Ellen McHenry - You're my Hero

Actually I think I have 2 heros this morning and no zero is not one of them.  Do you think I have been spending a little too much time around kids since the lyrics to Multiplication Rock have worked their way into a blog post?

The first hero is Sheri over at What's in the Box.  She is a workboxing maniac!  Man, she makes me tired just reading her posts.  But she really does have some great ideas.  I was reading some of her older posts and she mentioned a brain hat.  Well, I have recently fallen in love with a new writing program, Stack the Deck (I'm beginning to feel like one very underpaid - as in no pay - infomercial for all of these links).  Herb Hrebic talks about our brain saying he believes the brain is the best computer of all and he even puts a brain hat on to illustrate.  What kid wouldn't feel smarter and motivated to answer questions by just putting on a brain hat?  Maybe it is just me but I think it is nothing short of genius.  That's using your noggin (no pun intended...ok there was a very bad pun and it was intended).  Go to about the 4 minute mark of Mr. Hrebic's video if you don't want to watch it all (although I highly recommend watching it all) to see him talking about it. I have been rolling around in my brain, "where could I find a brain hat?" - and if you know anything about me at all, you know "I don't want to pay a lot for this muffler".  Aaaaannnnyyyyywaaaay... this all is going somewhere, trust me, and it leads to another one of of my new heros which is is Ellen McHenry (btw, Mr. Hrebic also needs mention on that "hero list").  Ellen's site is filled with free downloads and she also has curriculum for sale.  We are using Adventures in My Father's World this year and we have just briefly covered atoms and molecules, etc.   Even as an engineer, I always despised chemistry - as in hated, loathed, detested the subject.  When Ms. Priss was born I made up songs for her to learn to spell her name and put as many things to tunes as possible.  I have ALWAYS joked that we were going to have to sing and dance the periodic table of elements to help her and Lil' Bit learn them.  Guess what?  Ellen McHenry has already done that for me complete with a fairy tale about the periodic table.  Just go peruse her site.  You won't be disappointed.

Tata for now!