Open Source Maps for the Garmin
April 14, 2009 at 9:28 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentRecently I’ve been a bit frustrated by my GPS. I have a very nice Garmin Vista HCx that I had my City Navigator purchased for. But for some dumb reason I didn’t install the whole set on my GPS a few years ago when I bought it – only the areas where I was travelling at the time. After a new hard drive in my laptop, rebuilding everything and now a new Acer netbook I’m looking forward to travelling with, I can’t seem to find my original install software. The maps were still on my Garmin so I was OK navigation wise, but not on my computer to explore and mark waypoints. I got a new copy of Trip & Waypoint manager, but couldn’t move the partial maps back to my computer without the correct unlock code. (It is apparently different for the GPS and the computer.)
I went to Garmin’s website looking for some maps for South America – we’ll be taking a cruise in May, and I thought it would be a great way to explore a bit before we head there, mark some points of interest, and still be able to quickly find our way back to the ship when we’re done. Turns out they don’t have commercial maps for that region! But I did find some community created maps I was able to download with lots of points of interest.
But then I transferred them over to my GPS. Uh, oh. I wiped out my City Navigator data and the last surviving copy of my license. Now I no longer have my license AND I don’t have the cursed maps. Sure, I am set up for the Caribbean, but not for anything else I use my GPS for. This is where I start cursing Garmin and their ridiculous licensing and protection scheme. While I love my GPS’s hardware (which is unfortunately also showing its age as the glue holding the rubber strip starts to let go) I haven’t touched the maps on it in a long time specifically because the unit’s software seems so difficult to navigate. What good is a $300 GPS with only major highways on it? C’mon!
Lots of companies have built great maps now. And there is a community of other GPS users out there that have also had similar difficulties with Garmin’s maps, and lack of updates. So when I barked about my problems on Twitter I was happy to learn that there are now community supported OpenStreetMaps (OSM) available now in Garmin format, with FREQUENT updates, including routing!
Anyhow, after a whole bunch of searching, this is the site I came up with:
http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php
Going to try to download some of the local tiles, see how they work, and then perhaps download up to date maps for our trip!
Council Shoulder Patches for Chase
April 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: america, blog, boy scout, boy scouts of america, bsa, council, csp, cub, good turn, leukemia, patch, plurk, scout, scouting, service, shoulder, troop, twitter
This is NOT an urban legend. I personally (Dan Gross a.k.a. Vdub144) am organizing this for a friend and fellow Scout in need. I’m happy to vouch for the validity of this project personally. What’s more, I am back here begging because we really NEED YOUR HELP!
Here’s the story:
In late March 2009, 13 year old Tenderfoot Scout, Chase, from Georgia was hiking with his troop. He came home with a sore lump on his leg that everyone thought was some type of bite. It was hot to the touch and painful. A blood test revealed that Chase had Leukemia, a complete surprise diagnosis. He was immediately admitted to the hospital where doctors cleaned his blood to lower his white cell count and then began chemotherapy.
What bummed Chase out most was that he would miss Scouts with his troop over the summer. We’ve all been sick before, and one of the best ways to get better that I know of is to help keep spirits up and keep a positive attitude.
Thanks to social networking sites like Twitter and Plurk, I thought a great way to show support for Chase was to help start a Council Shoulder Patch collection from all around the country. CSP’s are inexpensive, colorful, and represent how far and wide support for Chase’s recovery comes from.
Chase has a twin brother, William, so we are asking for everyone who wishes to participate to send two CSPs from a council near them. To avoid duplication, we set up a spreadsheet on Google Docs so you can see what has been promised, and what Chase has received already. Please send all donations to Chase’s mom at her school (work) address:
Caroline O’Bannon, c/o Barrow Schools, 179 West Athens St., Winder, GA 30680.
You don’t have to be a Boy Scout to participate. This is something that a 13 year old boy is interested in, and therefore a great place to start. Just about any little small personal care item or a positive note can be sent to Chase to show him that you are thinking about him and wish him well. Scouts love patches – maybe a museum patch, a patch from the college or university you work for or attend, or some geocaching swag might be more your style? He has been extremely impressed so far in how well connected his mom is “in all the right ways.”
Here’s what I’m asking for…
I want to get TWO BSA Council Shoulder Patches from every council across the US sent to Chase. (The second for his twin brother William.) There are several hundred councils across the US, and many councils have more than one design for a CSP, so there is a LOT of chance to participate. Patches are pretty inexpensive – about $3-$5 each, and are available are nearby Scout shops, sporting goods stores, neighborhood hardware stores, and online from BSA Supply. Total investment might be in the $6-10 range, plus a little bit of your time. If a couple of people work in the same office and are willing to send a package, it might only cost each person a buck or two to send from the group. Again, any other personal little pick-me-up for Chase would be a great addition to the envelope as well if you are willing.
Please take a look at the following Google Docs spreadsheet. It will let you know who has already committed to send a patch, and from where. We don’t need to duplicate efforts, so if your local patch is already taken, maybe you can send a patch from another nearby council?
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p69S8eaBr9-aUavWSz5jieQ&hl=en
If you’re not sure what council you live in, a quick trip to http://www.Wikipedia.com and type in “scouting <your state>” will bring up an article letting you know what councils are near you.
Then you can visit a Scout shop, or talk to a nearby Boy Scout or Cub Scout unit near you to find out where you can get patches to send to Chase. If you want to buy them online and send them, you can do that at the BSA supply site:
(I have noticed that the prices on the BSA supply site are pretty in line or even a bit less than what some of the local councils are charging these days!)
Don’t forget to go back to the spreadsheet again and mark off that you have sent the patches.
Please forward this message on and let everyone know. I don’t want to keep bugging everyone, but this project is really important to me as I do my own “good turn.” I hope you can help out and brighten the day of this young man as he makes this very serious fight.
Yours in Scouting,
Daniel Gross
Hello from Wilmot!
February 23, 2009 at 9:07 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentToday I am at Wilmot High School talking with area teachers. Its great to be here, and show them all about blogging and syndication!
Who will next steer the Wisconsin DPI ship?
February 18, 2009 at 12:42 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: budget, department public instruction, dpi, election, evers, fernandez, funding, school, schools, state, superintendent, wisconsin
Yesterday was the primary elections in the state of Wisconsin. Probably one of the bigger races I care about is the State Superintendant of Schools position. Our current Superintendant is retiring, so there were lots of new names in from both parties. The primary yesterday brought the field down from 5 to just 2.
One candidate served under the current Superintendant. Tony Evers is experienced & qualified. Despite how he claims he will be different, it is likely that we can expect that not much would change under his administration. Which in some ways is unfortunate, because the biggest complaint I have about our current administration is that it is often concerned with the issues of politics before the issues of children, and rarely if ever strays from the party line our Governor dictates. But Wisconsin schools, at least on paper – the stuff the politicians care about – are really good. And while other states have experienced teacher shortages, Wisconsin has historically always had an abundance of qualified, certified teachers. I don’t care too much about Evers one way or the other beyond that. In the next few weeks I suppose I will tune in a bit more and learn more.
The person running as a conservative bills herself as a “Mom on a Mission.” This morning on the radio I heard Rose Fernandez tearing down Milwaukee Public Schools – our largest single school system, and arguably the one facing some of the greatest and most difficult challenges due to its size & demographic. (A large number of students living in poverty in families that often feel powerless over their own destiny.) When the state teachers union, WEAC, backed the liberal candidate *as unions tend to do* she began blasting the teachers of our state and how parents are tired of “WEAC” (read “teachers”) running the Department of Public Instruction in our state.
As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel pointed out this morning in their election coverage at http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/39765042.html, there was little interest in the top post from anyone who had any REAL experience with K12 education.
By the way, it took quite a bit of searching to find any coverage on this at all. The day after the primary. Yeah. I’m not sure there is much interest at all.
While she doesn’t yet have the support Evers does, Fernandez interprets her advancing to the election is already “a victory for real people over the special interests.”
Probably not if you’re a child in this state Ms. “Mom on a Mission.”
You should probably know about me that in addition to having spent my personal and professional life in and around public and private schools and non-formal learning environments like museums, I am also an Adult Boy Scout leader. There is a high correlation between successful leaders in our world, and their involvement as youth in the Boy Scouts. “Scout” is derived from a French term which means “to listen.” In our programs we teach young leaders about listening, and service leadership. Our highest honor in the Boy Scouts is to earn one’s Eagle, a process which demonstrates showing outstanding leadership and service to one’s community.
If I could advise BOTH candidates between now and April I would tell them to not head down the slippery slope of making friends by promoting “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But more specifically ~ Fernandez, in my view, needs to do a lot of damage control by already having attacked teachers as a “special interest.”
I’m not sure how well the campaign would go if one needed to be elected to run a hospital by attacking the Pediatric Trauma Nurses as special interests or not understanding how best to do their jobs. I guess that kind of reasoning only makes sense when highly trained and experienced teachers who excel at what they’ve dedicated their life’s work are “promoted” for their knowledge and competence to work in our state’s highest office of educational oversight. Perhaps Pediatric Trauma Nurses perform best when space issues force patients to remain in the hallway, diagnostic equipment is tampered with, and they’re unable to treat patients whose uninsured parents can’t cough up the nickel & dime fees at every turn because while saline is covered by State & Federal programs, the clean IV needles required to deliver it were diverted in earmarks.
Each day teachers work off of carts travelling from room to room maybe getting to decorate a bulletin board they can call home. Students sit in “relocatable trailers” in the parking lots, with less square footage per student than their highest earning unfortunate parents can muster in a 10′x10′ cubicle for the rest of their lives. Fast talking self-pretentious politicians tie school funding to one size fits all assembly line tests that can consume up to 20% of instructional time in a year. Then they fail to deliver on their promises proclaiming they are “just short” of what was promised and necessary. No problem. If we’re “just short” ~ let’s have a bake sale.
Maybe, just maybe, while my son occupies his 36 square foot of non-private instructional space equipped with a very comfortable hard plastic resin chair and work surface custom fitted to his growing physical needs his special interest minded teacher will use part of her daily allotment of 6 minutes per student to provide him with a piece of paper and a pencil so he can say THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK to both Evers and Fernandez as you each seek the glory that comes along with such a prestigious office such as heading up the Department of Public Instruction.
No wonder paper & pencils aren’t provided.
Thinking about what my Dream Computer would be
January 21, 2009 at 1:43 pm | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsA discussion on Plurk about laptops got me to thinking about what my perfect next computer would be.
I’ve always struggled a bit with laptops vs. desktops – you get more and pay less if you can’t pick it up and move it around. Desktops are also much easier to upgrade ~ I do chip pulls on almost all my old desktop machines and frequently upgrade memory sticks and hard drives as they get bigger & cheaper. The expected life of a laptop is far less. Not only is the machine slightly behind the cutting edge in terms of speed & memory, and it is harder in most cases to self-upgrade beyond hard drives and RAM, and then you have to deal with the issues of theft and damage as well. Nothing is worse than that sinking feeling of losing EVERYTHING you’ve worked on when your laptop is stolen or breaks.
Needless to say, I have a fleet of desktop based machines. They work as media servers, guest workstations, and for hosting software that sometimes is somewhat mutually exclusive to other software.
But when you need a laptop, you NEED a laptop. Hauling desktops around for making presentations, or trying to get through airport security is a deal-killer.
Working on a strange machine, borrowing one when its needed, or dealing with changes in software and licensing between machines is usually not a whole lot of fun when you’re on the road.
It’s been almost 5 years since I bought my last real laptop. It was replaced once under warranty about 2 years ago.
I was hung up on the “bigger is better” thing, and got a machine with a 17″ widescreen and 12 cell battery! It was indeed a “desktop replacement” that did everything. These two laptops got hauled all over the place as big, bulky & heavy as they are through airport security lines and to & from many, many appointments. Once I weighed my bag in at around 15lbs.
I learned a bit by doing this. I want the POWER of a great machine – but I don’t want the bulk and weight. Giving up a big screen saves battery life. A smaller battery saves weight. Smaller keyboard, getting rid of optical drives – all things that make a great portable.
I’ve had a docking station for years. Not one of the USB port replicators, but a “real” docking station that allows me to leave my devices, power and Ethernet all connected. I kept typing away on my laptop keyboard and using my laptop screen while it was in my dock. It was “ok” I suppose.
Then I saw my brother’s workstation. A small but powerful laptop – two large monitors (22″ and 24″) connected – a wireless keyboard & mouse and many happy peripherals like a printer and scanner. WHY was I still trying to type on my laptop’s keyboard while at my desk?
It inspired me to pick up a nice 22″ widescreen LCD. I also set up a distribution amp so that my laptop in its dock could power my projector and SMART board on the other side of my room. I haven’t gotten the wireless keyboard yet, but it’s on my list. In the meanwhile, I’m still “wired.”
But I’m sitting upright once again!
My next move is to replace the computer and docking station with a lighter, more travel-friendly model. I know I no longer need to worry about having a giant screen or heavy battery. With a single push of the button, my comfortable desktop machine becomes a very portable laptop containing my files, settings and software.
We recently bought an Acer Aspire One for my son – a little 9in ultra-portable and the complete OPPOSITE of my very bloated but long loved Gateway M685. The Acer comes with solid state drives & long battery lives – but a real docking station is still missing from the lineup. (And my hands complain severely trying to type on it or to use the tiny track pad.)
The idea is somewhere in there, however…
- I want an ultralight netbook – maybe an 11 or 12in model so my tired eyes can see while on the road.
- A high end processor and plenty of memory, not the low end ATOM ones.
- Add two solid state drives of at least 32G each so I can process video on the road, and at least two SDHC slots so I can quickly swap out my own media while editing. USB and Firewire ports on the laptop are a given as is a place to plug in a set of wired headphones while travelling.
- Give me a real docking station I can easily drop in and out of easily. NOT a USB port replicator, but a drop in station that clicks in place providing power, monitors as well as connections.
- I will equip it with an optical writable drive, a large capacity (1Tb) traditional disk drive that automatically backs up my documents from the netbook each time I “cradle” the device, a full sized LCD panel, and wireless keyboard and mouse. Of course I’ll keep my SMART board and the hardware necessary to make that work connected as well.
- Bluetooth and cellular cards should be an optional add on ~ Wifi must be present.
- Most of the netbooks also feature small cameras and microphones that make portable Skype on the road easy without needing to carry additional hardware. At my desk I will use my external camera.
Now, I just need to find the right components to build such a setup!
What is it exactly that McDonalds is selling again?
November 17, 2008 at 11:01 pm | In Uncategorized | 3 CommentsTags: customer, fast food, marketing, mcdonalds, service
20 years ago I worked in Fast Food. At two nationally known chains I became a manager, in one case supervising 7 stores for a franchise. In both cases, the owners felt they knew better than Corporate choosing to significantly alter some major business practice, usually to the detriment of consumers.
We joked about a training story, and I think of it often today, in which we said that consumers don’t go to McDonalds because of the great taste of the food. Consumers go to McDonalds because no matter where they walk through the Golden Arches they can expect exactly the same product and pretty close to the same price, always with friendly service. (I did NOT work at McDonalds, BTW.) In fact, many McDonalds commercials want you to believe it is a fun place to visit, and their employees are some of the best in the world.
Of course we all know that isn’t the reality! We’ve all had miserable experiences at McDonalds. Since there are so many of them, you may even know that you want to drive past 2 or 3 of them because they really are that bad. Sometimes I forget – there is a franchise owner in Racine, Wisconsin that owns a couple of stores that really top the list for being at the bottom. I hit one of those stores on Lathrop Ave. again today.
Back in the day our cost on a $1 mega-soda was around $.17 by the time you counted syrup, cups, etc. At the other chain, we shot for a FLC (food, labor and coupon) cost around 20-22%. Even after other overhead was covered, the profit margin is pretty high.
Still, most of us can empathize with the owner that says that “bathrooms are for customers only” or any of a number of other less than neighborly advances; because we understand that the store exists to make money. And while I just REALLY needed a cup of water today while being out I decided that since I had skipped lunch I could purchase a couple of burgers at McDonalds to get a glass of water.
“We don’t have cups of water. You have to purchase a bottle.”
Not that I particularly care if my water is in a bottle or a cup when I drink it, but I do care (if I were to extrapolate from this experience) that McDonalds corporate policy was to be as completely irresponsible as possible and put as much plastic into landfills as they can.
I know better – McDonalds corporate policy is to reduce their waste. (Says so on their homepage.) They’ve switched from the Styrofoam and irresponsible packaging of the past to slightly more degradable packaging like paper lightly waxed.
Maybe that it is just the whole idea that what I really needed was a cup of water, and I was being forcefully upsold to a product that itself was not what I go to McDonalds for. I could have ordered a soda I suppose; the cost would have been less than that smaller bottle of water. Generally, I avoid soda for the health risks, although I do occasionally have one. It’s just not my first choice.
OK, so if health was my main concern, I wouldn’t be ordering a burger at McDonalds in the first place, and my job requires me to drive in my car in such a way that I’m not always exactly the most eco-friendly traveler – but it’s the tone of the voice, and the message “we don’t HAVE a glass of water. You have to buy a bottle” that probably bothers me the most.
At this point in my life, I’ve eaten at McDonalds more than once or twice. I even tried to give up McDonalds for Lent once. Man was I glad when Easter passed that year and I was able to get a burger! (You miss it when you can’t have it. I suppose over the years I have HAD to eat at McDonalds so many times, I’ve developed a taste for it.) But at the end of the day, like most of us, regardless of MY corporate loyalty ~ this McDonalds didn’t care about me or any of those basic human needs like thirst.
This restaurant wasn’t in the best neighborhood. It was between a school I serve and the Boy Scout office I was travelling to. My local Fox affiliate just ran a story tonight entitled “Do corner stores really offer the freshest option?” http://tinyurl.com/6z77ra (redirects to myfoxmilwaukee.com) At the heart of the story is that many people who live in such neighborhoods often don’t have great choices to feed their families. I’d concur.
I wonder if perhaps the McDonalds in my neighborhood knows that we DO have choices, and they MUST try harder, or I simply will not eat there?
Maybe two years ago I took my case to the manager at another McDonalds nearby this bad one that I believe is owned by the same owner. I was told it was “corporate policy” not to provide “free” drinks, even with a purchase. (Apparently the cost on those paper cups has skyrocketed. Someone better tell Paper Machinery Corporation to stop making those cups out of gold.)
This time I simply left. I chose NOT to buy the bottle of water OR the burgers. Or the line of crap that this franchise was selling.
Last time I checked, the McDonalds in MY neighborhood still gave me a cup of water if I asked, regardless if I purchased food. (Which I usually do.) Moreover, they’re happy to provide complementary Orange Drink for our Scout functions, and provide coupons for free ice cream cones during civic events or to the local police who give them out to kids wearing their bike helmets around town.
Interestingly enough, a few hours later, since I still had not eaten, I stopped at a different McDonalds on Hwy 20, still in the city. I pulled into the drive through, and decided to just get a double cheeseburger off the dollar menu to tide me over until dinner. The person who took my order asked me if I wanted the $1 cheeseburger or the $1.25 cheeseburger. Huh?
The latter has a “second piece of cheese” she explained. (Hmmm… Once again, another franchise owner playing with the product.) One piece of cheese was enough for me anyhow, so I stayed with the “new” $1 version. At least I wasn’t charged for the cup of water that I just HAD to order to prove that indeed McDonalds did still have a “courtesy cup.”
Overall, McDonalds appears to have a pretty big problem. Perhaps they don’t realize how bad it has become. Before I drop $6 – $8 at a McDonalds on a couple of “premium” burgers or designer coffees instead of heading to a place I can enjoy a nice warm plate, a smile, and food that is perhaps just a little better for me I will ask myself exactly WHAT it is that McDonalds thinks they’re selling.
Yeah, I suppose if I’m in such a rush that I have to hit a drive through not knowing if I dare eat in any of the other more colorful local establishments that I can’t seek out an alternative… Because I’m not sure McDonalds understands that the core of their business is consistency. Serving the same meal at the same deal each and every time, no matter where you travel is essential to their product. Having a friendly smile to greet me, and understanding that corporations like theirs exist because of customers like me who return far too often than we should is more powerful than the tens of millions of dollars they must spend on advertisements trying to convince me that somehow this time, my experience will be better, be “different.”
By the way – if you treat a customer well – they might tell a friend. But if you treat them poorly, you can expect that they may very well blog on the experience and send out links to that blog post on Twitter, Plurk, and perhaps dozens of other social networks telling tens of thousands of others around the world just how bad your service is.
The problem is, you ruin it for the good franchises. If McDonalds would let me identify these franchise owners by name on this page I would. (C’mon! Do you REALLY think I need a restaurant locator? They’re on every street corner! What I want to know is how bad a particular restaurant is, and the opportunity to rate it on that page so YOU know what I know.) Without consistency the McDonalds brand is nothing.
I don’t think it will be quite so hard to give up my “little pleasure” for Lent this year. But again, I’m lucky. I have choices.
An early Christmas Present for Educators!
November 6, 2008 at 12:57 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentEvery year, around Christmas, I like to remind the teachers that we work with in Southeastern Wisconsin about the FREE Teachers Pass to the Milwaukee Public Museum. The museum believes that your class will have a better experience if you are able to come down to the museum and get to learn all about all of the great opportunities and resources available for your class. Then, when you visit with your class, you can spend more time doing what you do best ~ teaching!
This year I am going to post this just a little bit early. It’s an exciting time to visit the Milwaukee Public Museum – the Titan Arum is about to bloom in the butterfly garden, and the Titanic exhibition is bringing in visitors from all over the region! (An extra fee is required for admission to the Titanic.)
In addition to free admission for you as an educator, you will receive a significant discount on parking at McArthur Square ($5 instead of $16), a 15% discount on gifts and food while visiting, and notification of special education open houses, behind the scenes tours, and distance learning programs.
Please visit the education resources page at mpm.edu and get your own FREE Educators Pass today!
Indian Summer
November 3, 2008 at 11:14 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentSometimes kids just need to be kids!
Today we enjoyed a great Indian Summer, with November temps in the low 70s! Rather than meeting inside at the library where we normally do, we had the boys meet at the former Boy Scout camp KaHaGon, now Racine County Park Wadewitz. This was a great night for boys to be boys!
After some sharing, we played Kick the Can and Ghost in the Graveyard! We opened our meeting with a great lighting of a campfire, that helped keep some of the parents extra toasty after dark. While the campfire burned, the kids played around the building until the coals were “just right.”
We finished up with toasted marshmallows and s’ mores before our denner closed the meeting with an impromptu prayer. Let’s face it – this IS what every kid loves to do in Cub Scouts! And tonight, we got to do it! 6 VERY happy boys, and a couple of VERY happy leaders!
A Stinky Gram…
November 3, 2008 at 1:51 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment“A Titanic Bloom with a Titanic Smell”
Don’t miss out on a Titanic Bloom at the Milwaukee Public Museum…
A rare Titan Arum plant will bloom late November at the Milwaukee Public Museum. In nature, these plants only occur on the island of Sumatra and are listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A Titan from seed takes seven or more years to flower. The Titan Arum is the worlds largest flower. Once it opens, the flower will last 36-48 hours and smells like a pungent rotting corpse. The strongest order will last about 6 hours during the night.
Join Museum Botanist Neil Luebke November 5th from 9:00 am to 10: 00 am, November 12th from 9:30 to 10:30 am and November 20th from 9:00 am to 10:00 am for an interactive Chat Session with a Museum Expert, Neil, about this amazing Titanic bloom! This session is free but space is limited. Call today for your reservation to join us for one or all of the sessions. Don’t miss out on this amazing event happening in Milwaukee for the first time.
Call Gaye-Lynn Clyde at 414-278-6146 or send an e-mail to clyde@mpm.edu to reserve your space for this Titanic Bloom with a Titanic Smell Chat.
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A couple of notes:
A low bandwidth webcam is on the Corpse Flower at:
http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/special/titan-arum/video.php
A 20Mb multicast MPEG2 stream is available on Internet2 via VLC at:
Christmas Tree Ship
October 27, 2008 at 1:45 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
The Christmas Tree Ship series is right around the corner and already filling fast. Can’t you just hear the jing, jing, jingling? The award winning Christmas Tree Ship series is being offered this November 17th – 21st and December 1st – 19th
for students of all ages. All programs feature the art of storytelling through the context of Great Lakes Maritime history and align with National and State Language Arts standards. Age appropriate sessions are available for students in k-12 grades.
- Christmas Tree Ship Series: Story Time (K – 3) – In this program for little ears, listen to the reading of Jeanette Winter’s book, “The Christmas Tree Ship.” Participants then make a storytelling ornament that helps them share Great Lakes maritime history with friends and family. Ornaments for each participant are included in this program.
- Christmas Tree Ship Series: The Art of Storytelling (4 –
– Hear the story of the famous “Christmas Tree Ship” through song in this program by singer, songwriter, and storyteller, Lee Murdock. Participants them become the storyteller through a windowpane storyboard of their own.
- Christmas Tree Ship Series: Creative Writing With a Historic Perspective (9 – 12) – Step back in history to write a story of your won about this historical maritime event, the “Christmas Tree Ship.” Use the resources provided by author Rochelle Pennington who has written two books about the famous Christmas Tree Ship. Creative writing is easy and fun with Rochelle’s tips and guidelines!
Many have booked time and again over the last 5 years and each year the program has booked to capacity. For those of you that haven’t booked a program in the past we invite you to join us at the 2007-08 pricing of only $95.00 per session. Ornament kits for each student are included in the $95.00 pricing and are mailed directly to you. To accommodate the increasingly large numbers of bookings we’ve added additional sessions this year. Programs are filled on a first come, first serve basis, so please book your session today by contacting Gaye-Lynn Clyde by email at clyde@mpm.edu, or by calling, 414-278-6146.
Thank you for your continued support of our Passport Distance Learning Series programs!
MPM Distance Learning and Education Department
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