The mushrooms have doubled in number and size seemingly overnight, and the carrots, pumpkins, broccoli and watermelon have outgrown the lid on our countertop greenhouse.
LOCKDOWN: We spent a good - well, long - portion of our day in Shoreline, where CJ is having to take the state of Washington's mandatory annual Measure of Student Progress test. He has to take two writing tests, one math test, and one reading test.
The Web site for the test assures me "The
Measurements of Student Progress ... should never be the sole judge of a
student's academic skills and knowledge. A student's entire performance should
always be considered."
Agreed. But you're still getting the test, right? Right. Oh well.
CJ passed all of the parts
he had to take last year, hopefully this year will be a repeat performance. In the state last year, 71.5 percent of students passed the reading test, 59.4 percent passed math, and 61.4
percent passed writing.
CJ said he thought he did pretty well today - until someone came into the room during the test to announce that there was a neighborhood emergency and no one was to leave the building. (Translation: We were in lockdown.) Apparently he had a hard time concentrating after that. Can't imagine why. ...
Police officers, weapons, K9 units and such were seen around outside the building, and we were told they were looking for a bad guy who had stolen a car, was being chased, and then eluded capture and escaped on foot near the school. Just a tad disconcerting.
CJ finished his test and found Annabelle and me waiting in the library. Unfortunately, we couldn't go out and grab lunch and run around in the fresh air like I'd planned, what with the lockdown and all. So, the kids played in the gym for awhile. They actually had a great time playing floor hockey. CJ even scored a goal. After a bit, we got an 'all clear' and so we ripped out to get some lunch and had CJ back in his seat for afternoon testing.
REMEMBERING RAY: Today, Ray Harryhausen died at age 92. He played a starring role in my childhood, and countless others. Harryhausen was an epic stop motion animator looooong before the age of CGI (computer generated images).His work with monsters and myths inspired my imagination - and gave me nightmares.
Tonight, I introduced the kids to Harryhausen by showing them this great YouTube video featuring the artists' creatures. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U9kmjW73-v4)
You're going to get crops before you even get them in the ground!! :-)
ReplyDeleteBTW - I think some of those clips are older than I am.