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| Volume Three Issue Five | March 2003 |
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Global Connections Inspiring Stories Featured Themes Teacher Discoveries Student Explorations The Lighter Side |
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Global Interactions Foster Talented Students
Welcome to March!
People of Irish descent will be celebrating Saint Patrick's Day on March 17. The popularity of this special day, however, has been embraced by people from a multitude of cultural backgrounds. Parties, concerts, plays and parades will be occurring in towns and cities around the world. Parents, teachers and students will be planning innovative ways to commemorate the Irish contribution to our cultural mosaic. With that in mind, this month's newsletter is our salute to the Irish and their patron, Saint Patrick.
So to all our monthly subscribers and daily visitors, we wish one hundred thousand welcomes! Join us in our journey to discover the wonderful stories and resources information technology offers us about Ireland. We are sure the road will rise to meet us, and the wind will be at our backs.
In addition to this newsletter, keep checking Vital Picks. We have been highlighting resources teachers will find useful for the classroom. We have also been highlighting accomplishments of teachers and urge you to nominate teachers for our Vital Award.
Don't forget to visit our resource links! Visitors may now search for resources based on the grade level and subject they teach. We've included the best we can find on the World Wide Web. We will continue to add more and welcome any sites you may wish to submit.
This month we also have a special gift awaiting you and your students in the Activity section of Teacher's Corner. Check it out, and if you have activities that you would like to share with other teachers, please send them along. We'll make sure to post them immediately and to give you credit.
Send your ideas to teachers_corner@vitalknowledge.com.
Global Connections
In keeping with the theme of Saint Patrick's Day, we thought you might be interested in how people from around the world celebrate their Irish heritage.
Find out why more than 20,000 people are attracted to the North Texas Irish Festival every year!
Although the web site for this year's Irish Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark is not yet updated for this year's festival, you can view some of the participants from last year.
Even the state of Alaska has an annual Irish Music Festival. You may also be interested in Irish festivals in the states of Illinois, or Ohio. Even Japan has held Irish Festivals!
Indeed, people from all corners of the globe celebrate Irish heritage. A listing of international Irish Festivals can be found at Global Irish. One such link will take you to a festival held in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada, which bills itself as the Irish capital of the Canada!
You may also be interested in Saint Patrick's Day parades. Catch all the news about New York’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade! Visit parade web sites for the states of Florida or Illinois. Toronto has an annual parade, as do the cities of Dublin, and Birmingham. Indeed, Saint Patrick’s Day truly is a global celebration!
Inspiring Stories
God Created The Teacher
-Author Unknown
On the 6th day, God created men and women. On the 7th day, he rested. Not so much to recuperate, but rather to prepare himself for the work he was going to do on the next day. For it was on that day - the 8th day - that God created the first teacher.
This teacher, though taken from among men and women, had several significant modifications. In general, God made the teacher more durable than other men and women. The teacher was made to arise at a very early hour and to go to bed no earlier than 11:30 PM with no rest in between.
The teacher had to be able to withstand being locked up in an air-tight classroom for six hours with thirty-five "monsters" on a rainy Monday. And the teacher had to be fit to correct 103 papers over Easter vacation. Yes, God made the teacher tough... but gentle, too. The teacher was equipped with soft hands to wipe away the tears of the neglected and lonely student... those of the sixteen-year old girl who was not asked to the prom.
And into the teacher God poured a generous amount of patience. Patience when a student asks to repeat the directions the teacher has just repeated for someone else. Patience when the kids forget their lunch money for the fourth day in a row. Patience when one-third of the class fails the test. Patience when the textbooks haven't arrived yet, and the semester starts tomorrow.
And God gave the teacher a heart slightly bigger than the average human heart. For the Teacher's heart had to be big enough to love the kid who screams, "I hate this class - it's boring!" and to love the kid who runs out of the classroom at the end of the period without so much as a "goodbye," let alone a "thank you."
And lastly, God gave the teacher an abundant supply of hope. For God knew that the teacher would always be hoping. Hoping that the kids would someday learn how to spell... hoping not to have lunchroom duty... hoping that Friday would come... hoping for a free day... hoping for deliverance.
When God finished creating the teacher, he stepped back and admired the work of His hands. And God saw that the teacher was good. Very Good! And God smiled, for when he looked at the teacher, he saw into the future.
He knew that the future is in the hands of the teacher. And because God loves teacher so much... on the 9th day God created... SNOW DAYS!
From: Inspiring Stories
Featured Themes
Are you considering visiting Ireland some day? If so, you may also wish to take some time to visit the official web site of the Government of Ireland where you will find an abundance of information about various government departments. You may also wish to visit Ireland's National Tourism Service. You will find a wealth of resources including an interactive map of the country, vacation packages, genealogical searches, e-cards, music, links to private and public businesses, and more! Similar resources can be found at the web site of the Irish Tourist Board.
It is often the media that reflects the pulse, vibrancy, and overall day-to-day life of a country. With this in mind, it may be a good idea to visit a few online Irish newspapers such as The Irish Times, The Irish Voice, or The Irish Examiner. To find information about Irish television join an Irish TV web ring.
Perhaps you are interested in Irish history. If so, you may wish to check out this listing of links at Irish History on the Web. Interested in Irish sports? Try visiting Setanta or the Irish Sports Report. Interested in how the Irish celebrate Saint Patrick's Day? Visit the official web site of Dublin's Saint Patrick's Day Festival.
Teacher Discoveries
There are a wide variety of sites on the Internet with a multitude of resources to assist in your planning and implementation of Saint Patrick's Day activities. The following are only some of the sites worth a visit:
Visit Billy Bear's Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Like other special days, Billy Bear has put together great pages you and your students will enjoy visiting. Find clip art, storybooks, screen savers, coloring, games, and more!
Saint Patrick's Fun at Kid's Domain contains e-cards, puzzles, coloring, free graphics, activities, crafts, recipes, games, riddles, and more!
Saint Patrick's Day in the Classroom has history, activities for a wide variety of subjects, limericks, creative writing, and more!
Saint Patrick's Day Games and Party Ideas contains games, poems, party ideas, puzzles, word scrambles, jokes, word searches, and other fun activities!
Finally, visit the Holiday Zone. They have Saint Patrick's Day activities, games, crafts, recipes, reading comprehension, songs, and more!
Student Explorations
Continuing with the Theme of Saint Patrick's Day, we thought we would highlight a few student created sites that celebrate the Irish heritage.
Irish Myths and Legends is a site created by students from Newpark School in Dublin Ireland. It was the school's ThinkQuest entry.
Another student created ThinkQuest site is called the Virtual Heritage of Ireland. It is created and maintained by the students of Newbridge College in Ireland.
Are your students creating Web based environments? You may want to consider having them participate in the next ThinkQuest contest. Another Internet based contest you may be interested in is the International Schools CyberFair. Awards are given to the best Web sites created in eight different categories.
Check out the collaborative site created by students from St. Flannan's College in Ennis Ireland and Dr. Losier Middle School in Miramichi, New Brunswick Canada. The Shamrock Project was their entry in the 1999 Telecom Eireann "Information Age Schools Competition."
The Lighter Side
Billy and Pa' were walking in the woods when they came across a sign saying, "Tree Fellers wanted". One of them said, "Ye know, it's a shame paddy isn't here. We could have gotten the job".
A visitor to a small Irish village commented to a local Garda that it was a quiet little place. The Garda replied, “quiet to be sure, we haven't buried a living soul in years”.
"Twas the Irish what invented the pipes, you know, and they gave them to the Scots as a joke. And you Scots haven’t gotten the joke yet!"
From: Irish Jokes
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