Linn's Writing Nook published a post on Ko-fi

Humoresque Cartoons

Photosynthesis... there was something about it that stumped me as a teacher. It was important to me that my kids understood the big picture and that they were able to answer their questions, but teaching it

Time for another scene-by-scene retelling of an entire Shakespeare play! This time around I'm going to try my hand at adapting my first comedy, and it's one of my favorites: Twelfth Night . Let's get thing started with a good old who's who...

Enigma

It's back to school time! Yay! I am so happy to see all of you again! I am looking forward to a fun school year with you! Here's what's up so far! Grades 4 & 5 (Rooms 13, 17 & 19) are starting the year with the song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. We began by watching a cover of the song by the group Walk of the Earth, where each member plays one part on the guitar. From left to right: Player 1: Uses the guitar as a percussion instrument Player 2: Plays the ostinato (a repeating pattern) which is actually just IIV to I chords Player 3: Plays the guitar melody Player 4: Plays the off-beat chords (on beats 2 & 4) Player 5: Plays accent chords Then we watched another version of the song: Gotye saw that so many people were doing covers of his song that he made a compilation video of a whole bunch of YouTube videos from around the world! Next week we will be learning to play this song on the Orff Instruments: From: http://musescore.com/user/24296/scores/49627 Grades 1/2/3 are learning the Tritsch Tratsch Polka by Johann Strauss. We have coupled it with Deborah Ziolkoski's story and movement about the ringmaster and tightrope walker from Fun With Composers. We are learning about ABA form in music (same/different/same), and a little bit about the life of composer Johann Strauss. Here is a recording of it - ask your child to show you the story and movement! Did you know that the Tritsch Tratsch Polka is also used in the video game Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games? It can be found in the Synchronized Swimming section! Pretty cool, huh?

Lynda Barry “'The Two Questions' came from trying to write something good and not getting very far because I had forgotten that trying to write something good before I write anything at all is like refusing to give birth unless you know for sure it is going to be a very good baby." "What I don’t understand is why I keep forgetting this and then having to remember it again. It was all the trying for something good that got me into the very tangle this piece describes. There certainly wasn’t any fun in it until I remembered to quit trying to be good. I had the flu when I wrote it and couldn’t hold my brush steady enough to get a good line, so I used a gel pen, which added some extra frustration, which wasn’t all bad: It gave me a kind of traction on the paper that helped steady the line, and I did it on my lap while camping out on the couch with the TV on, which gave me a good junior-high-school-homework feeling.” Lynda Barry has been making comics in her wonderful naive style since 1977 when editor and fellow cartoonist, Matt Groening (Simpsons, Life Is Hell) published her work in the student paper of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, which he titled Ernie Pook's Comeek, without her knowledge. She has published many books including "The Good Times Are Killing me", "Fun House" and "One! Hundred! Demons!" She offers a workshop titled "Writing the Unthinkable", in which she teaches the process she uses to create all of her work and uses techniques that appeared in her book, "What It Is" like the technique this comic demonstrates.

I know this is my therapist to the “T”!