You've been warned. Hit play at your own risk.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Where's that 100s day shirt??
Ah yes, tomorrow we celebrate the 100th day of school! Ours is slightly different from the rest of the school since KG assessments take place the first 4 school days.
I've watched it done a bit differently with each of the 10 teachers I've worked with over the years. With some it was a borderline crazy day filled with fun learning activities and with the more recent - fewer activities in a more controlled environment.
Every year, at the end of the day I hear one short person ask when the party is. I guess you can't fool them all. ;>)
I've watched it done a bit differently with each of the 10 teachers I've worked with over the years. With some it was a borderline crazy day filled with fun learning activities and with the more recent - fewer activities in a more controlled environment.
Every year, at the end of the day I hear one short person ask when the party is. I guess you can't fool them all. ;>)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
And we're back . . .
The good news is that we didn't get lost once between the parking garage and the 3 pavilions we traveled through at OHSU today. That's pretty remarkable when I think back to the times we spent wandering (and worrying we'd be late) trying to find someone who could give us directions.
F's lung stats showed some improvement and they don't need to see her until March 2010.
We didn't get to spend as much time with Dr. Kouskov this time. He's such a sweet, caring man. I think they're trying to get him to stick to a schedule, when he just wants to sit and spend time getting to know the patients.
F's lung stats showed some improvement and they don't need to see her until March 2010.
We didn't get to spend as much time with Dr. Kouskov this time. He's such a sweet, caring man. I think they're trying to get him to stick to a schedule, when he just wants to sit and spend time getting to know the patients.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Fruit flies, fruit flies, pesky little fruit flies
Today's epiphany: If you have fruit flies in your building and you do a science activity with vinegar, every dog gone #*?@!! fruit fly in the building is going to find you within 30 minutes.
I'm glad Kim and I put on our thinking and trying caps and gave the new (to us) way to do dancing/bobbing raisins a shot. I printed out a couple of photographs I found online of the man who took a trip in his lawnchair with the help of helium balloons. I told the kids about his bold voyage to Idaho and then told them we were going to use bubbles filled with another kind of gas to lift raisins - gas filled bubbles made by mixing two household chemicals together. Heck, we didn't even need the bobbing raisins to make this an interesting activity for the short people!
First I gave them each a clear plastic cup half full of water, a small Dixie-type cup with two teaspoons of baking soda, four raisins, another small cup with 2 Tbsp. vinegar and a plastic spoon. (We reused all the little cups and spoons for all four groups throughout the day. I hate the garbage we can produce with some science activities.)
Once they had all of their supplies, I told them to pick-up their baking soda cup and to dump it all into the water.
Then I told them to pick-up the spoons and begin stirring while I counted and clapped out a minute.
Next I asked them to put raisins in one hand and the vinegar cup in the other and to add them at the same time.
I loved the ooos and ahs as the vinegar and baking soda foamed (a few overflowed) and receded. Then we watched the bubbles collect on the raisins,
raisins lifting up,
pop,
raisins dropping down.
A successful and fun day in science.
I'm glad Kim and I put on our thinking and trying caps and gave the new (to us) way to do dancing/bobbing raisins a shot. I printed out a couple of photographs I found online of the man who took a trip in his lawnchair with the help of helium balloons. I told the kids about his bold voyage to Idaho and then told them we were going to use bubbles filled with another kind of gas to lift raisins - gas filled bubbles made by mixing two household chemicals together. Heck, we didn't even need the bobbing raisins to make this an interesting activity for the short people!
First I gave them each a clear plastic cup half full of water, a small Dixie-type cup with two teaspoons of baking soda, four raisins, another small cup with 2 Tbsp. vinegar and a plastic spoon. (We reused all the little cups and spoons for all four groups throughout the day. I hate the garbage we can produce with some science activities.)
Once they had all of their supplies, I told them to pick-up their baking soda cup and to dump it all into the water.
Then I told them to pick-up the spoons and begin stirring while I counted and clapped out a minute.
Next I asked them to put raisins in one hand and the vinegar cup in the other and to add them at the same time.
I loved the ooos and ahs as the vinegar and baking soda foamed (a few overflowed) and receded. Then we watched the bubbles collect on the raisins,
raisins lifting up,
pop,
raisins dropping down.
A successful and fun day in science.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Streams of Salem
While we were driving around and through town yesterday, we began wondering which streams were which.
A few months back when I wrote a post about lunching at The Ram, a reader wrote to correct my mistake in saying their deck looks out on Mill Creek. He said it was the Shelton Ditch.
I remembered to look the info up (yet again) this afternoon. So confusing! It seems in the 1800s, men-who-wished-to-improve-on-nature decided to redirect water into both the Salem Ditch and the Shelton Ditch.
I'll be doing the dancing raisins science activity with the short people tomorrow. Science is usually on Tuesday, but N and I will be a OHSU most of that day with F while they do their lung tests and scan. I was reviewing one of my science books and ran across an alternative method for doing the dancing raisins. They start with a clear cup of water with 5-6 raisins and two portion cups - one with vinegar and the other with baking soda. First the kids stir in the baking soda, then add the vinegar and stand back to watch the gas bubbles attach to the raisin wrinkles and carry them up to the surface. The bubbles pop, the raisins sink and the process begins again. In the past Kim and I have used Seven-Up and seltzer water. They don't work consistently for every child throughout the day. We've tried smaller bottles and different brands, but we still get some disappointments. Maybe this will be the ticket, but I'll still warn them that sometimes things just don't work out the way we hope they will.
A few months back when I wrote a post about lunching at The Ram, a reader wrote to correct my mistake in saying their deck looks out on Mill Creek. He said it was the Shelton Ditch.
I remembered to look the info up (yet again) this afternoon. So confusing! It seems in the 1800s, men-who-wished-to-improve-on-nature decided to redirect water into both the Salem Ditch and the Shelton Ditch.
I'll be doing the dancing raisins science activity with the short people tomorrow. Science is usually on Tuesday, but N and I will be a OHSU most of that day with F while they do their lung tests and scan. I was reviewing one of my science books and ran across an alternative method for doing the dancing raisins. They start with a clear cup of water with 5-6 raisins and two portion cups - one with vinegar and the other with baking soda. First the kids stir in the baking soda, then add the vinegar and stand back to watch the gas bubbles attach to the raisin wrinkles and carry them up to the surface. The bubbles pop, the raisins sink and the process begins again. In the past Kim and I have used Seven-Up and seltzer water. They don't work consistently for every child throughout the day. We've tried smaller bottles and different brands, but we still get some disappointments. Maybe this will be the ticket, but I'll still warn them that sometimes things just don't work out the way we hope they will.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)