15-feet until humans appeared

Our geologic timelines started at 4.5 billion years ago and continued until today. At 10-cm equals 100,000,000 years, the 15-foot long timeline seemed empty compared to all the Earthly developments that occurred over the last 100 million years. As they are completing the assignment, the timelines are going up on the wall outside my room.

Social Studies
Frankly Ben is March 5, so, today, we started to learn a bit about Ben Franklin. Of course, I am zeroing in on Franklin, the scientist.

Have a good night, folks.

Save Your Timeline for Class

Let's use classtime to work on those geologic timelines. I am changing the due date to mid-week, next week. OKAY?

Good night. Teacher still sick. Teacher no check email the rest of tonight. Teacher go to nappy, now.

Hard to Log-in, Today!

I am late with the blog because I could not log-in. Have no idea, why. But, I'm here, now.

I've got a cold. Feel miserable. That darned Fausnaught! He must have breathed on me. He's been sick for several weeks. His entire clan is battling bug after bug.

My afternoon classes started a geological timeline. They cut four sheets of paper into five-cm strips, glued the ends together to make a 15-foot long strip. Then, they marked off every 10cm to represent 100 million years. Yeah, they started with 4.5 billion years ago. These kiddoes will work on the timeline tomorrow and possibly Friday.

My son bought a new external hard drive and gave me his old six gig external. However, I am really ill and did not play with he hard drive. The Tylenol cold medicine is kicking in and I am getting oh so groggy. Too groggy to converse with my daughter via Yahoo Messenger. Perhaps, her boyfriend will read this blog and pass that on to her. Her cell does not work in her dorm. The walls are hurricane-proof, three-feet thick. Signal stinks.

Have a good night.

I'd walk 16 days

Okay, we decided one mm equals one year. We used a trundle wheel set to click every meter (that's 1,000 mm). Therefore, one meter equals a millenium (1,000 years). We walked through the middle school and high school and only walked 350 meters. That's 350,000 years. Oh my! We would have to make three laps to equal 1 million years. -- I sent one volunteer to jog the distance. It took about two minutes. In the end, we calculated it would take 16 non-stop days of walking. Whew! The Earth is 'pert near as old as Mr. Z!

Have a great night.

Using Microsoft Word to do blog

Boss’ Suggestion
Well, Mr. Fausnaught suggested writing my blog to Microsoft Word and then cut and past to the blog.

Composing a Personal Timeline
Some of the cherubs turned in their personal timelines, today. Some were really cool! A couple were sad, such as, one student that recalled the most memorable moment in his life was when his cat died, several years ago.

How much is a million?
Tomorrow, we will see how many pennies it takes to make a million, even a billion. However, that activity is web-based, particularly, if I had a million pennies, I most certainly would be retired and living on some tropical beach. To enhance the lesson, one millimeter is equal to a year. How far would we have to walk in the building until we counted a million millimeters? We’ll use a trundle wheel. Why do this? Well, Earth supposedly is 4.5 billion years old. Its hard to equate that number with something our meager senses can comprehend. If we scale it down to a measurable number we can do in class, then something should be learned.

Today’s Social Studies lesson?
Prayer in school. The textbook reviewed a wonderful Supreme Court case of Engle vs. Vitale, and we, decided to hold our own case based on the facts. One part of the class agreed with the court decision, while another group disagreed and a third group simply said, “I need more information.” Tomorrow, we debate.

Have a great night.

Sauceless, Crunchy KFC Wings

The commercial begins with a young lady chomping into one of those wings and expressing surprise! "Wow! I didn't expect that!"

Well, rock essays were turned-in, today. My Rock Opera wall, outside of my classroom, features the works of those who attained a 20-out-of-20 on the essay. I must say. many of our children are talented writers, but, some . . . "Whew! I didn't expect that!"

For weeks and weeks they have been practicing restating the prompt in the introductory statement of any writing assignment in language arts class. Even writing for science is not new! So, why did some children refuse to restate the prompt, or even write an introduction that states they will be discussing the three types of rock?

Apparently, no one told some of these children about plagiarism. Some blatantly copied information directly from the internet, a book, even my background information.

Some kiddoes did not bother talking about the sedimentary rocks they made in class. Some did not mention the rocks I have on display on each table. Some did not reference the appearance, texture, feel, or color of the rocks on display in the room.

Some sufficed to write a single, three-sentence paragraph. Some never even got to mention the types of rocks, but, rather, discuss the sandstone, shale, conglomerate and limestone, they made in class.

The skill is there. Orally, they communicate, quite well. The written language is a difficult skill to master. It is something that must be practiced over and over and over, again. Parents! Insist your child use a graphic organizer before writing. Encourage use of a dictionary for the pesky spelling of words. Read your child's assignment and comment accordingly. Do not let them give up or whine about writing. It is a skill that will benefit them -- FOREVER!!!!!

I love these kids -- they are fantastic!!! I must, however, be the taskmaster and insist on quality work!

Have a great weekend .

Writing An Essay

How would you compare the three types of rocks found on Earth? There's sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. The munchkins have been working on this assignment since Tuesday. It is due TOMORROW!!!!!

Have a good night

Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!!!!!!!

Shovel the snow, then go back three hours later, and shovel again. Then, this morning a layer of ice that needed ice melt and a good scraping. Then, more snow. On top of that!! The silly furnace burps. Kudos to Montour Oil. They were here within the hour. Heat is back on, and I just scraped and shoveled the last of the snow.

Time for coffee.

Have a great night.

Early Dismissal

Snows a'comin'. Does not excuse you from science work. You were given a writing assignment, today. The packet, "Building Rocks, From the Ground, Up," explains your prompt and the rubrics.

The assignment is due on Friday.

Early dismissal: 12:45 p.m.

Have a good night.

Dr. PappaZ Is In

My dentistry office has opened! Yep, today, it was like pulling teeth.

Sedimentary rocks were made and displayed, today. Observations were made and comparisons were made to igneous and metamorphic rocks. Little dialog in the groups. They made it seem like a dreary task, rather than a chance to examine first-hand how sedimentary rocks form. Today's theme was making stones -- of course, I popped in a Rolling Stones CD.

Ho hum. BASE ended-up being an SSR time. No one seems interested in archaeology. Too bad. There is a plethera of fascinating stories floating around this old town.

Social Studies was about the freedom of religion. Only problem is, the munchkins were praying for class to end.

A very disappointing day, indeed.

Good night.

In the Kitchen, with -- PappaZ?

Okay, we made the rocks, in class. We kneaded the soil, added water, and pressed the dough into a paper bowl. If they had too much water, the munchkins were instructed to sprinkle some sand, on top, to absorb the excess water.

It was kinda cool to hear kids say things like, sift the sand and knead the dough. If you wonder why we offer Family and Consumer Science (i.e.: Home Ec), there you have the reason. The life lessons taught by Mrs. Beard really do pay-off.

Since today's lesson was rockin', I played some tunes that featured the word rock. Elton John's "Crocodile Rock," and Elvis Presley singing, "Jailhouse Rock." Joan Jett and the Blackhearts', "I Love Rock-n-Roll" was equated to "Hey! That's on Guitar Hero III!!" -- Oiy, I'm gettin' old.

Have a great weekend.

Wow!! We Made Dirt Piles!

Wait a minute. We were supposed to have rocks! We mixed all the ingredients together, added the wet stuff, and set them on the windowsill to dry.

So, why did it come out the way we started?

Hmm. When you make cookies, unless you bake them, you have cookie dough. Perhaps, if we added heat, from friction, from pressure?

AHHHHH, we needed to knead the wet soil into mudpies!?!? We needed to squeeze out the excess water and pore spaces to permit the soil particles to bond and form rock.

So, guess what we will do tomorrow? We get to play with MUD!!!!!!!! By Monday, we will have rock.

Have a great night

Rock On, In Science

Making and examining sandstone. Tomorrow, shale and conglomerate. PappaZ would not answer any questions. My remark was, "Does your mama cook and serve your food? Does she pre-chew it for you, also?"

An Amphibian in an Age of Fishes

Yes, fishes. Fish is plural for a population of fish, but, fishes denotes a variety of populations. Therefore, an age of fishes -- the Devonian Age -- 350 million years ago, when Lycoming County was located about 20-degrees south of the equator and this region was a sub-tropical area receiving the surface runoff from a 40,000-feet high mountain range.

We learned this from a fossil dig conducted on Route 120, near Northbend in Clinton County.

The munchkins used the computer lab and held their hands to the computer screen to see the bony fin of a Hynerpeton Bassetti, was the same size as their hand. WOW!! Kinda makes a musky look tiny.

Better yet! Hyneria lindae -- a 12-feet long aquatic predator. The teeth of this bad boy were recovered and displayed in a photo slideshow presented by the Philadelphia Inquirer in December.

I got all kinds of links to this dig site, including a link to the Keystone Central School District (Lock Haven area), which featured this fossil find in a website the 5th and 6th graders created two years ago.

Go to my website and click on "fossils" in the grey column.

Have a great night folks -- me? Gonna dream about landing that Hyneria lindae in my dad's 10-feet long rowboat.

We Made Limestone

We made limestone, today. Which, led us to talk about how limestone forms in nature. Which led us to reveal our area was ocean floor 360 million years ago, which took us to fossils and from there, we talked about how Carbon-14 dating is used.

Have a great night.

Wouldn't 've come to school, anyway

Remember my fall, the other day. Well, the pain, today, is incredible. To top it off, I had a reaction to the painkiller and spent a portion of the night hugging the great white wishing well. Needless to say, the heaving did little to comfort the torn chest muscle. I just waited for that call to come, this morning. You see, we have a phone tree -- principal calls secretaries, who call a teacher, and that teacher calls another, and another, and so on.
Even Penn College is closed!! Take note of this rare moment, folks.

Limestone Recipe
I found a neat recipe for making limestone. We will do that on Monday.

If You Are Reading This Blog
If you are one of my kiddoes or the parent of one of my kiddoes, send me a comment on how you are spending this Friday off. We will make up for in at Easter. As it stands, we lost both vacation days in February. This afternoon is 'posed to be warmer, but rainy. I can live with that. For now, the ice is out there, and I'm in here, and we are both happy.

Have a great day off!! P.S. Don't forget to read Mr. Fausnaught's blog and Mrs. Wright's blog. Mrs. W. is an 8th grade teacher. You may as well start being nice to her now. She's a great lady and has been a wonderful friend since my days as a substitute teacher, back in the days of the dinosaur.

Conglomerate Rock

Okay, we made conglomerate rock, in class. Funny, we mixed a grey powder in with our sand and rounded gravel. Conglomerate means multiple or many. The multiple came from the grey powder -- it was a mix of lime, silica, iron oxide, etc. But, wait!~!~

Did you say, lime? But, lime comes from limestone and limestone is formed by combining calcium and carbonate. Calcium comes from sea shells.

Therefore, limestone is formed in ocean water!!! But, conglomerate contains lime. Does that mean conglomerate is a sedimentary rock that is formed by sediment from ocean water and land? Does that mean, we find conglomerate rock near ocean water or where ocean water was once present?

Does that support the theory that Williamsport may have been at the bottom of shallow sea?

Hey. This is getting good. Tune in for more on this theory.

Have a good night. Stay off the ice, tomorrow. Believe, it bites -- hard.

Boo Boo Better

The spill I took, yesterday, at school, was attended to, today, at Divine Providence Hospital. Looks like it was a pulled or torn muscle. I should be right as rain in a week or so. Whew!
Even if it looks like rain on Friday, ain't no way I am coming in unless I know for certain school will be in session.

Makin' Sandstone
A bit o' sand and a wee bit o' Epsom salt with water does wonders for making sandstone. Hope our recipe ripens by Monday. We will examine the resulting stone on Monday. Tomorrow, we make shale and conglomerate. On Monday, we make limestone.

Have a great night. Gotta go ice the boo boo.

Ice? Where? OWWWW!! Oh, There!!

Okay, at 6:10 a.m. I pulled into the school parking lot. My wife calls me on the cell -- two hour delay. Great. I got lotsa work to do. One of our maintenance guys was pushing a spreader, tossing loads of ice melt on the sidewalk and driveway of the school. I follow him to the building. I get to the tech shops and SPLAT!!! Down I go. The maintenance guy got the brunt of my heel on the back of his head as my feet flew upwards. I was down. I was hurt. Wind knocked out of me and a terrible pain in my left shoulder joint. The maintenance guy had to help me up, I could not get a footing. What a nice guy. He grabs my arm and leads me to the building.

I get ready for the day. Ran off today's experiment, prepared the powerpoint presentation and gathered all the materials needed for the experiment. I'm ready to go by 8:15 a.m. -- the cell rings, again. It's the wife. "School is closed!?!?!" Arrrgghh.

Fortunately, no ice encounters until I got home. My front sidewalk is angled down toward the street and the ice was thick enough for skating. This was neat. The guy across the street works for Williamsport schools. He was in his front yard with his dog and very amused and entertained watching me bent over using my pen as an ice pick and inching my way uphill to the front gate. Using the gate as a launching pad, I careened ever so gracefully towards the front porch. I suppose it resembled a cross between a duck landing on water and a water buffalo trudging through mud.

The pain in my shoulder is where the chest meets the shoulder joint. It hurts. Something got stretched. I can imagine, tomorrow. That means, I'll have to hold the coffee cup in the right hand. Great. I may have to put the cup down to eat a doughnut. At least I can type.

I deserve a sticker, a pat on the head and a thumbs-up.

Have a great day off, kids. I got some school work to do.

Finishing With Ocean Water

Well, the unit is over. We looked at freshwater, performed experiments, and then took a look at ocean water. I was going to have the kiddoes conduct a project on density and salinity, but, felt writing skills in greater need of honing, so our project was to write an imaginery story about strolling on the ocean floor.

Making Stone
Tomorrow, we return to the FOSS geology unit. Talk about having to rewrite something. The entire 9-week unit was geared more towards 8th grade. I toned it down a bit, explained more where needed and interjected material I felt was more critical to learning than retrace the exploration of the Grand Canyon. All-in-all, the FOSS unit is great, but needed tweeked. For this week's class, the munchkins will use sodium silicate as a cementing agent (matrix) in the formation of sedimentary rock. We will first make sandstone, coal and shale, then move onto limestone. I can't wait until we do geologic time and dinosaurs - grrrooowwwlll!!!

Speaking of Dinosaurs
Well, sort of, this time I'm talking about the tiny sea critters that inhabited our area 360 million years ago. Keystone Central School District (Lock Haven/Renovo area) has a great website on Red Hill http://www.kcsd.k12.pa.us/renovo/dig/ -- about the fossil finds from the Devonian period. Check it out. The kiddoes in that school district did a fantastic job with this lesson.

Report Cards
Get thos report cards signed and returned to homeroom teachers.

Have a great night.

Blue Shift/Red Shift

Okay, we learned that Oog, the caveman, sat on the beach and watched ocean waves. He noticed a stick bobbing in the water. Using his Mickey Mouse watch, Oog timed the number of times he saw the stick at the top of a wave during a one-minute time period. It was 60. The next day, it was 30, the next day it was 120. Hmmm. He discovered frequency, wavelength, and cycle.
Radio
The munchkins learned this same frequency and wave pattern works for radio -- most favor 97.7 radio station. They were shocked to learn the 97.7 means 97,700,000 Mhz or 97.7 million cycles per second.
Light
This same frequency equates to color. White light refracted into the seven-colors of the rainbow show blue is a short wavelength and red is a long wavelength. The wavelength determines if the light is coming toward you or away. With that, we learned objects in space, for the most part are moving away from us. We learned how doppler and sonar work, etc.
Math
Sine wave
Oscilloscope
Monitoring a hospital patients heartbeat, electrical impulses from electrical components.
All that from watching a stick in the water.
Have a great weekend, everybody.

I Made Some Teachers, Happy

I ended the lesson on waves, today, with a final display in the hallway with my train whistle. It certainly annoyed a lot of teachers trying to teach their lessons. Sorry, folks.

Missed the Tournament
Ah, the sixth grade had their volleyball tournament, today, during related arts. The sixth grade teachers had some things to do before our grade-level meeting, and therefore, we missed the entire tournament. Rats. I always like to get photos of the tourney. Who won?

BASE
What will the world be like after humans are gone? Today, we focused on the disintegration of timber and concrete structures after just 40 years. Not the most exciting aspect of human disappearance, but, it does set the stage for what comes next as 2,000 years of human domination is erased.

Have a great night.

Slow Train A'Comin'!

Talkin' 'bout ocean waves, today. Yes, even sound waves. Referred to frequency, wavelength and wave period! Out comes my trusty train whistle and the munchkins are lined-up in the hallway - and there I go, marching up and down the hallway tooting on my train whistle so the kiddoes can understand the doppler effect. I even snuck in a little Fig Newton 3rd Law of Motion by bouncing a ball on the floor and then a tabletop to show wave action as it comes into shore.
The morning classes reenacted the making of a wave in the hallway.

Strollin'
Using PSSA writing rubrics I graded the morning classes essay on taking a walk on the ocean floor. I showed the prompt and a student's paper to Mrs. Pulizzi and Mrs. Nemeth. First thing Mrs. Pulizzi noticed was the prompt was not restated. The afternoon classes get this assignment on Friday. I hope I survive.

Vallamont Park
I am still in shock. I used BASE to show a powerpoint presentation on Vallamont Park. The kids loved it. In fact, they wanted to spend the entire period talking about historical Williamsport. I actually had a ball. I hope I piqued some interest in local history.

Have a great night.

A Couple of Cool Strollin' Stories

Thanks Mackenzie and India. The stories these girls composed for "Strollin' On The Ocean Floor," were FANTASTIC!!!!! My morning classes are composing stories that jive with the PSSA Writing Rubrics. Bailey did a great job, as well. Section 62 and 64 are due, tomorrow. Any late work is worth half-credit -- no exceptions, save for Abby, who was absent when the assignment was given.

Afternoon Classes
Are working on Motions of the Oceans. Today, they realized the up and down motion of waves is simply, water molecules vibrating. Geez, Z, how obvious can this become?

Life After People
Absolutely fantastic two-hour event on the History Channel, last night. The computer graphics were awesome.

Future Fright
My new social studies class watched "Future Fright." A 25-minute story about a family that returns to the U.S. after seven years, abroad, to find the Bill of Rights has been refuted and a totalitarian government in place. It scared some of my cherubs, who, apparently took our freedoms for granted. Boy, is this gonna be a fun marking period with the 27 Constitutional amendments.

TP'ed the Boss' Truck
When you send out a group of gamey middle school teachers on a video scavenger hunt and then offer them a free-style portion, expect, the unexpected. Yep, we went to Mr. Fausnaught's house, found his truck parked there, and videotaped ourselves applying two rolls of toilet paper about the vehicle. To add to the fun, Mr. F's dad and sister-in-law showed up. We got them in our video.

Have a great night. Be careful in the snowfall, tonight. Hope there is no delay, tomorrow. I gotta get some teaching completed.

Strolling revisited

My morning classes are rewriting their fantasy story, "Strolling on the Ocean Floor." I am using the PSSA writing rubric for this lesson. Students received a copy of the rubrics and instruction for the writing. Also, students were required to get my initials on the introductory paragraph before they left school, today. The story is due Wednesday, Jan. 23.
The afternoon classes spent some time learning about how sonar works to determine the depth of the ocean. Then, we went into the hallway to demonstrate how water molecules move up and down, but the energy of that movement creates a wave. Remember when they chased those waves into the ocean, only to be chased back onto shore by the waves?

What a Nice Guy
Our superintendent, Dr. Richard Mextorf, is one in a million. Tomorrow is a clerical day for teachers. He sent us an email advising us about the possible weather hazards and that we should first consider safety in coming into work, as scheduled. He said if the situation appears too hazardous, to wait and come in later, but to put in the prescribed time, or work later into the day. Safety first! How many employers would think of their employees safety? The bosses in this district are top-notch. I really do love working here.

Time Off
The new marking period begins when the munchkins arrive on Tuesday. That means new related arts and the sixth graders rotate social studies. My group moves to Mrs. Pulizzi and I get Mrs. Antonacci's group.

Brrr, Looks Cold
The kids have gone for the day, I am looking outside my classroom window. The snow is pretty, but, boy does it look cold, out there. I notice many children left school wearing thin jackets, complaining how they have to walk home. I remember, as a kid, my parents rarely were able to control my outerwear apparel, because I had to sneak to wear the right clothing to be cool. I see times have changed, but kids haven't.

Have a great night and weekend. I will return to bloggin' on Tuesday.

The Speed of Sound

Sound travels through air at about 1,000 feet per second. Through water, sound travels about 4,500 feet per second. If we want to know the depth of the ocean, we need to send a sound wave pulse down to the ocean floor and time how long it takes to go down and back. What we want is the time it takes to go down. Therefore, munchkins learned; Distance = rate of speed of sound in water times the time it takes to go down. Whew!

One Question Quiz
A luxury on my part. By giving one question, I was able to see some students do not read the question. You see, each student at a table, got a different question to answer. Many of them glanced at their neighbors and copied answers -- oops. Fortunately, very few students did that. Most kiddoes received a 100% on the quiz. GREAT!!!

Shanghai Massetti Got Me
It was picture make-up day. Despite my avoidance of cameras, Miss Massetti, our girls' gym teacher, got me. She even sent a student to escort me to the weight room, where they were taking pictures. Can you believe the photographer asked me to smile!?!?!?!?

Have a great night.

One Question Is The Test

Better work extra hard on the homework questions for tonight. One of them will be your quiz, tomorrow. The three forms of life in the ocean, are: Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos. The three factors that regulate ocean life are: sunlight, temperature, and water pressure. The three major zones of ocean life are: Intertidal, Neritic, and Open-Ocean zones. The open ocean zone is made-up of the bathyal (thermocline) zone, and the abyssal (deep) zone.

A Real Hero
I learned, today, the father of one of my students has been deployed to Iraq. She cried, all morning. I tried to reassure her that his sacrifice in leaving his family is much appreciated and that he is a real hero to go off and defend our way of life. If you know a hero, hug that person and thank him/her for the sacrifices made in the name of the United States of America. Each morning we stand at attention for the playing of the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegience to the flag. Let's really mean it, tomorrow, kids!

Have a great night.

Ocean Life Zones

Three factors that affect ocean life are: sunlight, temperature and water pressure. Three types of ocean life are: Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos. Three major ocean life zones are: Intertidal, Neritic, and Open-Ocean Zones. The open-ocean zone is divided into two parts: Bathyal and Abyssal. That's it. That is what we are covering today and tomorrow. Pretty easy, eh? Can you guess what the one question quiz will be about? Ok, here's a hint. There will be four different one-question quizzes. That means, each person at a four-person table will have a different question to answer.
Am I good, or what?

Old Photos
The James V. Brown Library website features an online services historical archive of old photos. My BASE students are getting a chance to look at these photos. If I can get myself out of the school before nightfall, I can go around and get some today shots of these same places.

Have a great night.

Bye Key

We arrived at the State College airport about 4:45 a.m., today. The daughter's plane left at 6:15 for Detroit, then Houston, then a friend was to drive her back to Galveston. The stuffed cougar was a gift from her boyfriend when she arrived in Galveston, last August. His note with the toy, "Welcome to Texas." Krysia brought it home for Christmas to show us and to remind herself of Eric. She arrived back on campus about 2:30 p.m. and opted to crash for the next several hours. We have been up since 2:30 a.m. Krysia is driving home May 7 for the summer.

School Business

A few failures, but, overall, really good grades on the ocean floor quiz. They have a writing assignment for Monday. Write a description of 5 features of the ocean floor as part of a fantasy story.

Really tired. Have a great weekend.

Prepare for the Ocean Floor

Okay, looks like sections 62,63 and 64, are ready for tomorrow's ocean floor quiz. We reviewed, pointed to illustrations and redefined vocabulary. Students used highlighters to highlight important passages in the textbook. Good luck.

Silence
It was eerie, this morning. I meet and greet the kiddoes in the lobby, each morning. Usually, the noise is overwhelming, and then, when Mr. Fausnaught dismisses to the lockers, the resulting stampede causes even me to seek shelter along the wall. This morning, it was utter silence, particularly when they were dismissed to lockers. The procession was orderly and nearly silent. The locker scene was even more disturbing. Students were quietly chatting and quickly hanging up jackets and getting books for class. Brrrrrrr. Mrs. Nemeth then explained the students were told about our presenting tickets for random acts of kindness and behavior. Aha!!! Pavlov lives!!!!!!

My Baby is Packed
Krysia is nearly all packed. She is ready to go back to school. My heart aches something terrible as I realize it will be another four months until I see her. Thankfully, she is happy with her choice of school and friends. Although she is homesick, I can see she is nervous about leaving, this home. The dog has been sleeping with her every night. Last night, the dog realized something was awry and opted to sleep in the hallway, outside my daughter's room. Even the cats kept their distance. However, home alone, all day with the animals, she says they stayed close to her as she packed. They know.

I Saw a Scowl
I must really must be a meanie. Those tickets the kids are designing had one that showed illustrations of a smiling Mrs. Pulizzi, a smiling Mrs. Antonacci, a smiling Mrs. Nemeth, and a scowling Mr. Z. I will try to be nicer, but, I refuse to smile!

Have a great night.

I'm Back

Hi folks:
Took a holiday break of my own. I needed some down time to spend with the daughter. She goes back to Texas on Friday morning. She leaves from the State College airport.

Ocean Floor Quiz
Short quiz on the features of the ocean floor is slated for Friday, and then, a writing assignment for the weekend. Honestly, if the munchkins utilize classtime on Friday, they should complete the writing assignment before leaving the classroom.

Using Map Coordinates
I am wrapping-up the social studies marking period with lessons on how to use latitude and longitudinal measurements. Boy, did I have one frustrated boy, today, as he attempted to complete a 10-question test finding coordinates on a map grid. He left the test blank. He and I worked one-on-one, he took the test back to his seat and worked on it until afternoon announcements. He handed me the test, went to his locker, and left for the day. Guess what? He got a 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Archaeology BASE
As you know, I am a member of our local archaeology society. At our meeting Tuesday at the museum, members of the Muncy Historical Society joined us and invited us to the dig site on Pepper Street. It is the Pennsylvania Canal project. They invited me to bring the 6th graders to participate in the digs. Excitedly, I started teaching my BASE students about archaeology. I hope they take an interest and we can perhaps visit the dig site in late April or early May.

8th Grade Teachers Are Fun
You've got to checkout Mrs. Wright's blog http://mrs-wright.blogspot.com/. Really great things going on in 8th grade. This middle school is a great place. Well, I, too, am having fun. I really love our kids. From 6th grade through high school, they are a very polite and friendly group of children.

I Miss Mrs. Fry!
Don't get me wrong, Mrs. Nemeth is a treasure and we are lucky to have this talented woman in our school, but, gee, I miss Mrs. Fry. It's funny how close you get to the people you work with. (oops, ended with a prepositition) Anyway, parents and kids, fire off an email, letter, note, postcard, get well card, anything. Let her know she is missed and loved. I have been avoiding making contact with her, fearing my loud, overzealous demeanor may be too much for her, right now. I will call her, tomorrow, during my free period.

Have a great night, folks.

Check out my Slide Show!

It's My Birthday and I'll Smile if I want to.

Wow! I was overwhelmed with the greetings, today, by all the munchkins at the middle school. The sixth grade sang the birthday song to me, while 7th and 8th graders, throughout the day, wished me well. It was neat. Sixth and 7th graders even made me cards. I hung them up on my classroom door. Take a look at the picture of the cards.

CAPPA Looks Cool
I was really impressed with the video presentation made by Mr. Loni Gamble about CAPPA. Here are our sixth graders gathered in the auditorium for the presentation. Some boys chuckled and tried to be cool, others were fascinated, and oodles want to participate. They meet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. This Saturday is the last time until after the holidays. Ask your munchkin about the presentation.

Writing of Letters
Ouch! It appears the sixth grade, as a whole, needs more work in letter writing. It's going to be an ongoing struggle, but, I believe Mrs. Pulizzi, Mrs. Nemeth, and I, will get this skill down before the kiddoes get to 7th grade. My letter was one lesson of six on this project, so all those grades are averaged together as one project grade. If they scored well on Activities 1,2,3,4, and 5, a poor grade on Activity 6, will not affect their grade, to "awful" bad.

Awesome Hand Boiler
Lee Lee gave me a really neat hand boiler. A glass tube, with glass bulbs on either end. You hold one bulb in your hand and it shoots a green liquid up to the other bulb and water appears to be boiling. My daughter and I are now trying to figure out, how it works. It must have something to do with compression of the bulb and the ethel alcohol. Since I'm just an elementary school teacher, I'll have to pose this question to Mr. Conoway, our resident physical science expert. Thanks, Lee Lee, you've amused Krysia and myself.

Bowling Tomorrow
We go bowling, tomorrow -- return to school and eat lunch in our homerooms (some kiddoes have preordered lunch from the cafeteria, the others opted to bring a bagged lunch), then we are seeing a movie. Nice way to start off a holiday vacation. The kids are burned-out and ready for a break. I will try to get photos for tomorrow's blog.

Have a great night.

Changes

The sixth grade hallway is getting a new look -- school colors. Check out the new look versus the sterile "we just moved into this building" appearance. It's starting to feel like home.

Tonight's Concert

Don't miss the 6th grade concert, tonight. We were privvy to a dress rehearsal, during BASE. The kiddoes are awesome.

Dear Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad:
I would like to convince you to buy a water softener for our home. I have come to realize that the water we use is considered, hard water. I know this, because I have completed an experiment in which I tried to lather with hard and soft water. Soft water lathers easier and as you know, the more a soap suds,the greater the chance for the soap to lift and carry away dirt.
Through experimentation, I found that water comes in different degrees of hardness. Bottled water appears to have many minerals in it. The minerals are usually calcium and magnesium and are the reason soap does not work well in hard water. Besides bottled water, I tested tap water at school. That water has been softened through chemical action by the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority. I also tested salt (ocean) water and found it to be very soft, but only second to distilled water, which is simply water that was allowed to boil and steam. The steam was collected and condenses back into a liquid. Distilled water is the purest form of water available, and boy, is it soft. In comparing my results with other groups in my classroom, we concluded that distilled water was the softest, followed by salt (ocean) water.
I also tested the water at school and compared it to our water. Strange, I thought the water would be the same, but, apparently, our home uses unfiltered well water. Looking at a map of the United States, northcentral Pennsylvania, is hard water because of the various types of limestone and sandstone of our area. That explains why our water is hard. The school's water is relatively soft and that is because it is treated with different chemicals, primarily a sort of sodium (salt) solution.
A member of my group tested his/her water and found it to be as soft as the ocean water, I tested. A closer look revealed this student has a water softener in his/her home. The water softener works by introducing sodium (salt) into a tank and filling it with water. The ions in the salt work like a magnet attracting the calcium and magnesium in the hard water -- pulling the minerals right out of the water. The result is the water has been softened.
Although hard water is safe to drink, it is miserable for cleaning and the mineral deposits can collect inside the pipes of our dishwasher, clothes washer, water heater and even our furnace. Those same deposits shorten the life of those appliances and our clothes, which is simply adding more to the costs of running our household.

Your Loving Son, Henry

Writing A Letter and Saying Goodbye

Mrs. Antonacci's homeroom finished their holiday door featuring a snow-covered hill and multi-colored snowflakes. Joining in was Mrs. Phillip's learning support class. We certainly have a talented group of sixth graders.

Okay, Blog Title
Students worked on writing a persuasive letter to mom and dad to purchase a whole-house water softening unit, After studying hard and soft water; comparing distilled, tap, salt, and bottled water; reading about how water softeners work, and discussing experiment results, the munchkins approached the assignment by reviewing and jotting down notes, creating a 4-square graphic organizer and writing a rough draft. We will type these letters in the computer lab.

Map Reading
Social Studies begins a unit on map reading and finding locations. I call it, "Human Global Positioning System (HGPS).

Sad Ending
We go to the vet at 6:30 tonight, to decide if "Snowball (A.K.A. Kitty)," our 18-year-old short-haired domestic cat should be put down. The arthritis, loss of teeth, incontinence and senility prompted a family decision, last night. We'll see what the vet says. I will photograph him and post the picture, tonight. It's tough to say goodbye to an old friend. He had a great life -- one that would envy any feline.

"The King, Snowball" passed away peacefully at 6:50 p.m. He dined on warm milk, mashed beef and gravy, and lotsa love. Below, is Snowball's successor, Skunk. Skunk is our last male cat. His predecessor and next in line after Snowball, was Buttercup. "Cuppy" died on Jan. 18, 2007, after choking to death on a cat treat. We came home from the vet, Dr. Winton, to find Skunk in the place of honor at our house -- the couch. If you ever smelled the litter box after Skunk has been there, you would understand the name we gave him.

Sleep well, old friend.

It's 7:20 p.m. Sunday

The kids and I took a quick jaunt to South Williamsport and then to the Golden Strip. The roads are starting to freeze. Will there be a two-hour delay tomorrow? Whaddaya' think?

Let's Get Personal

Nothing About My Science Class
Well, I shoveled snow, this morning. I so wanted to zip to school to retrieve my digital camera. You would have loved seeing a photograph of my dog, Missy, a black chow/spaniel mix, covered in snow and romping around the yard, while I shoveled the driveway. Then, the neighbor's black Lab came over and the two pups kept running at me, sliding down the driveway and plowing into me to get me to play. Arrggghhhh. I hate snow.

Krysia's Journey Begins
My daughter is in Houston, today. Students at Texas A&M, Galveston, were required to vacate the campus by noon, today. Her roommate invited her to stay at her parents house in Houston, today, and they would take her to the airport, tomorrow morning. She leaves at 9 a.m. Central Time, and arrives in Philadelphia, before boarding a puddle-jumper for State College airport. She is due to arrive at 3:37 p.m.

Thanks Richard's Boss
My son, Richard, made arrangements with his boss --- thanks, boss -- to give Richard the day-off, tomorrow, so he can go with me to pickup Krysia. Wifey has to work, tomorrow, and she did not feel comfortable with me driving the State College, alone.

Wifey
Wifey is one of the salad bar ladies at the Lycoming College cafeteria. Every night, she talks about how polite the students are at that college. She is always amazed that children today know how to say, "Excuse, me" or "Thank you."

Cats Love This Weather
As I type this blog, one of my cats, the baby, Daisy, is curled-up inside a box by my feet. Tight fit, she has one paw hanging over the edge of the box. Another cat, Snowball, is sleeping on the stair landing, curled-up under the staircase window. A third cat, Wheezie, is sleeping on the radiator in the kitchen. The radiator is encased in a wooden frame with a glass-topped shelf on top. Fluffy and Skunk opted to come in and eat and then go back outside. Fluffy retreated to the garage, while Skunk is curled-up in a wicker basket we keep on the front porch.

At The Mall
Weather is too nasty to have school, today, Richard works at the mall and called, he said the place is inundated with school children. I'm glad Loyalsock opted to cancel school rather than chance having a kid get hurt going to or from school. If parents want to permit their kids to go to the mall, well, it's their conscience -- our's are free.

Pappa Z's Christmas Wishlist
A class III trailer hitch for my '99 GMC Jimmy 4dr/4wd. Installed with tongue, ball, and wiring, $260. I remember the last time I had a hitch put on one of my vehicles $79 total, and that was just 10 years ago.

Play Safe, My Charges
I want all my monkeys to remember safety while playing in the snow, today. I want you back, tomorrow, healthy and in one piece. Sorry, Cole, I'm too late for you. However, take care of that knee and it will heal quickly.

Uh, coffee maker beeped. Ah, another pot of coffee is ready for consumption. Have a great snow day.

Wow! Did I Trick My Munchkins

Okay, so the assignment was to bring in a sample of water from home. From what I could see, today, most everyone gets their water from the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority. What that means is, if we measure out 3-mL of water into a plastic test tube, add a drop of soap, and use a stopwatch to shake the test tube for 5-seconds, then, the height of the suds should be approximately, the same.
Guess what?
It wasn't. In fact, comparing the home water with water from my spigot at school, which, by the way, is also courtesy of the Williamsport Municipal Water Authority, most of my kiddoes recorded the water at school is being hard water, while their home water was soft. Hmmm, the same water, different results. Why?

4-Sight Testing
To accommodate the math and language arts teachers, giving this test, we had double-periods, today. That means, I met with Section 62 for two class periods and Section 63 for two class periods. Tomorrow, I get the other two sections.

Remember the Ions in Salt Water?
Children still did not understand why the sample of salt water was softer than distilled water. Even after reading the article on how a water softener works, and placing the order of events on softening water with salt, students still did not understand the relationship between the ionization in a water softener and the ionization of salt water in the classroom. I hope the light bulb comes on soon.

Joined the Archeology Society
With only five members in attendance, I joined the North-Central Chapter 8 of the Pennsylvania Archeology society, last night. This is the group that assisted with archeological digs at Canfield Island and at Muncy. We met at the Lycoming County Historical (Taber) Museum on West Fourth Street. Although unable to attend meetings, James Bressler, past president of the local society, was the topic of discussion as we were treated to a glimpse of paleo-indians exhibit. That's the first humans in our area over 10,000 years ago, when this valley was semi-tundra (without many trees and covered in permafrost). I was mesmerized as we talked about Bressler, who happens to be #2 in my hero worship, list -- preceded only by Benjamin Franklin. Take a look at the society website -- maintained by Robin Van Auken.

Will It Snow?
Arrrggghh, I hope not. It looks like we may be getting out early due to snow and sleet. Although I like the prospect of getting out early, I really need to get some old-fashioned teaching in. Worst, yet, I have to take off a half-day on Friday to drive to State College to pick up my daughter at the airport. YES!!! She is coming home for Christmas. I have not seen my baby daughter since the middle of August. Talk about separation anxiety -- daddy's got it.

Have a nice night and get your kids ready to shovel snow, tomorrow. I have the snow blower gassed-up and right next to the garage door.

Saltwater is the softest

Hey!?! Saltwater is the softest? You mean it outdoes distilled, bottled and tap water? But, it has so many minerals in it!?! Yep, you kids tested it and all seem to agree, saltwater provided the most suds in testing.

Is There A Secret?
Yup. The ions in salt actually attract minerals in water and sort of neutralizes the minerals, making the water soft. If you really wanna know. That water softener some of you have for your wells, uses rock salt to soften the water. When we get to Activity 5, you will learn all about it.

Don't Forget
Those of you working on your bar graph have to remember the "Y" axis has to be identified. You just can write 1mm, 2mm, 3mm. . . Those numbers have to be labeled as "Measured Height of Suds," or something like that. And the "X" axis is not just distilled water, tap water. . . These are water samples used.

Joining Tonight
I have been invited to join the Northcentral Chapter 8 of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. They meet tonight at the Taber Museum on West Fourth Street. I am excited about this organization since I have a severe love of the history of our valley. I'll let you know, tomorrow, how the meeting went.

Have a great night.

Softest Water Means More Lather

Today, we compared distilled water, tap water, salt water and bottled water, to see which one offers up the most lather. My students were secretive about the results. Perhaps, fearing they did something wrong and are waiting for all the groups in their class to complete the experiment to see if everyone agrees. Hee hee.

Civil Rights
We are taking a look at civil rights in my social studies class. I gave the class several scenerios; one is an African-American person in the deep-South, another is a woman in 1900, a third is an American Indian trying to register to vote for a senator, and finally, an 18-year-old military draftee wanting the right to vote before being shipped off to fight in the Korean (War) Conflict. I gave them a set of questions to answer as they decide on whether to write a letter to loved ones, a diary, or a quiet protest with posted signs and banners. It will be interesting to see this lesson develop.

No Picture
Sorry gang, I eliminated the sixth grade team picture from our department home-page. The camera added 130-pounds to me, while the womenfolk look fabulous. Must be descrimination on the filmmaker's part.

Holiday Door Decorations
Have you decided on the best sixth grade door decoration? My homeroom even put up a "Pappa Z" stocking filled with miniature candy canes.

Have a great night.

Let's Explora the Door(as)

Thought I would show you our classroom doors. Our homeroom kiddoes spent a few afternoons planning and creating holiday decorations. It's not a contest, simply a feelin' for the season.

The green Loyalsock door is PappaZ's, Santa is on Mrs. Nemeth's door, while the Christmas tree focuses on Mrs. Pulizzi's door. Not yet completed is a snow-covered hill with blue sky adorning Mrs. Antonacci's door.

Hey, I took a picture of my critter's skull and photographed my version of a cleaned classroom.

Check out my Slide Show!

Way to go!!!! BRI!!!! I showed my first period class tomorrow's objectives and homework. I asked if anyone knew what was so historically significant about Dec. 7th. It took several class periods, but, Bri approached me in the hallway and told me it was the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, launching the United States into WWII.

Calcium Carbonate
And then, since we were using calcium carbonate to make hard water, in class, I asked if anyone knew what calcium carbonate is used for this time of year. The Czapper shot out with "ICE MELT!!"

Critter Skull on Display
AND, the animal skull on display in my classroom, courtesy of Mrs. Lesko, was identified as that of a red fox. Unfortunately, the student that answered that question saw the name I blackened out with a permanent marker. Mrs. Lesko found the skull in the woods near her house in the Pine Creek area. Oh yeah, Mrs. Lesko, I researched the skull on the internet. Gee, I love my 'puter.

Tired Teacher
Whew! Beaten down, today. Got in about 6:15 a.m. to set-up today's experiment. That meant, setting-up set-ups for six work stations. Pouring Borax (water softener), vinegar, water, calcium carbonate, sorting out 100-mL and 25-mL graduated cylinder, two bottles, a syringe, medicine dropper, funnel, plastic spoon, plastic cups, plastic test tube, and then checking each set-up 'twix classes to refill depleted set-ups. I donned a black apron, all day. Got lotsa comments, a couple of cat-calls from fellow teachers and one female staff member boosted my fragile male ego with a whistle and "hubba-hubba."

Thanks Mrs. Antonacci
Mrs. Antonacci volunteered to take my BASE students to the computer lab for some remedial math work, freeing me to do some much needed clean-up and rearranging of my classroom. When you teach backyard science, you tend to get overrun with "stuff." My new classroom is a third smaller than the one in the old middle school and I no longer have a back room for storage. By the end of BASE, I found I have a countertop between two sinks. Next, find my desk.
Have a warm night, folks.

First Word Uttered by Helen Keller? -- "Water"

That's right. Water was also the last words uttered by Ulysses S. Grant. The brain is 75% water. A desert rat and koala bear do not need to drink water -- they get it from their food. Each day the sun evaporates 1,000,000,000,000 tons of water and a person can live a month without food, but only about a week without water.

So, why the trivia?

We are starting a project called, "Testing the Waters." Tomorrow, we experiment with hard and soft water and each group will compare their results with theother groups in the classroom.

Kinda makes ya thirsty, eh? Well, it makes me thirsty. Gonna get a drink of water. Have a great night.

You must have a solvent to get to the solution

?
Kiddoes, today, learned that water is a universal solvent. Given enough time, it can dissolve just about anything. And, by dissolving another substance, allows water to mix with that substance or several substances to make an entirely new substance.
i.e.: Making chocolate milk -- dissolve the powder mix in milk, stir to combine the two substances and the solution is chocolate milk. I told my kiddoes, my chocolate milk involved filling the glass with powder and adding one or two teaspoons of milk. Yessir! My chocolate milk, you could eat with a fork.
I guess that is why I look like I do.
Have a great night.

The Polarity of a Water Molecule

Two or more atoms joined together in a magnetic bond make a molecule. Today, we discussed the magnetic forces that bond two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom to make water. We discussed the arrangment of the hydrogen on the oxygen and related the water molecule drawing as a person wearing floaties in the swimming pool.

We read in the book from page 100-102 and defined solvent, solution, hard water and soft water.

Kids, did you test your home water to see if it is hard? You know, wash your hands and observe the soap suds that result. Oh yeah, tell your parents how soap works.

Have a great night.

Spritz of a water bottle and squirts from a syringe

How to explain a well versus and artesian well. First, how does a well work? You need to drill a hole in the ground until you hit water, insert a tube and connect the tube to a pump to suck-up the water.

Sort of like a trigger pump water bottle -- Hee, hee -- I blasted the kids with the water from that bottle. For those munchkins that giggled and shouted, "You didn't get me wet!" A second and third blast from the bottle was enough to send water droplets onto just about every kid.

Then, using an inflated balloon to show how energy seeks the path of least resistance, I used a thumb tack to "pop" the balloon. The path was the hole in the balloon and the result was a sudden release of pressure as an escape route for the air was found.

Similarly, underground water, undergoing recharge from rain tends to create a similar pressure, except, instead of air, it is water. So, I filled-up a 25-mL syringe and by depressing the syringe released a stream of water that shot across the classroom. Again, the shouts and giggles goating me that I missed, resulted in several more squirts from the syringe.

As we discussed artesian wells (locally, springs), I talked about yesterday's blog in which I mentioned Loyalsock Creek's origin, and the birthplace of Rose Valley Lake, as well as , the story of Springside, a home on Fifth Avenue in Williamsport.

Although it was a Friday and the kiddoes are getting sick of learning about freshwater, there was a lot of learning going on, today, in the classroom. We talked about water tables, aquifers, and the zones of saturation and aeration. By the way, my kiddoes now know aeration means air and what we mean by using aerators in aquariums and why farmers plow their fields.

Ask your kiddo what it means when I say, "The deeper the well, the cleaner the water."

Have a great weekend, everyone. Kids!!!! We may have a chance to have a "firnball" fight this weekend!!!! Explain that one to your parents.

An Artesian Well is a Fancy Name for, Spring

Fancy, schmancy, the textbook discusses how an artesian well is a well that forces water to the surface by means of pressure. The illustration, in the book, goes so far as to show such a well spouting out onto the surface of the ground. In these here parts, we call that, a spring. Any places around here where you've seen a spring?
(Hint: Loyalsock Creek begins its life in Sullivan County as a series of springs. Rose Valley Lake, a man-made reservoir, arose from a spring that created Sugar Camp Run, which runs into Mill Creek, which empties into Loyalsock Creek. A log cabin, on 5th Avenue, between High Street and Louisa Street, is nicknamed, Springside. Why? The property is pock-marked with springs. )
Do you know of any other springs, around here? Write a comment, I would love to post all of the locations in the classroom.
One last question -- Why is well water cleaner and colder the deeper the well?
Have a great night, folks.

Did I Do Good?

Kids always ask that after they hand in a test. Well, how do you think, you did? If you feel you flubbed-up, you probably did. Ya know, if you are going to take a test and worry so much about the grade, then you should take the time to read the directions that go with that test. In big, bold, underlined words for the True-or-False questions, "If the answer is False, write the corect answer, or no credit will be given. Arrrrggghhh!!!!. At seven points, each, flubbing-up like that is ridiculous. All-in-all, the test was relatively easy and save for the small handful that refused to follow directions, the grades were really high. High? It must have been too easy. Z, you're losin' your touch. Or, Z, you are a wonderful teacher if these children can grasp the concept of fresh water the surface of the Earth.

No homework, tonight. I passed out the next vocabulary and informational packets on Fresh Water Beneath the Surface of the Earth -- ya know, wells, aquifers, springs, etc. We are working on that packet, together, in class. It's more fun, together.

Have a great night, folks. P.S.: Still waitin' for some venison.

Review for Test

Go to my webpage and look for the link -- Hydrology. Beneath that link is another link, entitled, "Test Review in Powerpoint." This powerpoint presentation is a great study guide for what you can expect to see on tomorrow's test. Now, go study.

Shopping Made Easy

Black Friday was not the adventure I thought it would be, today. Perhaps, I have grown immune to the rude, pushy, Christmas shoppers. Oh well, did not buy a thing, yet. Wifey and I are going out, again, later.

I was not in school on Wednesday, spent the entire morning at Geisinger Medical Center, getting a shot and surrendering blood. I am anxiously awaiting the results of the tests to ensure I am on the road to recovery and ensure I will be around for a few more years teaching students there are no black or white answers, that science dwells in the realm of grey.

The son is working, today, at Circuit City -- 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. He was so worried about Black Friday he did not sleep, last night. However, he seemed alert when he dashed out the door at 2:30 this morning.

The daughter is off to Mexico, today. She went with a friend to spend Thanksgiving with the friend's grandparents in Donna, Texas -- That thar is 10 miles from the Mexican border. You can still drive into Mexico without a passport, until January 2008.

We spent Thanksgiving with my father and sister, they are neighbors and live about a hour from here. My sister cooked up a wonderful feast -- however, I was limited to butternut squash and sweet potatoes. My son piled-up his plate, twice, so I know he enjoyed the food.

So, my dear students and their parents, how did you spend Thanksgiving? Did you do the Black Friday ritual? What are your plans for the rest of this vacation? Who's going huntin'?

How Do You Spell, TEST?

I'm not here, tomorrow. However, when you come back to school on Tuesday, Nov. 27, be certain to bring all the stuff from Section 3-1 in your science notebook. We will review the vocabulary paper, and the handouts "Fresh Water on the Surface of the Earth," and, "Frozen Water on the Surface of the Earth," and, "Running/Standing Water on the Surface of the Earth."
On Wednesday, you will be taking a test on all these packets. Forget about trying to memorize this stuff. We spent so much time with it all, that you should be able to write common-sense answers to all the questions.
Here's a hint to one question. I had to throw in at least one multiple-choice:
A huge mass of moving ice and snow, is a(n):
a. snowman b. Mr Z c. glacier d. iceberg.
No blog tomorrow. Have a great vacation and watch out for the Triptophan. Huh? Triptophan? What's that? It's the enzyme in turkey that makes you sleepy after eating your Thanksgiving Day meal. Just watch dad and gramps fall asleep in the living room, while the women folk clean-up after cooking all morning.

Please be safe, this weekend. See you all on Tuesday. P.S. -- I love venison.

Tennis Balls and Lakes

How could they not know about potential and kinetic energy? They were taught, I'm certain. Anyway, we used a tennis ball to explain energy transfer. We also discussed lakes, giardiasis and methane pollution. We will finish the packet, "Running Water/Standing Water on the Surface of the Earth," tomorrow.

Have a good evening.

Porosity Experiment

Today, the munchkins observed the porosity of sand, soil and gravel. Oh, so porosity is how quickly liquid flows through soil. But, I thought that was permeability? The experiment showed the permeability of the soil samples. What made them permeable was the size, number and frequency of the pore spaces.

The Factors That Determine Absorption of Surface Runoff

Today, we examined the factors that determine the amount of surface water runoff absorbed by the ground. The six factors are: Type of Soil, Condition of Soil, Porosity of Soil, Kinds of Vegetation, Amount of Vegetation, and, finally, the Season of the Year (rainy season or dry season).

Conferences
The afternoon went well. Parents are very concerned and interested in their childrens' school work. It was great to see the love and cooperation between child and parent and it was cute to see the nervousness of the children as parent and teacher met. C'mon, kids. I'm your biggest cheerleader.

Okay, So I have a couple of hours before my next set of student-led parent conferences. Gonna run home, in a few minutes, take the dog for a quick walk in the rain and grab some supper.

Have a great night.

Mr. Z wore a tie, today!?!

I even took a photograph. That's right, it has been about 8 years since I wore a necktie. I wore a Mickey Mouse tie, all day, even during parent conferences. Thursday is a powder-blue tie, chic'.

Speaking of Conferences
They were interesting. A couple of girls that hardly speak out in class, were superb in delivering their student-led conference. Then, there were the kids that did not surprise me and did a great job. I enjoyed listening to them discuss and show their parents about their life in school.

Another Blogger At 'Sock
Mrs. Wright, (http://mrs-wright.blogspot.com/), the 8th grade language arts teacher, has developed a fairly consistent blog. Mrs. Wright has become a technological guru the last few years. This year, the 8th graders put their student-led conference material on computers, designed them as powerpoints and are using them instead of our old-fashioned manila folder portfolios. Mrs. Wright gave the teachers a sneak peek the other week. Really neat idea. Pay a visit to Mrs. Wright's blog.

Of course, be sure to visit Mr. Fausnaught's (http://mrfausnaught.blogspot.com/daily) blog. He loves using pictures, slide shows and video clips in his blog -- very entertaining.

Have a great night.

A comment to this blog asks if there will be a test tomorrow or Friday and what the test will be on -- easy answer - "If there is a test tomorrow or Friday, most likely, it will be on -- paper.

Frozen Water on the Surface of the Earth

Repeat after me, "A glacier is a huge mass of moving ice and snow."
Good.
Now, "A continental glacier is a huge mass of moving ice and snow located in the polar regions."
Great!
Finally, "All other glaciers, called, valley glaciers, are found flowing downhill in all other parts of the world."
That was today's lesson. Other than, snow is described as frozen water.
Have a great night.

Dance of the Water Molecule

We acted out the water cycle. I had several boys play the part of air molecules that expand and separate when heated by sunlight. Water molecules (girls) move in to fill the void left by the air. Together, they rise into the sky until the air temperature is too cold and the air molecules contract, squeezing out the water molecules. Along comes a dust particle and they cling onto it. All the girls in the class play the water molecules and cling onto the lone dust particle. When the molecules reach 1,000,000, a droplet forms. This is where water goes from a gas back to a liquid. It was all quite exciting, especially, since the students better understand the hydrologic cycle.

Conferences Wednesday and Thursday
My social studies class assembled their conference folders today and we practiced what would be said in the conference during a 13-minute time period.

Relative Humidity
We used a sling psychrometer in BASE, today, to measure the humidity of the cafeteria (91%), the gym and lobby (both at 58%) and the sixth grade hallway (35%). A healthy environment is between 40 and 80%.

Veteran's Day

"While we were all sitting around on our fat butts, guys like that, tough guys, guys with guts, were out there defending our way of life." Lt. Greenawalt (Jose Feerar) in the 1954 movie, The Caine Mutiny.

This scene occurred as the officers of the DMS Caine, a warship in WWII, celebrated the exoneration of Lt. Maryk in proving Lt. Commander Queeg, the ship's captain, lost control of his mental faculties during a typhoon in July, 1944, forcing Maryk to seize control of the ship. Although Lt. Greenawalt was the defense attorney that got Lt. Maryk freed from the mutiny charges, the attorney also realized the man he discredited honorably served his nation for over a dozen years.

Thanks to all the brave men and women that serve and have served in our country's armed forces, defending the freedoms we so carelessly enjoy.

Thanks, Allie

I am so embarrassed. I forgot to mention Allie, yesterday. Allie is one of my sixth grade cherubs. Knowing I am diabetic, this sweet monkey brought in a package of Quaker Instant Oatmeal Weight Control Cinnamon-flavored. That was just so sweet. She wrote on the packet, "Mr. Zdun, Hope you enjoy this!!! My mom got this for us at Giant if you would like to get it. From, Allie." She added, "If you need to know many calories are in this there are 160." Well, I tried it and it is great. I thought I would have a reaction to the high-fiber cereal, but I did okay. Thanks, Allie. It is so nice to have my kids worry so, about me. They are well aware I worry so, about them.

Science
It all made sense to some kids. Ocean water has 35,000 parts-per-million of salt, while humans can only tolerate 500 ppm. Hmmm, is that why drinking ocean water can dehydrate you? Yep, the salt pulls the moisture right out of your body. The more saltwater you drink the higher the chance of dying from thirst. Wow!! And, Mr. Z, do you mean to tell us that of all the water on Earth, only 1%, is available for life on Earth, to use? Yep, the same water you drink today, could have been ingested by a dinosaur a 100 million years ago.

Social Studies
What's Right With America. This fictional video is about a family that lived in Africa for several years, but, returned to the United States, only to find the Constitution has been repealed and the Bill of Rights are non-existant. Brrrrrrr. Kinda makes you think how good we have it.

Maroon BASE
We started Star Wars Episode 1, today. Students learned the genre has shifted to a new hero, (Obi Wan Kenobe), new mentor, new nemesis and new problem. They connected that today's hero Obi Wan, became the future mentor to Luke Skywalker's hero persona. Unchanged are the comic relief antics and narrators of the story, C3PO and R2D2. In future years, these kiddoes will make the connections with Beowulf and Illiad.

Have a great weekend. Grab a drink of water and read a good book.

Did You Read Pages 80-91, In The Textbook?

"Ketch-up" work in science, today. Most kids finished the vocabulary words and read the assigned pages in the textbook.

Social Studies
We organized the student-led parent conference folders and talked about why we have these conferences. I told the munchkins not to be nervous. No nasty things will be said and that I will be there for support, encouragement and approval.

BASE
Today, we started a study of weather. I used a nifty video from United Videostreaming. It entailed discussion and demonstration of clouds and moisture. My BASE thought they knew it all, until I asked them why we needed smoke in a sealed chamber to make a cloud. Duh. Okay, I let them in on the secret about water molecules clinging onto the dust particles present in the smoke. Kind of a need introduction into our water unit in science. Tomorrow, in science, they will learn that it takes about a million water molecules, clinging to one dust particle, to make water visible. This process is what forms a cloud -- it is simply water as a gas turning into water as a liquid.

Have a good night.

The Water Cycle

The cherubs watched a really neat 17-minute video on the water cycle. Although it was geared for third through fifth grade, it had the neatest animation and graphics to explain how water molecules react in each of its phases of evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
We are also working in the textbook, pages 80-91, Fresh Water on the Surface of the Earth. Today, they looked at and define the vocabulary in this part of the text. Tomorrow, they will read the material and on Friday, hopefully, they will be able to discuss the material. Next week, we work on this, together.

Student-led Conferences
Next Wednesday and Thursday. My social studies class is meeting with me. Today, we went over the steps of introduction, what to discuss and what work samples will be shown, and all this must be done in a 15-minute time period. This is not a time for parents and teachers to discuss grades or behavior, but, to focus on what good the child does in school.

The Daughter Called
Here I am writing this blog and the cell rings. It's the daughter, Krysia. She just got back from a field trip. Remember, she is at Texas A&M's marine science campus in Galveston. Anyway, they took an afternoon boat trip around the bay collecting specimens of stingrays, jelly fish and squid. She is a first-year college student. I guess she did pick the right school to go to. It sounds like she is having a blast. I remember all my first years of college -- I gotta bunch 'o' college degrees. We never had fun that first year, it was all basic book learnin'.

Are you having fun your first year of middle school?

Sum It All -Up

Okay, the cherubs did a weekend water usage survey, at home. They came in and we converted that survey into gallons -- refer to earlier blog on how we did that. Then, we converted gallons into decimal and then into percentage of water used. Today, students used a graphic organizer of their own choosing and created a water conservation plan to be used at home. Then, they drew an illustration that can be used to remind middle school students to conserve water, here, in the building.

Kidspeak - ain't it great?
Yesterday, my social studies class converted the Bill of Rights into Kidspeak. Today, I threw several scenarios at them highlighting a certain violation to a certain Amendment. They were to determine which Amendment was violated. As a reward, each kid in the groups with the right answer got a "Dum Dum" lollipop. Needless, to say, only one scenario stumped them. I gave away so many lollipops -- some kids bragged about receiving five and even six lollipops. I am so proud of them -- here, on election day, my munchkins have shown they will be responsible and educated citizens of this great country.

Speaking of election day -- gotta run, I have to drive down the road a couple of miles to get to my polling place. Good luck to all the candidates vying for political office -- only in America.

Did you vote, today? Exercise your right.

The Canals of Bolivia -- an ancient farming practice

Students, today, read an article about how two archeologists rediscovered the ancient Mayan secrets to farming in high country, easily susceptible to killing frost. The scientists discovered a long, abandoned series of canals were once filled with water and knowing that water retains heat longer than air and soil, together, the Indians managed to secure their crops from falling victim to the frost. The method has been resurrected and now, farmers of the area are growing and securing their crops to feed their villages.
My students used Mrs. Fry's "Read Naturally" process, to find the main idea and supporting facts to this story. They underlined the passages that contained the main idea and those supporting facts. Then, using Mrs. Pulizzi's 4-square graphic organizer, assembled that information into a coherent summary.
A few students grumbled and griped and did not want to use a graphic organizer until I told them that as a professional writer, I still use graphic organizers.
I can't wait to see the summaries.

Social Studies
I teach a 9-week curriculum on the Bill of Rights. Today, the munchkins worked together to make those Amendments more kid friendly. We will use the kid-friendly versions to play a game, tomorrow, if they finish. I set-up five scenarios. The teams that figure out the amendments that are violated with these scenarios win lollipops. -- I know, but, its the last class of the day and by the time they get home, the sugar rush should have subsided. Either that, or parents can see what we get at school when their kiddoes come to school with candy.

Have a great night.

How Many Pounds Does A Gallon of Water Weigh?

A review of what we learned about water, so far, basically deals with the weight of water. We played catch-up, today. A single class period lesson expanded to three class periods. Ho boy.

Did Ya See the Newspaper, Today?

MRSA on the rise in Lycoming County. Gee, my sixth graders learned about MRSA, this week. They know how the media can "sensationalize" everything -- even a staph infection that plagued mankind for the last two million years. My kids studied and experimented with "superbug," and they know that good hygiene, not panic, is the best prevention.

Finding the Percentages
We went back to the basics of mathematics, today. Reviewed and revamped our findings on the percentage of water our families used, last weekend, in our water use survey.

Welcome Mrs. Nemeth
Nice lady. Mrs. Nemeth joined us today as our new, temporary, sixth grade reading teacher. I showed her how to use the computer in her classroom, the audio amplifier and the multimedia projector. She will be online, soon, with the grade program and homework blog. One step at a time, if you please. Many of the cherubs recognized her as their CCD teacher -- that's Catholic Sunday School.

I Got Candy
Thanks Allie and Jolene. These girls, each, gave me a baggie of candy from Halloween -- I told you I have nice kids, this year. I bet my family and friends are reading this right now and exclaiming, with hands on either side of face, "BUT, HE'S DIABETIC AND SHOULD NOT EAT SWEETS." Don't worry, even one morsel of candy sends me scrambling to the potty. I will donate the candy to some worthy munchkins -- maybe, Mrs. Antonacci's kids -- they are just as sweet as the candy.

Have a great night!

Halloween Is Not A Holiday

I gave homework. Sure, I know, my students are too old to trick-or-treat, anyway. Today, students took their home water usage survey charts and converted the survey into gallons used. We used a formula of a quart for washing hands, one gallon for brushing teeth, 30 gallons per clothes washer load, etc. . . In the end, everyone used hundreds of gallons of water over the weekend. At 8 pounds a gallon, that's a lot of weight. Anyway, after that, they converted the usage to percentage and finally, made a bar graph of the whole kit-and-kaboodle. Yes, I let them use calculators.

Goodbye, Miss Springman
In a surprise move by the district, today was Miss Springman's last day. This neophyte teacher did a great job while she was with us. Miss Springman was a temporary sub, who, just happened to stay for several weeks. I have to say, for someone basically straight out of college, she did a fantastic job for us. I hope some big shot in some district reads my blog and calls her in for an interview. You will be delighted with her. This girl was asked to interview several times, which means they were very interested in her abilities. We knew about this, yesterday, but we all kept quiet. Trish held her head high and proud as she left the building, this afternoon. I wish her only the best of luck, but, she is talented and I bet she'll land a permanent teaching position by next fall.

Yoda Becomes Darth Vader Becomes Mr. Fausnaught
Mr. F. started the day as Yoda, from Star Wars. By the time he stopped into our grade-level meeting, he donned a Darth Vader mask. By lunch, it was good old Tim. What a card. We are so lucky to have him as our principal -- never a dull moment.
You should have seen the 7th grade team. The teachers dressed in costume and pranced around the lobby as students entered the building, this morning. Me, in black pants, shoes and shirt -- well, I was dressed as a frustrated parent.

Marking Period Ended, Today
I wonder how much candy I will get from students wanting a better science grade.

Have a good night, everyone.

My Mnemonic Works

I used a mnemonic -- A, Z, P, S, to help students solve the source of the superbug virus. Those letters stand for Antonacci, Zdun, Pulizzi, and Springman. Get it? The four 6th grade teachers. So, once the kids exhausted all hypotheses using available information, they had to rely on good ole hypothesis to make an educated guess. I gave them the clue -- first period, the source cup was A, for second period, the source cup was Z. Then, my third science class had P and finally, the last class got to guess -- S, for Springman.

Cough, cough -- sniffle, sniffle

I may have infected your kid with the dreaded "Paraskevidekatriaphobia (pronounced: Pair-uh-skee-vee-dek-uh-tree-uh-foh-bee-uh) Virus. That's Greek for Fear of Friday the 13th. Sorry about infecting them. We conducted an experiment as to how bacteria travel from one person to the next. The virus is on my website. Today, I used "superbug," since that is the catch phrase for MRSA -- an antibiotic resistant staph infection. If anything, they learned the importance of washing hands and not trading flip flops.
Hee hee. I used hydrogen peroxide as my virus cup and then used plain ole bleach as the activator. It made the peroxide fizz and "showed" students how virus can spread throughout a population.
Tomorrow, we find out who had the initial infected cup. Funny, all the kids wanted to be infected and be the source of the infection. I showed them my swollen leg, the result of a MRSA attack several years ago. That did not sway them.

Social Studies
My social studies class gave their presentations, yesterday, on one of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. They had all marking period to work on this project. Four entire class periods and time that equates to four more complete class periods to assembly a five minute skit. The group that did the first amendment was "awesome." Thanks Shelby, Andru, Shannon, Dajah and Robbie -- I was impressed. Two other groups became flustered and "messed-up" their skits. Too bad. The premise of the seventh and nineth amendments were clever, despite the poor delivery. Hey! Not everyone is cut out to be a Shakesperean actor. One group was so upset, they wanted a "do-over," tomorrow. Sorry, girls, what can you accomplish in 24 hours that you could not do in eight weeks. Still, I enjoyed all three skits. A fourth group wanted to do a powerpoint presentation, but to burn the powerpoint onto a flashcard did not work and they will fix and present tomorrow. I have no clue what the fifth group will do, we ran out of time.

Marking Period Over
Wednesday is the end of the marking period. My social studies class moves on to another teacher -- I get a fresh crop. OOOOOhhhhhhhh.