Using the News in the Classroom: Bayeux Tapestry to go on Loan to British Museum in 2026

 

CLICK here to download a reading on the Bayeux Tapestry: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Bayeux-Tapestry-A-Reading-Passage-Middle-Ages-463984

The Bayeux Tapestry, actually an embroidery, was  made more than 900 years ago, depicts the famous 1066 Battle of Hastings. For the first time, in the fall of 2026, the tapestry will be on display at the British Museum in London, England, due to an agreement between the countries of France and Great Britain. The French are loaning the tapestry as a gift to honor the upcoming 1000 birthday of William the Conqueror.  Artifacts will be loaned to France in the exchange. 

Made up of six pieces of bleached linen, the tapestry is about 230 ft. long and includes 626 humans(of which 4 are women), 202 horses, 41 ships, 33 buildings, 49 trees and 55 dogs! The tapestry gives a wealth of information on the period of time including the types of ships used, the clothing worn, architecture, hair styles and lots more. Halley’s Comet is also woven into the embroidery as it was in the sky during the battle. 

The tapestry was almost destroyed when it was used to cover military wagons in the French Revolution (1792). Later, it was almost cut up to decorate a float! Realizing the historical importance of the  Bayeux Tapestry, it was eventually placed in a safe place during World War 1 and World War 2. Today, the tapestry is on display behind protective glass, in the Musee de la Patisserie de Bayeux, in Bayeux, Normandy, in the country of France. While the tapestry is in Great Britain, the  French museum will go through a renovation. 

Fun Facts:

1. FOUR of Aesop’s fables are in the borders,
2. It is believed that the Bayeux Tapestry was made in England.
3. Writer, Charles Dickens, is said to have stated that the embroidery was “a work of amateurs, very feeble amateurs”.
4. Historians believe that about 6 meters are missing, showing the coronation of William 1.

Your Turn:

1. Draw a section of the Bayeux Tapestry.  

2.Write a Day in the life of someone who was working on embroidering a section of the work or someone that tried to protect it from harm.

3. Learn 5 facts about the country of France. Learn 5 facts about the country of Great Britain.

Photographs from the Bayeaux Museum.

Learn more about the tapestry at this link: https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/

Using the News in the Classroom: VERY large Roman Shoe found!

 

*Click here for the free downloadable version: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shoes-Free-Fun-Facts-ActivitiesPossible-Interactive-Notebook-Activity-13884824

SHOES!
Gail Skroback Hennessey

The oldest shoes ever found are thought to be about 8000 years old.

IN THE NEWS:(2025)

A soldier’s shoe being discovered may not seem newsworthy until you learn it belonged to a Roman soldier who wore it more than 2000 years ago! Found in Northumberland, Great Britain, the letter shoe was pretty much intact. It is also a really BIG shoe, suggesting the wearer was a big man. The shoe is about a size 11.5. (The average man’s shoe size is about 10.5).Found at the Magna Roman Fort, other artifacts unearthed including children’s shoes and pottery.

Learn more: https://www.vindolanda.com/news/magna-shoes

Photograph from Vindolanda Charitable Trust

 

Did You Know?

1. Men wore the first heeled shoes. It was helpful to have a heel to keep feet in the stirrups when riding a horse.

2. The ruby red slippers that Dorothy wore in the movie, The Wizard of Oz sold for $660,000( in 2000 )making them the most expensive pair of shoes!

3. The length of the tip of a shoe showed your rank in Middle Ages. Some people wore tips so long they needed to tie a chain from the tip to the knees to walk. Depending on your social class, some had 24 inch long tips!

4. Chopines were elevated shoes worn during the 14th century.To walk and not fall, wealthy women walked with attendants. Some chopines had wooden platforms 30 inches high!

5. Kabkabs(for the sound created walking on marble floors) were worn by wealthy women in the Middle East. For special occasions, some were 2 ft. high!

6. The largest collection of sneakers according to Guinness World Records, is Jordy Geller, Nevada, USA, who has 2388 sports shoes!(2012)

7. People in the Middle East added heels to their shoes to keep down the heat of the sand.

8.King Louis X1V passed a rule that only members of his court could wear red heels!

9.In Japan, you must remove your shoes before entering a building and put on slippers. In Thailand, it is considered very rude to point your shoes at someone.

10. Most people have worn flip flops. The name comes from the sound made as you walk in them in them. The ancient Egyptians are believed to have been the first to wear “flip flops”!

11. The earliest shoes did not have a right or left shoe. Shoelaces came about in 1790.

12. President Obama was the first President to be photographed wearing flip flops!

13. Sneakers got their name because they were quiet and you could “sneak” up on someone!

14. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon. He did this in 1969. His boots were left on the moon!

ACTIVITIES:

1. http://imaginationsoup.net/2011/03/pile-of-shoe- picture-books/ Discuss summary writing and have students write a summary of one of the stories about shoes. Here is also a link to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes.https://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/RedSho.shtml

2. Draw a flipflop or a sneaker. Write a day in the life of a flip flop or sneaker. Tell about your day. What did you see? What did you feel? What happened to you? Etc. Include 3 facts learned about the history of shoes.

3. Show students some shoes throughout history. Have students draw a picture of a shoe and write 3 facts learned from the web quest about shoes. http://all-that-is-interesting.com/fascinating-history-footwear

LEARN ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SHOES: https:// www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shoes-A-Webquest-Everything- has-a-History-1773342

NOTES: Free images from :Pixabay, Creazilla, Freeimages

JULY is Ice Cream Month!

  

 COOL facts about Ice Cream

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Mine is Mint Chocolate Chip with rainbow sprinkles.

Did you Know that JULY is National Ice Cream Month  in the USA? It was established by President Ronald Reagan, in 1984. National Ice Cream Day is the 3rd Sunday in July. Learn some fun facts about ice cream!

• One scoop of ice cream needs about 50 licks to finish.

• The Chinese were making a type of ice cream with milk,rice and snow, about 2000 BC.

• The average American eats 48 pints of ice cream each year.

• To make one gallon of ice cream, you need 12 pounds of milk. A dairy cow can produce enough milk for about 9000 gallons of ice cream in its lifetime.

• The USA is the world's leading producer of ice cream.

• Alexander the Great liked nectar and honey flavored snow.

• National Ice Cream Month is in July.

• Yes...vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor(followed by chocolate and strawberry).

• An ice cream tester for Breyer's Ice Cream actually insured his tongue for $1 million dollars!

• Dolly Madison served strawberry ice cream at the second inaugural ball of her husband, President James Madison, in 1812.

• Sunday is the day of the week when the most ice cream is sold in the United States.

• Did you know that one of the main ingredients in ice cream is ....AIR.(makes it lighter and gives it  smoothness)

• During WW2, the U.S. Navy(1945) built a floating ice cream parlor   for our sailors fighting in the Pacific.

• More ice cream is sold in the WINTER months in Canada than the summer months.

• Strange ice cream flavors? Jalapeno, dill pickle ice cream, garlic ice cream, bacon ice cream,blue cheese and shallots, squid ink and curry carrot ice cream might be flavors to include in this list.

• The world's largest ice cream cone weighted 2204 pounds. It was 13 feet tall. It was made in Gloucester, UK, in 2012.

• The world's largest ice cream sundae was created in Kingston, NY, in 2014. It  was 1606 ft. tall.

• Ever get a brain freeze from eating ice cream?  The top of the mouth has lots of nerves. When cold ice cream comes into contact with these nerves, it causes blood vessels in the brain to dilate, giving the short headache also known as an ice cream headache.

* During World War 2, Mussolini banned ice cream in the country of Italy. He thought it was too American!

• Thomas Jefferson loved ice cream. See his recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream.

Extension Activities:

* Write a haiku poem on ice cream.

* If you had to describe ice cream to an alien from outer space, what would be 3 descriptives you'd use to explain the treat.  Write a paragraph about your encounter sharing ice cream with an alien.

* Draw/color a picture of an ice cream sundae. Exchange your drawing with 3 others and have them write descriptive words to describe what they see. When your drawing is returned, write a paragraph using the comments about your ice cream sundae.

* There is a saying, " A picture is worth a 1000 words. Illustrate/color one of the facts about ice cream which conveys the fact.

Additional Link:

1. https://www.almanac.com/content/history-ice-cream Timeline on the history of ice cream.

Tour de France 2025 Starts July 5

   

2025 Tour de France.

In 2025, the Tour de France will begin on July 5-July 27th. The race will start in the city of Lille and end in Paris, France, along the famous Champs-Elysees.This is the first time in a few years, the race will take place ONLY in the country of France. For the first time, the racers will climb Montmartre, in Paris, in the final stage. It’s considered the world's biggest and most exciting bicycling race.  Athletes competing in the race will travel approximately 3320 km ( 2063 miles) during the 23 day race. Each day(called stages), a leader  will be awarded a yellow jersey(or Maillot Jaune in French). In addition to the yellow jersey, there is a polka dot jersey awarded to the best climber(king of the mountains), a white jersey( the best youngest rider) and a green jersey(best sprinter).The Tour de France began in 1903.This year, there are 22 teams of eight riders competing in the Tour de France, a total of 176 riders.

See a map with the 2024 route: https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route

*Download the free resource here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/TOUR-DE-FRANCE-2023-Interactive-Notebook-Activity-3894291?st=937a613aee7ad4834dc387479518d989

Fun Facts:

Only men compete in the Tour de France.

Approximately, 123,900 calories are burned by each rider in the Tour de France.

42000 water bottles will be used by the racers!

Someone figured out that enough sweat is created from racers competing in the 22 day race, to flush a toilet 39 times!

Riders from France have won the most races!(36 as of 2015)

The Tour de France is also known as "La Grande Boucle". 

Vocabulary word: Peloton, the term for the "pack" of riders.

History of Bicycles...Did You Know? 

As of 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark, is the bike friendly capital of the world. Amsterdam, Netherlands, came in second, with Utrecht, Netherlands, third. Some sources say Utrecht is more bike friendly than Amsterdam.

Some sources say the  invention of the first “bicycle” is credited to Comte Medi De Sivrac, of France. His bike didn’t have any pedals! The year was 1792 and it was called a hobby horse(or celerifere). To move you needed your feet!

Other sources credit Baron Karl von Drais, of Germany, with the Draisine meaning “running machine”.The 1917 human-propelled vehicle didn’t have any pedals.

A bike similar to today’s bike was created by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, from Scotland. The year was 1839. His bicycle had pedals!

The word “bicycle” comes from the French word “bicyclette”. The term became popular in 1868. Previous to this, bicycles were called “velocipedes” meaning “fast foot”.

The Penny-Farthing was a British bicycle that had a large front wheel and a much smaller wheel in the back. The name represented two British coins, the Farthing and the British Penny.

Early bicycles (velocipede) were known as bone shakers by their riders. With wooden wheels inside an iron rim and an iron frame, it was a very bumpy ride!

In 1887, Thomas Stevens became the first person to ride a Penny Farthing around the world!

In 1867, father and son, Pierre and Ernest Michaux, invented the modern bicycle.

Did you know that suffragette, Susan B.Anthony made a comment on the bicycle? She said that the mode of transportation “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” She called the bicycle the “freedom machine.”

In 1896, Margaret Valentine Le Long rode a bicycle from Chicago to San Francisco!

Did you know that before Orville and Wilbur Wright became famous for their flying machine, they owned a bicycle repair shop? It was in their shop, in 1903, that they made their first airplane! It was called the Wright Flyer!

YOUR TURN!

1. Write a diary pretending to be one of the cyclists in the Tour de France. What do you see? Feel? Hear?

2. Do you think women should be allowed to compete with the men's Tour de France? Why or why not?

3. What are 2 character traits of a person that would participate in the Tour de France? 

4. After reading the History of Bicycle facts, why do you think Susan B. Anthony called the bicycle, the “freedom machine”?

5. What are two positive things about riding a bicycle?

6. Learn more about the country of France: https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/countries/facts-about-france/

7. How the bicycle changed the world: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-bicycles-transformed-world

8. How bicycles changed the world for women(for teachers): https://jalopnik.com/how-the-bicycle-changed-the-world-for-women-1834087720

9. The impact on women and the bicycle: https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/pedaling-path-freedom

Teacher Page:

Ask students if they have heard of the Tour de France and share any information they may have on the famous race.  Have students locate the country of France on a world map.  

Give the students the handout pages. Have students do one or more of the following activities.

Extension Activities:

1. Try this FREE crossword puzzle on France: http://gailhennessey.com/index.shtml?francepuzzler.html

2. Draw/color a picture of a bicycle. Write a fact learned about the Tour de France on your drawing.

3. Read about the Eiffel Tower, one of France's most famous landmarks: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Eiffel-Tower-Explore-World-Landmarks-773097

4. Learn some fun facts about France: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/countries/france.html

5.Timeline on the history of the bicycle: https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7083.html. 

6. Check out this webquest on France! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FRANCE-a-Webquest-Part-of-my-Country-in-Focus-Series-11641940

Illustration from:Wpclipart

Juneteenth 2025

 Juneteenth. In 1865, the last enslaved people(in Texas) learned that they were free people. Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation, of 1863, freed the enslaved people in southern states, but those in Texas didn’t learn about their freedom for TWO more years. June and the date, 19th, were joined to create the word,Juneteenth. In 2021, President Biden signed the legislation into law making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

 Photograph from TpT

Check out these resources to learn more about Juneteenth:

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/celebrating-juneteenth

https://historyforkids.org/juneteenth-facts-information-for-kids/

https://www.timeforkids.com/g56/a-juneteenth-celebration/

https://www.kidsplayandcreate.com/juneteenth-facts-for-kids/

Flag Day 2025

                             FLAG DAY 2025 is June 14th

FREE DOWNLOAD: Click Here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Flag-Factoids-8156239

If you check out the 195 world flags, there is a color not found except on TWO world country flags. Did you guess the color purple?  The reason dates back to ancient history when the color purple was very rare and very expensive. The people known as the Phoenicians (present day Lebanon) were credited with making the first purple dye.  The dye, called Tyrian purple, was made by squeezing the gland of a tiny sea creature called the Murex snail , to obtain some of its secretions. It was estimated that over 10,000 snails had to be squeezed just to get a tiny amount of the coloring. For a time, the dye was worth more than a similar amount of gold!  Purple became  highly valued and becoming the color of royalty. In case you wish to check, the two countries with some purple on their flags are Dominica, a tiny island country and Nicaragua. The most popular flag colors include red, white and blue. 

Fun Flag Facts:

1. A vexillologist is someone that studies flags! 

2. Most flags have the colors red and white. 

3. Only Vatican City and the country of Switzerland have square flags.

4. Most world flags are rectangle in shape. The flag of the country of Nepal is the only one which is not rectangular or square in shape.

5. When Sir Edmond Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, summited Mt. Everest, the Union Jack, the flag of Great Britain, was placed.

6.The idea of a National Flag Day,a day to honor our flag, was started by Bernard J. Cigrand, in 1885.  

7. There are currently 6 American flags on the moon.  

8. The country of Bhutan has a white dragon on its flag.

9. “From Old Saxon," Fflaken" , meaning “to fly or to float in the air”, is where the word FLAG originated.

10.The largest American Flag is called the Superflag. It weighs 3000 pounds and is the size of 2.8 football fields.

11. A WHITE flag is the symbol of a truce or ceasefire.

12.The last of the 50 stars represents the state of Hawaii.

Check out this link: https://www.almanac.com/content/flag-day-celebration-american-flag

Extension Activities:

1. https://www.factmonster.com/take-quiz/usflag
Take this Flag quiz

2. Pretend you are an American flag on the moon or in a town, or on a mountain top. What do you hear, see, feel, etc. as you wave in the air? Remember...on the moon, there is no atmosphere so the flag wouldn’t wave!

3. Write a haiku to describe the American flag. A haiku has 3 lines(5-7-5 syllables per line). Use descriptive words. Sentence structure isn’t necessary. To check syllables, place your hand under your chin. Each time the chin drops is a syllable. For example: elephant. Three drops = 3 syllables.

4. Illustrate one of the factoids. Write a sentence to go with your drawing.

5. Read about the history of Flag Day: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/flag-day. Write a paragraph explaining the history of Flag Day, including 3 facts learned from the reading.

Check out my Flag Webquest!  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Our-American-Flag-A-Webquest-Extension-Activities-726295

Learn about the History of the Star Spangled Banner and Francis Scott Key:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Francis-Scott-KeyThe-Star-Spangled-BannerA-Webquest-1401231

Gail

World Ocean Day 2025

                                              World Ocean Day, 6/8/2025

Click here for the free worksheet:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/World-Oceans-Day-is-June-8th-Ocean-Fun-FactsInteractive-Notebook-Activity-3815482

Exploring the Ocean Blue: Fun Facts about the oceans of the Earth. Share some of these amazing facts with family and friends!

1. Coral has been used to repair bones in humans!

2. Blue Whales can weigh as much as 30 elephants and are as long as three Greyhound buses! Its heart is about the size of a Volkswagen! 

3. Basket Starfish has the most arms of any sea life... 80,000!

4. The highest wave ever recorded hit near Lituya Glacier in Alaska in 1958. It was 1740 ft. high!

5. Wondering how many marine species exist? According to World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), at least 212,906! 

6. Scientists say the jellyfish is older than the dinosaurs, dating back at least 650 million years ago!

7. Did you know that a dolphin sleeps with one eye open and with only half its brain.

8. The highest tides occur in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia,Canada, reaching 53 ft. high!

9. The Ring of Fire located in the Pacific Ocean is the largest zone of active volcanoes on the sea floor. 75% of the world's volcanoes are here!

10. There are 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean!

11. On April 17, 2013, a bottle washed up on the shores of a beach in the country of Croatia. It had been thrown into the sea in Nova Scotia, Canada....4000 miles away! Scientists say it probably traveled 5x that in its 28 years at sea!

12. Great Britain(2013) is building the world's largest wave farm. It will power about 30,000 homes.

13. A fish thought be be extinct for 60 million years was caught alive by fisherman off the southern coast of Africa in 1938. Called a coelacanth, the fish has been around for 300 million years.

14. If you measure the tallest mountain from the sea floor up, Mt. Everest isn't the record holder.! The highest mountain would be Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. It is 33,474 ft from the ocean floor but only 13, 680 ft. above sea level.

15. Need light? An electric eels can make enough electricity to run about 10 light bulbs!

16. The longest mountain range on Earth is found in the Atlantic Ocean,from Antarctica to Iceland!

17. There is so much salt in the ocean that if all the salt was dried and collect, it would cover all the continents with 5 ft. of salt!

18. There is enough gold in the world's oceans for each person on the planet to have almost nine pounds of gold!

19. You can see the world's largest reef, the Great Barrier Reef,in Australia,(1616 miles long) from outer space!

20. The earth has an estimated 315,000 miles of coastlines...that's enough miles to go 12 times around the Equator! 

Your Turn:

1. Illustrate one of the factoids. Write a sentence explaining your drawing.

2. What are three reasons the oceans of the world are important to us?

3. Scientists say there are FIVE oceans covering our planet. The Southern Ocean has been added. It is also known as the Antarctic Ocean. Name ONE fact about each of the other 4 oceans.

4. Have you ever visited an ocean?____________ Pretend you are at the ocean. Write a paragraph describing what you see, hear, smell and feel.

5. Why do you think there is a World Ocean Day?

Teachers:
Additional Links of Interest:
http://www.worldoceansday.org

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/oceans.html

https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/ocean-facts-for-kids.html

http://www.marine.usf.edu/pjocean/packets/f98/f98u1le1.pdf (lots of information including reasons why oceans are important)

World Oceans Day is June 8th. Learn about the Oceans of the world with this web quest: Exploring the Ocean Blue: A Web quest, will introduce students to our oceans. There are nine informative web questions. Fun Facts, comprehension questions,extension activities and links are also provided as is the key. Can be used as part of a unit on oceans, for Earth Day, World Ocean Day or as an activity for a Friday, before a vacation break or as an end of the year activity. This can be a one day class resource or used for a couple of days depending on whether the activities(creative writing/art work/online simulation games, etc.) are used with the students: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oceans-Exploring-the-Ocean-Blue-A-WebquestExtension-Activities-705943

I also have a Reader's Theater Script on Jacques Cousteau you may find of interest(part of my Ms. Bie Ografee Talk Show series of plays): https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jacques-Cousteau-A-Readers-Theater-Script-2458467

Photographs from Gail Hennessey(Cannon Beach/Pacific Ocean in Oregon and Cape May, NJ)