Trinity's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest granddaughter ever! I love this picture of Trinity - she is always drawn to babies, and here she wanted to care for her cousin, Braden.

Happy Birthday to Isaac, too! 

Latin and Greek in the Classroom

We have been studying Greek and Latin roots this year as part of our language arts. My students have REALLY gotten into it. Case in point, at a recent assembly, the presenter used the word "anthropology" and started to define it. "Anthro means man," he began, and at this point, half my class was looking at me with smiles on their faces. I knew they were thinking, "Hey, we KNOW this!" and sure enough, when the assembly was over and we were back in our classroom, many of them just HAD to tell me that they knew "anthro" meant "man" and "-ology" means "the study of" and that they knew what he meant before he translated it. One of those awesome teaching moments. 

Well, yesterday I invited Liz Mercier, a professor of dead languages from Purdue to come to my class and share about Latin and Greek roots. She gladly accepted, but wanted guidance on just what to tell them. I suggested she anticipate going 2 hours (we did) and to start with what she thought they ought to know, and then run with their comments.

Oh. My. Gosh. Did they ever run! She started in with roots, and within minutes the hands were up and they were deep into it. She expressed amazement several times when they decoded something, and said that what they had already learned would be really beneficial. ("Bene! That means 'good!'" would be piped up.)

She gave them adjectives in English such as "loquacious" and "verbose" and the Latin or Greek root that it was from. She'd define the root, then let them figure out the word in English. Then she had them circle their own character traits. That was a huge hit.

For a final project, Dr. Mercier gave the kids the Greek alphabet and let them write their names using it. This spilled over to the chalkboard, and soon it was filled with all kinds of Greek writing. (I had the custodians skip washing my board last night - I want to enjoy it another day!)

As a mostly bystander, I was able to observe and assess just how far my students have come in their understanding of Latin and Greek and how it influences our language. And, Dr. Mercier talked with me about how happy she was to see Latin and Greek being taught in my classroom - good feedback for me because I am the only GT teacher in the school corporation trying this, so I have no one else to offer feedback or bounce ideas off of. 

All in all, it was a super afternoon to stand back and watch kids engaged in learning and taking it to the next level. Nice way to end the week, too!

Weather Blog Again!

Mike Prangley wrote about Cole again on the WCIA weather blog (http://lotsofbarkandbiteinyourforecast.blogspot.com). Mike says:

This cold outbreak is being caused by the Siberian Express. (Then Mike shows the infamous picture of Cole at -49 C with a spot of frostbite on his cheek). I call it this because the cold air has been tracked all the way from Siberia where there is still plenty of cold air. Check out our weather update from Siberia which includes pictures of frostbite and an update from our Siberian pen pal via his Mom!

Hi, Mike,

Attached is the photo of my son, Cole, at -49 C in Surgut, Russia (in Siberia). The white spot is frostbite. This mama is trying not to worry.... :D

The other photo was taken in December. Cole says he climbed 840 steps to get the view of Mt. Medeyu (not sure where that is, but it's somewhere is Russia.)

Enjoy!

Lynn Isenbarger

West Lafayette

(Then Mike includes a picture of a weather map of the top of the world, including Siberia, Greenland, and the Arctic cap.)

Thanks for sharing this Cole and Lynn. We have nothing to complain about here in Lafayette after seeing that picture. Tell Cole to cover that face up and hopefully he was not in too much pain once he went inside to a warmer location. I know that frostbite can be quite painful. I had a milder form of it when I lived in Minnesota and to this day I still have trouble with that small patch of skin on my hand, especially when it is cold and dry outside. This is a good reminder that frostbite will be possible in as little as 40 minutes this morning. Bundle up the little ones. A piece of this bitter cold air Cole saw last week in Siberia is settling over our area. Luckily it has had some time to moderate a little. Here is the latest check on what Cole is experiencing in Siberia today. Unbelievable... still near -55 degrees without wind chill! Ouch, it hurts just typing that. Siberia is located in the upper corner of the map... the left side of the map is Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska.

At least it looks absolutely beautiful there. Here is the picture of Mt. Medeyu. (Picture of Mt. Medeyu is shown.)

Singing Valentine!

Ever the romantic guy, Craig sent me a singing Valentine today! My students were enthralled, and so was I. Here's a picture of the Tippecanotes who came and sang during our class Valentine party.

Cole Made the Weather Blog on WCIA!

Cole's letter this week talked about how bitterly cold it has been in Siberia this week. I sent a few paragraphs to Mike Prangley, the weather man on WCIA. He has a blog, and published my email in its entirety! Check out the February 4, 2009 entry. I especially appreciate his note at the end!  (The blog is at http://lotsofbarkandbiteinyourforecast.blogspot.com/)

Mike says,

I look forward to seeing you soon and if you need an uplifting story to help make you feel warmer here is just the one, all the way from SIBERIA!

Hi, Mike,

I thought you might be interested in this. My son, Cole, is doing missionary work in Russia and is currently located on the western edge of Siberia. Here's something he wrote me via email this morning; I've highlighted the weather portions but left some of the other to give you some context.

Needless to say, I am glad we don't get these kinds of temperatures!! (And having a son in Siberia is good impetus to pray!! LOL)

Lynn Isenbarger

West Lafayette

--

I got on a train to Surgut. It was about a 17-hour trip. It was a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep. When we left Tyumen, it was about -8 C. Upon our arrival to Surgut, we discovered a crisp -39 C. It was very interesting to be in that kind of cold. The thing is, our thermometer was showing -32, and the whole time it was off by 7 degrees. We didn't find that out until the day I left, and as you'll see, we made some dumb decisions based off that misinformation.

With our thermometer showing -35, meaning -42, we decided to go contact. We actually had a surprising amount of success. After that, we stopped a man who politely informed Elder Mizin that his "nose was about to fall off." We both were a tiny bit frostbitten, so we decided to return home and eat, and also decided that we wouldn't be doing that again if we could help it.

The next day was very interesting, too, of course. We had a meeting set up in a tiny neighboring town. We had to take a bus an hour outside of Surgut to get there. It was -45 C. When we got off the bus and Elder Mizin pointed to the house we were going to in the distance, my heart sank. It was only about a ten minute walk, but long enough to be colder than I ever thought possible. Especially because it was windy and there weren't any surrounding buildings to break the wind. We got there and the couple had decided they weren't interested anymore.

It was sad, but I left Surgut behind. Going out to the train station was an interesting experience. I was traveling by myself since I was the only one to come back, and seeing the platform at 1:00 am with NO ONE around was an interesting sight. When it gets this cold, the air kind of freezes in a way, it's like there is a fog. It's so cold that you can't see through the air well, or something like that. That and the platform at that time of night was a sight I won't forget.

I spent all day yesterday traveling home. The Palmers picked me up at the train station, and we went back to their apartment and they fed us. It was good.

I also wanted to say that you don't have to worry about the snow/cold stuff. It's been freezing, but I'm back in Tyumen and things are warmer here. Plus, even in the -45, I was able to be okay. It's funny to be constantly praying to be warm though!

Love, 

Cole

Thanks Cole and Lynn. There have been a few complaints about our rough weather to our weather team over the past week. But after reading this I cannot see how anybody would complain. We can all be thankful for today's high near 12. Yes, it could be a lot worse and now we are getting ready for 40s and 50s in the seven day forecast. We look forward to hearing more of your intriguing stories here on the weather blog. Keep in touch, and if we could we would send you some of our warmer weather.