The fun of doing this story was brought about by the reaction when I told it to my preschoolers as well as pre kindergarten and up to the 2nd grade. The children really related to this story because it really explains one of the wonderful things that children enjoy, and that is wonderful, delicious, chewy bubblegum. Bubble gum is one of those things that bring action and creativity with it. Every child has a unique expression when they chew that wonderful bubble gum because of the way it brings smiles and laughter to children of all ages. You know I feel that if all of us look into our childhood, we can remember how some of our friendships were made by one of our classmates or friends when they offered that happy piece of bubble gum. Let us all keep some bubble gum around and blow bubbles together. POP!!!

Leland was a Post Office, an elementary school, a telephone central, a lake and a bridge. All are gone except the lake. Mary Beth Munn Yntema became the keeper of data of the pioneers, their homes and farms, their children and their school. She writes down her memories so Leland would not be forgotten. Lake Leland with a post office at the end of its bridge is the focus of a community of families that arrived from many places. They carved farms out of the virgin timber and shared a simple life of fishing and swimming in the summer, cattle care and timber tasks the rest of the time. The main stories occur from 1890 to 1940. A railroad logging company, two sawmill operations and family dairy farms were the economic base. A unique society centered on the one-room school that built life-long friendships and an extended social family. The children were welcome in neighbor homes as if they were relatives. Everyone cooperated in the farm and timber tasks. Everyone rejoiced in successes of the children and shared the sorrows of the many untimely deaths or loss of house or barn to fires. The virgin timber cut was over. The Great Depression came. The story closes with the Second World War, its draft, internment camp and casualties. The school and post office closed as families moved to new jobs. Mary Beth's own coming of age experiences play out against this framework of houses and people of Leland.

Offers reproducible double-sided sheets to help eighth grade students improve their language arts, reading, and math skills and prepare for standardized tests.

Many Paths, Many Feet is an anthology of women’s stories, some fiction and some non-fiction, that candidly reveal women’s triumph and perseverance. The stories, coupled with splashes of poetry, bring to light the essence of the human spirit. You will read familiar refrains of faith, determination, and tenacity. We will take you on a powerful journey with incredible stories of challenges and the discovery of ourselves!The authors are fearless, indefatigable, and righteous in their march to victory, thus presenting the archetypal story of what all men and women experience in their quest for an exemplary life. At Many Paths, Many Feet, we believe the journey is as powerful and rewarding as the destination!

Safe at Home is a collection of Essays and stories written over many years about his child-hood home town in Northern New Jersey.

For author Robert Batten, his Irish-Celtic, Western European heritage molded his past and helped shape the present. It continues to mold his future. Robert Batten comes from a line of interesting individuals who have stories in need of telling. The G Street Chronicles: Our Amazing Journey is a true story told through the eyes and words of a small boy, now grown. It is a story of three brothers and those by-gone days of earlier times in America. Batten takes you on a story-book journey of childhood and family secrets, pending poverty, faith in God, and visiting angels. Batten and his ancestors have been through it all. From depression to near dynasty, these heartwarming tales are a fantastic reminder that sometimes the truth is better than fiction. Join in on the struggles, life lessons, and successes in those early days of finding the American dream.