Spring Break

I am looking forward to the 2 week Spring break. We started the week-end by sending the Encuentros Club and Class on a camping field trip - what a great and deserving group! Thank you Ms. Carr for accompanying them.  They came back safe and sound on Sunday.

@ Rancho before take-off

@ Torrey Pines

The semester is going by so fast - after these two weeks - April looks very short with the CSTs in May and end of school in June.... all of it is like a flash!

Well I am now reviewing the honey-do list... :)

Mission

Making progress:
"The purpose of technology at VUSD is to provide sufficient and effective information services in order to expand and enhance learning, instructional practice, and productivity for the school community."

Prezi

I gave myself time this long w/e to produce a Prezi presentation to begin our review next week. Highly recommended:

LINK TO PREZI Biogeochemical Cycles

THEATER

"The Fantasticks" was put on last night in El Cajon by the SDCC music department. What a wonderful evening - highly recommended. From the soft melody of the first song Try to Remember I was enveloped in the wonderful memories of the timeless man-made love story marred by the world's reality with a restored end of pure love.

Thank you Trisha you looked wonderful on stage as the "Mute".

Theater serves well to restore the soul. It is the supreme form of entertainment. Last month we attended the Balboa theater in San Diego to see the play The Screwtape Letters - based on C.S. Lewis's work. What a wonderful and riveting performance. The combination of theme, well written script, and a perfect powerful performance it was a chilling delight from hell!

A Welcome Break

Sometimes students and teachers need a break - this is one of them! President's day long week-end.
Washington & Lincoln my personal heroes and a welcome celebration in these packed teaching days.

DISCOVERY!

I came across a book I acquired in Pasadena California many many years ago. My kids grew up with this book: Selected Poems for Small Children.... Lots of memories came flooding... pray my kids remember...Here is one:

They Sting

A mosquito is

A funny thing!

Before he'll sting

He'll sing an' sing!

An' if you're near

Or if you're far

Mosquitos know

JUST - where you are!

An' perching lightly

On your face

They'll bite you 

On the tenderest place!

Then... when they've had

A bit to eat,

They'll b-z-z-z away,

An' - bite your feet!

Sometimes - you s-q-u-a-s-h

Them very flat,

Poor things, they can't

B-z-z-z, after THAT!!!

But as Mosquitos

Are a pest,

I s'pose the s-q-u-a-s-h-e-d ones

Are the BEST!!

(Alicia Aspinwall, from Shrot Poems for Short People)

Finals

Well finals have finally arrived... time seems to fly and we outlook starting second semester next week. A blurr!

The joy of teaching in Iraq

I thought this was very interesting:

INSIDE HIGHER ED

Enjoy.

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to all

May this be a time of reflection and love.

We traveled to Dallas and then Kansas in a whirlwind half-way around the country. We had an opportunity to visit our daughter and her fiancée in Dallas as well as our son and his wife and our grandchildren.

Fast, focused, but worth it!

Thank you everyone for hosting us...

Mineralogy Test

Into the second of the last six weeks! Time is going by so fast!

Merry Christmas!

Our Koda!  Merry Christmas

THE PARENT TRIGGER

A very interesting concept... See the Article at the Wall Street Journal

Waiting for Superman? May be.

11/12/2010

After completing 12 weeks of school - Veteran's day was a wonderful break - I kidnapped the wife for a couple of days off and we saw a wonder Vegas show:

Mandalay Bay

Thank you to all our veterans for your love, sacrifice, and service. While at the Tropicana we saw a multitude of Marines celebrating Veteran's day - congratulations to all of you particularly those in the field! May God bless you and your families.

We will never forget!

10-10-10 @ 10:10

Our friends Joan and Joe were wed this beautiful morning. What an incredibly beautiful wedding. Here are some snaps.

SIX WEEKS AND BEYOND

Every year is different. A teacher does not know what surprises await them - this year is a good year with some surprises. We will see how the year progresses. We just finished the first week of Astronomy...  Students have a great imagination:

KODA GRADUATED!

What can I tell you? Owners and Koda graduated kindergarten obedience school!

Two Weeks Into the Semester

Time goes by so fast! It has been an incredible maelstrom...Finally, things are getting settled. I have to say that I have great students! Promises to be a good semester.

History & Science

Description

This map, from the Peter Force Map Collection at the Library of Congress, was created by the Philadelphia engraver James Poupard. It was the third in a series featuring a chart of the Gulf Stream. The latter was well known to Spanish ship captains, who relied on it to sail from the Americas to the Iberian Peninsula, but there were no universal charts or maps due to Spanish secrecy. This map originally was sketched by Timothy Folger, a Nantucket fisherman and a cousin of Benjamin Franklin, who conceived the map and actively promoted study of the Gulf Stream. Franklin published the original chart in 1770 and sought to distribute it among mariners, but British sea captains skeptical of colonial ideas largely refused to purchase copies. He suspended his efforts during the American Revolution to avoid giving any advantage to the British, but at the end of the war he collaborated on a second printing in France. In 1786, Poupard’s engraving appeared in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, the publication of the country’s first learned society founded by Franklin and others in 1743.

Reference: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/20?ql=eng&tc=5&view_type=gallery

Essential question:

Looking at historical documents what can we learn or deduce about science, history, and human nature?

Activity Directions:

Please observe the map and read the description. Based on your careful study what can you infer about the strategic use of maps? Here are some questions to consider: What is this type of map used for? What is its value? Why the Spanish secrecy? Why do you think the British sea captains were skeptical? There are many more you can ask.

Working with your group – discuss and organize your thoughts into a concept map. 

1. Create one concept map for the group: Main idea:  HISTORICAL MAPS

2. Save your concept map normally and also save the concept map as a “jpg” file

3. Create a Google Docs document and insert the “jpg” concept map image.

4. Share the Google Docs document among all your group and the teacher

5. Each student individually adds the shared Google Docs document to their web page under: CLASS WORK.

Personal Reflection Points:

Add a few personal bullet points of what you have learned to be used in your reflection:

• _________________________________________

• _________________________________________

Other personal notes:

MOVING FORWARD

Well, I'm starting my fifth year as a teacher... this is supposed to be "the" year according to my principal where a teacher decides if this is the right profession for them. 

Remembering Winston Churchill:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

It took a while but I am now actually feeling more confident as a teacher - I think I am moving forward - it is perhaps the end of the beginning for me. I look forward to this coming year - surprises and all! 

GOOGLE WAVE

Well it is here!  Google Wave has been integrated with Google Apps - so I just turned it on in our domain!  A couple of our super users have been alerted - let see what this portion of our pilot does this year!

Google Apps: A fully interactive/cooperative cloud-enabled applications environment for our school: Word Processing, Presentation Software, Spread Sheets + Graphing, Drawing, Web creation, Forms, Mail, Calendar, and now Wave!  Incredible foresight...