Technology and Rumpel-stinky

Last night, I thought it would be fun to have a thematic background for my blog so I downloaded this nifty lighthouse background to go with my Port Townsend post. Much to my surprise, when I used the non-Blogger-standard template, all of my sidebar info disappeared. I thought I saved it before switching, but it only saved the format and none of the information. I'm especially sad to have lost a few blog URL's (If you're reading this and your blog isn't on my list, please send me your missing URL!) and a year's worth of books read and sights seen. Anyone know how to save the sidebar things so I don't lose them again next time I change backgrounds?



I was reminded this morning of why I love teaching beginnning English. We are studying fairy tales and today I started reading Rumpelstilskin. That is a hard word for a beginning English speaker to say and it kept coming out Rumpel-stinky. I think that could work. He is kind of a stinky character. When I got to the part about the dad telling the king that his daughter could spin straw into gold, the kids were horrified that he said such an obvious untruth. When one asked why he said it, another responded that it was because he was a "liar, liar." I agreed and added that his pants were on fire. We had a good laugh and I continued reading. A few pages later, one girl looked very thoughtful. She then asked, "Doesn't his bum hurt?" Random questions occur pretty frequently in second grade so I merely reminded her that if her question didn't relate to the story then she should wait till later to ask it. Still very thoughtful, she replied that her question did, in fact, relate to what we were reading . . . because if his pants were on fire, that would probably hurt his bum. Good point, kiddo!