Downs and Ups

IGNOBLE RETURN: Today, after missing the past two weeks (one due to our Florida trip, the other due to the teacher's absence), the kids returned to music class. When I came for the parent participation part of class, I was mortified at what I witnessed.

Bee was spazzing out (speaking out of turn, rolling around on the floor, etc.) and CJ clearly wasn't paying attention (as evidenced by his inability to perform tasks he was instructed to do) AND at the end of class during a circle-chase duck-duck-goose-type game, he actually started crying when he didn't catch the person before they filled the circle void. Egad.

So, when we got home, I gave them an opportunity to reflect on their bad behavior by writing down two of the things they did wrong during class, followed by a sentence of what they could do better/differently next time. And then I had them hang the above their beds so they will serve as a reminder for the days to come.

Personally, I found what they were studying today very worthwhile and fascinating. Teacher Nancy was helping reinforce the concepts of pitch and timing. For instance, she'd show a sheet with a pattern like this _ _ _ _ _ and ask the kids to play the notes. The graphic represents the same note repeated 5 times. However, a kid's first instinct is to play progressively higher notes, because they confuse the movement of the music (progress/timing) from left to right with a change in pitch. She used other examples, including those that did change in pitch, of course.

MORE SUN SAVVY: Mid morning I noticed that Don't Fry Day was trending as a hot search topic on Yahoo! so I decided to check it out. I learned that the National Council on Skincare Protection had deemed the Friday before Memorial Day "Don't Fry Day" to encourage sun safety awareness. Figuring it would be a nice way to reinforce the SunWise activities we did earlier in the week, I spent some time tracking down Don't Fry Day resources.

We watched a 45-second PSA by the EPA on Don't Fry Day (it was well done) and I found a Sun Safe Savvy Skin Cancer Prevention song (it definitely won't be breaking into the Billboard top 100 anytime soon).

I was thrilled to find the Maryland Skin Cancer Prevention Program's series of cartoons featuring SunGuardMan, a superhero who battles the sinister UltraViolet. The kids LOVED them! There were also several SunGuardMan games and activities on their site which we enjoyed.

San Diego State University had an interesting feature on SunWise zoo animals. We learned that elephants use dirt and hay as a natural sunblock; koalas are nocturnal (thereby avoiding UV rays); hippos secrete a pinkish colored oil that helps keep their skin moist and acts as a sunscreen; pigs and rhinos use mud; meerkats have black rings around their eyes to absorb the sun’s rays; turtles' and tortoises' shells protect them from the sun; rabbits are nocturnal; the bumps over camels' eyes act as a visor and polar bears have special eyelids that act like sunglasses.

The site also had a game where the kids could use their just-gained knowledge to match SunWise techniques with the proper animal.

Frankly, we could spend days following the links, links, links I found (including an electronic postcard that can be emailed (courtesy of the CDC) to remind friends and family to protect themselves from the sun.

UP! AND AWAY: A news headline caught my attention this afternoon, and I figured the kids would be interested too. The story was about "cluster balloonist" Jonathan Trappe who crossed the English Channel in a chair taken aloft by helium balloons. (It reminded all of us about the animated movie "Up!" where a curmudgeon and his home go on an adventure via an enormous bouquet of helium balloons.)

I found a link to real life adventurer Trappe's personal Web site, where a lot more info about his adventures can be found. It looks fun and exciting and scary as hell, all at the same time.

The kids and I spent a little time poking around his site. I asked the kids what they'd think if they looked out their airplane window and saw some dude floating by in a lawn chair. We got a little silly with that one. :)

One of Trappe's previous adventures was a journey in the skies over North Carolina with 57 balloons holding him aloft during his flight. On his site he writes, "I flew for 14 hours non-stop, through the dark of the night, and welcomed the sunrise from the sky. Can you imagine, seeing the sunrise while floating a mile high in complete silence? It was indescribably beautiful." Sweet!

I showed the kids a map of Trappe's 109-mile NC flight and asked them why they thought it was so circuitous. "Why doesn't he just go in a straight line from one place to the next?" They came to realize that it's because the man isn't able to steer his vehicle - that he's just along for the ride and that wind currents - invisible rivers in the atmosphere - determine where he travels.

LEGOMANIA: The kind folks at the LEGO corporationperiodically send Magnolia Prep (and thousands of other schools, no doubt) a "LEGO Smarts" kit complete with lesson plan. We received a new envelope in the mail today and had lots of fun with it this afternoon.

One of the challenges was to use only the red and yellow bricks in the kit to build a duck. I had the kids take turns doing so, with the builder in the living room and the other kid in seclusion in their bedroom (I didn't want them 'borrowing' ideas from one another.)

It was fun seeing what each of them came up with. I couldn't help but build one too. The kids approved. "You have LEGO Smarts!" declared CJ.

The next task was to try to build as tall a tower as possible with the LEGOs provided. I put a 2-minute time limit on the exercise, as I knew it could drag on indefinitely had I not imposed a time limit.
Bee went first. She had a little trouble pushing the bricks together - mostly because she was frazzled by the time clock ticking away. Her construct wound up being about 7 cm high.

CJ was up next and his wound up being about the same height. He would have gone taller had he not incorporated a Fatal Design Flaw - putting a single pink LEGO in the middle of his structure. After he did that, every time he pushed something down on top, the tower broke in half.

As it turns out, it was good that he built that flaw in because it opened up a dialogue about principles of sound design. I asked the kids what a pyramid looks like. They both immediately responded, "A triangle!" I drew one for them and then drew an upside down one and asked, "Why do you suppose they didn't build it like this?"

They immediately both started talking about stability and strength and earthquakes and such. Excellent.

Then together we build what they deemed to be a stable structure with the LEGOs we had to work with. When we finished, I started shaking the table really hard. :) It surprised the kids, and our little tower teetered, but it didn't tip over! Excellent. :)

When Christian got home, he and the kids worked on building the tallest tower they could out of the blocks. This is what they came up with ...

MAGIC MUSHROOMS: Today MPA undertook an exciting science experiment - growing our own mushrooms! (Insert cheering and applause sounds here.)

For Mother's Day Christian bought me a portabella mushroom kit from Gardener's Supply and today we finally got around to planting it. The kids and I read the instructions oh-so-carefully (I hereby volunteer to re-write them for the company, BTW), and followed them to the letter. It isn't much to look at right now, but I can't wait to start harvesting mushrooms!!! (It's supposed to take about 3-4 weeks before our first crop.)