Children are always the best audience. I couldn’t wait to come to school every day that the Traveling Art Exhibit was on display. Our PTA was once again, kind enough to purchase the exhibit for arts and education in order to acquaint children with Edgar Degas and Jackson Pollock. Most people know how much the arts can impact creative thinking. …
The Best Books for Francophiles (pour vous et les enfants)
It’s no secret that I’m a total Francophile. Most of my favorite books are about France. I fell in love with France on my first trip to Paris at seventeen and I’ve been reading about it ever since. Everything sounds better in French. I love the style, butter, language and joie de vivre of the French. …
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Send Someone a Love Letter
What’s better than a love letter for Valentine’s Day? Jean Honoré Fragonard knew how a love letter and flowers could make a girl’s heart skip…add some chocolate and she’s smitten. Just look at the way Fragonard painted this young lady’s cheeks, she’s as giddy as a girl from the 1770’s could have been. Fragonard’s paintings were so flirtatious. Wouldn’t …
How To Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Un Petit Guide
French women “don’t get fat,” are always elegant and effortlessly chic… How do they do it? We non-Parisian woman can learn something from Caroline de Maigret and her co-authors Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan and Sophie Mas in How to be Parisian Wherever You Are? Love, Style, and Bad Habits. I imagine these four women to …
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The Little Red Hen Comes Full Circle
It’s a beautiful thing when life comes full circle. My first year of teaching first grade (I’ve taught fifteen years in second) and I kept thinking of my beloved first grade teacher, Mrs. Lane. It is such a coincidence that Mrs. Lane found herself in my new first grade classroom at the beginning of this school year. Her …
The Evil Eye: A Lucky Charm
Nobody has more evil eye charms dangling from their pot rack, key chains, doorways, rear-view mirrors and necklaces than a Turk. My sister-in-law Jeyhan is Turkish. We have a few evil eye charms that she has given us that we proudly display in our home…they are our lucky charms. The evil eye is said to …
Charlotte’s Web and my little Fern
FIFTEEN YEARS of reading Charlotte’s Web to my second grade class and this year was the most memorable because my daughter played the part of Fern in her second grade class. Watching her be a part of one of the most beloved children’s books made my heart swell. You can see a little bit of …
Graceful Grace of Monaco
Grace Kelly is loved for being a movie star icon and a princess. Born in 1929, she came from an upper class Irish family in Philadelphia and was extremely well educated along with her three siblings. She was the daughter of a self-made millionaire who was a socially enthusiastic brickworks owner and Olympian, Jack Kelly. Grace’s Dad was a champion …
Romy Schneider: Greatest Actress of all time
Romy Schneider was only introduced to me within the last couple of years by my Austrian friend. Romy is not as well known in America but she is unforgettable in Europe. She was known as the “German Shirley Temple” in her early age. Romy Schneider was an Austrian-born actress who starred in German, French and American …
Mastering the Art of French Eating: love, food and France
You know those books that grab hold of you from the moment you start reading the first few pages? Mastering the Art of French Eating is one of those treasures. Ann Mah’s book will make you hungry for a crusty baguette and thirsty for a good rosé. Her book is about love, food and France. The life-lessons she …
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When I Was Little
Grandparents’ Day was chosen in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter to be the Sunday after Labor Day each year. In elementary school, we celebrate the whole week long…inviting grandparents to have lunch, spend some time with their grandchild at school and maybe even read a story. Second grade children are asked to do an interview …