Soil and Toil

LOTSA LETTUCE: The lettuce seeds we planted a couple weeks back have started to sprout in a big way. There must be four dozen plant starts in a not-too-big space. We're going to have to do some thinning, to be sure.

STACKED: This morning we read down the stack so we could return some books to the library. "Will's Mammoth," which was mostly lovely illustrations of ice age animals. "When Sheep Cannot Sleep" was a fun counting book turning the count-sheep-to-fall-asleep tradition on its head. "Annie Bananie" was a sweet little story about best friends being split up due to one of the moving. "Stalling" was a story about, well, stalling. It's good to get that word into their vocabulary. When CJ asked what it meant, I told him, 'That's what you guys do when I ask you to clean."

I was looking forward to reading "No Fair Science Fair," but thought its storytelling was a bit flat footed. Ironically, the point of the book is that things aren't always immediately exciting or engaging. Go figure.

SCREEN TEST: In science class today, the kids got to take the soil samples they collected yesterday and learn a bit more about them. First, they used three different sizes of screens to sift the soil. Next, they put them into vials, mixed in some water. They shook them up and then watched the various media separate.At the end of the class, the kids got the bricks they made a couple of weeks ago. They were both pretty pleased with the finished product!PUPPETMASTER: We stopped at the Dollar Tree after science class today. There, we scored a stack of brown paper lunch bags and a pack of colorful foam sheets - both great crafting supplies! We hadn't been in the door more than 30 seconds when Annabelle set about making some puppets. I lost count of how many she made this evening, but here's one sample.NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! Do you remember your high school valedictorian's speech? (Or maybe you were the valedictorian - in which case, congrats.)

I remember my high school valedictorian's speech. It was HORRENDOUS. Mean, hateful and just plain awful. By my recollection, he basically talked about how everyone was stupid and what losers everyone on public assistance was. Ah yes, so charming, especially coming from an 18 year old who has NEVER lived on his own. I was sitting on the stage behind him, waiting to give my own speech. That vantage point gave me the opportunity to be able to scan the faces of my classmates and their families. It was clear many of them were mortified by his words. When he was done, some people actually booed him. He had it coming.

Today, thanks to a link on the Huffington Post, I discovered a valedictorian's speech that was 180 degrees opposite of when my class was subjected to. The graduate, Alaine Caudle of Doniphan West High School was upbeat, fun and managed to positively include all of her co-graduates (all 10 of them!) rather than alienate people. Well played!

She's kind of hard to understand her words because of the crappy recording quality, but you get the gist of it pretty quickly. (If you really want to read the words/lyrics, they're in the info paragraph about the video on YouTube.)