November

A view of our neighborhood (Magnolia) from the west bluff of Queen Anne Hill

TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF: The first thing we did this morning at MPA was craft a new calendar. October is in the books and November is stretched out in front of us. The kids started with a blank template, wrote the month, days, and dates. Then we talked about important days this month, such as their dad's bday (20th), Thanksgiving (26th) and Veteran's Day (11th). As background music, I played the only November song I could think of: "November Rain" by Axl Rose/Guns N Roses (featuring Sir Elton John on the version I chose). Man, that Slash sure can shred a guitar, can't he? Wait, what were we talking about? Oh, the kids' November, calendars. Sorry.

OCTOBER REWIND, Part I: Before we power forward through November, I wanted to revisit October with the kids, and recap many of the things we learned, so I pulled out all of the paperwork generated last month and through the pile we went. Highlights included:

• Corn (history, parts, uses)


• Apples (varieties, how they grow and are harvested)


• Salmon (their lifecycle)


• Barracuda


• Capitalization (first word in a sentence and the letter I when it stands alone)


• Periods at the end of sentences


• Nouns and adjectives


• Types of clouds


• Our field trip to the Puyallup Fair (rides we rode, animals seen, Al's Brain exhibit!)


• Our field trip to Foster Farm in Arlington

As we reviewed the papers, it was really gratifying to hear just how much the kids had retained from the list above. Tomorrow, I'm going to sit down with them and review the blog for the month.

SHOUT IT OUT LOUD!: Due to the Halloween hubbub it had been a "good" four days since the kids hit a math book. Today, I pulled some worksheets out, one featuring a concept new to CJ. It was addition, and the task was not to fill in the sum of 3+1, but to finish the equation on the other side of the = sign. So, for instance, a problem might read 3+1=1+_. The answer, of course, would be 3. Yeah, well, I might as well have been asking CJ the square root of pi. ...

We went over four problems together, but I could tell it wasn't clicking. I read them out loud hoping he'd detect the pattern. I got little manipulatives (monkeys, from a barrel) to use as counters/visual representation. Annabelle offered her insight. I asked CJ to read the problems aloud, hoping he'd detect the pattern. Like a drill sergeant, he shouts, "THREE PLUS TWO EQUALS TWO PLUS BLANK." I ask, "Dude, why are you screaming at me?" And he replies (with a detectable 'duh' in his tone), "Because you told me to read them out LOUD."

At that I decided it was definitely time for a break and fired up some music, "Shout it Out Loud" by KISS, of course. So math time morphed into free dance time at MPA, with the kids rocking out. They know and love KISS music. How and why, you ask? Because say what you will about KISS' music, those made up dudes know how to market. They pop up all over, including on kids' cartoons (for instance Fairly Odd Parents and Scooby Doo). I also cued up "Rock n Roll All Night" and "Detroit Rock City" - for the kids, of course. Anything for the kids.

After that, they returned to the table and lo and behold, CJ immediately understood what was being asked/expected of him on the math worksheet. Ah, the power of rock 'n' roll.

REPORTING LIVE, FROM SEATTLE: Monday is our standard field trip day and today we didn't go too far afield. It was a beautiful sunny day and we hadn't jogged the bluff of Queen Anne for weeks (months?) so we decided to head over there. We ran along the west and south side bluff/wall to picturesque Kerry Point Park. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a satellite truck parked there with some reporter standing, with his or her back to the city/sound/Space Needle, filming or televising live. So, we enjoyed the scenery, the statue, IDed landmarks and the types of ships in Puget Sound, and then the kids-and Kirby-enjoyed the park below the viewpoint.

BUILDING BLOCKS: Today's Zula Patrol was about elements, or "building blocks put together to make all kinds of things." The Zula Patrol explained that "an element can't be separated into any other substance" and that they're "the building blocks of all that you see." Of course all of this is old news to CeeJ and Bee, who are well versed in the elements thanks to They Might Be Giants. ; ) We followed it up with a reading comprehension exercise about what steel is and how it's made.

YOU PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH!? When it came time for some language arts this afternoon, I had CJ and Annabelle close their eyes and hold their arms up over their heads. I placed a tube of toothpaste in their hands and asked them what they thought it was. Not surprisingly they both IDed it. However, the real surprise came when we found out what, exactly, is IN a tube of toothpaste by reading "Toothpaste From Start to Finish." The book is basically a full color, multi-page advertisement for Tom's of Maine, but that said, it was undeniably educational. For instance, who knew that CHALK AND SEAWEED are in their toothpaste?! In less shocking news, we learned about how the paste is mixed, flavored and how the tubes are filled and packaged. (We also read the ingredients listed on our tubes of Colgate. No seaweed there, but there was silica. That's right, we're brushing our teeth with glass!)

We also read a chapter of "All About Sam." In this episode Sam was sent to nursery school where, he presumed, he would have to wear a white uniform and learn to be a nurse.


PERFECT FIRST JOB: While checking out classes on their Web site and signed him up. Who knows if anything will come of it, but I just had to at least try. I can just imagine CJ giving them feedback about their games. (It reminds me of when Kennedy came to me at age 7 or so, pointing out mistakes in a chess book authored by Bobby Fischer. ... )

IT'S A WRAP: This afternoon's endeavors included the kids assembling puzzles, playing some PBS kids games online, reading a 3D human anatomy book with their dad and Annabelle crafting while CJ boned up on vintage Nintendo games on YouTube (no doubt in training for his future role as an official Game Tester).