Grab Bag Teach Tip:

Family coming for the holidays? Small people in the mix, perhaps? Did you know you have a free kindergarten workbook at your fingertips? Just a few clicks and you have a plethora of pages to print for little ones to work on.

KindergartenWorksheets.net offers free print-ables on math, holiday coloring sheets, measurement, writing, French, you name it.

Grab Bag Social Conscience Read:

The cover story of this week’s Newsweek profiles the new American class divide as one of food choices. Fresh, organic, local are all terms associated with a costlier and more time-consuming pursuit of nutrition, while fast, convenient and cheap are relegated to the poor and “food insecure” (a term addressing the 50 million in this country who are at risk of not having enough to eat until the next paycheck, hand out or welfare payment).

Bottom line is this…. buying unprocessed/local/sustainable/organic is good, both for you and the planet…..

SHARING unprocessed/local/sustainable/organic is even better. See what efforts your community can and is doing to spread the availability of healthy food to families in need (New York activists spawned extra credit for food stamp recipients if they used stamps at local farmer’s markets, for instance). Support those efforts.

Grab Bag Retro Thanks:

Talk about thanks-giving… I just ran across this again… a brilliant CGI version of the US Airways plane captained by “Sully” Sullenberger, synced with the audio we have all heard so many times.

Thanks, Sully.

Grab Bag Shop Drop:

We’re in it now, kids. Shopping, shopping, shopping.

And I’m all for being supportive of our local vendors, but sometimes I just can’t. Black Friday, Schmack Friday, I said.

On those days when you refuse to partake in the mob scenes at the mall, or you dread slogging through sales and still going home empty handed, I have some sites for sore feet:

Best comparison shopping site:

also good:

Savings via coupons/deal searches in your neighborhood

(especially for electronics/appliances)

(computers, TVs, cell phones, etc.)

Group Coupons…

(get the volume discount of many while buying for one)

Next week… some GREAT sites to SAVE $$$$

Grab Bag Trivia:

Q: Did you ever wonder why dimes, quarters and half dollars have notches, while pennies and nickels do not?

A: The US Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders from shaving off small quantities of the precious metals.  Dimes, quarters and half dollars are notched because they used to contain silver. Pennies and nickels aren’t notched because the metals they contain are not valuable enough to shave.

However, since the 1960’s, NO precious metals have been used in coins… so why persist with the ridges? Better for the visually impaired, says the US Mint.

Grab Bag Brain Game:

LOVE this one…

Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to rotate and flip the shape in order to fit through the template coming at you. In the beginning you get plenty of time, and you can launch the template towards your shape with the space bar whenever you’re ready.

In higher levels you get less time, and the template launches on its own, making time and critical thinking a factor.

THROUGH WALLS 3D

 

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

• Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are dying?

• Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough money?

• Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

• If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

• Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

• Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

• Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

• Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

• How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

• In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

• The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends — if they’re okay, then it’s you.