Spring Has Sprung

CROCODILE ROCK: Annabelle brought home a couple of her art class creations today. One was a dinosaur. She reports it's a hybrid of Corythosaurus and a T-Rex.

Another project she completed was a very cute alligator. (After a bit of discussion we decided it was a crocodile rather than a 'gator, as gators' snouts are more V-shaped and tapering, while crocodiles are more u-shaped.

HUNGER ACTION WEEK DAY 3: In a panic stricken voice, the first words out of CJ's mouth this morning were, "Did we record last night's pizza?!"

So even though our participation on Hunger Action Week is symbolic, it's nice to see that it actually does have some resonance with the kids' thinking.

It also gives us pause to think about issues other than hunger awareness. For instance, today we were planning our upcoming Peeps scene. I told the kids it occurred to me that since we weren't eating the Peeps and other food items (pretzels, marshmallows, Rice Krispies and such), technically the items wouldn't count against our Hunger Week budget limitations. HOWEVER, I also pointed out to them that if we were on a super tight budget and food assistance, it's very likely that we couldn't even take on our our Peeps project. I mean really, if you are worried about having money for the amount of food that you need to eat, you probably couldn't very well afford to buy a bunch of food items you're NOT going to eat.

Truth be told - we went over today because we went out to dinner (on the way lowdown happy hour + other discounts cheap, but still not cheap enough). However, thankfully we were well under on Monday, so we're still on track for the week unless we get "happy" again.

ACROSTIC AUTHORS: Since we didn't really do anything special to mark spring's arrival yesterday, this morning I righted that oversight. First, I asked them to think about things that reminded them of spring. They listed birds, butterflies, flowers of various sorts, weather-related items, activities and more. Next, I asked the kids to write the letters S-P-R-I-N-G down the side of their paper vertically and I asked them to each write an acrostic poem about the season.

Annabelle wrote:
So many animals return, 
Playing tunes with their songs are birds
Rabbits hopping to and fro
In the park we play all day
Nobody is too cold
Going into green pastures - Spring!

CJ wrote:
Sound is nice of the birds chirping
Play in the nice gentle wind
Right time for daisies to bloom
It is the perfect time for fun
Now isn't it beautiful?
Go outside and play!

GETTING BUGGY: Today in science, the class started a unit on insects. Already, they've had some great up-close and personal experiences.

They had the opportunity to pet a Madagascar hissing cockroach (so cute - ha ha)!

They also had the opportunity to herd meal worms (altogether now, "Ewwwwwwwww!).

I am happy to report, all of the insects lived through the science class.

STEMCAST: This morning, a reminder in my electronic calendar reminded me that at 10 a.m. there was a live "STEM Through the Eyes, Ears and Heart of a Woman" on the Nasa Digital Learning Network. We had to leave for Annabelle's art class at 10:20, but we did catch the first third of it.

The webcast was advertised as "A look into the intriguing world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics from a woman's perspective! A female NASA STEM professional, along with a female intern from NASA’s Johnson Space Center share their journey toward a career in STEM."

The Webcast featured former STS flight controller Jennifer Scott Williams. She shared her journey from preschool through college to Mission Control. She talked about her love of ballet as a preschooler, art and writing as an elementary schooler, and, interestingly, her interest in fashion is what led her to an engineering degree (she initially wanted to be a textile engineer). She switched to electrical engineering, and ended up in Mission Control, working over 20 space shuttle missions! It was a good experience for the kids to hear someone talk about being their age, and about how they felt and how they grew and changed over the years.

Though we had to leave before the program was over, I left NASA's DLN running on my computer. Upon returning home several hours later, we happened upon a broadcast of a tour of the NASA vessel that recovers solid rocket boosters and other high tech equipment from the water post-launch. The ship and its equipment and crew were really interesting, and it was interesting to be reminded (by the narrator), "NASA isn't just a bunch of aerospace guys."

It's hard to believe, but today's really the first time I've poked around in any depth at all on the NASA Digital Learning Network Web site. It's fabulous!

The main page explains "NASA's Digital Learning Network™ provides science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM content featuring NASA missions and research. Register for free, interactive events listed in our catalog or watch our webcasts listed below."

Yes, please!  There are so many things for us to see and do. We'll be back for lots more! What a wonderful resource for any teacher or parent with students of any grade! 

HAUNTING PAST: The kids took a trio of Accelerated Reader quizzes today on three Seuss books they recently finished ("And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street," 'The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," and "The Sneetches and Other Stories."

As CJ was taking the test, he stopped to tell me that in "The Sneetches ..." book, 'The first story reminds me of what used to happen between black people and white people." In the first story, the Star-Belly Sneetches and Plain-Belly Sneetches have all sorts of issues based solely on their physical differences. I told CJ that many of Dr. Seuss' books deal with societal and environmental issues.

I started flipping through "The Sneetches ..." and there, to my horror, in the very last story, "What was I Scared of?" were the blasted pale pants! AAARGH! Not too long ago my sister and I were talking about those damn, bodiless pants freaked us out when we were kids. Turns out they STILL freak me out.