The Creative Classroom by Mitchell Lopate, M.A.T. = Academic humanities advising-mentoring, tutoring, writing support: 30 years college & university and middle-elementary education in-class/online with a B.A. in psychology and a masters in education. (PS: it's fun.) Cross-curriculum humanities concepts, career counseling, MBA instruction, composition and research methods, and values, ethics, and writing. “Learn by example, succeed by effort." mitchLOP8@yahoo.com / 840-216*1014
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
An early original prehistoric...YOU name it!
C/o Prehistoric Dinosaur Hub.
One of the strangest creatures ever discovered, Hallucigenia, lived over 500 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion—a period when most major animal groups first appeared. Originally reconstructed upside down with 7 pairs of rigid spines and tentacle-like legs, it looked so bizarre that scientists didn’t even know which side was up. New fossil discoveries later revealed that it is actually an early relative of modern velvet worms (Onychophora), soft-bodied predators that still exist today. These living descendants, despite their “cute” appearance, use a surprisingly advanced hunting method: they shoot jets of sticky slime that harden mid-air into fibers as strong as nylon, instantly trapping prey. With over 300+ species alive today and a lineage stretching back half a billion years, velvet worms are considered “living fossils,” bridging the gap between simple worms and more complex arthropods. This means a creature that once looked completely alien is directly connected to animals still crawling through forests today—making it one of evolution’s most unusual success stories.
Monday, April 13, 2026
Sunday, April 12, 2026
Limericks
(I find these fun because of the rhyme scheme)
Here's one I wrote to show my 6th grade class:
"There once was a lady named Hannah
Who was proud that she came from Savannah
She walked with a flair
And her nose in the air
Till she slipped on a peel of banana."