Count Us In

I FEEL LIKE A NUMBER: We've had our official Census 2010 envelope sitting on my computer desk for well over a week now. I decided it was finally time to open it up, fill it out and send it in. I also decided we'd build the bulk of today's schooling around the census - what it is and why it's important.

The official Web site of the census has an abundance of resources to educate and inform. I started off by checking out their information for schools pages. There, I found a lesson plan for grades K-3. It's a multiple page PDF file, and I picked through it, choosing the pages I thought would be most relevant for MPA.

With the kids, I reviewed the "Census Fact Sheet" and we talked about what the U.S. census is, why it's necessary, how it's performed (via mail and census takers), who should be counted (everyone!).
To help illustrate the point of the census' importance, I asked the kids to think about a city that completed a census and when it was done, they found out they'd grown by five thousand people since the last census. What would they need to do to help accomodate all those newcomers? Between the two of them, they brainstormed a pretty good list, deciding the city would need more houses, water, gardens, food, trees (for oxygen - CJ's idea), schools, parks, teachers, restaurants, lifeguards, safety patrolmen, policemen and firefighters. I suggested more jobs and improved transportation would also likely be in order.

Next, we went to an activity called "Who Counts?" It's a short story about a child named Joey helping his grandma (an immigrant from Italy) fill out their household's Census 2010 form. Afterward, they had to take a short, multiple-choice comprehension test, and answer a couple of questions, one being, "Why do you think the census doesn't count pets?"

Annabelle replied, "Because they do not have jobs." CJ wrote, 'Becaus (sic) they just count humans."

The next question was, "Name one way that Joey's household is different from yours." Annabelle was quick to respond with "He has a cat and I have a dog." CJ, on the other hand, struggled with the question. He kept fixating on the house part of household, saying things like, "Well my room is painted like Super Mario world." I explained to him that the question was really asking about the household - the people who lived there. He just couldn't wrap his head around it for the longest time. FINALLY he came up with, "Joey's Grandma lives at his house."

We also checked out the census' Kids main site, which has kid friendly graphics and even a catchy census song. " The kids played a couple of census themed games and then I had them watch the 10-minute "From Inkwell to Internet, the US History of the U.S. decennial census from 1790 to 2000." I found it rather fascinating. The kids, maybe not so much. ;)

With their newfound appreciation for the census under their belts, I let them fill out part of the official form (for instance, their own names, ages and birthdates).
Our theme song for the day was a good ol' Sesame Street classic, "Count Me In."

One more quick census FYI: Checking the "population clock' on the census site this morning around 8, we learned there were 308,967,995 people in the U.S. By 8 tonight, that number had risen to 308,971,220. Welcome, newcomers! :)

SPEED DEMON: For today's foray into science, we turned to the supercool Howtoons, where science projects and experiments are presented in comic book format.

We chose their Speed Demon experiment because all we needed was a paper plate (got it!) and wind (got it - it was a blustery day!).

To fashion the wind spinner, we simply had to cut eight equal sized wedges from the center of the plate out toward its center of the paper plate into eight wedges and fold them outward, in alternating, opposite directions.

Then it was time to test them! (We could only hope it would take off like Howtoons' did on their YouTube video.)

We tried a few runs up at the street with limited success - there just wasn't enough wind and unimpeded open space to give it a good go. I told the kids we'd try to find something more suitable before yoga, and that we did - a windy park with a wide swath of pavement in Columbia City. The Speed Demons went like crazy and the kids were thrilled!

We took them out for another spin this evening, when we went for a jog. Funny how such a simple thing like a cut up paper plate can help teach the kids so much about wind speed and direction.

SMALL GROUP: Yoga was pleasant today - more than half of the regulars were gone, spring-break related, no doubt. I think CJ and Annabelle enjoyed the smaller group. Here's Annabelle in a rare quiet moment (yes, even in yoga she's boisterous).