Flute Beatbox

Maybe instead of focusing on things like math and reading all the time…

we can start providing our children the opportunity to learn valuable skills like this one:

Maths

Another Look Around You special, as promised!

Limit the Children

Maybe you think young ones are a good thing.

Speaking in generalities, maybe you’re right.

Also speaking in generatlities, you may be horribly wrong.

Here’s a wonderful little ad which could use some reruns…

Look Around You: Water

We’ll be including several of these incredible Scientific videos…

be sure NOT to turn it off until you’ve watched at least 2 minutes of the video. If you’re anything like us or those we know well, you may experience difficulty restraining your laughter (maybe).

If you’re interested, keep an eye out for future Look Around You videos (we’ll post more in good time, we promise!)

Where the Wild Things Are

 
This is no April Fools…

Special thanks to Jordan for this one…

Who knew–my favorite childhood book would eventually become a movie…we all know that 99% of the movie is going to be new material…

Hope it’s as amazing as it looks!

Director: Spike Jonze
Writer: Spike Jonze
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures
Cast: Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo

Release: October 16, 2009

Reflexes We Can All Use

I’ll be working on ways to train my students on the fight part of “fight or flight.” This video demonstrates my goals with utter clarity…

Our Idea for Shai Agassi and the Electric Car Boom

Are you ready?

Here it is…

Do this, but start with school buses. School buses are often “tethered” (if you’re on a field trip, just use one of the “normal” buses) to a district. Install a few electric terminals there, let the districts sing your cost-saving praises to the surrounding community, then districts might even be in a position to make a profit off of their stations as the bolder within the community decide to purchase these electric cars.

There you have it. That’s our idea for Shai Agassi and the upcoming electric car boom–make it an electric bus boom to sell entire communities on the idea while promoting education and strengthening the educational system within individual communities throughout the country and around the world.

Hire me.

A Remedy for Students Who Abhor Cursive

When students complain about having to write something in cursive, the best remedy is to have them write the following phrase countless times until their cursive is ready to be turned into an easily read, professional font.

Poor attitudes accomplish precisely nothing.

(And neither does this.)

Really, so this Crawling, Gray Mush is Meatloaf?

Why is it that with all of the modern conveniences (cell phones, diapers, oven mitts) it is still too much to ask for school cafeterias to include actual food (fruit, vegetables, grains, meats, dairy) in the ingredients of lunches? I mean I recognize the fact that they have cornered the market on lunch options, but come on, put minimal effort into your work – show some pride. As a suggessted rule of thumb, if the kitchen rats that are borderline pets refuse to eat what you serve to the second graders, dump the entire dish in the garbage and order pizza from the nearest delivery franchise.

Predicament

Dear colleagues,

I am writing this article to hopefully receive some advice from teachers who have a little more experience dealing with parents, co-workers, principals, school boards, and superintendents. I am an elementary teacher in a rural Alaskan town (the fact that I don’t specify which town will become evident shortly) and I work with gifted students in the primary grades. This is my second year in this position. I was fortunate enough to get a job as soon as I graduated, but because I am so young I feel that many people question my judgment, and or capabilities. Overall, though, the first year and a half went surprisingly smoothly, with little more than the occasional stressful situation. It was during the beginning of the third marking period of this, my second year, when I found myself in a rather puzzling and frustrating predicament.

Each year, the second graders at our school study a unit on the various rocks and rock formations that are common in the earth’s crust. Wanting to expand upon this unit by providing a hands-on experience, I scheduled a field trip for the two third graders, five second graders, and the one first grader with whom I work. The trip was planned so that the students would collect, label, and display as many of the types of rock as they could find. Our group went to two quarries, a group of small cliffs, a river, and an abandoned mining location.

I am sure that you are guessing that the problems I am experiencing are linked to the mining area, and if so, then you have guessed correctly, but not for reasons you may suspect. No students were lost nor harmed on our fieldtrip. Instead, we were successful. One of my students was a little too successful. It turns out that the student had taken home what he thought to be an interestingly large rock, which was really a cluster of rocks held together by mud. When he was trying to clean his ”rock” at home it naturally fell apart and he was left with several uninteresting rock pieces and one shiny stone that stood out from the others. He showed this to his father who immediately suspected that his son had found a nugget of gold. Upon seeking verification, they were told that the boy’s “shiny rock” was indeed a gold nugget worth nearly one hundred dollars.

This is where the trouble begins. The town, parents, teachers, school board members, and even the superintendent are all adamant that the location of the abandoned mining area must be made public. Each of these groups are motivated by any one of a number of reasons, but the most popular motivation, I fear, is simply greed. Everyone assumes that as soon as I specify where we found the gold, that they will each find golden nuggets of their own.

Why am I not telling? It is not that I am hoarding a secret fortune, frankly I seriously doubt whether any more gold would be found there, instead, I feel that this experience was so beneficial for the students, that I would like to continue providing this opportunity each year. If I make the location public I am afraid that either a private mining company will purchase the property and refuse admittance, or the town will go crazy with gold lust and the area will be torn apart, making it impossible for us to visit again

So, you have heard my story, here is my appeal. What advice can you offer? Should I stand on my academic principles, or should I bow before the pressure and publish the location?

golden nugget found on gifted trip