My Favorite Book

When I was in 5th grade, my teacher read aloud a book that I found so riveting, I vowed to read it aloud to my own students should I ever become a teacher. I have kept that vow and read A Wrinkle in Time to every class I have taught, both at Yankee Ridge and at Hershey.

My copy - a gift from my mother years ago.

Many years may have passed since I was in 5th grade, but children still find the story just as fascinating as I did all those years ago.

The original cover. (They did a 50th anniversary edition with this cover; I have that, too!)

A paperback cover, and one of my favorite editions.

I just finished reading it to my current class - always a sad time for me to read that last line and close the book. But, I started a tradition in 2004 that has come to have great meaning to me. I have the children sign the book when we're done!

 Yesterday's signatures.

 Two pages from my Yankee Ridge years.

 And the Hershey years begin.

 I see some siblings on these two pages!

 Kiersten Slaughter, a Yankee Ridge gal, once got so into the story that she literally jumped up while I was reading and shouted, "Nooooooo!!" I love that memory of a girl so caught up in the book that she forgot herself. I put a post-it there to help me remember, and I always share that with my current class.

I also have written notes on pages, reminders to have something ready to share with the children.

I have loved this book for many years. But there is an added dimension to that love - so many of my memories are wrapped up in reading it with children, and the enjoyment we shared as a result.

"Can we sit close to you?" one of my classes at Yankee Ridge asked me once when I gathered them together to read. 'Sure!" I replied, and then to my surprise, I was literally surrounded - children standing behind my chair so they could see the text as I read, others leaning against me, some kneeling at my side... an entire class sitting as close as they could get. I was not expecting the children to practically pile on top of me. (And they did that from that point on until we finished the book.)

But that is the power of a good book, and A Wrinkle in Time is most definitely that.

Multiagers Head to State!

Harrison's boys' soccer team is headed to the State Championship this weekend, and two former multiagers from my classroom are seniors on the team, Cole Boyer and Andrew Clausen.

So, when Hershey School wore orange and blue to show support for the team, I decided that my class would take that support a step further.

 We made banners for each former multiager.

 The crew that made Cole's banner.

 And the one that made Andrew's.

Grabbing a couple of Hershey Bars from the school office, I dropped the banners off at each boy's home Thursday after school. Since they were at practice (no surprise) I didn't get to see them, instead leaving the banners and Hershey Bars with family members.

Andrew's mother, Jill, sent me a picture of him holding his banner. She said he was so excited about it, that they hung it in their living room for the entire family to enjoy.

Curt and Cole played soccer (with Cole's team going to the state finals), so you can bet this former soccer mom has her fingers crossed for the team and is hoping for a win!

Closet Treasures

Last weekend was Fall Break, and so I cleaned out my hobby closet, a task I had had on my summer to-do list, but never accomplished. This time I got it done.

I pulled out all kinds of things from Johnny West dolls, Thunderbolt, old hobby magazines, ribbons I had won with my horses and my collection, and more. It was a real walk down memory lane.

It also made a big mess in the horse room.

 Yeesh!! I can't believe I actually got all that stuff put back away in the closet. But I did!

I found a real treasure - this painting. It's not Abby, even though it sure looks like her.

That's a painting of Amy, my very first horse and my favorite of all time. It was because of the similarity to Amy that I bought Abby - I truly had no intention of ever owning a horse again.

The mother of my pen pal, Sue Seese, was a talented artist. She painted portraits and full body paintings of horses and sold them. (A restaurant in Los Angelos displayed them, and once we ate there when I was in California visiting Sue. It was fun seeing Mrs. Seese's horse paintings all over the dining area!) Her mom sent me this one as a gift. She also did one of Cee and another of me riding bareback on Amy that she also gave me, and they are tucked away in that closet, too.

Finding that painting made me nostalgic and even a little sad. I really loved that horse. But I think my favorite discovery tucked in those boxes of memories were these blankets.

I made them for two of my model horses to wear way back when I was in elementary school. I free handed the embroidery and the "brand" on Sham's blanket. (I still have Apache Joe and Sham in my collection - two oldies and well loved.)

The blankets need washing, but I doubt I will do that - they are so old and delicate, I would hate to have them disintegrate on me. But I did not put them back into their box; I put them in with my current hobby items. That way I will see them any time I putter with my collection.

Shout Hooray!

Ian loves my The Wonderful Wizard of Oz pop-up book, so when the Hershey Scholastic Book Fair had a pop-up book, I snagged it for him.

It's a take on the old song, "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands." Only this is, "If You're a Robot and You Know It..." and the robot marches, flaps his wings, and shoots laser beams out of his eyes! (My favorite page.)

Ian loves the book, and Curt was kind enough to take a video of Ian reading it.

I love Ian's enthusiastic shout of "Hooray!"

School Family - Rough Week

It has been an unusually rough week at Hershey. The mothers of two different Hershey students died of cancer. That was hard - you could feel the sadness throughout the school.

But more was to come. Yesterday a 5th grader suddenly went into seizures and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. She continued to seize while there and so she had to be transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. I have not yet heard this morning how she is doing; hopefully we will get an update from Linda during our morning faculty meeting.

Just one of these things is enough to sadden our school; having three of them in such a short amount of time makes for an emotionally difficult week.

More Paper Teachering

A couple of days ago, I wrote about how I was being asked to document everything I do with kids in order to prove I was a good teacher. I have to prove that my students make a year's growth by showing what I did to help them. (Report cards just aren't good enough any more...)

But what about those kids who don't make a year's growth? Who, for whatever reason, cannot? The special needs kids who simply will never be working on grade level like a couple of our reading buddies? The mentally challenged mute who cannot respond to those grade level questions yet who is still expected to respond and whose teacher is held accountable when he or she cannot?

And how about the children who have anger issues and are a threat to other children, are dealing with trouble at home or are homeless, who need special schools with teachers who are trained to assist them? The kids who cannot survive in a regular school and need an alternative?

My daughter, Sarah, is especially good with troubled kids. A pregnant teen? She's got her back and will even go to the hospital with her and help her through the birth. (Sarah is not only a teacher, she's a nurse, a doula, and a childbirth educator.)

Anger issues? Can't control that foul mouth? She's tough and they know it. Sarah's students have a host of Chuck Norris knock-off  jokes about her. (Q: How does Mrs. C. mow her lawn? A: She stands on the porch and dares it to just try to grow.) She loves those jokes so much, she posts them on her bulletin board.

For the past three years, Sarah has been teaching in a charter school for very troubled children. These kids cannot function in a normal school environment, and the problems they bring with them run the gamut. Sarah knows when to use tough love and she knows when to give a hug. Those kids need her, and she has helped many of them through difficult times day after day after day.

Except...

Now those test scores are tied to whether or not her school remains open. And the students there, with very few exceptions, are not going to be able to pass the test. Not that they haven't progressed, aren't learning, or aren't doing better, even thriving in their school environment.

They just don't fit the mold, that cookie cutter that the test uses to measure success.

Sarah's school is in imminent danger of being closed as a result. 3,400 kids are served by the charter school (it is housed in several campuses) and would have to find other places that would accept them. (What private or charter school wants to take public school dropout students who already have a proven track record of failure in the classroom? Their own test scores will be affected as a result.)

A hundred teachers and administrators, all without jobs, competing for any open positions.

But the writing was on the wall.

Sarah called me a few weeks ago, distressed about the grim future for her school and, more importantly, her students. She was deeply torn - she has a family she needs to support, but she was acutely aware that her students desperately needed her as well. She had a pretty good idea that her school was on the verge of closure.

We talked at length, and the love and passion she has for her tough, tough students brought tears to my eyes. She loved them deeply and cared about their futures. "What will happen to them if I just leave?" she asked in anguish.

And what will happen to her family if she doesn't?

What an awful position for a teacher to be in, choosing her students or her family. And WHY should she even have to make that decision?

Because the powers that be have decided that test scores trump all, that every child should fit the mold, and that teachers/schools should be held accountable if they do not. Can't measure up? Close the school.

AND WHERE ARE THESE KIDS SUPPOSED TO GO??

Sarah made her difficult choice after heading to the Denver Temple. She said that as soon as she arrived, the answer to her prayers was crystal clear. She took a position with the Aurora Public Schools and left Hope Academy.

Not without tears. Not without grief, and not without anguish.

A valuable, caring teacher, working with the roughest of the rough and loving it, gone due to the unfair and unreasonable expectations placed upon schools to show progress.

The result of Paper Teacher Syndrome.

Having Cake, Eating It, Too

(Note to my family - while I usually keep my horsey posts on Abby's blog, I thought you might enjoy the sentiment behind this post.)

I have been involved with horses all my life; my mother tells me that when I was a toddler, I used to get excited and point out the horses we saw as we drove around in the car. My earliest memories are horse-related, and I cannot remember a time when I did not love them.

Originally, I planned to have a career that included horses. Breeding, showing, even possibly riding in the Olympics on the US Equestrian Team! When I was seventeen, my dad and I looked at properties for a horse farm - he would do the funding, I would pay him back through boarding and training fees. I also started in the pre-vet program at Purdue University, thinking to become an equine veterinarian.

But my priorities shifted in my late teens. I realized that, while my love for horses was strong, that there were other things I loved, too. I wanted a family, and a big one at that. My religious faith (Mormon) was important to me, and when you spend every Sunday at a horse show, it is difficult to feel a part of your church family or to serve as a Sunday School teacher (my other love was teaching.) I so enjoyed teaching children, and thought that education might be a good fit for me.

And so I decided to make faith and family the priority. I knew I could still have horses in my life; I just would focus on a different career - teaching.

One husband, six children, eleven (and a half!) grandchildren, and eight horses later, I have no regrets. I love my big family, my teaching career, and I love being able to attend church and serve as needed. Plus, I have Abby to enjoy. Life is sweet.

This meme, found on Facebook, fits me.

 (Sarah pointed out that there are six sitting around the table!)

Other horse lovers make a different choice for their life's path. I was reading an article in The Chronicle of the Horse, a weekly magazine that focuses on the highest levels of dressage, eventing, and showing jumping, and read an interview with Irish rider, Conor Swail. He has home bases in Canada, Florida, and Ireland, and a wife and child.

The interviewer writes that "... he tries to fly back to Ireland as much as possible to spend time with his family."

That gave me pause. Instead of his family living with him as he goes from home base to home base, they live apart. That must be tough on them all, I thought.

I continued reading the article, but no more mention was made of his family. The response to the last question, I thought, surely would include them. It asked where he saw himself in ten years.

"I would like to continue being successful. I think I would like, in the next couple of years, to get in the top ten of the world. I have a great team of horses at the moment and great owners."

No mention of family. It really made me think about his lifestyle with horses, one that I had thought might be my own. About the life I had contemplated and then rejected,  deciding that my priorities went along a different path.

Do I have any regrets?

None. I would make the same decision again.

The subtitle to Abby's blog is "My life with horses" and I have certainly had that! And while I wish Conor Swail the best as he pursues his career goals, I am grateful for the choices I made to include my love of horses on a lesser scale.

This horsewoman is fortunate to have had my cake, and eaten it, too.

The Aftermath of Lying

I have a student who has issues with honesty. I know it, his parents know it, and Mrs. Fields knows it. So, perhaps I should not have been surprised when he made an accusation against me.

 During our conference last week, I asked his parents if they had any concerns.  His mother responded, "Yes, we hear you give the kids the finger."

I was so shocked and stunned, I gasped out loud.

"What?? I would NEVER do that!" I asserted.

Both parents began laughing in an "isn't our child cute" sort of way. I did not join in the laughter.

"Oh, we figured he just meant that you shook your finger at them when you got mad," the mother continued, still laughing.

Well, that didn't make me feel any better and I certainly didn't find it funny. I am not one to use ANY sort of finger gesture with children!

Still feeling shaken, I moved the conference along. I was very relieved when they left.

But I could not stop thinking about what their son had told them. And the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it needed to be addressed. An accusation like that, even when proven false, can be very damaging. And with this child's history of lying, I felt I needed to protect myself by letting my principal know. It would also allow us to document yet another lie from him. (He makes very serious allegations up - among other stories, he has accused a black recess aide of racism and then another student of repeatedly poking him in his privates. Neither story was true.)

Friday I shared my concern with Linda, and she and I met with GG that afternoon.

I wasn't really surprised that he denied knowing what we were talking about. He claimed he didn't know what "giving the finger" meant and that he didn't know what his parents were talking about. When learning that Linda was going to call his mother, he tried to dissuade her by telling her that his mother was in Indianapolis. She dialed anyway, and then he backpedaled and changed his story, saying he just "thought" she was going to be there.

His mother did not answer the phone, and so Linda left a message and then sent GG back to class. "I doubt we will hear from her," she said to me. "Not until she has had time to hear GG's side of the story. And then she will protect him."

And that is just what happened.

Around 4:30 Linda got a phone call. "You are going to get a giggle out of this!" GG's mom announced. She laughingly explained to Linda that her son didn't know what giving the finger meant and that he... And she proceeded to make excuses for her son, all the while chuckling at how cute it was that he had used that phrase to describe me shaking my finger at kids. (Argh!! I DO NOT SHAKE MY FINGER AT KIDS!!)

Linda was not amused and was disappointed that a very serious allegation was being treated as though it was a humorous mistake. And neither she nor I were surprised that GG's mom had protected him again.

A little later, I received an email from the mom, apologizing for the misunderstanding and for not clarifying at the conference that she and her husband knew I was not giving my students the finger. She again reiterated that her son must've just been referring to me shaking my finger at the children.

No, I don't act that way! She was excusing her son's lie by projecting a supposed behavior on me that I would never, ever do.

I had to respond to her email, and I did so nicely. But I made it clear in what I wrote that I do not use my finger in ANY capacity in the classroom.

Thank you so much for clarifying. Giving anyone the finger, shaking a finger at them, or anything like that is so far from who I am as a person, as a teacher, a mom, etc. that I was quite taken aback. I very much appreciate you taking time to write and let me know that you understood that about me!

Mrs. I.

I doubt I have changed her mind about what she supposes I do with my fingers in class. But her apology clears me if this issue ever raises its ugly head again.

Typical = Quirky

Teaching is fun.

Teaching gifted kids? A BLAST.

Gifted kiddos often have a real joy in learning coupled with quirky behavior, and I give TSC full marks for providing a place for them to let loose and be themselves. (TSC provided gifted education before it was mandated by the state.) More than once a student has confided to me that they can "be themselves" because they are with other children "just like me."

I've had quirky kids and I've had QUIRKY kids. BP falls in the latter group.

 That's BP behind me in the green tee shirt and glasses.

BP is very typical in that he loves Minecraft and Legos. 

Here he is opening a model he made out of Legos for a project. He insisted on "unveiling" it instead of just opening the box.

He is a super fun kid with a terrific sense of humor. He also is unafraid to use his imagination and is quite playful. Every single day he hides at dismissal time, wanting me to find him before the bell rings. "You saw my legs, didn't you?" he asked yesterday as I quickly discovered his most recent hiding place. (Yes, I had seen those legs peeking out.)

He also loves Math, and enjoys joking with the terms and vocabulary associated with that subject. We're studying fractions now, and he calls two halves "two tooths" and three thirds "three threeths" with a very big grin.

But this playfulness means that he works more slowly than his classmates.

Thursday he was doing his Math assignment, and as usual, was the last one working. He approached my desk and asked me a question about a problem. I explained it to him, and as he walked away, he murmured to himself, "I only have two left to do."

And then, to my surprise, he flung both arms into the air in exultation and loudly cried, "The route to easy land!!"

I have NO idea what he was talking about, but it certainly was a typical BP sort of comment!

Public Schools Foundation

Mrs. W., a parent of one of my students, sent me a picture she had had taken at a Public Schools Foundation fundraiser.

Thank you, W. family!

Paper Roses, Paper Teacher?

There is intense pressure on Indiana teachers to prove that they are effective in the classroom. The requirements for proof have been raised and then raised again, and this morning I sat through a bewildering meeting listening to new standards of proof that I need to document in order to show that I am doing my job.

It was depressing.

It was disheartening.

I am giving teaching my all, but that isn't enough.

Neither is a Bachelors in Education nor a Masters degree. Or fifteen hours beyond my Masters to earn a Gifted and Talented endorsement. No, I have to document everything I have done, provide data points that show my students are progressing, and show evidence that I am differentiating for different needs of my students. Among many other things. (Like I said, it was a bewildering meeting. I am still trying to get a grasp on all the new things I must do.)

I don't mind being held accountable - I think teachers should be. But, the time that this documentation takes to "prove" I am doing what I am hired to do is unbelievable. Hours and hours and hours. All to have a portfolio of papers that show I am effective at what I do.

But...

I don't want to LOOK like a highly effective teacher on paper, I want to BE a highly effective teacher.

The lyrics from Loretta Lynn's song Paper Roses seem fitting.

Paper roses! Paper roses!
Oh, how real those roses seemed to be.
But they're only imitation
Like your imitation love for me.

Just like those paper roses are a poor imitation of real love, I fear the copious amounts of documentation I and other teachers are having to provide give a false picture of what REAL highly effective teachers do. It's relatively easy to document (and make yourself LOOK good); it's quite another to actually work with the children and BE effective.

Paper teachers indeed.

Cowboy Party!

Tim and Loni hosted a cowboy party and hayride tonight out at the barn. What a fun evening - I looked forward to it all day. Craig and I arrived a little early; Tim was still setting up the new barn for his guests. (Tim has three barns, the old barn where the horses spend most of their indoor time, the new barn with an indoor arena, lounge, shop, tack room, and bathroom, and the blue barn which is rented out by a couple who own Rocky Mountain Spotted Horses.)

 He pulled one of the buggies he has restored out of the barn for guests to look at and sit in.

Inside the lounge of the new barn, Loni was setting up the beverage and dessert table. She had found these cute, cowboy boot shaped glasses on Amazon.

 The picture doesn't do them justice - they were my favorite part of the meal!

One serving table with bread, biscuits, and some salads was put up outside by the buggy.

 Tim's buckboard served as our chuckwagon.

He fixed pork chops for everyone - they were delicious! (You can see the blue barn in the background.)

Twelve couples came, some of them horse people but most of them not.

 The entrance to the new barn and its front porch - a nice place to sit on a cool fall evening!

 Tim does such lovely work on his restoration projects.

After we ate, Travis Horton brought out his guitar and we had a sing along.

If you look through the windows, that's the indoor arena and the stalls that line it. Tim likes his horses to roam free and does not stall them, but if one were ill or injured, he's got a nice set of stalls where they can recuperate.

It was a cool day, and as the sun set, it became very chilly inside and out.

 A fire was lit in the cast iron stove and the lounge quickly warmed up to a comfortable temperature.

 In between Travis' songs on the guitar, Blake Robertson and I read cowboy poetry at Tim's request.

I had never read any, and am now hooked! There is a sense of humor coupled with reality in them, and if you know horses or cattle, you will not have any trouble understanding their meaning.

Dinner and entertainment over, we moved on to the next part of the party - a hay ride! Tim hooked the hay wagon up to his truck, made some seats out of bales of straw, and took us through the fields in the dark.

He would stop periodically and tell the history of the area, - stories of William Henry Harrison and Tecumseh, the Battle of Tippecanoe, and the Potowatami Trail of Death that went through the property. The ride culminated in a spooky chain saw story, and with Brandon, Tim's son in law, jumping out at us from the dark, wearing a mask and carrying a chain saw. Only he could not get the chain saw to start, and we all dissolved into gales of laughter instead of being scared!

Hot chocolate at the house wrapped up a wonderful fall evening. I cannot recall the last time I went on a hay ride or heard scary stories in the dark. And certainly I've never read any cowboy poetry, either!

Sure hope Tim and Loni do this again.

An Organized Grandmother

I have eleven grandchildren and one on the way. That means that when I am preparing holiday care packages to send them all, I have to stay super organized. Not only do I make a list of what to buy for whom, I also do this:

Stack items in the shopping cart by family! That helps me keep track of who is getting what and to compare to be sure I am being fair to each grandchild and that no one is getting more than another.

It takes some doing, but it's fun and I enjoy it.

Post Conference Wrap Up

I made it through last week's parent/teacher conferences! (Well, I have one last one this Monday after school, but still...)

While I love meeting with parents, it is an exhausting week. I meet every day Monday through Thursday before and after school, and once in a while I even do a Friday conference, too. Of course, school still must go on, so I am planning and preparing and grading and teaching with the conferences added to the mix. Sometimes I am barely standing when the bell rings Friday afternoon!

It was a pretty typical week of conferences. I had a couple of conferences where I needed to say difficult things which can be rough - you have to remember that your student is the parents' most precious thing, and hearing hard things can be painful. I try very hard to sandwich tough things in between more positive remarks.

But "things are going great!" conferences can get a reaction, too.  I said something positive to a mom and she dissolved into tears!

I had one mother make excuses for her son's seventeen late assignments, and a father who tried to pin me down as to his child's academic rank in my class. (Seriously?? He's a fourth grader! And I never compare one student to another; I'll only compare one child to himself and the progress, or lack thereof, that I see over time.)

One father showed up, saying he'd just gotten off work, and yet the alcohol fumes on his breath were strong enough that they made me feel ill. Another mother showed up a week early; I went ahead and conferenced with her then and there even though I hadn't finished entering grades at that point.

I told one dad that I thought his daughter was losing her hearing, and he confirmed that they were thinking the same thing and had already scheduled an appointment with their doctor. In another conference a parent lied to me, and I knew she was lying. I did not call her out on it, but I did follow up with her son (I always do if a parent shares a concern) and he was clearly surprised at what his mother had told me - added confirmation that it was indeed untrue.

Two divorced parents sat next to each other during our conference about their child, and the iciness between them made for some tense moments. (I was glad when that conference ended!) By contrast a mom and a step-mom met and had a refreshing good will and friendliness between them.

I have the child of one of Purdue's head coaches in my class, and as he squeezed his tall frame into a 5th grader-sized chair, he laughed at all my Illini orange and blue and said he didn't mind a bit. Then he shared a story or two about one of Illinois' storied coaches who is a friend of his - what a treat!

A pretty typical week of conferences. I am going to catch my breath this weekend and will hopefully be recovered by Monday morning!

The Value of Conferencing

I love parent/teach conferences. Despite the fact that the preparation for them takes a lot of time (I was at school last Saturday until 7:30 PM) and that the week of conferences is a bear because you are meeting with families before and after school along with getting the usual teaching, grading, planning, and preparing done, they are valuable and worthwhile.

Mine usually go well, although sometimes I am nervous about one or two. But regardless of a child's struggles, there are always many good things to say, and those tougher things can be sandwiched between the positives.

One of my fourth graders is on the spectrum for Autism and has had a rough adjustment to the class. I've been working with the special ed teacher, the principal, the school counselor, and his parents as we try to smooth his transition into the 4/5 High Ability class. It's been nine weeks and while he is doing better, he still struggles.

His parents are wonderfully supportive, and have worked with me this fall as I try to get their son up to speed and to minimize his meltdowns. I've had to send them some emails with tough news and despite that, they continue to hear what I have to say instead of getting defensive, blaming me for his problems, etc.

Yesterday we met for an hour and a half for our conference. The principal, special ed teacher, and counselor also joined us and we had a lengthy but productive session brainstorming ideas to help this child find success at school.

Later that day, I got an email from his mother.

I was very pleased with the meeting. The school seems open to trying new things and we are working to find out what to do.  I think you are the key to much of the puzzle because you spend so much time with him.  I understand that he will take more reassurance and prep work than other kids.  But I want you to know that you are changing his life right now.  Other teachers, other schools may have given up trying so hard. 

Thank you again.  I'm sure that we will have lots of talks over the next weeks but I feel hopeful that we've turned a corner with him.

I, too, feel we have turned a corner with her son. And, that that over-long conference time will prove invaluable as we continue to work together in his behalf.

Making the Teacher Smile

Sometimes when looking at student work, I cannot help but smile. It may be something that has a bit of whimsy in it, or it may be their unique perspective. Other times they answer a question and then add a personal comment. I never know what hidden gems I am going to uncover when grading!

Here are a few examples.

 GH drew this charming picture of Neil Armstrong on the moon when he made his unit cover for Space. I think it is one of my favorites ever!

CP added a personal comment to a response to a Social Studies question and the use of caravels in the 1500s to connect the Old World to the New.

 "The fastest way to connect people on different continents was they had to put the letter on the ship and have someone sail and deliver it, then sail all the way back! In my opinion, this does NOT sound fun for a job." (CP, I agree!)

Parent/Teacher conferences are this coming week, and I always let my students have a voice in their conference by filling out a form for their folks. I never know what will pop up on those!

RP had a unique way of describing his favorite subject, Math.

 "Math just reached out to me and grabbed me and I'm fast doing Math and it is fun to me."

I love the "reached out and grabbed me" part!

RR feels strongly about Science as her favorite subject.

 "The sky is the limit! It is fun in science because we make it fun, like last time our unit was heat and we made solar ovens."

Interesting that she likens it to being limitless like the sky.

JS has a wonderful perspective on Reading.

 "My favorite subject is reading because it takes me on an adventure."

(This from a very sporty boy who, as a 4th grader last year, preferred to either not read or to only read books about baseball and football!)

Another surprise for me came from SS, a 4th grade girl who struggles to keep up in class.

 "... I like to think about how the story will end and then be blown away when the book ends."

(She had just finished reading The One Hundred and One Dalmatians which does have a surprise ending you don't see coming at all!)

Finally, another girl who weighs in on reading.

"...I love to hear stories and when I read I get teleported to the place where the book is happening." (Me, too, AY! Me, too!)

Grading can point out the joys of being with children each day.

Fun with Solar Ovens

"Because it is warm and sunny today, we will be doing our solar ovens after lunch," I stated while teaching the concept of cause and effect Thursday morning.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then my class erupted in cheers.

GB

I couldn't blame them - they'd been waiting for over two weeks for the weather to be right! And so, after lunch recess, we loaded up our ovens, the chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers, and headed outside.

We worked in groups of three to design, build, and cook.

GH, BP, and EP.

MCM, JS, and GB.

AM, RP, and MM.

This group used a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun onto their marshmallows.

GS, ZH, and AY.

Another tactic was using plastic wrap to trap the heat and keep it from escaping.

EW, EK, and GG.

A mirror and a magnifying glass - great idea!

Another design for trapping heat/insulation - using a clear glass bowl over the marshmallows.

HS, SS, and JK.

JR and GCD. SR is in this group, but he'd moved out of the picture. That's RR in the background, adjusting her focus.

Our buddies came out after we got set up so they could watch us cook.

K with BP and EP.

D loves buddy time and giving high fives.

P and friends.

Mrs. Wireman and D check out an oven.

While the children baked, I opened packages of graham crackers and Hershey Bars. As rumor got out that the candy was open, the "wolves" seemed to appear.

RR, JK, AY, CP and JS. hope for some chocolate.

I wanted to take a picture for Kyle to show him how I am using the buckets he got me for my birthday, but got photobombed by GS, AY, EP, RP, and JK!

Preparing s'mores for a bunch of hungry kiddos.

D, MCM, and GS play a hand game while waiting on their marshmallows.

S and Mrs. Wireman (our buddy class teacher) enjoyed the warm sun.

"Look, Mrs. I.! There's a reflection on your shirt! And we have NO IDEA how it got there!!" said RR and JS.

RP explains (with great enthusiasm) his solar oven concept to Mr. Schnepp.

We learned that we needed to adjust our ovens in order to focus them as the afternoon wore on. Why? Because the angle of the sunlight changed as the earth rotated.

Ds favorite game is Duck, Duck, Goose, and both classes joined in for a very active game!

Mrs. Fields looks at AL, CP, and RR's oven.

It took a while, but at last our marshmallows were cooked.

JK - ready for his marshmallow. (While RP photobombs in the background.)

HS takes a bite.

CP and GS smile in approval.

AY is all smiles.

Homemade s'mores in solar ovens designed and built by us? Perfect!