Tuesday, October 27

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 10, and I've re-arranged the Declarations area in D2L so the new week is on top. Tuesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you did not finish the Reading Diary that was due on Monday.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. If you turned something in on Friday or Saturday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Sunday, it is probably still in the stack; you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Finishing up the class: Projects. As I've mentioned before, there is no absolute requirement about the number of stories in a finished Storybook or Portfolio; based on your strategy for getting your points in the class, you can finish your Storybook with three stories or even just two stories if you want - it is up to you, and the same is true for the Portfolio. If you have any questions about that, let me know, and there is more information about grading and finishing the class here. One person is about to finish up Myth-Folklore this week: that is very exciting!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Mythical Creatures. This ingenious chart is a great way to explore the world of mythical hybrid creatures:

Words to Watch: Today's words to watch out for are MINER and MINOR. For details, see this blog post.

Featured Storybook: Louisiana Animal Folk Tales. It's Mardi Gras and you've arrived just in time for the party at the home of Henry the Alligator, who has plenty of stories to tell you about his animal friends like Compair Lapin the rabbit and Mr. Turkey. Let the good times roll!

Free Book Online: Hawaiian Folk Tales by T. G. Thrum . This blog post provides additional information about the Hawaiian stories in this book, including stories of the fire-goddess Pele.

India Featured Book: Mahabharatha: A Child's View by Samhita Arni. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics. This is a version of the Mahabharata written and illustrated by Samhita Arni when she was just a child; she started the project when she was eight years old!

Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Don’t put all your eggs in one basket (an English proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. Even though people are not carrying around baskets full of eggs these days, this is still a well-known proverb.

Today's Video: Wah Jhi Le Yihm By Ulali. This song by Ulali (a Native American a cappella group) is from the film Smoke Signals:

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is ready to learn: Stretch yourself to learn something new. Details at the blog.

Event on Campus: As part of the Masala World Music Series, there will be a performance of Duo Bombaa-African Music of the Old and New World in Sharp Concert Hall at 8PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

October 27: Valmiki Jayanti. Today is the holiday of Valmiki's birthday. Those of you in Indian Epics know about Valmiki because of his role as the composer of the Ramayana and also for his role in the actual events of the epic. You can find out more about Valmiki at Wikipedia, and this Valmiki Jayanti holiday card is based on the legend that Valmiki was a highway robber who went by the name of Ratnakar before he adopted a saintly way of life: Lord Valmiki's life teaches us that we are not born good or evil; it's our deeds that determine our greatness.

Note: You can page back through the older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed, and you can check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day.