Draw a monster!

Do you want to learn how to draw a monster step by step?

Draw a monster
Click on the monster you like, then follow the instructions.

Or you can draw a monster online. It' s your choice!

Anyway... Grrrrrrrrr!!!

Santa' s village

Do you want to...

• check your Naughty or Nice rating?
• choose your very own Elf Buddy?
• play games in Elf School?
• print your Honorary Elf Diploma?
• sing along with new original Christmas songs?
• try funny holiday recipes? 
• visit the amazing Toy Workshop?
• send E-mail to Santa Claus?
• follow Santa Claus in his sleigh on Christmas Eve?
• see how many cookies Santa Claus eats on his trip?

Then CLAUS. com is the site for you. 

Visit it and explore Santa' s village!

Christmas countdown

I don' t know about the end of the world, but one thing is for sure: Christmas is on its way!
That' s why, starting from today, you will be able to see a Christmas countdown clock on my sidebar. Just in case you lose track of time...

ATONIN

Imagine a pyramid 

 

A pyramid invented by Marcelo Montecinos, creator of Phrazzle me

	At the top of the pyramid you have “AT”. You use it for the smallest in time: hours I’ll see you tomorrow AT 5 p.m.
	In the middle of the pyramid you have “ON”.  You use it for bigger time: days Let' s go out ON Sunday.
	At the bottom you have “IN”. You use it for everything else that is bigger than hours or days I was born IN 1978. My birthday is IN January. I was a teenager IN the 90's.

- Can I help you?

- Yes, I' d like a cheese and tomato sandwich, please.
- Of course. Anything else? 
- Let me see... and a bottle of water, please. How much is all that?
- 2,85 €.
- That' s a lot of money for just a sandwich and some water, you know! You can keep them! I' ll get something from the canteen next door which is cheaper!

In order not to walk away from their canteen empty-handed, I asked my students to make their menus as appealing and reasonably priced as possible. Who is the winner in your opinion? Which student' s canteen would you like to visit again and again?

 

European countries and capital cities

Practise pronouncing the names of the different European countries. Then admire their beautiful capital cities in the second video. Don' t you feel like travelling?

By the way, the right name of one of the countries you' ll see in the first video is North Macedonia now.

My school things

Let' s practise our vocabulary a little!

Ouch! My little finger!

Learn how to count to ten with this nursery rhyme:

Cool text-images

Did you like the post about micrography?

Here you can upload a picture from the Web or your own and, with only a few clicks, see it converted in HTML, ASCII, or MATRIX. What are these? You can find out for yourselves!

I tried it out myself to see how it works. It was fun! Have a look at my picture of a church in Matrix:

Pictures out of words

Micro calligraphy (or Micrography) : the art or technique of writing with extremely small letters.
It is an ancient form of writing art, developed by Jews in the 9th century, where an image is made up by text which either describes it or is directly linked to it. In Micro calligraphy the word literally becomes a vision of a story. 
The artwork is viewed at a distance, creating an interplay between the text and image.

Here are some brilliant examples. Click on the pictures to see the details!

Computers can easily help you with portraits...
 

 

Whoever made this was a genius!

Here are some other examples from funny-potato.com ...

Students can make them with pen and ink... 

 The whole piece was created using only the word "fish" (many times)

... or on their PC...

A text about the Parthenon became ... the Parthenon!

Now, get some easier ideas below and create your own projects!

A song you know can become musical notes

Mark Ewbie' s pictures made up of letters:

snail

man

007 (James Bond)

bee

camel

Have fun creating!

Genius

Some people are smart but some others are smarter, because they are able to see beyond the limits you set them. Their mind works in multiple levels.

Once, a friend asked me to find the similarity between a woman and a cow. She had a particular similarity in mind and it was neither that they are both female nor mammals. Nothing like that. I will give you the answer later, after you have spent some time thinking about the solution.

Likewise, what is the solution to the problem in the next video?
Do you think it cannot be done? Think beyond the limits! 

When problems seem they cannot be solved, just go a step further and look at them from a different angle. Put yourself "outside" them and look at them from "above". Keep an open mind and then the solution will appear before your eyes! 

The similarity between the woman and the cow is that they both have a "w". That simple!

Little poets

Here is an interesting writing activity in 6th Grade' s course book:

You are a member of the “Writing Club”: close your eyes and use your five senses to describe a favourite thing. What does it taste/smell/feel/look/sound like? You can write a poem about a pair of sneakers, your favourite dessert,  a new shirt, a fruit, etc. 

             For example:
Oh, my sweet Chocolate cake!
Off the oven, it looks fresh and smells nice;
it feels soft in my hands;
it tastes delicious in my mouth.
It sounds so tempting, I can never resist it!

Sophie' s poem
Oh, my sweet cheesecake!
Oh, my favourite delicious cake!
You are so tasty
And all my friends say: "It tastes delicious!"

Rebecca' s poem
Oh, my lovely apple!
It looks fleshy and so red
It smells beautiful
And it' s cold in my hands
It tastes lovely
It sounds good, I won' t resist it

Athena' s poem
I like kitties and puppies
I like their furs and their tails
I like their play
I like my Kitty Sail

Alice's poem 
Muffins are delicious
Muffins are soft
They smell brilliant
As I turn the oven off
They look so adorable
Look so nice
I want to eat them all twice!

Catherine' s poem
Yummy, yummy chocolate
It tastes nice
Oh, my dear chocolate!
I want to eat you but
I can' t, because I' m fat!

Haroula' s poem
Summer, summer
The sun is shining
The kids are swimming in the sea
Summer, summer
We are playing rackets at the beach
And we are eating ice cream!
Summer, summer
Hot and sunny every day
And we go on holiday!

Joanna' s poem 
Oh! my comfortable sneakers!
I put you on and I run
like a lion
I put you on and I look
like a star
I put you on and my feet
shine
I put you on and my feet
are resting
My beautiful sneakers,
my feet feel like cotton
my feet feel like silk
I feel like I can fly
Oh yes! You are so comfortable!
My beautiful sneakers,
I love you and I hate you
because my friends envy me
because of you!

Christine' s poem 
Oh my special fruit salad!
All these cut fruits look like a picture.
So many colours!
Sweet and sour at the same time!
The best enjoyment in the world!



If there are any more poems in my comments section, I' ll be glad to post them!

And you thought people never change!

It' s called Daily Photo Project. Nothing like the projects you do at school.
This is how you are changing day by day. You don' t realize it unless you see it in fast forward.

There are a lot of Youtube videos like that, if you find them interesting enough.

You may like the idea of taking it up as a hobby, I mean taking your own picture every day for a period of time.

But how can you do it?
Jump man gives you an idea in the next video.

MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world.  The museum's collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art, including works of architecture and design, drawings, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist's books, film, and electronic media. MoMA's library and archives hold over 300,000 books, artist books, and periodicals, as well as individual files on more than 70,000 artists. The archives contain primary source material related to the history of modern and contemporary art. It also houses a restaurant, The Modern, run by Alsace-born chef Gabriel Kreuther (from Wikipedia)

If only we could go to MoMA, stay there for ... a few days (!) and admire its collections! Wouldn't that be wonderful? Lucky those people who live nearby, and those who can still afford to travel! If you are neither, don' t worry! There is the museum' s site which you can visit and get an idea, and there are also some nice (and strange!) Youtube videos of artists´ works displayed there, like the one that follows:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

Allow me to change the lyrics of a well-known song to describe the case here:

Post a comment, little visitor

How I wonder where you are

Somewhere in the world so far

Reading posts I wrote for fun!

Post a comment, little visitor

How I wonder who you are!

What is it made of?

What are these things made of? Test your knowledge with  exercise 1 and exercise 2.

Order, please!

Do you remember the Royal Order of Adjectives?
Can you put these adjectives in the right order? The computer will check your answers.

Click here for exercise 1

Click here for exercise 2

Click here for exercise 3

Click here for exercise 4

I' ve never heard of that sport before!

10 Extremely Unusual Sports You've Probably Never Heard of

Which one is your favourite? Wife carrying and dog dancing are mine!

Games for everyone

Some kids like basketball...
Some kids like bowling...
Some kids like skating...
Some kids like Batman...
Some kids like legos...

There' s a game for everyone in this world (and on the Net)!

Jigsaw puzzles

I like online jigsaw puzzle games - don' t you like them, too?
Here is a variety of such games, from 15 pieces to 300, and from landscapes to Edward - Bella - Jacob! You can even upload your own picture and make your personal puzzle. You won' t get bored!

The Greek Polytechnic uprising

Today at school we commemorated the anniversary of the student uprising at the Polytechnic School of Athens in 1973. The student uprising was an act of resistance against the military dictatorship, and therefore a symbol of resistance to tyranny.

The white horse

Did you know that white horses are born black and turn white as they mature? I didn't, until today, when the 6th Grade came back from their school trip to the Riding Club in Kalamata and my daughter (one of the lucky students) told me all about it.

Here are some more interesting facts about horses taken from ScienceKids:

Horses have evolved over the past 50 million years from much smaller creatures. Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up. Horses can run shortly after birth. Domestic horses have a lifespan of around 25 years. A 19th century horse named ‘Old Billy’ is said to have lived 62 years. Horses have around 205 bones in their skeleton. Horses have been domesticated for over 5000 years. Horses are herbivores (plant eaters). Horses have bigger eyes than any other mammal that lives on land. Because horse’s eyes are on the side of their head they are capable of seeing nearly 360 degrees at one time. Horses gallop at around 44 kph (27 mph). The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 88 kph (55 mph). There are around 60 million horses in the world. A male horse is called a stallion. A female horse is called a mare. A young male horse is called a colt. A young female horse is called a filly. And now that you know all that about horses, what do you say, shall we watch an old, but beautiful, film? Although it' s in French, you' ll understand most of it.  Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage (The White Mane) A boy comes across a white-haired wild horse in the Camargue, a marsh area in the south of France. Ranchers seek to capture the horse, but it escapes. What will happen as the boy sets out to find the horse again?  A film about the continual fight for freedom and peace.

Do you like this hobby?

A student of mine likes drawing faces on Post-it page markers and giving them to her friends as little presents. Don' t they look great?

Well done, Athena!

• I' m sorry for the poor quality of my photos. I must learn how to take better ones!

Riddle

What looks blue, smells blue, sounds blue, feels blue and tastes blue?

Write a comment to answer if you know!

Beautiful projects...! (2)

The 6th Grade also did a project - about their country this time.They, too, let their imagination free and, being very creative kids, here is the work they presented!

Beautiful projects...!

The 4th Grade did a project about their school. All the children, in teams, used their imagination to make beautiful projects, which are now decorating our school walls.
Have a look and tell me if I' m right or wrong! They even made a 3-D basketball on one of the posters!!!

Our school choir gives a(nother) performance

Our school choir, consisting of 41 students, was invited to sing at the conference of the HELLENIC ORGANIZATION OF HEARING SPEECH THERAPY & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS at the university amphitheatre in Kalamata on Saturday evening. The children performed for about twenty minutes. They sang five songs, some of which were humorous and some others relevant to the conference and our everyday life. The choir and their music teacher were applauded by everyone present. They also received an award certificate for their participation. It was a great experience for them.
Congratulations to all the children and, of course, their talented music teacher, Miss Irena!

The new craze

You have heard Old McDonald before. You have probably sung it in class. Here it is again - just to remind you how it goes:

But maybe you haven' t yet watched the new funny video that is becoming very popular in Greece. The idea came from Italy. Enjoy  Το Πουλάκι Τσίου! 

In Italy, the next video is ready, with the little yellow bird taking revenge on the tractor (do you see the benefits of working out?)

Have you noticed that animal sounds are different from language to language? You see, people who speak different languages perceive (understand) sounds in different ways. It has to do with onomatopoeia. In the English language onomatopoeia means "the imitation of a sound", whereas in the Greek language onomatopoeia (ονοματοποιία) means "making or creating names".  

Listen to some animal sounds here to see what I' m talking about!

My Favourite Things

What are the beautiful things in your life?
When you feel scared or sad, try to remember your favourite things, and the fear and sadness will go away!
Like these kids with their nanny in the film The Sound of Music:

In case you didn' t quite understand the lyrics, here is the same song with pictures this time!

Look up in the sky and you may see them!

A few days ago, birds like these were flying near our school but my mobile phone had run out of battery and I couldn't t take a video of them. Anyway, watch their remarkable flight formations in this Youtube video and keep your eyes on the sky!

Are you interested in buying the earth?

Two years ago, a Spanish woman, who said she owned the Sun, wanted to collect taxes on it. 
This year a Japanese man says that God gave him the Earth as a present in a dream, so now he is trying to sell it on an auction. He lists our planet as “authentic” and warns bidders there is a “no return” policy on the item. It isn't t a joke! The starting price was ¥69 ($0.86), but now it' s ¥9,889,899,888 ($123,000,000). A real bargain!

But, if the world is going to come to an end, according to the Mayan calendar, is such an investment really worth it? 

Here is what the man selling the Earth answered to a buyer on Yahoo Auctions:

Q: “Hello.  This is a really interesting item! If I buy the Earth, will I become a god?
A: Thank you for your question! This item can’t make you a god. Are you alright in the head? Thank you for your interest.”

The pot calling the kettle black! (= Είπε ο γάιδαρος τον πετεινό κεφάλα!)

A game of chess

Are you good at chess? Play a game against the computer to try your chess skills!

Online chess

Sports balls

I looked around the school playground on Friday and everyone was playing with a ball - a basketball, a volleyball or a football.
Wow! How many balls! Bounce, bounce, bounce!

Poem of Myself

Do you want to write a poem about yourself? It' s easy!
Let me show you:

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Line 1: __ (Write your name)
Line 2: __, __, __ (Write 3 personal characteristics or physical traits)
Line 3: Brother/Sister of __ (or Son/Daughter of __ )
Line 4: Who loves__, __, and __ (Write 3 people, things, ideas) 
Line 5: Who feels__ about__ (Write 1 emotion about 1 thing) 
Line 6: Who needs__, __, and __ (Write 3 things you need) 
Line 7: Who gives __, __, and __ (Write 3 objects you share) 
Line 8: Who fears__, __, and __ (3 items) 
Line 9: Who'd like to see __ (1 place or person) 
Line 10: Who dreams of __ (1 item or idea) 
Line 11: A student of__ (Write your school or teacher's name) 
Line 12: __ (Write your nickname or repeat your first name)

Here is mine:

Amazing shadow play!

Sometimes ads are better than films.

Music animation

Enjoy!

Migrating birds

"For eighty million years, birds have ruled the skies, seas and earth. Each spring, they fly vast distances. Each Fall, they fly the same route back. This film is the result of four years following their amazing odysseys, in the northern hemisphere and then the south, species by species, flying over seas and continents." — Jacques Perrin (filmmaker of “Winged Migration” - 2001) 

Birds in flight in their natural world. A flight for survival.
Watch the trailer of a unique film!

How to play golf?

Let Goofy show you!

Sports, of course!

Do you like sports? Of course you do! 

Do you want to learn their English names? Of course you do! 

Do you want to learn what sports people like in Britain? Of course you do!