Good stories

I found a book of a collection of stories that might have given Shakespeare some ideas for his plays. It's called Shakespeare's Storybook: Folk Tales that Inspired the Bard Retold by Patrick Ryan. I really enjoyed this book because it gives background on the stories and a brief summary of the plays that are based off of them, and it gives insight into the plays/stories as well on a level that children can understand. Another reason I like it so much is that it has a storyteller perspective on all of the plays and stories. In the introduction it reads:

A storyteller knows that a good story is worth telling more than once. And any storyteller can tell you that each time a tale is told, it may be a little different and a little better than it was before.

I really agree with that.
Wish I could write more, but I need to get going.

Idea for teaching algebra : Finding X

X is a spy and you (the Ss) have to identify him/her. Your spy gadgets include +,-,*, and / (and others when they become necessary). Use your gadgets to unmask X!

So it's late and I'm quite tired. But I think this link will take you to my site where the movie is available for viewing.
http://sites.google.com/site/myjourneytobetterteaching/curriculum/movie-challenge

This is where it starts...

I wish I had thought about doing this earlier. There are so many things that I have learned and experimented with in teaching that I wished I had a better place for than one of my many notebooks or to get lost in my file-eating boxes.
More to come...