Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Sam’s Web Links

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Here’s a list of my favorite web sites and links to friends & family web pages.

Sam

Adoption Sites:

Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency
CAROLINA HOPE Christian Adoption Agency is prepared to help you through all the steps of international adoption.

Rainbow Kids-Your Source for International Adoption Information
Acts as a collection database for many agencies.

The American-World Adoption Association and Adoption Agency
AWAA is a Christian based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families adopt children.

Christian Music Sites:

Newsboy
Looking for interesting; weird; or just plain crazy in a band… Newsboys is it. Peter Furler is a freak… But what a sound. The band is ever changing yet keeps their great alternative music going. Check out their site to see if they are coming to a city near you!

Sixpence None The Richer
These guys are a great band! You can view and hear live recordings from their Web Site!!

The Waiting
One of my Favorites! The most powerful and scripture based messegage I have heard in a long time. Hear a sample of their music online.

Third Day
Rock Alternative combined with powerful ballads makes up a very unique sound. Check out Third Day’s web site for concert info and to view one of their concerts on the web using Real Player.

Home Improvement & Craft Sites:

Country Living Magazine
The latest in counrty living decorating and collectibles. Also has good information on antiques.

Country Sampler Decorating Ideas
Projects Techniques Tips and Whats in their current issue.

Crafts for Kids
Ideas and Instructions for crafts you can do with your kids as well as some of the supplies you need for sale on the site.

Do-It-Yourself Resources
A site that lists in alphabetical order links to many do-it-yourself sites. Anything from plumbing-candle making- gardening- refinishing to electrical work.

Martha Stewart
The Queen of Craft. Check out what Martha has on today’s To Do List.

The Christopher Lowell Show
He can be seen daily on The Discovery Channel creating and remodeling on a modest budget. Great ideas for decorating your home with things you have made and arranging your furniture to get the most out of the space you have.

Misc. Sites:

Ask Jeeves!
Got a Question? Need an answer? Ask Jeeves! A great way to answer those nagging questions!

Direct Selling Association
Ever wonder how to get involved in one of the many person-to-person or party plan business? This site gives a list;description; and link(if available) of all businesses that are members of the DSA. There are great opportunities out there.

Other Music Sites:

Alison Krauss & Union Station
A sound of Bluegrass mixed with Gospel. Alison’s site contains info on her career highlights; tour dates and her discography.

James Taylor Online
Great information on JT. Tour dates Chat Lyrics Audio clips and more.

Official George Strait
Everything a George Strait fan could want.

The Official Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville
The place where Parrot Heads go to find the latest Music Merchandise and Tour Information. Everything you want to know about Buffett.

Parent Sites:

BabyCenter- Your complete resource for pregnancy and baby information
Emails you a week by week update on how your baby and you are growing; answers to your questions; newsletter; discusses Topics A-Z. Has just about everything.

FamilyFun: Activities-Crafts
Sote has many ideas for crafts and activities for the family. Weekly ideas; Ask the expert; and Lists of Supplies ofr crafting.

Kids Health
Great site with information on anything from emotion health to physical health. First Aid and Safety category that discusses how to be prepared for injuries. Range from pregnancy to teens. In depth pregnancy calendar week by week.

Online Pregnancy Magazine- pregnancy and newborn information
Baby Names; Baby shower etiquite; Q&A; Pregnancy do’s and don’t; child safety tips; and much more.

Parents.com
Offers a free newsletter; age by age advice; product recalls and more.

Toysrus.com/Amazon.com Toy Store
Of course you can find any product that Toys R Us sells; but I found this website helpful for part of my research on products. This site has a pretty good base of Customer Reviews on most of their products. It helps to hear about a product from someone who has used it.

School Alumni Sites:

Alumni.NET- bringing school friends together
I don’t think this one is as publicized as the others. However it not only puts you in touch with your high school friends but also your college friends. Check it out and see who is registered.

ClassMates.com
This site is Ok. You have to pay to be a member and only members can access the profiles of classmates. But go ahead and register. It can always help a classmate find you!

High School Alumni
This site is my favorite. You can use it free of charge as long as you register. Allows you to get quite a bit of information on your former classmates and will help you keep in touch.

Miscellaneous

Sam’s Comprehensive List of Teacher’s Resources on the Web

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Here’s a list of some of the best web sites and links relating to Education. I hope you find this list and the resources it points to very useful. Please email Sam if you find any bad links on this page, or if there is a link that you think should be added to this list.

Sam

Clip Art Graphics and Photos:

Internet for Teachers Image Library
Need a photo or clip art for a project? Browse through this site! They have animals space plants and more. Great Teacher clip art for newsletters too!

Web Clip Art
Clip art for any occasion. Easy to access site!

General Sites:

Atlantis Elementary School
Here is my new home! Our students along with our Character Education Program won us a 1999 National Character Awards. We were one of the top ten national schools picked.

Christa McAuliffe Elementary School
This is one of our area schools web sites. The webmasters are great for doing in depth research on the sites they recommend. They offer links to a variety of teacher resources that I have found helpful.

Enterprise Elementary School
Another area school. Check out their favorite links. Some cool stuff for kids.

Titusville High School
My Alma Mater here in Titusville. Online they offer info for alumni and about current school clubs; classes; and sports.

K-12 Sites:

Free Teacher Resources
Resources for Teachers; Language; and Special Needs for K-12

Kids Spot:

Kids’ Corner
Presented by Oasis Telecommunications. This site has puzzles- games- art and stories done by kids- and web surfin for kids.

Kids’ Place
Education Place has game- book reviews- science library- web word find and more.

Kids’ Space
Kids’ Space has a variety of activities. I looks very juvenile but has some very technical links. You can learn about customs and costumes of different culture- submit a story you have written- submit a music piece or song you have done- find a pen pal and much much more.

Yahooligans
Get place for kids to do research on anything they would need to learn for school.

Looking for Lessons:

AskERIC Educational Resources Information Center
AskERIC provides a Virtual Library; over 1000 lesson plans from teacher throughout the US and an Educational Database search.

CEC Lesson Plans
Lesson plans for every subject and every grade level.

KinderArt
Art projects of all kinds. Lessons for both teachers and parents. Printable pages. Seasonal art as well as themeatic art. There is even a special place for Early Childhood art… it is never too early to start.

Misc. Sites:

Ask Jeeves!
Got a Question? Need an Answer? Ask Jeeves! A great way to answer those nagging questions.

CNET.com Downloads
Click on the Sub-heading EDUCATION to find anything and everything to make your job as a teacher easier. It contains Freeware Shareware and Demo versions of programs you can use as an educator or even as a parent. Make sure you check what operating system it works on before wasting your time downloading. Some of these programs are student interactive and others are offline teacher resources.

Jan Brett- Children’s Author
The site offers many activity pages and games using the illustrations and characters from her books. Also lists updates on where she will be and contest to be entered.

Scholastic Inc. Publishing Company
A site for Teachers; Parents; and Kids!! Offers games- activities- lessons- reproducibles and more!

NASA for Educators:

KSC Hands-On Space Program
Kennedy Space Center’s hands-on programs for all grade levels. There’s a program specialized for your group– click to find out more.

NASA Resources in your State
What does NASA have to offer to your in your own state? Check out the site for the name- address- phone- and website for a Educational Resource Center in your state.

NASA Spacelink
An Aeronautics and Space Resource for Education Since 1988. The Library has everything you would need to learn about space and space exploration. It is alphabetized for easy access. Also allows you to Quickly jump to some of Spacelink’s popular areas.

Special Education Sites:

Education For Kids
A collection of original articles and resources centered on the topic of children’s education. Mostly for parents but some educational online games are also on the site.

Free Teacher Resources
Resources for Teachers; Language; and Special Needs for K-12. Special Needs divided by disability for easier access.

LD Online: Learning Disabilities Info & Resources
Need information on Learning Disabilities? Here is the place to go!

Learning Disabilities Resources
This site contains resources for people with learning disabilities. Information and links are provided for such issues as general LD information; adult literacy; K-12 school programs and college info. There is a site link for understanding the Terminology among Hundreds of other useful sites. I couldn’t begin to tell you about everything they have compiled on this site. If you need Info on LD… This is the place.

 

Miscellaneous

My grandfather’s first stage acting gig

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My grandfather wrote in his diary some of his thoughts about his first experience acting on stage back in October of 1916:

We opened with Sherlock Holmes. The director gave me my first opportunity to be an actor as a “John, one from the underworld.” I still feel my knees shaking today, as I went on stage with my English. I will never forget this performance. I had never seen so many people as there were in this first performance on Sunday evening. After the third act the curtain went up and down for ten minutes. The ladies of the company received many wonderful bouquets.

In November of 2001 I was on the on stage at the Cocoa Village Playhouse for my first show there and I can relate to grandpa’s nervousness and adrenaline.  I was “Drake the Butler” in Annie the Musical, and I will never forget that show and all the wonderful cast and crew that were involved.

You can read my grandfather’s entire journal by clicking below.  It’s quite interesting!  Of course, I’m biased!   🙂

http://www.leucht.com/history/My_Journey_To_America-Journal_of_Kurt_William_Leucht-1914_to_1920.pdf

Thanks for your interest!
Kurt

Miscellaneous

My grandfather’s account of the 1918 Spanish flu

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My German immigrant grandfather in Peoria wrote the following account in his diary in the fall of 1918.  It’s sort of timely due to current health events going on around the world right now.

It’s been five weeks since I last wrote anything. There have been great changes in Peoria and the world. Since the beginning of October, in almost all the states of America, a terrible epidemic has broken out, called the “Spanish Influenza.” It was most notable in the barracks among the soldiers. It begins with a cold, then a fever and so on until pneumonia sets in, and most die. I was sick with it. I immediately went to the doctor and spent three days in bed. Since I did not have any real care at home, I suggested that I go to the hospital. After two days in the hospital, I felt much better. I was there for a week. All I needed was a good rest, which I received. I did not go back to work right away and the expenses cost me a lot of money. I had used up all my savings.

After reading up on the Spanish flu, I realized that he’s pretty lucky to have made it through alive. According to wikipedia, the 1918 flu pandemic which lasted January 1918 through December 1920 was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. It infected 500 million people across the world and killed 50 to 100 million of them — three to five percent of the world’s population — making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.  Wow.  Can you imagine losing 3 to 5 percent of everyone you know?  That’s a lot of friends and family to lose from this one flu.

1918FluVictimsStLouis

[Red Cross workers remove a Spanish flu victim from their St Louis home, from wikipedia]

Most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients.  But the 1918 pandemic killed predominantly healthy young adults. Modern research, using virus taken from the bodies of frozen victims, has concluded that the virus kills through an overreaction of the body’s immune system. The strong immune reactions of young adults ravaged their bodies, but the weaker immune systems of children and older adults resulted in fewer deaths among those groups.  Amazing.

Why was it called the Spanish flu?  To maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of illness and mortality in Germany, Britain, France, and the United States, but papers were free to report the epidemic’s effects in neutral Spain creating a false impression of Spain as especially hard hit — thus the pandemic’s nickname Spanish flu.

You can read my grandfather’s entire journal by clicking below.  It’s quite interesting!  Of course, I’m biased!   🙂

http://www.leucht.com/history/My_Journey_To_America-Journal_of_Kurt_William_Leucht-1914_to_1920.pdf

Thanks for your interest!
Kurt

Miscellaneous

The war against Germany from a German immigrant’s perspective

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My German immigrant grandfather wrote in his diary some of his thoughts and experiences during the first world war against Germany:

The Emperor’s days are numbered. Almost every day here, boys are leaving to get soldier training. I went to many farewell parties for my friends.

In March, I bought a war bond for $100 which I can redeem in 1928 for an additional four and a quarter percent interest. Big Freedom, Red Cross and many other parades are being held from time to time.

After July 1st all men in store positions, waiters, theater employees and so on must look for a spot in factories and women are taking their places. Five million men were sent to France in order to beat the Emperor. I hope the war will find an end soon.

I believe you feel sorry for me, but do not fear, all Americans treat me well. All German language was exterminated in the schools and even in the churches. The high schools have burned all German books. You can’t believe how everyone hates the Emperor, even I.

If what all the papers write is true, it must be horrible. Prisoners are being treated badly. Arms, ears and noses are cut off and they are being hanged. Belgian and French girls, women and children are murdered, burned alive and buried. The hospitals are bombed. In an American theater, a picture was shown entitled “The Emperor, Beast of Berlin” and a man in the audience was so angry that he shot at the screen in his rage. He made a big hole in the white curtain and said, “If I can’t get him there, I will get him here.” I could relate a thousand things of how hated the Emperor is, but soon they will get him and then it will be the end of the war.

This was a big day. All men from eighteen to forty-five have to register. In Peoria alone, 14,000 men had to go. When they are all deployed, it’s good night Germany. I wished I could go too. I am safe and sound despite the fact that, now, I don’t have much money. All my savings are being used up. Food and clothing are very expensive. I hope the war will be over soon.

You can read my grandfather’s entire journal by clicking below.  It’s quite interesting!  Of course, I’m biased!   🙂

http://www.leucht.com/history/My_Journey_To_America-Journal_of_Kurt_William_Leucht-1914_to_1920.pdf

Thanks for your interest!
Kurt