My son is in the 3rd grade and just spending a few hours on a field trip with his class has left me with stories enough so I could only imagine how many stories a 20+ year veteran teacher would have!?! And I was right.

Stories about field trips, loosing teeth at school, writing Valentines, learning cursive, writing stories, and playground behavior. Comparisons of how teaching and students have changed and stayed the same over the years. Stories from his own childhood to things he has learned over the years.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD GRADE KIND
By Phillip Done

A twenty-year veteran of the classroom, elementary school teacher Phillip Done takes readers through a lively and hilarious year in the classroom. Starting with the relative calm before the storm of buying school supplies and posting class lists, he shares the distinct personalities of grades K-4, what he learned from two professional trick or treating 8-year-old boys, the art of learning cursive and letter-writing, how kindergartners try to trap leprechauns, and what every child should experience before he or she grows up.

These charming, sweet, and funny tales of Mr. Done's trials and triumphs as an award-winning schoolteacher will touch readers' hearts and remind them of the true joys of childhood. We all have that one special, favorite grade school teacher whom we fondly remember throughout our adult lives – and every teacher also has students whom they will never forget. This is the perfect book for teachers, parents, and anyone else who is looking for a lighthearted, nostalgic read.

I don’t think funny fully captures Mr. Done’s stories, they are more like laugh-out-loud hilarious (which I found myself doing, on more than one occasion, and a couple of times in public.) I passed my copy onto my son's teacher who told me that she alternated between laughing aloud and nodding her head in agreement.

You know the saying about real life being funnier than anything you can make-up….that saying definitely holds true for the stories in this book.

From kids funny misspellings, to mug week (known to non-teachers as the week before Christmas), to him freezing a tie that he thought was a box of chocolates because it was wrapped in a Sees candy box. The funny stories just kept coming!

I think one of my favorite parts of the whole book was when Mr. Done was talking about a box that his mother had recently given him that contained letters he had written as a child. He opened the box and said, “Where did you get these?” (another time that I laughed aloud, luckily this time I was at home)

Close Encounters of the 3rd Grade Kind also contains many touching stories. Stories of children overcoming obstacles, of ways that he was able to get through to a child, of touching moments between children. Stories that bring a tear to your eye.

This book was very easy to read. Mr Done’s writing style is short, sweet, and to the point. The short chapters are broken down according to the school year and the topic of the month; Aug , Cursive, Dec, Tooth Fairy, Smiles, etc and each starts with an inspirational quote.

I took the book along with me wherever I went, just in case I had a few minutes of waiting time I needed to fill.

This is a book that parents and teachers alike would enjoy this book.

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I learned this first hand when I spoke up about a friend and her baby, Jaeli, and their desperate need when the "system" lost them. I wonder why we make things so difficult for mothers with sick or special needs children. Don't they need things as easy as possible? Not MORE complicated?

What impressed me the most is how quickly my friends and readers stepped up and spread the word. How many gave up a pizza night to chip in. How many forwarded an email to church groups and prayer lists. Hundreds of thousands of people heard Jaeli's story because moms banded together to support a family in need.

This week, it was Anissa who needed prayer and support. In a much less tangible and more difficult-to-cope with way, we found a way to express our desire to help with a simple hastag, #prayersforAnissa and hung on every update from her husband. Many, many have used their blogs to express their feelings of hope, prayer and support.

It's touching, and telling, to see mommy-bloggers, in whatever form they take, getting back to the root of where we started. We started as a way to connect. To not feel alone. To find a sympathetic ear. To find a friend. Have we lost that along the way? Jaeli and Anissa prove that no, despite what LA Times has tried to make of us, we have not.

To find out more about Jaeli's story visit Angela England's blog. (http://angengland.com/Jaeli) For official updates on Anissa's progress follow @AimingLow on Twitter.

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After two months at sea on a ship similar to the one above the Pilgrims reached the new world. Explore their journey and the ship they sailed on at Scholastic's The First Thanksgiving Student Activities site.

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The way that you see your business has a huge impact on what your business becomes. If you view your business as fun, easy-going, and laid back, your business will be those things. If you envision your business as serious or tedious, it will take on that form. Your attitude about your business will show through to others.

There are no set rules about your business. You should feel free to have fun and do things the way you want to. Feel free to be unique and set your own goals. You may read a book or hear a story about the ways another person manages their business, and their way may work great for them. However, the way they do business may not work for you at all.

It is important to set your own business goals and follow your own management style. If your business becomes a chore, you may not want to do it anymore. You may start to procrastinate when it comes to completing your work and eventually stop working your business completely.

To keep things fun, try to stay positive about each aspect of your business; if there is a particular task that you don't like, hire an assistant to do that task for you. When you are able to concentrate on the things you like doing most, you will feel energized and you will want to take those things head on.

You have surely heard the old saying rules are meant to be broken. When it comes to your business, take that saying to heart. If someone doesn't like the design of your website or the way you write your content, so be it. You can't please everyone, and that person may not have anything to do with your target market at all.

If you feel that what you are doing is right, keep on that path. Sometimes you have to walk down a long, bumpy road, but the rewards are worth it. If you were given a choice to have immediate success at a business you hated or to have success in two years with a business you loved, would you keep working those two years to have happiness and success?

Unfortunately, no one can tell you the date or time when your success will begin. But if you keep working and keep putting in consistent effort, you will find your success. Best of all, it will be on your terms.

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There are so many fun places to visit online to learn about and celebrate Thanksgiving. Every day this week we'll share one of our favorites.

Have you ever wondered what really happened at the first Thanksgiving? What did they eat? What did they do? Now you and your students can find out with The First Thanksgiving – You Are the Historian – Online Learning Center.

"Historians are history detectives. They use clues to try to figure out what happened in the past.

Some historians think that "The First Thanksgiving" wasn't really a thanksgiving. They call it "The 1621 Harvest Celebration" because it was more like a harvest festival.

You can be a historian!

On this website, you will discover clues about what really happened at the 1621 harvest celebration.

Enter to begin your investigation."

Play online or download the application and explore the first Thanksgiving offline.

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It starts with paying attention. Watch for Family and Kids' Nights in your area. Restaurants often have a special night designated once per week geared to children and families. Not only can you be sure that everyone in the restaurant will be understanding if your toddler has a meltdown before the entrees ever arrive, you may find special deals like free kids meals. Others have special features like mascots, magicians or balloons. There are several resources available to seek out the specials in your area.

Birthday or Loyalty Clubs exist at a variety of restaurants. Sign up for their newsletter and register your birthday to receive special offers, free coupons or loyalty bonuses. Many will send you a coupon on the anniversary of your membership or your birthday. To prevent getting 6 coupons in one week, spread out your registrations. Picking one restaurant this month, another favorite next month and so on will ensure you'll have offers to choose from throughout the year.

You can also find restaurant coupons in the Sunday newspaper coupon inserts, Entertainment book, regional savings magazines and on restaurant websites. Another coupon option is Restaurant.com. These dining certificates can often be purchased at deep discounts. The participating restaurants vary by area and range from family to fine dining. Each certificate will have its own restrictions and minimum purchase requirements, but you can buy them for a fraction of the price. Just be sure you understand how to use them before you get started.

Of course, being frugal doesn't mean we can't be generous with the fabulous people who serve our meals. Always remember to tip your server on the full value, not the reduced price after your coupons and discounts. You'll still be saving money, just not at the expense of someone else's income. Because there are plenty of other ways to live your life inexpensively!

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Check out our Blissful Things List for November!

Abundant Harvest for Kids

Decisions based on principles such as honesty, courage and responsibility serve as the foundation for actions of success and distinction in the home, the community and the marketplace. Life is no longer simple and predictable. Unforeseen events in our home, our community and the world cause us significant uncertainty in reaching our hopes and dreams. During times of uncertainty, making decisions and taking action based on eternally correct principles, not emotion or impulse, are critical in ensuring lasting success and distinction for individuals and families. The intent of ABUNDANT HARVEST is to provide families and friends the opportunity to openly discuss the often difficult and complex issues of the real world for the purpose of preparing individuals to make more effective decisions along the journey of life. In addition, ABUNDANT HARVEST can open the door to more effective communication between spouses and between parents and children and can serve as a supportive tool for educators and counselors who seek to provide guidance and direction to others as they face the complexity of life today. The situations presented in this version of the game are directed towards children who are learning the importance of making decisions based on principle. The scenarios provide parents, caregivers and educators the opportunity to teach children, and allow children to begin to develop and apply principle-based, reasoning skills as they work their way through situations common in today's world. ($29.95 at Amazon)

Educational Insights Castle Logix

Construct castles, block by block and tower by tower, as you flex your logic muscles with this beautifully crafted 3-D wooden puzzle. The challenge is to assemble the wooden blocks and towers into one of the castles in the puzzle booklet. With simple puzzles for inexperienced builders, to complex puzzles that will challenge skilled architects, Castle Logix is designed to stretch a player’s logical thinking skills and develop their spatial reasoning abilities. It includes seven durable wooden castle pieces and a full-color, illustrated booklet with 48 multi-level puzzle challenges. Made of smooth, high-quality wood, Castle Logix has the look and feel of a classic children’s game—perfect for puzzlers ages 5 and up. For 1 player. ($17.93 at Amazon)

Little Professor Science Kit – Newton's Laws

Loved by Homeschool Families, Classroom Teachers, and kids of all ages– Little Professor Science Kits are a fun, hands-on approach to learning science. Each kit is filled with twelve complete experiments that cover a particular subject. Everything is included but the water! No common household ingredients to scrounge up. Kids earn diplomas, degrees and prizes with each course completed. There are currently ten different titles of Little Professor Science Kits with many more coming. The activities in Newton's Laws are (1.) Perform an Amazing Trick with Inertia (2.) Experiment with Mass and Force (3.) Use a Spring Scale and Measure Newtons (4.) Experiment with a Hairball Catapult (5.) Experiment with a Ramp and Car (6.) Play Ball with Gravity (7.) Experiment with a Pendulum (8.) Experiment with Magnetism (9.) Experiment with a Lever (10.) Play with Centripetal Force (11.) Experiment with Newton's Cradle (12.) Experiment with a Rubber Powered Airplane. Good teachers will tell you that kids learn best when they are having fun. Little Professor Science Kits are just plain fun! ($89.95 at Amazon)

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On Christmas Day we celebrate the birth and first coming of Jesus Christ. But all too often with the commercialization of Christmas and the rush to prepare we forget about the season of waiting that comes before. A special time of expectation and hopeful promise precipitates all births and is an important time of preparation for our hearts.

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24). There are many ways to celebrate Advent; wreaths, candles, and greenery are the most popular.

My very favorite way to celebrate Advent and prepare my heart and the hearts of my children is by making a Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree is a study of Bible stories that trace the ancestors of Jesus from the creation of the world to His birth on Christmas Day. The Jesse Tree idea was inspired by God's promise that 'there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse' (Is 11:1). Jesse was King David's father and, thus, an ancestor on Jesus' family tree.

Preparing for the Christmas season is so hectic these days. We spend so much time preparing our homes (shopping, baking, decorating, and cleaning) that we forget to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord. Advent celebrates the waiting and gives us time to prepare for the Messiah. Decorating the Jesse Tree is one way to learn how God prepared the hearts of His people for the coming of Jesus and to prepare our hearts — as a family — for the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day!

If you'd like to create a Jesse Tree of your own, you can see our ornaments below:

Day 1 – Creation

Day 2 – Adam and Eve

Day 3 – Original Sin

Day 4 – Noah and the Flood

Day 5 – Abraham

Day 6 – Jacob's Dream

Day 7 – Joseph and His Brothers

Day 8 – Joseph's Greatness

Day 9 – Moses as Prince

Day 10 – Moses and the Burning Bush

Day 11 – Moses and the Plagues

Day 12 – Moses Parts the Red Sea

Day 13 – The Ten Commandments

Day 14 – Water from a Rock

Day 15 – Samuel, A Voice in the Night

Day 16 – David Chosen King

Day 17 – David and Goliath

Day 18 – Solomon's Wisdom

Day 19 – Elijah's Contest

Day 20 – Jonah and the Whale

Day 21 – Tobiah's Journey

Day 22 – Daniel and the Lion's Den

Day 23 – John the Baptist

Day 24 – Annunciation

Day 25 – Visitation

Day 26 – Joseph

Day 27 – Journey to Bethlehem

Day 28 – Jesus is Born

Day 29 – Visit of the Magi

Photo by Petr Kovar

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Today, I want to mention a few apps in the health/fitness genre (unless otherwise noted, I have purchased these apps on my own):

• Couch to 5K (Felt Tip Inc., $2.99)
  Have you wanted to make a new habit of running? I'd always wanted to try running, but inevitably I'd start off too fast out of the gate, was tired within a few minutes and then decide, "Y'know: maybe I'm not cut out to be a runner." C25K makes it pretty easy – you ease your way in with a mixture of walking and jogging and eventually, you'll be able to run 5K. It works. This non-runner now runs.
• Lose It (Fit Now, FREE)
  On a mission to lose a few pounds? Perhaps you just want to track your calorie intake and expenditure? This app makes it pretty easy (and it's free – so the price is most definitely right). The directory of food and exercise is pretty thorough, but if your activity or meal isn't listed, it's pretty easy to add your own. Also – a pretty neat feature is the recipe category: you can type in all the ingredients of your recipe, how many servings it creates, and it breaks it down for you calorie wise. This app will recommend how many calories to take in in order to maintain or meet your weight goal. (As always, be smart – don't use the app to replace your doc's advice!)
• The Merck Manual – Home Edition (Agile Partners, $9.99)
  Yep, this app is kind of pricey – but was sent to me for review purposes. This app is a very thorough app – and it's taken me awhile to learn to navigate the app, however, it's already proven to be pretty helpful.  I've been able to research quirky medical things (like that lipoma on my mom's ankle) and email links to Merck's site to others. There's a lot of information to be found here.
• Pediatric SymptomMD (Self Care Decisions, $1.99)
  I have two young children and so this is definitely one of my most-used apps. This lets you search your child's symptom and makes recommendations about when to call the doctor, self care (if applicable), care advice and a summary. Again, don't ignore your parental instincts – when in doubt, call the doc. I also really love the "Dosage" category which tells you the recommended dosage of common medications (We're talking acetaminophen, ibuprofen and the like) for your child's age and weight. Definitely a handy app.

Do you have a favorite Health or Fitness iPhone/iPod Touch app? What other types of apps would you like me to explore and review for you?

Photo source: Sir Mighty Mac

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Here are 5 reasons Twitter is a powerful marketing tool for online business owners like you.

It's Short, Sweet & To the Point
Have you ever heard the phrase, less is more?  You'll find that one of the best things about Twitter is that it keeps all messages very short and sweet.  You'll have to give your customers and clients the gist of what is going on in short tweets (messages similar to instant messages) that allow their interest to be piqued in such a way as to make them investigate further.  You won't bother them with long-winded messages that make them yawn and move on. Instead, you will be able to catch their attention quickly and make them want to know more.

Immediacy
Much like a blog or an RSS feed, you can get access to the people that use Twitter regularly.  In some ways, this is like making sure that you can reach them no matter where they are, and you will find that this is very important when you want to make marketing one of your biggest priorities.  You are making sure that they have all of the latest updates to what you are doing and what's going on by simply sending a tweet their way.

Everyone's Doing It
In many ways, Twitter is a social program more than it is a marketing one, and you'll find that using Twitter can help you feel a great deal closer to your client base and others in your online community.  If you are looking to make sure that they see you as a person rather than as simply a company or service, you'll find that Twitter encourages them to think of you as someone they can get to know. This can be very important when it comes to establishing a customer base and customer loyalty.

You Get to Hear a Lot
Remember that it goes both ways; you can put information out on Twitter and you can also learn a lot too.  By following other’s Twitter accounts, especially if it looks like they have a lot to offer, you can keep in the know about various products, services, and other happenings online.  This can be a great way to keep an eye on what is going on in order to keep yourself in the know of your industry.

Make Them Laugh
You can also use Twitter to tease people a little bit, in a fun way, of course!  When you use Twitter, you have to keep your messages short, and in many ways, a little mysterious.  Pique their interest, joke around, and you'll find that you gain a lot more followers and hopefully website traffic and customers as a result.

Be warned, just as with any other social networking site, Twitter can quickly become addicting if you let it.

Don’t go overboard and get so involved in all the tweeting that it takes away from your intended purpose.  Used wisely Twitter can be a great and powerful marketing tool to help create online business success.

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