This month’s feature articles:

Regular monthly features:

Gifted children can be highly sensitive. They can feel deeply and be affected greatly by events and happenings. Being different can be a challenge to someone who just wants to be "normal." Coping with life’s difficulties is difficult, even more so sometimes, for gifted children.
The children’s picture book Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day’ by Judith Viorst, shows life in a way many children can relate to. ‘Wombat Stew’ by M. Vaughn is another such book. These kinds of narrative stories have been used for ages to help children deal with life and its situations.

The act of reading a book is not bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy involves non-intrusive discussions about events and/or people in the stories. Hope is emphasized as characters work themselves out of situations. There is the idea that others have felt the same way. Seeing others solve their problem helps us solve our own.

Children who benefit from bibliotherapy:

• emotionally distraught, with family problems or break-ups
• ones dealing with death (human or other)
• those moving to a new home (including adoption)
• ones suffering mental/emotional stress/pressure

• behavioral changes
• suggest possible solutions
• reduce fear
• deal better with ability/disability
• promote thinking and mental processing
• develop empathy for characters and then for self
• challenge readers to help themselves through characters

Ways to use bibliotherapy:

• group or individual sessions
• in a whole class setting (depending on theme)
• counsellor/client relationship

• know the person/people who need(s) help
• choose the book extremely carefully
• know the literature thoroughly before using it
• make sure the literature is suitable to age and personality
• establish trust so the person will open up
• develop a set of relevant and guiding questions

• identifying – person associates with character(s) and situation
• catharsis – reader experiences emotions in the book and empathizes
• insight – applies what is learned to personal life

• look for hidden meanings
• use Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop questions
• creative follow-ups i.e. art, music, writing
• do research on related topics

Having troubled children discuss fictional situations, rather than confronting their personal specific feelings, reduces inhibitions in dealing with personal subjects. Bibliotherapy can be a good way to help gifted children in need.

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:
1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS:
1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE, OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:
1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE. THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR GARDEN BECAUSE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

May 6 – Nurses Day

May 9 – National Teacher’s Day

May 13 – Full moon tonight

May 14 – Mother’s Day

May 16 – National Census Day (Canada)!!

May 17 – World Telecommunication Day

May 21 – World Day for Cultural Development

May 22 – Victoria Day

May 25 – Africa Day

May 26 - National Day for Healing and Reconciliation - Canada

May 29 – International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

May 31 – World No-Tobacco Day

This is also National Tuberous Sclerosis Awareness Month

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• The entire country of France takes August off as national holiday time.
• New Delhi – the capital city of India - has a problem with the estimated 35,000 cows and buffaloes that roam freely in the city. The state now gives 2000 rupees ($56) for each capture, to people who take the animals to special shelters.
• Workplace stress and work-related conflict are among the top reasons why employees of companies ask for counseling and other assistance.
• It is estimated that the average citizen of London, England is recorded about 300 times every day on monitoring cameras. There are about 4.2 billion cameras already watching Britons in most major cities across the country.
• The global market for video surveillance is expected to grow to about $8.6 billion US by 2010. (Smile, anywhere! You are probably on camera.)
• Men produce about twice as much saliva as women.
• Banana plants are classified as the largest herbs in the world.

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Recovering Previously Erased Work:

Surprisingly, many people think that once something has been erased or deleted a while back, it is no longer recoverable. Wrong! This tip will save you much stress and tension in the future.

Go to "Edit" and click "Undo" as many times as you like to bring back words, deletions, format changes - almost endlessly from a long way back.

To prove this to yourself try this. Write or copy a sentence or paragraph. Make all kinds of changes, additions, deletions, errors, etc. until it is almost unrecognizable. Go to "Undo", keep clicking and watch as you get back to the original.

This should work with other word processing programs too, but try it out to see if there is a limit on your computer.

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At this moment, there is only one person that is academically accredited in the world, has developed a course in it, and has this as a full-time career, so the field is wide open.

So what does he do? He creates mathematical, word/crossword and logic puzzles. You will have to take his course to learn how to do it more professionally.

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2005-6 major writers awards nominees and winners

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden.

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant.

A Bed of Red Flowers: In search of My Afghanistan by Nelofer Pazira

Matchbook For A Mother’s Hair by Matt Shaw.

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God’s business." – actor Michael J. Fox

"To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster." – Stirling Moss, racecar driver.

"Researchers at Harvard say that taking a power nap for an hour in the afternoon can totally refresh you. They say that by the time you wake up you’ll feel so good, you’ll be able to start looking for a new job." – Jay Leno

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." – Thomas A. Edison

"If you have a job without any aggravations, you don’t have a job." – Malcolm S. Forbes, publisher

All the things my mother taught me:

My mom taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE -
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside - I just finished cleaning!"

My mother taught me RELIGION -
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL:
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

My mother taught me LOGIC:
"Because I said so, that's why."

My mother taught me FORESIGHT -
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

My mother taught me IRONY -
"Keep laughing and I'll give you something to cry out."

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS -
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM -
"Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

My mother taught me about STAMINA -
"You'll sit there 'til all that spinach is finished."

My mother taught me about WEATHER -
"It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."

My mother taught me how to solve PHYSICS PROBLEMS -
"If I yelled because I saw a meteor coming toward you; would you listen then?"

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY -
"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times - don't exaggerate!"

My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE -
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION -
Stop acting like your father!"

My mother taught me about ENVY -
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"
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