Octopus!

It's Octopus Week in my classroom!

Today, I brought in ten octopus for the kids to study. 

First, we broke into groups of four and observed the octopi, writing down interesting things about them.

To my surprise, none of the kids were squeamish.

They "dived" right into the activity!

Noah was fascinated by his group's octopus and got close for a better examination.

Audrey and Erik having fun learning.

In the afternoon, we went to the art room and did Gyotaku, an ancient Japanese art form of making prints of the animals. This was done because there was no refrigeration, and printing them allowed the scientists to continue studying the animal after it had decomposed.

First, the children arranged their octopus on newspaper in the position they wanted to print.

Next, using brayers, they rolled ink onto the animals.

Then, rice paper is laid over the inked animal and the student gently patted the paper to make sure there was full contact between the octopus and the paper. This ensured a better print.

Mrs. Fields, our principal, came in to watch. She was so engrossed with what we were doing, she asked if she could make one, too!

Tomorrow's project? Dissecting the animals!

Pardon Me?

It is odd when you are in the Asian grocery buying octopus for a Science project, and the cashier and stock boy are speaking spanish to each other.

Relief Society Women's Broadcast

What a day Saturday was! The General Relief Society from Salt Lake is my FAVORITE Church meeting. I love listening to the prophet and the General Relief Society presidency speak, and know my daughters, daughters-in-love, and friends old and new are watching. There is a tremendous sense of unity coupled with spirituality. I walk on air afterward.

The Lafayette Stake Relief Society Presidency

aka "Ladies I Love"

Sarah Richardson (secretary), Shannon King (1st Counselor), Peggy Joray (2nd Counselor), and me (President.)

I love these women! They are rocks of spirituality.

Shannon ordered two cakes for our conference. While they weren't as tasty as a Deanna Loschen cake (as Vanessa, who came to the conference, pointed out) they were pretty!

Some of the decorations. This is a Braille hymnal and some old Church music books of mine.

Our theme was taken from Psalms 98: "Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord" and we asked each unit to come prepared to share a musical number of some sort and to tell us why they selected that particular piece of music. We emphasized that the music was not to be a perfect performance, but an offering to the Lord.

We had about 130 women come (including my mother!) and I think we accomplished out goal: to offer uplifting music to one another that drew us closer to God. We wanted the women to leave feeling a spiritual high as they attended the broadcast from Salt Lake later in the evening.

Vanessa came over in the evening and watched the broadcast with me. President Monson was in a jovial mood, and we laughed with him as he played a bit before sharing his message.

Another shot of the Ladies I Love!

Craig in The Mormon Times

While out in Utah for Kyle's graduation this past August,  Trent Toone  from The Mormon Times tracked Craig down. He was writing a story about LDS Intitutes of Religion in unusual places. Since Craig supervises the Institute at Notre Dame University (South Bend, Indiana), the author wanted to interview him. The article follows.

From the August 26th 2010 Mormon Times:
"South Bend: Reaching out in a religiously charged atmosphere"
Author: Trent Toone 
26 August 2010 8:30am


This week Mormon Times focuses on smaller institutes across the country, each with its own unique flair, in a series of profiles.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Their schedules are busy, but they find time for the religious class anyway.

More than 30 students, many married and in graduate school, participate in a weekly evening institute class at a local LDS Church building less than 15 minutes from campus.

Craig Isenbarger, who oversees the church's institute program at Notre Dame, Indiana University/Purdue University-Fort Wayne, the University of St. Francis, Purdue University and Ivy Tech, said the church is making a great effort to reach out to students in a religiously charged atmosphere.

"There is a growing interest and Notre Dame is a great academic school with very acclaimed graduate programs in several fields," Isenbarger said. "Hopefully we can provide a good institute experience."

Patrick Mason, now a research professor at Notre Dame, is a BYU graduate and used to teach the LDS institute class. He said South Bend is not the "belly of the beast," but a very religious-friendly environment for all faiths.

"It's a religious school with religious values," Mason said. "The vast majority feel very comfortable here."

Mason said there is a pipeline from BYU to the Notre Dame business school. There is also a small group who attend Irish football games together. There were four Mormons on the football team until one recently left to accept a mission call to Ecuador.

Isenbarger couldn't resist telling about one recent LDS convert who attends Wabash College, a respected private school in Crawfordsville, Ind., about 180 miles southwest of Notre Dame. Before joining the church, Adam Brashich was on the career track to attending divinity school and becoming a minister. Since his conversion, he taught a regular 10-minute segment on Greek words as Isenbarger taught lessons on the Book of Revelation.

"It was really fun. He is a wonderful young man. He has had to rethink a lot of things since getting baptized in January," Isenbarger said."

Dinner Group Tailgating!

Flashback to 1980 in Illinois when we joined a gourmet group with Joe and Penny Stucki, Dave and Zina Whetten, Alan and JoAnn Broadbent, and Alex and Sylvia Ruggieri. That group is still going strong, although we and the Whettens have moved.

Craig and I missed that dinner group when we moved here, and so about a year and a half ago, we started one ourselves.

Left to right is Craig, Bryn and Eric Seymour, Lisa and Pat Connolly, and Loni and Tim Gibb. We call ourselves the "No Friends" group because we all are or were in callings that isolated us (Stake President, Bishop, Patriarch, Stake Relief Society President, Ward Relief Society President, etc.) This group has allowed us to get together and relax.

Last night we met at the Connollys' home for a tailgate (well, it WAS Friday night, and high school "Friday Night Frenzy" is huge in Indiana!) We all wore a tee from our favorite football team, be it professional, college, or high school, and the food was BBQ'd ribs, salads, and a pumpkin dessert. Lisa got out her Tennessee and Colts tableware - it was orange and blue, so this Illinois fan was happy!

The No Friends Dinner Group

September 24, 2010

Keep 'em Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'!

Tumbleweed fun today! When Craig and I drove to Utah for Kyle's graduation, I asked LuAnn, Ashley's mom, to get me a couple of tumbleweeds from her property up in the mountains. My Indiana students had never seen one, and I knew they would be fascinated. So, I lugged them 1500 miles cross country, and have had them sitting in a box in my classroom since early August, waiting for the perfect day.

Finally we had a day that was windy enough to bring them out of their box. We walked to the far end of the school grounds and away from the playground (tumbleweeds have stickers). I opened the box and "set them free."

It just took that first gust of wind, and off the tumbleweeds rolled. With 31 kids laughing and jumping and running after them. 

The bigger of the two really took off, and tumbled until it got to the baseball diamonds near the building.

We left them out there - I explained that in nature they would tumble and then fall apart after time passed. (I hope they fall apart before someone discovers them and wonders how on earth a tumbleweed rolled all the way to Indiana. That would be some wind!!)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Look at this elegant lady! That's my mom. I hope when I am her age that I, too, have such a look of happiness and serenity.

She just radiated contentment and joy last night. It reminded me a bit of Cole's wedding - he never quit smiling. Last night, the same was true for my mother. My mother glowed. She simply glowed. Happiness was on her face all night, and I loved just sitting there with her and watching her enjoy her special day.

To celebrate her birthday, Curt, Vanessa, and I took her to McGraw's for dinner. (Craig had to teach a class.) It used to be called Stiney's - it's a small restaurant tucked away in the country and on the banks of the Wabash. We had a window seat and watched the river all night long. Lucky us!

Mom has a sense of humor, too. I was trying to get a picture of us all (the light was really bad) and suddenly she turned and popped a forkful of turtle cheesecake into Vanessa's mouth! (My mother is very, very fond of Vanessa. When Cole and Emily got married in Nauvoo, Vanessa sat with my mom and got to know her. I think Vanessa was sort of watching out for my mom and making sure she felt comfortable. That kindness really touched my mom, and she always enjoys having Vanessa around. In the car on the way home, my mother said, "I knew even back in June that Curt was lucky to get Vanessa. I knew it!")

Anyway, we had one of those golden evenings together, a time I won't forget. It was a delight to be together, and even better to see how happy my mother was as she enjoyed her special day.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

But He's a ...

Native Americans is the topic of an Independent Study currently going on in my classroom. The kiddos have selected tribes to research, and I give them time during the day to read, take notes, and write their papers.

One girl, studying the Pawnees, brought her book to my desk this morning as we were working. In it was an explanation of a dance that depicted a gruesome tribal ritual. She was a bit upset by it, so I talked with her about how this was only a dance and that the dancers were just pretending. No one was actually hurt during the dance. (I didn't explain that the dance was also a depiction of what they planned to do to their enemies.)

She seemed reassured and went back to her seat.

A few minutes later, she was back at my desk, clutching the book to her chest and her eyes the size of saucers.

"Mrs. I!! Read this!" And she thrust the book towards me with her finger under the word "humanitarian."

"Yes, that's right," I replied. "That tribe member was known for being a humanitarian."

I did not think her eyes could get any bigger, but they did.

"But... but... THAT'S AWFUL!" she sputtered.

"Why?" I said. "Doing good to others is a good thing."

And then you could see understanding dawn across her face. Along with a healthy dose of embarrassment.

"Oh," she responded meekly. "I thought a humanitarian was sort of like a vegetarian, only a humanitarian ate humans."

PANIC!!

Did I have an afternoon. I was practically panicking and so distracted, I could hardly focus on teaching.

I LOST THE KIDS' MIDTERM PROGRESS REPORTS.

I worked on them during lunch, and then turned them face down on my desk when the students came in for the afternoon. A half hour later I went to put them in a different location, and they were GONE.

At first I just thought I'd put them in another pile. I searched my desktop, then the shelves behind my desk.

Nothing.

At this point I started getting worried. Then I remembered that Mr. MacLaverty, our clerical aide, had grabbed some things off my desk to xerox for me. He must've grabbed them, too, right?

Nope. I even searched around the xerox machine, and he came in and looked around the room with me. No midterms.

Now I was upset. How could I have lost them? And of course,  I then made a BIG LEAP and, because my Dad had had it, began thinking, "Alzheimer's Disease! Maybe I have it."

Yeah, I know, that's a huuuuuge leap, skipping over steps such as, I have 31 kids in this room and lots to keep track of, and, Everyone loses things occasionally.

No, all I could think of was that I might have Alzheimers.

When the bell rang at 3:25, I asked Nancy in the room next door if she had a moment to help me. I must've looked very upset because she gasped and said, "What's happened.?"

"I lost my kids' midterms!" I wailed.

Her eyebrows went up and I continued, "I know it's silly, but I am worried this may be a sign of Alzheimers."

Nancy's eyebrows went down and a look of understanding crossed her face. She grabbed me in a hug and said, "Let me tell you what I lost and forgot today!" And she ran down a long list of eye glasses, a pencil, some papers, a book, etc.

"Lynn, we ALL lose things. It's the nature of the job,  especially with classes this large."

She then offered to come into my room and help find them.

And find them we did. In a stack of student labels that I had filed. They must've gotten shuffled into the labels when I was working on the midterms.

Sheepishly, I thanked Nancy and admitted that I knew I had made a huge leap and over-reacted. She hugged me again and reassured me that, with Alzheimers in the family, that was understandable. She then admonished me for expecting too much perfection out of myself.

Hmmm, isn't that the lecture I occasionally give a student or two? Maybe I need to learn lesson that myself.

Better go stuff those midterms into their envelopes and be done with 'em!

And They Just Keep Coming!

Wedding pictures, that is. New ones seem to crop up every week from a variety of sources. I love these pictures of Cole and me dancing at his reception.

Student Project

The children are beginning to complete their Classics Projects, and we will have Friday presentations from now until Christmas. (Out of all we do in class, Classics presentations are the hands down favorite!)

I had to post this picture. Lexie (one of my pig-showing girls from the 4 H Fair) read Mr. Popper's Penguins. For her project, she made a diorama of the penguins performing. I think it is one of the most delightful depictions of a book I have seen for a while. The penguins (made from wooden eggs bought at Hobby Lobby) crack me up!

Questions

Does making enough hummingbird sugar water to fill the two feeders with enough left over to save in the fridge for future use make me an old lady?

Or does it mean I am wise and thinking ahead?

Or is it that I am lazy and not wanting to take the time to make sugar water as needed and then clean up after myself?

Just Keep Swimming!

Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!

That's my mantra this week. You see, I am living with this:

My students are SOOOO excited that we have turned our classroom into the zones of the ocean (Sunlight, Twilight, and Midnight) as part of our study of water on a global/national/local level. They even walk around pretending they are fish, making gill and flipper motions with their hands as they cross the room to sharpen a pencil or hand in a paper. Or, they make believe they are swimmers enjoying a day in the ocean, and free-style or breast stroke their way along! (Kind of cute to watch; I admit!)

But the clutter and mess is way outside of my comfort zone. Fortunately, I told them that my desk area is above the water level and could not be decorated. At least there I feel like my head is above water! (Haha!) Still, my desk is footed by a beach area made of clipped bits of sandy brown yarn (the sand, obviously) and real seashells.

As uncomfortable as I feel, though, I am really proud of the kids. This is totally their creation. While it was my idea, they executed it, and did so in a way far from what I had in mind. (As usual, when that happens, their ideas are better than mine!)

And they are incredibly excited about "our" ocean. They wanted to invite the principal and assistant principal in for a gander. Their 1st grade reading buddies came in (were they impressed!) One girl even towed her mother in before school so she could take a look. You just can't beat having students that excited about a learning project.

And so I will smile and do my best to ignore the clutter, step over the seashells artfully scattered on the carpet in the beach area by my desk, and, as Dory says in the Disney movie, Finding Nemo,

"Just keep swimming!!"

Migraine!

Migraines STINK.

They throb. They make you feel sick to your stomach. Sometimes you have visual distortions so disorienting you have to shut your eyes and lie down in a darkened room. Even common household noises can set your teeth on edge while you are having one. (How well I remember, and how badly I feel now about it, SHOUTING at my brother as a teenager because I could hear his stereo in the basement playing through the vents in my bedroom. Yup, I was enduring a migraine at the time, and even though his music truly wasn't loud, the migraine's effects magnified it to the extent where I found it painful to hear.)

While reading the Sunday paper this morning, I became aware of a sharp pain on one side of my head. Not a good sign - migraines only involve one side of the head. I knew what that meant, but sometimes a migraine will never fully onset and goes away as quickly as it popped up.

Not today.

I started feeing nauseated. Then the "lick, lick, lick" of Zeus as he groomed himself after his breakfast irritated me until I finally said crabbily, "Zeus, stop licking!"

Poor dog! Not his fault I was getting crabby. And then the migraine bloomed into the full-blown, make-Lynn-go-to-bed-in-a-darkened-room, kind.

Quickly I downed some Tylenol, then I threw a ham bone and veggies into the crock pot, and went to bed.

I have all morning to recuperate so I can get to Church at 1:00, help Craig give a patriarchal blessing this afternoon at 4:30, and then serve Sunday dinner at 5:30 to our moms and anyone else who joins us tonight.

Crossing my fingers that I caught it in time and that I am not KO'd for the rest of the day.

An Email from Trinity

I received the following response to an email I'd sent Trinity:


good. big.yes.gomes/stream.yes.


Okay...... Had to go back and check what I had written!

Hi, Sweetie!!

How are you doing? I miss you and wish we were having Groompa Camp right now.

What is your new school like? Do you like it? Who is your teacher? Have you made new friends?

Love, Grammy xoxox

  ~o
_'/<,_
(*)/ (*) I'd rather be biking!

Three Years Old!!

Happy Birthday, Braden! Three years old today!!

My phone went off just before lunch while I was teaching Science. It was Braden, calling to thank me for the race car bed tent I had sent him. My whole class sang "Happy Birthday" to him - what fun! Kyle said that Braden was watching a movie inside the tent - I guess he really likes it.

Many happy more, buddy! I love you!!

The Rose

Last week Emma brought me a rose. It is a beautiful, long stemmed yellow rose with orange-tipped edges and is sitting in a vase on my desk at school.

Curious, I asked her why she'd brought me the flower. She responded that her father had given it to her, and she decided to give it to me.

Touched as I was by Emma's gift, I also felt an underlying

sadness. Most girls would have given their mom the flower. But Emma's mother, my friend Gayle, passed away last spring of breast cancer.

Emma has no one to give the rose, so she brought it to me. 

Every time I look at the rose on my desk, I experience mixed emotions. Sadness for Emma's loss, sadness for the loss of my friend, touched that a little girl would bring me such a gift, and then wondering what more I can do to help this child transition to life without her mother.

Happy 25th Birthday, Curt!

Sunday evening we celebrated Curt's 25th birthday. Chalking up another year on the same day was Pooma!


Together they blew out their candles and shared the apple crisp. Dinner, everyone agreed, was "legendary" and would be long remembered in the annals of Isenbarger lore: grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp, grilled salmon, grilled zucchini, squash, and pineapple, sauteed spinach, sliced fresh tomatoes, blueberry muffins, and apple crisp with ice cream!


Happy Birthday to a wonderful son!

From the Mouths of Babes...

I am still wiping away tears of laughter from reading the following entry that was posted on Ashley's blog. I HAD to repost it here!

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31

Family Home Evening

Last night for Family Home Evening we were discussing the Creation. We went through all the days and discussed what was made that day and gave examples, etc. Kyle asked Braden if he knew who the first person to live on Earth was. Braden said yes. I was surprised, but when Kyle asked Braden who it was Braden replied, "Grammy!"

Sorry Grammy. I promise we're not teaching him that :)

Well, He is Correct, I Guess

We are studying the oceans in Science, and water systems in general (global to local.) I found a fun activity titled, "Do We Drink the Same Water the Dinosaurs Did?" that is a good review of the water cycle and how water is continuously recycled year after year and has been for millenia.

The final question on the assignment, the one that showed me if the children truly understood that age-old aspect of the water cycle was:

If a dinosaur lived in what is now Mexico, and you lived in Arkansas, could you still be drinking the same water the dinosaur did?

I got some excellent responses from many of the children which showed me they thoroughly understood the concept.

And then there was this response from Daniel which made me burst right out loud into laughter:

"Yes, because he used the restroom and it evaporated."

Well, I guess he DOES get the concept!!

Posin'

Curt has a "pose" that he does - he bends his right knee and goes into a deep lunge. It is done when he is happy and exhibiting his joy, when he is playful, when he wants to make others laugh...

I have no idea why he does it or how it originated - it's just Curt. After his wedding in the Chicago Temple, Kyle, Sarah, Cole, Lisa, and Jessica joined with him in executing "The Curt Lunge" as a sibling show of celebration of his marriage.