What In Tarnation?!?!?

Field trips are always a breeding ground for stories. Today’s field trip was no different. We had a full schedule. To start off the day we headed over to UMR to Castleman Hall to see a performance of two of the stories from Arabian Nights (The Ebony Horse and The Fisherman and the Jinni). The actors were from a group called Scales and Stories. They integrate music and their own instruments into the story. A baritone became the Jenni’s lamp, drum sticks and mallets were used as swords. It was very good and the kids enjoyed the show. After the show, I had the class standing quietly (an accomplishment in itself) in the hall waiting to use the bathroom. Then I noticed a herd of the boys laughing and snickering about something. I looked around to see what was so funny. Finally one painting that was hanging on the wall caught my eye. More specifically, the painting of the completely nude female model caught my eye. My class took a very quick detour outside before we went to the restroom. (I won’t comment on the painting other than to say why in tarnation was it left up when a theater full of third graders are coming to visit?)

After we visited the restroom, we got back on bus and headed to a nearby park for lunch and some playtime. Lunch was fine but the much needed playtime was delayed by rain. To bide the time we played the longest (as in length/number of people) game of Telephone that I have every seen. The whole third grade! What started out as “Mr. W wears pink socks,” turned out to be “Mr. W lost his face.” Thankfully the rain stopped and the kids got to play.

Back on the bus and then we headed off to USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). They had several interesting stations dealing with a wide variety of topics. I think my class were most interested in the station with frog (go figure, they think I love them) and the station about the invasion of the Asian Silver Carp into Missouri waterways. The following is an article about the Silver Carp that I found at CBS News to give you some info on the problem here in Missouri:

Vicious Flying Carp Spook Fishermen

ST. LOUIS - Crazy carp have invaded Missouri’s rivers.

Two species of nonnative carp have been jumping into boats, injuring occupants and damaging the watercraft.

A state fisheries biologist motoring near Columbia had a filling knocked out of his tooth by a high-flying fish that struck him on the side of the head. Another state biologist in the St. Charles area was seriously hurt when he was hit by a giant carp.

Brian Todd of the Missouri Department of Conservation said the big head carp and silver carp were brought to private fish hatcheries from Asia by the aquaculture industry. They were intended to eat excess algae and waste in aquaculture ponds - which grow fish for food as well as bait and tropical fish. But they escaped in floodwaters in 1993, 1995 and 2002.

“This could be an indefinite problem,” Todd said. “They are safe to eat, but ecologically they could damage the mussel population and are competing with native fish for food. We are going to hear more and more over the next few years about the problems these fish are causing, especially injuries to boaters and anglers.”

Todd said the carp have been spotted in many of Missouri’s rivers, including throughout the Missouri River.

“The sound of a propeller under water makes these fish go crazy,” Todd said. “The fish don’t jump if you’re sitting there without the motor on, but the higher the RPMs, the greater the noise, the higher these fish jump.”

They showed some footage of these fish and boy they were flying! Update: I found some flyin’ fish footage online. This requires RealPlayer.

Of course Charles had to pee at the most inopportune time.

By that time I was ready to be back at school. Nudie pictures, rain, flying fish and pee emergencies, I was headed to Wyman or bust by that time.

Pictures are up here.

Now I have another trip tomorrow… and Monday.

Class dismissed!

FYI, thanks to Dave I have a new e-mail address (because I collect e-mail addresses: chrissw@gmail.com

Changes abound. They are everywhere. At times it seems that I am being bombarded with changes. Some big, some small. I’m actually becoming a little gun shy about change. “Mr. W, we need to change something…” “We don’t really need to do we? Can we keep it the way it was, like was planned?” The answer is always no. It has gotten to the point that I am really tired of dealing with them. The tiniest change aggravates the heck out of me, no matter how minor the change. Example, last Friday we planned an assembly that required the school to go outside. Fine, I wasn’t to happy about the assembly, but whatever. It rained on Friday, so the assembly was canceled and we moved it to this coming Friday. Then, today, an building wide e-mail is sent out, we are changing the date of the assembly to next Friday. I’m sure there are reasons but they weren’t outlined in the stupid e-mail. I actually got angry about that. All the while I was thinking to myself “Why are you getting angry, it is just a stupid assembly?” It didn’t matter, I was angry about the change. Thankfully, I was wise enough to keep my feelings to myself. A field trip that was supposed to be yesterday was changed to Friday. Again, anger. I think it is that I am just burnt out on change for the time being. Sadly, my emotional state does not dictate the amount or kind of changes that are coming. (Normally, I am not like this at all, I am normally quite adept at rolling with the punches; folks in my line of work have to be.) Then this past Saturday/Sunday I couldn’t sleep. I would wake up about every hour. I finally gave up at about 6:15 am Sunday morning which is earlier than normal, so I decide to check and see if any blogs had been updated. I was greeted with a major life changing event. I got back to school and got news of some other major changes going on that I am not totally thrilled with. As a result, I am a little fed up with change. It appears that I am due in for another attitude check.
_____

The Palm Project has reached a bit of a dilemma. With the increased class size anticipated for next year, we will not have enough Palm M310s to cover two classes. As a result we have to buy some new Palms. The M310 is no longer made and they can be difficult to find in stock. The Palm Zire 71 has dropped in price because Palm just released two new Zire handhelds, the Zire 72 and the Zire 31. The new Palms use a “mini USB” rather than the universal bus that were on the most recent models, meaning we would not be able to use our current cradles and keyboards. Of course most anything we buy will have a different Palm OS that what we currently have.

Of course all new Palms have Graffiti 2 and our old Palms have Graffiti which means that I will have to teach two set of Graffiti letters. I’m not sure which option we are going to go with, but anything we do is going to be a hassle for next year. But then technology usually is. ____

Can you believe that I have a field trip tomorrow, one Friday, and one Monday, weather permitting of course.

Class dismissed!

Do you?

Here are my Blog ABC’s. You can put your guesses as to what blog logo each letter was taken from in the comments. You may use my sidebar links and blogroll as a kind of word bank (for a real challenge don’t click the links). Sound like fun?

Good. Feel free to sing-a-long with me.

Class dismissed!

UPDATE: I have linked the answers, so if you haven’t taken the quiz don’t put your pointer over the pics.

1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day?
I turn off the alarm. Groan and roll back over. A couple minutes later I get up and head to the shower. Not much happens before the sacred shower. Sometimes I take a little detour to start the dryer to get clothes drying.

2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed?
I generally read before I go to bed. What I read can be quite eclectic. Children’s books, pedagogy, Bible, books for fun, magazines. Then I will turn off the reading light and gradually slip into a comatose state.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day?
Checking to see what my TiVo, TiVoed for me.

4. What routine do you wish you could get rid of?
Having to get up in the morning, or at least not as early.

5. What’s the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don’t do it some point within your day?
The shower is pivotal to the day. Other than that, my day doesn’t seem quite right without a quiet time. It is a time that I use to really try to center myself for the day.

Class dismissed!

Please pray for Bryan, his wife Kelli, and his daughter Kelsey. Evidently Kelsey had a seizure this morning and was taken to the hospital. Bryan was out of town but supposed to be heading back.
(more…)

Last Monday we had another assembly. (Why does this only happen before and during testing?) This one was a little different from Stay Out, Stay Alive in that is was actually worth the time and effort put into it.

This assembly was put on by the Doe Run Company which has smelting plant in Herculaneum, MO. They took each third grade class and did some science activities centering on rocks and minerals.

The final activity that they did with each class was called the sandwich rock. Students started with a piece of white bread with crunchy peanut butter on it. Students then sprinkled rice, dry beans, and chopped peanuts on that. A piece of rye bread was placed on top of that. Next a slice our country style bread (the really thick time that makes good toast). On top of that shredded coconut, more rice, bird seed, and a single gummy worm. To top it off a slice of wheat bread with peanut butter was placed on the top. The whole sandwich was placed into a ziploc bag. We had the layers of our rock but it wasn’t very rock like. We needed some heat and pressure to help complete the rock cycle. So the students sat on the sandwiches for the next three days. Today, I took, what I and another teacher dubbed the booty rock, and microwaved for one minute the sandwiches. The microwave melted the gummy worm essentially creating a fossil in the rock. The rocks will harden tonight and tomorrow the class will dissect their booty rock. We will be able to see the different layers and sediments and hopefully the worm fossil. We really enjoyed the activity.

One nice side effect of the booty rock: my unmediated ADHD students actually sat in their seats for more that thirty seconds. We might have to make a booty rock every week!
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In TiVo News:

There is no 30 second jump forward button. Very annoying.

Why, if I am paying for a subscription, are their ads in the TiVo service?

One interesting feature of the TiVo is the TiVo Suggests.

The TiVo takes a look at the programs that you have scheduled to be recorded and the ratings that you have inputted (you can give a thumbs up and thumbs down on television programs) and then records shows that you might like.

My TiVo has been busy recording (when I get up in the morning and the red record light is on, I wonder what in tarnation it is recording) an odd selection of shows that I might enjoy, with limited success. The following is a list of what’s hot and what’s not.

What’s Hot (Good TiVo)
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-MacGyver
-The X-Files
-CHiPs

It Can Go Either Way (It Could Be Worse TiVo)
-How to Boil Water (I’m not fond of the newer seasons)
-Tales from the Crypt
-Fiery Food Challenge

What’s Not (Bad TiVo)
-Gunsmoke
-Perry Mason
-The Drew Carey Show
-Will and Grace
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World
-Charmed
-Law and Order: CI
-Judging Amy
-CSI: Miami
-Pensacola: Wings of Gold
-Baywatch
-Touched by an Angel

Huh? (Wha– TiVo?)*
-Starting Over
-Codename: The Kids Next Door
-Sealab 2021
-Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Not a good record.

*When I find out what it is, I will let you know.
____

Who can tell me what the following numbers have in common.

3, 12, 36, 1,760, 5,280, 63,360

Class dismissed!

This is everywhere and I am just getting around to it.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence as a comment on my blog.
5. Post the text of the sentence on your own blog, along with these instructions.

Oh dear, I am in a bit of trouble. Page 23 of my book has no fifth sentence. Instead, I shall leave you with the entire text of page 23.

Then with the force of a lunar shuttle liftoff, Sulu shot the three slimy villians into space.

SPIT-TOOIE! SPIT-TOOIE! SPIT-TOOIE!

-Captain Underpants and the Big, Big Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers. The Seventh Epic Novel by Dav Pilkey

Yeah, the book even has cool Flip-O-Rama.

Class dismissed!

PS Dave, you are going to have to teach me on how to get the right link for Amazon to show up on WRW. I think this book would be a good addition to that list.

Join me as we take another meaningful walk around my blogosphere.

Joanne Jacobs points us to a study that says children who regularly use calculators in math class don’t know their basic facts. My response: Duh!

Lance introduced me to Jeremy. Jeremy has met a lot of famous people.

Timothy doesn’t like crackers. Not even with soup.

Doug is a superhero and he showed me how I can become one. How do you like the outfit?

Super Teacher

FrogBlog blogs about Amazons new search engine A9. It is pretty interesting.

I personally like the sound of cicadas. A couple years ago there was a special kind of cicada that was out making a whole bunch of noise. According to Jen the 17 year cicada is getting ready to attack.

James is trying to talk to his son, however he feels a little silly doing it.

Bryan is taking the whole bread winner idea a little too far. Then he forgot the IOC protocol.

Michael has got a question for you. Come to think of it, he seems to have a new question every week. At least its not time for something……………….

No. Please don’t tease me. The WB is thinking about making several Buffy/Angel TV movies. Via TV Tattle.

OT
Is it just me or has 24 gotten a bit of it’s game back?

So what’s happening in your neck of the woods?

Class dismissed!