide literacy at http://turnthepagekc.org/