What In Tarnation?!?!?

First the prelude:

Was that the movie up for the Oscar? If so I vote for that.

So Tuesday was odd. First, I was later than I normally am getting to school. When I got there I made a bee line for the cafeteria for breakfast before my morning duty. I passed the lounge I something odd. There were several teachers in the teacher’s lounge (not the odd part) gathered around the TV (odd, the TV in the lounge is rarely on). Odder still were the snippets of conversation that I heard coming out of the lounge as I sped past. Stuff like “terrorist like activity,” “here?” “in town” and “evacuation.” I mentally noted the scene as strange and promised myself to investigate… after I got some breakfast of course and in the few minutes before morning duty started. After securing a helping of powder scrambled eggs. I went into the lounge.

“What’s up folks?” I asked.

“Someone was at UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla) with a bomb. In the civil engineering building,” someone replied.

“Let me guess, there are chemicals in that building that will make a boom a much bigger boom.”

“That sounds about right. They don’t know if it is terrorist activity.”

I headed toward morning duty in the gym. On the way I heard about the anthrax threat and the closing of the UMR campus for the day.

Thankfully most of my class didn’t know about the whole mess. I was able to squelch any talk of the occasion pretty early in the day and we were able to move on with life.

Turns out that the person was a grad students who couldn’t deal with some poor grades he had gotten and he decided to threaten a building at 2:30 in the morning with a bomb and anthrax. It was later discovered that the substance that the student claimed was anthrax was powdered sugar.

It sounds like law enforcement handled the situation well and that all the anti-terrorism measures where in place and working. That is good to know.

Read more about the story here.

Well that brings my February Challenge to a close. I will be able to sleep well tonight.

Class dismissed!

Most likely.

Really I am talking about the new Game Show, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy.

A few comments:

• I would be interesting to know if the producers of the show consulted any kind of real life curriculum standards and if so which ones. The First Grade questions tonight seemed not so first graderish. The area of a triangle question didn’t seem like a fourth grade objective either. But I am not as familiar with the fourth grade curriculum. I was disappointed that no third grade questions were chosen. I know the Missouri GLEs (Grade Level Expectations) for third grade.
• The kids were a little snotty. They need to calm down.
• The game show took way too long. not enough questions.

Class dismissed!

PS Maybe tomorrow, I will share about our anthrax scare in the area.

Go HERE to comment.

A Meme I found from Jen:

1. What is your occupation? Educator. Currently third grade.
2. What color are your socks right now? White and gray.
3. What are you listening to right now? Prison Break from two weeks ago. Trying to catch up you know.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? I had a Panera salad and sandwich while meeting with a fellow Tech Contact on restructuring the eLearning website.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? No. But I want to know how.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Forest Green.
7. The last person you spoke to on the phone? I don’t remember. The last person I got a text message on my phone was Pressed.
   
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I have always liked Jen. And her baby looks adorable.
9. How old are you today? 28. For awhile longer.
10. Favorite drink? Sweetened iced tea.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Not a big sports watching person myself. I do enjoy watching baseball.
12. Pets? None.
13. Allergies? Too numerous to count, however, my childhood allergies have gotten much, much better over the year. On my last allergy test, which was some time ago, my two worst reactions were the American Dust Mites and European Dust Mites. My doctor said that I had the worst reaction to dust mites that he had ever seen.
14. Favorite foods? Yes please.
15. What was the last movie you watched? Ghost Rider. Review here.
16. What do you do to vent anger? Listen to a death mass. Loudly.
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Alphie. (Number 13)
18. What is your favorite season fall or spring? Fall for the following reasons: 1) Changing colors, 2) Halloween, 3) cooler temperatures, 4) pumpkin pie.
19. Cherries or Blueberries? Neither.
20. Living arrangements? Me, myself, and I. It gets a little crowded.
21. When was the last time you cried? Watching Bridge to Terabithia.
22. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes and old clothing.
23. What did you do last night? The same thing I do every night - tried to take over the world. No, I went to school to work on things. Newsletters, coping for the week, grading, inputting in the gradebook, tech work orders, e-mailing, watching the Amazing Race. I don’t watch self congratulatory award shows anymore. Yeah I am talking about you Oscar.
24. Favorite smells? Baking breads and coffee. Maybe bacon as well.
25. What inspires you? Super teachers.
26. What are you (most) afraid of? Screwing up at work. I have nightmares about that. Oh, and being attacked, those are the other nightmares I have.
27. Favorite dog breed? Big lovable dogs. I met a lab puppy today that was too cute.
28. Number of keys on your key ring? I have three key rings. One has one key on it (auto). The second has 3 (school). The third one has five (house and apartment).
29. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.
30. How many states have you lived in? One, Missouri.
31. Favorite holiday? It’s a tie between Halloween (secular) and Christmas (sacred).
32. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? No.
33. Ever left the country? Yes. Canada three times.
34. Favorite kind of music? Anything but country.
35. Last book you read? I just finished reading Bridge to Terabithia to my class the other day.

You answers or a link to your answers in the comments.

Class dismissed!

Go HERE to comment.

Friday Feast Leftovers… Whose hungry?

Appetizer
Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?

I have a scar just above my right elbow. That was created when I accidentally put my arm though a pane of glass. I believe that happened just before my family left for family vacation. California? I also have one on my chin. That was biking accident that sent me flying over the handle bars. I have been told by doctors since then that whoever stitched up my chin did a pretty poor job.

Soup
What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?

Life. Salvation. So on a so forth.
Salad
Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.

Right now the most annoying is Anna Nichole Smith. One of these celebrities who are famous for… well I can’t really give a reason that she is famous. Also in the same category of being famous for no reason would be Paris Hilton. These people are annoying. I would also include Tom Cruise at this point. Oh, and Oprah Winfrey who just might be the Antichrist.

Main Course
What was a funny word you said as a child (such as “pasketti” for “spaghetti”)?

Instead of saying Six Flags as a child I would say Fix Fags. Many laughs have been shared over that.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.

I have always thought that 2001 was boring. I was right.

Leave your left overs in comments.

Class dismissed!

First. Go comment here to help a starving child. Post about it on your site. Then read the new post:

Saw Ghost Rider today. I decided to be creative and mix a movie review with something that was in one of my workshops on Friday: Mind Mapping. I used Smart Ideas Concept Mapping Software to create the following Mind Map/Review of Ghost Rider. You will have to click to enlarge the image.

Tell me what you thought. Don’t worry, you don’t have to mind map it.

Class dismissed!

Go HERE to comment.

I will future post this just in case I miss Friday. It bears repeating. To be replacd with a newer post later.

It that time of year again boys and girls, the comment challenge to make me give money to World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine. First some facts about famine issues in the world:

• The need is great. World hunger is 100% preventable. And yet every day 29,000 children die from hunger and hunger-related diseases. We must choose to stand up for hungry children everywhere and show them compassion, faith and desire for change.
• The problem is large. The number of children dying every day is so great. But if we each choose to make a difference in the life of just one child, that could make the difference between life and death. The my church are going without food for 30 hours to experience hunger and to raise money to help prevent the problem.
• Every three seconds a child dies because he or she is malnourished or susceptible to disease.
• As many as 1 in 5 children die before reaching their fifth birthday.
• Every $30 raised, you feed and care for a hungry child for 30 days. $360 will feed and care for a child for an entire year.

Starting at the time that this post appears (11:30 CST, February 20) I will begin my 30 hours of famine. Since I will be away at an educational conference I am not doing my famine at the same time that the youth group is, they will be doing theirs Feb. 22-23. Myself and the youth group are seeking pledges from people for each hour we go without food. A $1 pledge will make a total of $30 which will feed a hungry child for 30 days or about one month.

One way you can help is prayer. Prayer for those suffering from hunger and starvation. Pray for those participating in the famine and those contributing to the famine.

You can make a financial contribution through the below PayPal link.

If you make a donation and you would like a charitable receipt, e-mail me and I will get that out in the mail to you. All funds given through this PayPal link will go to the Famine. I will also link to the websites of any contributers.But there is another way you can contribute. BONUS: It won’t cost you a thing but a couple of seconds.Make a comment on the first post and I will donate $1 (that will feed a child for one day). This will work on only on your first comment. Any comments after the first comment is just for grins. If you reply to a comment I will throw in an additional two quarters! That is good one time. That is all you have to do! Wanna go an extra step? Make a post about this on your own blog, MySpace, Xanga, or whatever and link to here. Encourage your readers to make a comment as well. The comments will remain open for at least the thirty hours that I am doing the famine but no promises after that until further notice.

Go HERE to comment.

Another BONUS: To anyone who downloads and listens to my class’s podcast and leaves a thoughtful comment or remark about the podcast to my class will get an additional $2.00.

Also, keep your eye on Avoiding Evil. Pressed originated this fun idea and I am betting he will be doing something similar.

Tell your friends!

Class dismissed!

Go HERE to comment.

First, go here and make a comment. It will help put food into a starving child’s mouth.

When I made my February Posting challenge, I didn’t think about the fact that I was going to be out of town for a weekend. That could make this difficult. I don’t know if I will be able to find a connection.

I am off, as I said previously to The Interface Conference. It is a conference for math and science teachers. I have been previously twice but this time things will be a little bit different. (Seems to be theme around here.) I will not only be attending workshops but I will also be helping to present one as well. I teamed up with another third grader teacher to present “Science Fair Made Easy” or something like that. Really I am not doing much of the presenting. I am mostly handy tech support, however, I will be doing a section on resources and hopefully I will have a snazzy PowerPoint with pictures of our own Science Fairs that we have done the last couple of years.

This will also be the first year that our whole third grade team will be able to go to a conference together. Since mine and the other presenters registration is paid and we are using a condo that belongs to some friends of mine. (Yes, I have very good friends.) We managed to get the cost down quite a bit to enable all of us to go.

In other news, I am extending the Comment to Starve Hunger until further notice. Please help me by putting links on your blogs and encouraging other people to comment. I am also adding a $0.50 comment reply. If you reply to someone in the comments of that post I will add an additional two quarters.

Thanks.

Class dismissed!

First, go here and make a comment. It will help put food into a starving child’s mouth.

I am writing this Tuesday night. I am about 10 hours into the famine. I am sitting in my apartment all alone. This is a little different from past years of 30 Hour Famine. In past years, I have been able to actually be with the youth group during the fast. This year because I will be gone to Tan-Tar-A to the DESE Interface conference.

Normally, there are all kinds of people and activities to keep you busy, not thinking about hunger. Normally, there is all kinds of accountability. All kinds of eyes watching and no food around.

This year, that is not the case. This year, I am all alone… In my apartment… with as small amount of food… and no eyes watching me.

I could just snack on something and really no one would know.

No one.

Just me.

Sigh. Bad blogger.

I won’t, but I will admit to the thought.

At yet this pain is nothing like the pain that thousands of little kids feel twenty-four hours a day. It’s funny how I forget that fact every year until the next 30 Hour Famine. Ah, that is too serious.

And now for some things that would hit the spot right now.

Why did I just do that?

Class dismissed!