Testing 1, 2, 3 . . .

Metric length test, today, 10-multiple choice questions. Only 4-100s. Hmmmm. I guess its too early in the year to take a test.

I dood it!
I done it!!! My boss, Mr. Fausnaught, gave me an ipod and said, "how can we use this in the classroom?" "I dunno, I know nothing about Apple," I responded. He told me to play and let him know. Well, here it is, Friday night. My wife is at work. I'm bored. Playing with the ipod, I recorded an audio on how to make a leaf press. I then downloaded it to itunes and from there, downloaded it onto my webpage. Yep, go to my webpage and click on the podcast link. It will take you to a page the asks you to download -- go ahead. It will take a minute to download, but then, you will be treated to nearly three minutes of my voice.

Catch y'all, Monday.

Boy, Am I Perplexed

Today, my kiddoes were to assemble a leaf press in preparation for gathering leaves for a leaf collection. The press simply squeezes the leaves into a nice, flat object and absorbs enough moisture to halt the decaying process.

Anyway, I stopped by the local newspaper plant and collected a couple of stacks of old newspapers. The newspapers are used in layers for the press to not only cushion and press the leaves, but to absorb the excess moisture from the leaves.

Earlier, I sent email to all the parents participating in my email express and forewarned them a cereal box would be needed for this activity. Only a handful of children came to class with the cereal box. Oh well, that part of the activity will have to be done, at home.

I gathered more than enough newspapers to satisfy the requirements for at least 150 kids. Today, I only had about 80 students do this activity. Lo and behold, by the time my last group came into the room, I barely had enough newsprint for those munchkins to assemble only half the press. Sorry, guys, you will have to complete this work at home and collect your own newspapers.

The youngsters were given the assignment, yesterday, to gather the leaves and place them in a leaf press by Monday. Hope they comply.

Normally, this activity is a homework assignment, but to gather that much newspaper often is a struggle for families. Therefore, this year, I collected the newsprint.

Collecting Leaves

Have you said, "I want to spend more time with my child before he/she grows-up anymore, and no longer wants to spend time with me." Well, you're in luck. Here is a bonding project you and your kiddo can do.

Today, I passed out Part 3 of the Leaf Collection packet. This part is due on Monday, Sept. 17. Here is how it works. Students are to find one leaf from five different species of trees. Leaves cannot be torn or crumbled. The student will use the packet to record observations of the tree from which the leaf was collected. The observations include twigs, type of leaf, leaf arrangment on the stem, whether the tree is coniferous or deciduous, kind of bark, fruit and shape of tree. You can find a copy of the project on my website.

I would prompt you to go to Brandon Park, there are 40 types of trees in that park. They were planted in the early 1940s, after a vicious windstorm destroyed many, many of the trees in the park. A group of concerned citizens raised funding for new trees and planted them at various points in the park. Parents: if you wanna cheat, the gazebo in the park has a map of each tree in the park and each tree is identified. Let me know how you are making out.

Weight a Minute

Yep, we metrically weighed rice, beans, popcorn and raindrops. Tomorrow, I introduce the leaf collection project. You can find it on my website in the gray column, on the left side of the page. Tomorrow, we introduce why we learn about plants. This lesson incorporates Mrs. Fry Read Naturally program, in which students read the introduction and then find the main idea and supporting facts. Then, the munchkins write a summary of the article.

Big 10 question multiple-choice test on metric length on Friday, Sept. 14. A review is on my website.

Measuring Height in centimeters

Yeah, yeah, the kiddoes were measuring each other's height in inches, meters, dekameters, etc. Everything, except centimeters. Okay, I revamped today's lesson and sent them out into the hallways to measure in centimeters. Then, find the average height, in cm, of the group. Also, they grabbed a trundle wheel and measured in meters, then, converted meters to millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, dekameters, hectometers and kilometers.
Test on Friday, Sept. 14.