I like doing crosswords. More specifically, I like doing the New York Times crossword on Monday and Tuesday, and sometimes Wednesday. Monday is pretty easy; I can always complete it. Tuesday is a little more challenging, and by Wednesday there's an excellent chance that I won't be able to figure it all out.
Doing the New York Times crossword was a challenge of mine a couple years ago and I bought a book on conquering it. From this book I learned that each day has it's unique character - Monday is designed to be approachable and finish-able. Tuesday is a little harder, Wednesday even harder. Thursday is wild card day, so you may need to figure out that some boxes require double letters, for example. One Halloween you needed to draw little ghosts in some of the boxes in order to solve it. Friday is very hard and Saturday, too. I don't remember if there was anything else special about them. Sunday is a much bigger puzzle, about as difficult as Wednesday.
Using the book helped me learn how crosswords work, and the usual small words and their clues that repeat a lot. I really did get better, though I haven't conquered it yet.
Some people recommend doing crosswords as a way of staving off memory loss and even dementia. I don't think doing crosswords really helps with either of those. I think doing crosswords make you better at doing crosswords, which is all I'm looking for in these puzzles. Sometimes I learn some new vocabulary or a new fact, but mostly I just enjoy the challenge of filling in all those little square correctly so the whole thing fits together perfectly. Aahh.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Monday, March 9, 2015
The Seinfeld Post
Yes, it's a post about nothing.
It's been one of those days when there isn't a minute to spare and now it's 10:49 CDT and i need to write my slice for the day!
The time change always throws me off. I'm just surprised all day at what time it is. What did I do that kept me so busy? I taught, I finished report cards, went to a faculty meeting after school, rushed home, made a quick dinner (fried rice), and left to go to orchestra rehearsal 45 minutes away. It was a looong rehearsal. At 10 we were out of time, so another 45 minute drive back home. I'm tired.
I have things to write about, I promise! Check back tomorrow!
It's been one of those days when there isn't a minute to spare and now it's 10:49 CDT and i need to write my slice for the day!
The time change always throws me off. I'm just surprised all day at what time it is. What did I do that kept me so busy? I taught, I finished report cards, went to a faculty meeting after school, rushed home, made a quick dinner (fried rice), and left to go to orchestra rehearsal 45 minutes away. It was a looong rehearsal. At 10 we were out of time, so another 45 minute drive back home. I'm tired.
I have things to write about, I promise! Check back tomorrow!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
How quickly the past becomes quaint
I teach 4th grade, and I find that I have to explain things from the past more and more. For example, long distance telephone calls. A lesson on probability in our math book asks about the chances of getting a busy signal while making a long distance phone call. Of course, they don't know what a busy signal is either. I tell about growing up away from my extended family -- they all lived in either Seattle or western Minnesota -- and that we only called them twice a year because it was so expensive. And when we did call, everybody got on the phone, one at a time, to say hello. My cousin Gail in Seattle, who was about 10 years older than me, always asked my sister and me, "What are you doing?" And we would inevitably answer, "Talking on the phone." We weren't being snotty; it was just that calling Seattle was what we were doing. Anything else was secondary.
Telegrams! I do a read-aloud that has telegrams as sort of an important part of the plot. The book is The Return of the Twelves, by Pauline Clarke, a British author. One of the characters is having surreptitious communication with a professor in America, by telegram. Since it takes place in a small town, everybody finds out about the telegrams. (I highly recommend the book. It's about a 9 year old boy in England who discovers a set a wooden soldiers that may have belonged to the Bronte children. He also discovers that they are alive!)
Records (LPs) are perhaps a little more familiar to some of my students. They describe them as odd flat, circular objects, as if they arrived from another planet. But the familiar expression, "he sounds like a broken record," falls on deaf ears. My daughter, who loves the TV show House, thought LP meant lumbar puncture when she heard her father and me talking.
I remember how quaint and faraway my mother's Depression-era childhood sounded from her stories of the iceman delivering ice, harvest time on the farm, playing kitten ball (whatever that is!) Now my stories sound the same way to my own children, and even more to to my students. They don't know a world without computers, smart phones, and video games. I'm actually sorry for them. Thank what they're missing -- the pleasure of playing in a puddle, riding your bike all over your neighborhood, being bored and having to read a book, or make up a game!
No doubt my 4th graders will someday be explaining their quaint smart phones to incredulous grandchildren. Maybe by then kids will be playing in the mud again.
Telegrams! I do a read-aloud that has telegrams as sort of an important part of the plot. The book is The Return of the Twelves, by Pauline Clarke, a British author. One of the characters is having surreptitious communication with a professor in America, by telegram. Since it takes place in a small town, everybody finds out about the telegrams. (I highly recommend the book. It's about a 9 year old boy in England who discovers a set a wooden soldiers that may have belonged to the Bronte children. He also discovers that they are alive!)
Records (LPs) are perhaps a little more familiar to some of my students. They describe them as odd flat, circular objects, as if they arrived from another planet. But the familiar expression, "he sounds like a broken record," falls on deaf ears. My daughter, who loves the TV show House, thought LP meant lumbar puncture when she heard her father and me talking.
I remember how quaint and faraway my mother's Depression-era childhood sounded from her stories of the iceman delivering ice, harvest time on the farm, playing kitten ball (whatever that is!) Now my stories sound the same way to my own children, and even more to to my students. They don't know a world without computers, smart phones, and video games. I'm actually sorry for them. Thank what they're missing -- the pleasure of playing in a puddle, riding your bike all over your neighborhood, being bored and having to read a book, or make up a game!
No doubt my 4th graders will someday be explaining their quaint smart phones to incredulous grandchildren. Maybe by then kids will be playing in the mud again.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Musings on the weather
We have an awful winter in the midwest. It has not gotten above 20 degrees for weeks, and has hovered around zero for days on end. A couple of days ago I thought, "It's not bad today, the temperature feels okay," as I got in my car to go to work. Then I heard on the radio that with the wind chill it was 9 below zero. I guess you get acclimated to endless cold. And we have snow - several feet of it. I know that other parts of the country have also had an unusually cold and snowy winter as well. I don't envy my friends on the east coast.
But today is not only sunny, but the temperature is in the 40s! It feels like spring. A tiny portion of the snow has melted. It is actually pleasant to be outside with just a sweatshirt on!
I got to thinking about ice ages, and what it would be like if we were entering another ice age. I also watched a time lapse look at snow and ice cover from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which to me resembled glaciers moving down into the United States, and then retreating. (The video is on Facebook and I was able to figure out how to find it on the NOAA site, so here's the link to FB: Science on a Sphere) It's an interesting visual of snow and ice cover over the last year and three months.
My train of thought took me to disaster movies, and thoughts about what a disaster movie about advancing glaciers would be like. "Quick honey! Grab the kids! The glacier will be here in 50 years!" Of course, in disaster movies, no one listens to the lone expert who sounds the alarm. Then disaster strikes - the fire in the ultra tall building, the sinking ocean liner, the storm of the century! And then it's too late. So in our Ice Age movie that might look like, "We should have listened! The glacier will hit us in 5 years! Pack your bags!" I guess that won't fly.
But today is not only sunny, but the temperature is in the 40s! It feels like spring. A tiny portion of the snow has melted. It is actually pleasant to be outside with just a sweatshirt on!
I got to thinking about ice ages, and what it would be like if we were entering another ice age. I also watched a time lapse look at snow and ice cover from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which to me resembled glaciers moving down into the United States, and then retreating. (The video is on Facebook and I was able to figure out how to find it on the NOAA site, so here's the link to FB: Science on a Sphere) It's an interesting visual of snow and ice cover over the last year and three months.
My train of thought took me to disaster movies, and thoughts about what a disaster movie about advancing glaciers would be like. "Quick honey! Grab the kids! The glacier will be here in 50 years!" Of course, in disaster movies, no one listens to the lone expert who sounds the alarm. Then disaster strikes - the fire in the ultra tall building, the sinking ocean liner, the storm of the century! And then it's too late. So in our Ice Age movie that might look like, "We should have listened! The glacier will hit us in 5 years! Pack your bags!" I guess that won't fly.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Hablas Espanol?
Last fall my school switched foreign language instruction from French to Spanish, so this is our first year of Spanish. Our head of school encouraged everyone in the school to try to learn some Spanish and use it in the classroom. I tried the program Duolingo over the summer, but found that most of what I learned wasn't helpful. Yo soy un penguino, for example. (I am a penguin.) But once school started, our afternoon custodian, Miguel, decided he was going to help me learn Spanish. He comes into my classroom around 4:30 to empty trash.
"Buenos tardes, maestra," he greets me.
"Buenos tardes, senor," I answer.
"Como esta?" he asks next.
"Muy buen. Como esta?"
"Muy buen."
After this, he sometimes talks about the cold weather ("frio") or how much work we both have ("mucho trabajo"). Then we say good-bye.
"Hasta manana. Hasta Lunes. Adios."
Miguel doesn't speak much English. We are limited in our conversations, but he easily communicates what a nice person he is, thoughtful, helpful, and funny.
Today he asked that I teach him English while he teaches me Spanish. A new adventure!
"Buenos tardes, maestra," he greets me.
"Buenos tardes, senor," I answer.
"Como esta?" he asks next.
"Muy buen. Como esta?"
"Muy buen."
After this, he sometimes talks about the cold weather ("frio") or how much work we both have ("mucho trabajo"). Then we say good-bye.
"Hasta manana. Hasta Lunes. Adios."
Miguel doesn't speak much English. We are limited in our conversations, but he easily communicates what a nice person he is, thoughtful, helpful, and funny.
Today he asked that I teach him English while he teaches me Spanish. A new adventure!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Essays! Let's party!
After weeks of work, learning how to write a five-paragraph essay, my class celebrated their completed essays! For our celebration we invite parents and everyone read his/her essay, either to the whole group or in a smaller group. Then the kids man the essay museum where they explain the essay process and show the stages of their work. I didn't think this up - it's from Lucy Calkins.
Our celebration was great. The kids were proud and the parents were pleased. I talked briefly about how every child had grown as a writer, though each was at a different point in the writing process.
Every child chose his or her topic, though I gave some guidance on topics that I didn't think were going to work. Nevertheless, one boy wrote his essay on "we should not have school every day." In spite of my discussions with him about the big fact that we DON'T have school every day, he really wanted that thesis and he made it work. Many of the topics were quite serious and reflected injustices and problems that the young writers feel strongly about -- puppy mills, pollution, chemicals in foods, and even one on terrorism from a very mature 4th grader.
The museum part of the celebration is a lot of fun. It's unstructured after sitting and listening to essays, and the parents are always so willing to talk to all the kids and ask them questions. Though the parents see their children doing homework, coming to a celebration of writing helps them realize how much their children are learning and how far they have come. I'm always a bit worried about whether we'll pull it off -- two students were still finishing their essays an hour before parents arrived! -- but once the party starts, it's the kids' show and they step up to the task. I can just bask in the glow.
Our celebration was great. The kids were proud and the parents were pleased. I talked briefly about how every child had grown as a writer, though each was at a different point in the writing process.
Every child chose his or her topic, though I gave some guidance on topics that I didn't think were going to work. Nevertheless, one boy wrote his essay on "we should not have school every day." In spite of my discussions with him about the big fact that we DON'T have school every day, he really wanted that thesis and he made it work. Many of the topics were quite serious and reflected injustices and problems that the young writers feel strongly about -- puppy mills, pollution, chemicals in foods, and even one on terrorism from a very mature 4th grader.
The museum part of the celebration is a lot of fun. It's unstructured after sitting and listening to essays, and the parents are always so willing to talk to all the kids and ask them questions. Though the parents see their children doing homework, coming to a celebration of writing helps them realize how much their children are learning and how far they have come. I'm always a bit worried about whether we'll pull it off -- two students were still finishing their essays an hour before parents arrived! -- but once the party starts, it's the kids' show and they step up to the task. I can just bask in the glow.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
After hours musician
Today, Wednesday, is the first day of the third trimester at my school. This means I have stacks of things to grade while also working on report cards, which are due on Monday. Tomorrow my class is having an essay celebration to which we have invited the parents. Some of my 4th graders are still revising their essays. I will be talking about writing being a work in progress when I kick off the celebration - organization, spelling, word choice - every child is at a particular place in his or her growth and so all their essays are not perfect.
So life is somewhat stressful this week. Too much to do! However, last night I was at a band rehearsal. Monday night I was at an orchestra rehearsal. Last Saturday I played a children's concert. In addition to being a 4th grade teacher, I play French horn, or horn as we horn players call it. I play regularly in three different groups - a concert band, a community orchestra, and a horn choir. Sometimes my fellow teachers ask how I can find the time for all this music making. My answer is, how can I not? I love teaching, but I also love music.
I was a musician before I was a teacher. I attended music school and was fortunate to study with some awesome musicians. I spent hours every day playing my instrument, listening to music, talking about music.
I no longer do all that, but it is unthinkable to me that music would not be a huge part of my life - playing and listening. It does take a big chunk of time, because I also have to practice on the days when I don't have a rehearsal. I tell everyone that I don't watch television because I play horn instead, and that is pretty much the case.
A question that I get a lot when people find out that I have music degrees is, do I use music in my classroom. Not much. I find it incredibly distracting.
And now, I should go practice.
So life is somewhat stressful this week. Too much to do! However, last night I was at a band rehearsal. Monday night I was at an orchestra rehearsal. Last Saturday I played a children's concert. In addition to being a 4th grade teacher, I play French horn, or horn as we horn players call it. I play regularly in three different groups - a concert band, a community orchestra, and a horn choir. Sometimes my fellow teachers ask how I can find the time for all this music making. My answer is, how can I not? I love teaching, but I also love music.
I was a musician before I was a teacher. I attended music school and was fortunate to study with some awesome musicians. I spent hours every day playing my instrument, listening to music, talking about music.
I no longer do all that, but it is unthinkable to me that music would not be a huge part of my life - playing and listening. It does take a big chunk of time, because I also have to practice on the days when I don't have a rehearsal. I tell everyone that I don't watch television because I play horn instead, and that is pretty much the case.
A question that I get a lot when people find out that I have music degrees is, do I use music in my classroom. Not much. I find it incredibly distracting.
And now, I should go practice.
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