Have you ever seen an elephant tell time?

This is a picture of a reproduction of the Elephant Water Clock, an invention of Al-Jazari (1136–1206 CE) who is considered by many to be the father of modern mechanical engineering. The original device once stood over 20 feet tall and was an amazingly accurate and creative invention. Within the elephant is a water reservoir and a bowl with a hole in it. The bowl slowly fills with water, and after 30 minutes sinks and pulls a string attached to a mechanism which releases a ball into the serpent’s mouth. The serpent tips over, pulling the bowl out of the water and causing the elephant driver to beat a drum. The clock is sophisticated enough to show the time of day and can be adjusted with a flow regulator to compensate for the uneven length of days throughout the year.

Having learnt the active verbs, we'll take a look this week at the passives.

For those of you who need a refresher on the actives, here's the definitive chart (above).

Go .... grammar!

Handwriting's on the Wall!

In addition to the Active Verb Forms already up on the left side of our classroom wall, we added the Passives this morning to the right side of the room. With that, we now have all 24 forms of the English verb--active and passive voice, past and present and future tenses, both simple and continuous aspects. The trick, of course, is to know it at the back of one's hand, to be able to convert the active to passive, and vice versa, on the fly.

Some of these verb forms are obviously clumsy to use and not too frequently used. Can you identify them? List them in your Comments below.
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Okay, we ended early today for the teachers to party and took a class picture

KEEPING HEALTHY IN CANADA
Heart-healthy cooking
No matter how much time you have or don't have for cooking, you can make quick and easy heart-healthy meals by following these simple suggestions.
Heart-healthy cooking focuses on lowering your intake of fat, especially saturated and trans fats. It also includes limiting salt while upping fibre and making sure you eat five to ten servings of vegetables and fruit a day.
What's on your plate?Start by changing the proportions of your plate so that protein sources such as meat and fish are no longer the main attractions. Instead, fill about three-quarters of the plate with a colourful variety of vegetables together with whole grains such as brown rice and 100% whole-wheat bread. Fish, poultry, lean meat or legumes (chickpeas, lentils, tofu) should make up the remaining one-quarter of the plate.
Slash the fatTrim all visible fat from meat and take the skin off poultry and fish to reduce fat and calories. Instead of pan-frying or deep-frying, try baking, broiling, grilling or roasting (on a rack, so fat can drip away). Fish may be poached in water, tomato juice or lower-fat milk. To sauté, use a nonstick pan or a small amount of heart-healthy olive or canola oil.
Double upIf you're sautéing, steaming or boiling a vegetable, it's just as easy to cook two or more in the same pot or pan. If you're making brown rice, cook twice the amount you need so you'll have enough for another meal.
Try smart-switchingSubstituting healthy ingredients for less healthy ones won't take any more time and may even save you money. Use plain, lower-fat yogurt instead of sour cream, lower-fat cheese instead of the full-fat type, and evaporated skim milk instead of cream. Cook whole-wheat pasta instead of white. Replace some of the white flour in a recipe with 100% whole-wheat flour.
Shake the salt habitInstead of salt, spice things up with fresh or dried herbs. Try dill with fish, paprika with chicken or ginger with beef. Lightly sautéed garlic, onions and sweet red peppers add flavour as well as assorted nutrients that promote good health.


Heart-healthy cooking
No matter how much time you have or don't have for cooking, you can make quick and easy heart-healthy meals by following these simple suggestions.
Heart-healthy cooking focuses on lowering your intake of fat, especially saturated and trans fats. It also includes limiting salt while upping fibre and making sure you eat five to ten servings of vegetables and fruit a day.
What's on your plate?Start by changing the proportions of your plate so that protein sources such as meat and fish are no longer the main attractions. Instead, fill about three-quarters of the plate with a colourful variety of vegetables together with whole grains such as brown rice and 100% whole-wheat bread. Fish, poultry, lean meat or legumes (chickpeas, lentils, tofu) should make up the remaining one-quarter of the plate.
Slash the fatTrim all visible fat from meat and take the skin off poultry and fish to reduce fat and calories. Instead of pan-frying or deep-frying, try baking, broiling, grilling or roasting (on a rack, so fat can drip away). Fish may be poached in water, tomato juice or lower-fat milk. To sauté, use a nonstick pan or a small amount of heart-healthy olive or canola oil.
Double upIf you're sautéing, steaming or boiling a vegetable, it's just as easy to cook two or more in the same pot or pan. If you're making brown rice, cook twice the amount you need so you'll have enough for another meal.
Try smart-switchingSubstituting healthy ingredients for less healthy ones won't take any more time and may even save you money. Use plain, lower-fat yogurt instead of sour cream, lower-fat cheese instead of the full-fat type, and evaporated skim milk instead of cream. Cook whole-wheat pasta instead of white. Replace some of the white flour in a recipe with 100% whole-wheat flour.
Shake the salt habitInstead of salt, spice things up with fresh or dried herbs. Try dill with fish, paprika with chicken or ginger with beef. Lightly sautéed garlic, onions and sweet red peppers add flavour as well as assorted nutrients that promote good health.

Heart-healthy cooking
No matter how much time you have or don't have for cooking, you can make quick and easy heart-healthy meals by following these simple suggestions.
Heart-healthy cooking focuses on lowering your intake of fat, especially saturated and trans fats. It also includes limiting salt while upping fibre and making sure you eat five to ten servings of vegetables and fruit a day.
What's on your plate?Start by changing the proportions of your plate so that protein sources such as meat and fish are no longer the main attractions. Instead, fill about three-quarters of the plate with a colourful variety of vegetables together with whole grains such as brown rice and 100% whole-wheat bread. Fish, poultry, lean meat or legumes (chickpeas, lentils, tofu) should make up the remaining one-quarter of the plate.
Slash the fatTrim all visible fat from meat and take the skin off poultry and fish to reduce fat and calories. Instead of pan-frying or deep-frying, try baking, broiling, grilling or roasting (on a rack, so fat can drip away). Fish may be poached in water, tomato juice or lower-fat milk. To sauté, use a nonstick pan or a small amount of heart-healthy olive or canola oil.
Double upIf you're sautéing, steaming or boiling a vegetable, it's just as easy to cook two or more in the same pot or pan. If you're making brown rice, cook twice the amount you need so you'll have enough for another meal.
Try smart-switchingSubstituting healthy ingredients for less healthy ones won't take any more time and may even save you money. Use plain, lower-fat yogurt instead of sour cream, lower-fat cheese instead of the full-fat type, and evaporated skim milk instead of cream. Cook whole-wheat pasta instead of white. Replace some of the white flour in a recipe with 100% whole-wheat flour.
Shake the salt habitInstead of salt, spice things up with fresh or dried herbs. Try dill with fish, paprika with chicken or ginger with beef. Lightly sautéed garlic, onions and sweet red peppers add flavour as well as assorted nutrients that promote good health.

Heart-healthy cooking
No matter how much time you have or don't have for cooking, you can make quick and easy heart-healthy meals by following these simple suggestions.
Heart-healthy cooking focuses on lowering your intake of fat, especially saturated and trans fats. It also includes limiting salt while upping fibre and making sure you eat five to ten servings of vegetables and fruit a day.
What's on your plate?Start by changing the proportions of your plate so that protein sources such as meat and fish are no longer the main attractions. Instead, fill about three-quarters of the plate with a colourful variety of vegetables together with whole grains such as brown rice and 100% whole-wheat bread. Fish, poultry, lean meat or legumes (chickpeas, lentils, tofu) should make up the remaining one-quarter of the plate.
Slash the fatTrim all visible fat from meat and take the skin off poultry and fish to reduce fat and calories. Instead of pan-frying or deep-frying, try baking, broiling, grilling or roasting (on a rack, so fat can drip away). Fish may be poached in water, tomato juice or lower-fat milk. To sauté, use a nonstick pan or a small amount of heart-healthy olive or canola oil.
Double upIf you're sautéing, steaming or boiling a vegetable, it's just as easy to cook two or more in the same pot or pan. If you're making brown rice, cook twice the amount you need so you'll have enough for another meal.
Try smart-switchingSubstituting healthy ingredients for less healthy ones won't take any more time and may even save you money. Use plain, lower-fat yogurt instead of sour cream, lower-fat cheese instead of the full-fat type, and evaporated skim milk instead of cream. Cook whole-wheat pasta instead of white. Replace some of the white flour in a recipe with 100% whole-wheat flour.
Shake the salt habitInstead of salt, spice things up with fresh or dried herbs. Try dill with fish, paprika with chicken or ginger with beef. Lightly sautéed garlic, onions and sweet red peppers add flavour as well as assorted nutrients that promote good health.