Green Tinged

STEP IT UP: We hit the spelling list first thing this morning. I had the kids write a list of 26 words twice and then it was time for a test. I had them stand at the bottom of the staircase with MagnaDoodles and gave them a spelling word. If they spelled it correctly, they got to take a step up. If they missed a word, they had to take a step back down. Yeah, well poor CJ took 20 minutes to get "lift off". The first word I give him was 'said.' It might as well have been euonym.

"Said" is a word CJ has written dozens of times and read thousands. But today it was the Unknown Enemy. He had the s, a, and d, but couldn't come up with the 'i'. He tried 'u' and when that was wrong, he became paralyzed (a pretty typical Monday morning phenomenon for him).

I sent him to his room to regroup and he emerged about 5 minutes later with it written correctly. After that, he made his way up the stairs with relative ease. When he'd get stuck, I'd tell him to close his eyes, picture a book, picture a page, and picture a sentence on that page and then picture a certain word in that sentence. For instance, when I used that technique on "Come with me" he was able to spell 'come' immediately, although he struggled with the word initially. Mr. CJ is definitely has a preference for visual learning.

YOU SAY TOMATO: After much worry and some speculation that perhaps they were a bust, our heirloom tomato plants finally popped up through the potting soil. Hooray! We aspire to be "those people" who have so many tomatoes, they're pawning them off onto neighbors and strangers. Bring it on!!!

ROLL OF THE DICE: For today's math, I gave each kid a pair of dice and told them to use what they roll to create (and solve) addition and subtraction problems. A simple twist on simple math.

CO-CONSPIRATORS: A bit of news to report in the "life skills" category. There is a game on Club Penguin where online players are pitted against one another. Called Card Jitsu it's a bit like the good old card game war, except in addition to needing to have the highest number value on your card, you need to have the most powerful suit, too. In Card Jitsu, if you win the round, you earn a new belt, jacket, or some other ninja accessory. There can be anywhere from 2 to 4 players. CJ and Annabelle were both online, and CJ was calling the shots. ...

The two of them would create a game and if anyone else would join within the 10 second period the general penguin population has to jump in a new game, CeeJ and Bee would quit the game and go start another. When they did get a game to themselves, CJ would orchestrate who played which card when, so that he automatically won each hand. Annabelle was quite happy to play along, helping CJ earn his stripes, so to speak.

As I listened to the two of them colluding, it occurred to me that what they were doing could be considered, well, um, cheating. But I was also well aware that what they were doing was learning how to work the system - how to manipulate a situation to get the desired outcome. "Outwit, out last, out play" that's the motto on the TV show "Survivor" and there's definitely a need for those skills in the everyday world. So, I let 'em "cheat" and even complimented them on their strategy skills.

ROCKIN' THE SHAMROCKS: With St. Patrick's Day just a couple of days away, we needed to get on the green this morning. I found a fun 3-D shamrock craft project from DLT. First the kids cut out shamrock templates on card stock. Then they had to trace around the shamrocks onto green paper. Then, in an MPA first, we made our own paint by mixing flour, water, salt and food coloring. They drizzled and dabbed the paint onto the green paper.

When it dried, they cut the shamrocks out. They paired them up and then cut half-way up one shamrock and halfway down the other and combined them to form 3-D shamrocks.
HOW LOW CAN IT GO?: Our physical workout of the day was a trip down to Terminal 91 (kids on bikes, parents hoofing it). When we got down there, we were happy to find the tide as low as it's ever been. That made for some good beach combing.

Christian found an oyster attached to a rock and picked it up to show the kids. They were skittish at first (having seen a few too many man eating oysters on cartoons). However, they each eventually took a turn holding the sea creature.

While down there, I also had the kids look for clam shells for a craft project I had in mind for the afternoon.

We lingered on the beach longer than usual today - it was so sunny and warm, it was hard to leave.

CLAMROCKS: Having been successful in our clam shell search, our afternoon craft project was a go. I washed the shells and the kids painted them green. After the paint dried, they arranged the shells in a group of three, to resemble a shamrock. We carefully used a hot glue gun to stick 'em together. Then a couple of Popsicle sticks were colored green and glued to the back of the shells and presto! - custom clamrocks!

SOLO ARTIST: Both of the kids missed music on Friday to accompany Christian to an out of town function (a memorial for a family friend), but today there was an opportunity to make up that missed class. Unfortunately, it was at the same time as CJ's Tae Kwon Do with his day. However, Annabelle was available and excited at the prospect of attending class on a different day and time just to mix things up.

On the one block walk to the studio, I pointed to Annabelle that maybe there'd even be another girl in today's class (on Fridays, it's her and four boys). Sure enough, we discovered there were two other girls in the class. Annabelle and one of the other girls immediately started chatting about pink musical instruments. ;)

COMING SOON TO A THETRE NEAR YOU: MPA faculty and students are sooooo looking forward to seeing Hubble 3-D in the Pacific Science Center Imax theater. A story from CNET about the making of the movie really stoked the fire this morning. Imagine seeing images like this (the Butterfly Nebula) in 3D! The Hubble movie Web site even has lesson plans (under the 'Education' tab). We'll definitely take advantage of those resources before we see the movie.

INTERESTING ASIDE: Sunday was both Pi Day (3/14, or 3.14...) and Albert Einstein's birthday.