This just isn't going to happen by 5:00 this year.

Hello,

The main purpose of this blog has always been to keep you, the parent, more informed about what goes on in school so that you can have meaningful conversations with your child.  Most children will say "Nothing." when asked what they did in school.  I write to help dispel that notion.  Unfortunately, by the time I write this, it is often past dinner time.  I don't want to get into the reasons why that is happening, but just to make you aware that I realize it, and that it cannot be helped.  I know some parents now read this every morning and that works too.  I wish I could get it down sooner, but I half believe that this place has become a place to have meetings and that the kids and school day is the built-in break in the middle of it all.

Here's the rundown of the school day.  We are going to write stories that include sound effects.  I'd like them to include a Bowdoin volunteer as a character.  Two of our Bowdoin volunteers will be leaving us in the next week.  I thought that hearing their names during our writing share time might be something that they would enjoy.  I'm providing some packing bubbles to help with some of the sound effects.  I had to ban any gas-related sound effects.  We don't need any stories centered around that topic.

In math we are studying measurement in conjuction with area.  It was eye opening to see what some of their estimations were for an inch or a foot.  We did a lot of measuring today.  I'm trying to drum into their heads that lines are measured in distances, areas are measured in squares.  We'll get there. 

A student and parent brought in a fantastic volcanic rock from Iceland.  It was a great example of an igneous rock.  The class has seen some great rock and mineral samples lately.  I brought in a box from my attic that had a label in it that read "Anna Springer's box of minerals - 1850 approx."  She was a great, great, great relative of my wife.  She collected some really nice crystals.

We talked a bit about solid, liquids and gases this afternoon.  I boiled up some water and then we saw it recondense above the pan.  I was happy with some questions, even though they led us in another direction.  We ended up tossing in one of our giant crayola rock crayons and watching it melt in the bubbling water.  Their curiosity is growing, especially at science time.  It bodes well for our physics unit (motion, energy and simple machines).

Thanks for the feedback on yesterday's blog.  I feel like I've got to get my opinion out there a little more with some of these big issues that are going to be decided.  More to come.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea