The Secret to Living is Giving

A young man who was graduating from college told the story about how Oral Lee Brown was his "Real Life Angel." In 1987, Brown, a real estate agent in Northern California, saw a young girl in her neighborhood begging for money.

When she went to the school the girl had claimed to attend, Brown couldn't find her, but that day she made a decision that would change the lives of many other children forever. She adopted an entire first-grade class in one of Oakland's lowest performing schools, and she pledged that she personally would pay for anyone who wanted to attend college.

This would be a great story even if Oral Lee was independently wealthy; however, it is a much greater story considering she was a former cotton picker from Mississippi, making $45,000 a year and raising two children of her own.
Brown lived up to her pledge. Since 1987, she's personally saved $10,000 a year while raising donations for her "adopted first-grade kids." And because of her tremendous act of unselfish love, children who could have been "swallowed by the streets" are now graduating from college to pursue their dreams.

Oral Lee Brown

We all seek our purpose in life. Most of us wonder how we can make a positive difference during our brief time on this earth. But Oral Lee Brown discovered the simple secret...GIVING. Arthur Ashe said it best,
"From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life."
There's an amazing paradox of giving...you can never help another person without helping yourself.

What Do You Make?

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.

One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued,” What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental. You want to know what I make? (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table)

I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write.. Key boarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life. (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?

His jaw dropped, he went silent.

Kids Are Funny - Famous Sayings

I teach fourth grade in Ventura County, California. As a fun assignment, I gave the students the beginning of a list of famous sayings and asked them to provide original endings for each one. Here are some examples of what my students submitted.

- The grass is always greener when you leave the sprinkler on.

- A rolling stone plays the guitar.

- The grass is always greener when you remember to water it.

- A bird in the hand is a real mess.

- No news is no newspaper.

- It's better to light one candle than to waste electricity.

- It's always darkest just before I open my eyes.

- You have nothing to fear but homework.

- If you can't stand the heat, don't start the fireplace.

- If you can't stand the heat, go swimming.

- Never put off 'til tomorrow what you should have done yesterday.

- A penny saved is nothing in the real world.

- The squeaking wheel gets annoying.

- We have nothing to fear but our principal.

- To err is human. To eat a muskrat is not.

- I think, therefore I get a headache.

- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry, and someone yells, "Shut up!"

- Better to light a candle than to light an explosive.

- It's always darkest before 9:30 p.m.

- Early to bed and early to rise is first in the bathroom.

- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a blister.

- There is nothing new under the bed.

- The grass is always greener when you put manure on it.

- Don't count your chickens -- it takes too long.

Written by Pastor Tim 

Some Strange Things About The English Language

Funny and Strange things about the English language, English grammar, spelling, pronunciation and word usage.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

When the stars are out, they are visible, when the lights are out, they are invisible.

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Come on, let’s polish the Polish furniture.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

How can ‘A Slim Chance’ and ‘A Fat Chance’ be the same?

How can ‘You’re so cool’ and ‘You’re not so hot’ be different?

Why are ‘A Wise man’ and ‘A Wise guy’ opposites?

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

The bandage was wound around the wound.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

Boxing rings are square.

A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

The farm was used to produce produce.

English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France.

If brother becomes Brethren, why doesn’t mother become Methren?

If tooth becomes teeth, why doesn’t booth become beeth?

If one goose becomes two geese, why doesn’t one moose become two meese?

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

How come writers write but fingers do not fing?
And Grocers do not groce and Hammers do not ham?

A hat in the plural doesn’t become hose.
And a cat in the plural doesn’t become cose.

A box in the plural is boxes.
But an ox in the plural does not become oxes but oxen. 

A lone mouse can transform into a whole set of mice, but it’s impossible for a single house to become a whole block of hice. (It becomes houses).

Although the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, we must be grateful for small mercies of the language that the feminine pronouns after ‘She’ don’t become ‘Shis’ and ‘Shim’.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

He could lead if he could only get the lead out.

They were too close to the door to close it.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns down,
in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

It is only in the English language that people recite at a play and play at a recital.

No sooner had my eyes fallen upon the tear in the painting, then these eyes of mine began to shed many a tear.

I was given a number of injections to make the pain number.

It’s not ridiculous, but entirely sensible to ship by truck and send cargo by ship.

We are a strange lot to have noses that run and feet that smell.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

I was proven right that I had the right of way.

How come you never hear of a combobulated, gruntled, ruly, or peccable person?

Why is it that whether you sit down or sit up, the results are the same?

Shouldn’t there be a shorter word for “monosyllable”?

If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?

If people from Poland are called “Poles,” why aren’t people from Holland called “Holes?

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

The human race has been running for a great many centuries now – but we’re not tired yet.

“I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence?

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

Written by Richard Lederer

Where Do Our Rights Come From?

It has been reported that a student was given a question, "Where do our rights come from?" He answered with one word: God. The teacher marked it wrong. 

The next day the boy's mother accompanied him to school carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence. "All men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Then the teacher marked it correct.

lipstick Prints On School's Mirror

According to a news report, a certain private school in Newcastle upon Tyne was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the  girls would put them back.

Finally the Headmistress decided that something had to be done. She  called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing  a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.  (you can just imagine the yawns from the little Geordie 'Princesses').

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she  asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers....
..and then there are educators.