THE JEWELS ARE MOVING ON-LINE!

A WebQuest exercise is being constructed for the Astronomy Unit - a standard exercise to tell how old are the Jewelbox Cluster stars is moving on-line.

We will see how this works out - I will be using a WebQuest approach plus replacing the images from paper to on-line plus providing a movable viewer and a "flyspanker" in one document that the students will use to measure their field and determine the age of the cluster.

I am optimistic.

ROBOTICS IN SAN DIEGO

What an event... my granddaughter was part of the CAHS team competing in San Diego Robotics regional. They were awared a "Rockie" award and they are off to a new meet in Las Vegas at the end of the month.

It is an incredible opportunity for students to design and build a robot for competition with other High Schools - the pedagogy behind this is powerful. Click on the image below to get to the article:

Congratulations to the Cayman team.

USO and RBVHS

Last Friday March 6th our School hosted the USO Show at Rancho Buena Vista High School. This wonderful event is a testimony of the hard work and faithfulness of many people. Here is a video clip from the North County Times:

USO Show Rancho Buena Vista High School - click on the image to catch the video:

This event and the people supporting it makes me very proud to be a "Longhorn"

ORCHARD

The tangerines are ready... so are the lemons, and the guavas....yummmm. Spring is coming and the second semester is flying by! Too fast and too much to do.

OUR DYNAMIC PLANET

From Mt. Redoubt Alaska to Tornados in Oklahoma - realia in Academic Earth Science - what a way to teach! Clink on the links for info.

ALASKA

OKLAHOMA

FINALS

Well final exams are here: Tuesday - Thursday. My grades are actually finalized for my Academic Earth Science, History is tomorrow. Finals - so fast! And now students move on to the next semester. There is always Solomonic opportunity as you assess borderline grades...

In any case, onward toward the second semester and a bit closer to the CST.

ITS TIME

After nearly a two weeks of trying to get our dog back on its feet - we failed. Farewell old friend. :(...

DUNDEE

Our beautiful Aussie is sick :( .... She has been going down-hill, she now has pneumonia. We are giving her antibiotics and tonight we started IV fluids as per our vet's directions. We were warned by the vet already - she is 17 years old and she might not have the strength to pull it off. We will do what we can. She is totally listless, can't hardly stand up - but she still has some spark in her eye so maybe... just maybe.

Here she is in her "younger" days:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A strange growth was noticed yesterday on two succulent plants we have in front of the house... very strange looking rubbery substance that looks like sparkling clear ice! Here is the picture:

I have contacted several organizations to help me identify it. The primary source has been:

CHRISTMAS VACATION

Ten days and four thousand miles was our investment this Christmas vacation to see family… Well worth it! We drove the southern route past California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on the way to Jayhawk country. We stayed at my son’s place – and got to see his family as well as their new addition, our grandbaby: Kuyper Noel. Having the rest of the family members with us was an incredible blessing – we had a memorable Christmas. J

We came back through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and finally our home state California using Route 66 (New “40”) – in route we visited the Grand Canyon – oy vey ! What a treat to see it in Winter!

In route we went through two books: Sara Paretsky, “Bleeding Kansas” a very interesting novel about Kansas and the Lawrence area – we were fully entertained and learned a lot about the history of the place. The second book was much more interesting to me, “Measuring the World” by Daniel Kehlamnn is a historical novel about the scientist adventurer Alexander Von Humboldt and the mathematician Carl Fredrich Gauss – this book is highly recommended.

Ten days – incredibly packed!

Here are a few snapshots:

CABRILLO

Cabrillo is a great San Diego resource - from history to science - it is a definite site to visit. Here are some geology field trip pictures.

MIRRORS AND WINDOWS

I came across this quote -

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."

— Sydney J. Harris: Was a journalist and lecturer

Isn't superb?

WHAT IS A FOSSIL?

While teaching my Academic Earth Science SEI (Sheltered English Instruction) class I was surprised by my naivete. As we were identifying sedimentary rocks a student asked, "...what is a fossil?" I looked at the student and realized that I blew it... I was taken aback by his honest and simple statement that he had no clue what was meant by a fossil. Wow!

I realize now that sometimes I assume too much in terms of background. I did not realistically have a good grip on this student's lack of background. Back to Pedagogy 101. Never assume, always dip-stick and test for foundational knowledge. Hopefully my SIOP lesson plans will be tighter next time. Humbled...

EVENING SKY- Moon-Venus-Jupiter

Science is soooo cool - we live it every day. As I prepared to take my dogs out for a walk around 5:15 this evening - Wow! What a beutiful evening sky! I had to get my camera and snap this picture (even using a small tripod - I do not have an electronic shutter release - it is a bit blurry :( but that is OK you get the idea:.



You have to watch it tomorrow! An event that happens once very 10 years.

"you’ll see them slowly converge, as Jupiter drops lower but Venus climbs higher. The two will meet on the evening of December 1, when, as chance has it, the Moon is back to sit right next to those two brilliant evening stars. Mark it on your calendar — Monday, December 1 — the best Moon-planet conjunction in a decade. You don’t want to miss it."

MINERALS UNIT

This turned out to be a very interesting unit... Thank you National Geographic. Providentially there was an article in November's 2008 issue about the giant Selenite Crystals at theNaica mine south of Chihuahua Mexico - the article allowed me to create a very nice "hook" as I began to teach the Minerals unit. Here is a picture as we wrap-up crystals - the students built models of the crystal systems and they were put together with a display of mineral examples.


Advice? REALIA... very powerful - hand's-on very very powerful. Put the theoretical in context allow students to see the reality of what you are teaching. We are going to the Gemological Institute of America this coming week as an extra credit field trip... They will see professionals working with minerals and crystals - it honestly does not get better than this... :0 Thank you Jack for arranging this.

IT DOES NOT GET BETTER - GRANDCHILDREN!

My son and daughter in Kansas posted some pics - I had to post them here as well...

This reminds me why teaching is so very important - all my student's are someones grandchildren... :) Aren't they precious?

Owen's Valley

RANCHO vs LA COSTA CNY

Football - a great sport to enjoy as a teacher. "Go Longhorns...!" Here is my grandson Jon - enjoying the latest game..

TOPOGRAPHY

Well I have to thank my daughter for her help in getting this lab off the ground. She came in and gave a talk on Civil Engineering to my Earth Science class and she shared a project she had worked on. We were able to dove tail off the project to create a lab for the students to build a topographic map of the area she was working - awesome

Realia
Hands-on
Relevant

Individual work

Group / Team work
Yeah!

Here are some of the pictures of the models:

Some more cuties

Here are some more cuties building webs: