Amazing Musicians

Mrs. Elliott has done a wonderful job teaching 9-2 how to play the recorder. The class plays together and then each boy takes a turn as soloist. They all played so well it was impossible to decide who to include here. I chose the boy celebrating his half birthday.

New Math Game

In the hustle and bustle of school I have been remiss about adding and updating the links on the side of the blog. My mission in March will be to investigate great activities and post them on the blog. I will highlight them in a post like this one so that you will not have to search the blog wondering if I have added something new. The site I am adding today is a great math game called Krypto. You can check it out at http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=173
It encourages problem solving and math facts. Good luck!!! I am adding this link under the math links to make it easy to get back to the site.

March Madness is Almost Here!!

This Friday at 3:30 kicks off the real March Madness which takes place every year at Calvert School. A few years ago Tina Thomas, our learned librarian, started a reading program that takes place during the month of March which encourages the students to read, read, and read some more. The students compete individually and as homerooms to see how much they can read. They track their results on paper basketballs that they turn into Mrs. Thomas as they finish their books. It has been a lot of fun for the students during the last few years and I think this year will also be a blast. We had a kick-off assembly this morning in the auditorium. The children are fired up and ready to read.

History Study Sheet

The History Test will be on Monday March 2nd and will cover Chapters 37, 38, and 39. The boys will be bringing home a study sheet today or tomorrow. I am going to copy my study sheet and give it to them tomorrow. If you would like you can access the study sheet by clicking here. I have told the boys that there is more than one answer to most of these questions, so if their study sheet has a different answer that is fine. We will do most of the studying for the test on Friday during history class. If the boys spend twenty minutes looking over the study sheet during the weekend they should be fine.

Making A Map of the Lower School

One of the comments that came up a few times yesterday during my conferences was what a long day Wednesday is for the boys. I have been trying to think of creative, interactive, educational activities which allow the boys to get out of their seats on Wednesdays. I designed an activity for geography class that goes along with our study of maps. I randomly paired the boys, gave them a large sheet of paper and a yardstick, and instructed them to make a map of the main level of the Lower School. I hd no idea how it would turn out, but as you can see from the pictures it went very well. The groups worked well together collaborating on their maps. In each case it was a team effort. I let the boys know how proud I am of their accomplishments. I will take close-up pictures of the maps when they are finished. The boys learned many lessons in the activity both about maps and about working together.

I Scream, You Scream...

We all scream for ice cream!! Our last two fellows got to enjoy their tasty treats today since they missed the festivities on Friday.

Estimating Jar

This week we are estimating quite a few sports cards. Good luck!!

Word of the Week

To go along with our composition this week which deals with a shipwreck followed by a stay on a deserted island, our word is starboard which comes from O.E. steorbord, lit. "side on which a vessel was steered," from steor- "rudder, steering paddle" + bord "ship's side." Cf. O.N. stjornborði, Low Ger. stürbord, Ger. Steuerbord. Early Germanic peoples' boats were propelled and steered by a paddle on the right side. Fr. tribord (O.Fr. estribord), It. stribordo are Gmc. loan-words.

Ice Cream Sundaes

Since I wanted to add so many photos I'm trying something a bit different. The party went very well. My thanks go to Mr. Paul who came in to lend a hand at the ice cream table so that I could take some pictures. We had a boy shadowing from another school, so there may be a face you don't recognize. This is my first post like this, and I have learned not to rotate the camera when taking pictures because it makes the rotated pictures appear much smaller in the slide show. You can click on the pictures to move at your own speed and see all of them in their proper size. Have a great weekend...after seeing these pictures again I feel like having a bowl of ice cream!!

Estimating Game

This week we had more great guesses and lots of fun. Congratulations to both of this week's winners.

Mount Vesuvius

We studied Mount Vesuvius in our history lesson today and learned its storied past. In doing some research tonight I discovered even more facts which I will share with the class on Monday. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has erupted many times since and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people now living close to it and its tendency towards explosive eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world. It last erupted in 1944 and could be due to erupt again. Fortunately the experts believe they will have at least two weeks of pre-eruption activity during which time 600,000 people living in the most dangerous area would be evacuated. To see a live webcam shot of Vesuvius click here. Vesuvius is five hours ahead of us so best viewing times for us will come in the morning. I will be bringing in my own desktop volcano on Monday.

Roman Empire Map

A few of the boys wanted to work on their Roman Empire maps over the weekend. I told them I would put the map on the blog so that they could see what their map should look like.

Spelling Word Challenge

This week's spelling words are difficult because they're homophones. Today in class I challenged the boys to use each of the twenty words correctly in the context of a short story that they made up. Two of the stories are below with the spelling words in italics.

Once there was a king who loved beets. Every night he had them while he was sitting on his wood throne. If he was on his throne he would always be at peace. The people called him "Your Majesty." Many people wanted to be king too. One person said, " You're going to leave." One day he was thrown from his throne. He packed his clothes and left. His heart started to break and he cried. He swore to himself, "I am going to break in and steal back what was mine." They're going to be afraid. Two days later he broke in. He started to close the door slowly. He went to the jewel room. He took a piece of everything. He had not just taken their stuff, he also had taken their pride.

One day a long time ago there was a king who sat up on his wood throne. He watched the peace in his kingdom. One day a few men plotted to have him thrown through the closed window while he was eating his piece of beet. Fortunately for him, two men who were tending a garden overheard. They said to the king, "Both me and my friend too overheard some men talking. We did not think you would like to be thrown over there and break the window on your way." "We must put the brakes on this plan to beat me up. Do you know where they're going?" "We do. They are going to the clothes store." So they found them and said, "You're sentenced to the dungeon."

The Conclusion of the Super Bowl Game

Today was the day that the winner of the fourth quarter chose to switch desks with me for the day. It was great for me because it got me to do some much needed cleaning of my desk to get ready for the switch. I think the switch of desks was a lot of fun for both of us.

La Ville Imaginaire

The boys are learning all about French towns and the vocabulary associated with various stores and shops. The buildings will all have the appropriate labels in French, and when completed will be displayed in the library.

The Estimating Jar

I forgot to take my camera home, so I am posting the picture of last week's winner holding this week's jar. After a one week hiatus the girl who has won more than anyone else this year is back to her winning ways. Congratulations to the winners and good luck to all this week.

Who Created the First Ice Cream Sundae?

We will take up this question this week during composition class and attempt to discover the truth to this all important question. The material we use will come from here. After looking over the facts we will write our weekly composition which will deal with both the history of the matter and also what goes into making a great sundae.

New Mummy Revealed

Click here to see an article about a mummy recently discovered. I went to Saqqara (which is the site of the oldest pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid) in 2004 as part of the Garrett Summer Study Program. I showed my students the pictures I took when we were studying Egypt and will share this latest find when they return to school on Tuesday.

Valentine's Party

The boys are having a BLAST at the party. There is quite a bit of sugar being consumed but we have PE next so we will be able to run off the extra excitement.

The Roman Coin Project

Each year when we study ancient Rome I bring in some uncleaned Roman coins. We soak them in distilled water for a few weeks and see if any details appear. It is a lot of fun to see the words on the coins and the faces become easier to see.

The Sneetches!!

The play has come and gone, but the memories and the lessons we learned in the process will endure for quite some time. I am so proud of how the boys conducted themselves. They rose to every challenge that was set before them. (All photos were taken by Hillary Huynh of the Development Office)

Amazing Bug Facts

In the course of writing our composition this week (which is a fictional account of a day the boys turned into bugs for an hour and flew around the school) one boy asked me how fast the fastest bugs could fly. I uncovered this passage from a scholarly looking site...

How fast can a bug fly? Fast. "A tabanid fly (such as a deer or horse fly) has been clocked at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h)," says Rudy Scheibner, entomologist emeritus at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Other fast-flying insects include hawk moths (timed at 33 mph [53 km/h]), sphinx moths (33 mph), and dragonflies (species Anax parthenope clocked at almost 18 mph [29 km/h]).
Still others work hard but go slow. The honeybee flaps her wings about 190 times per second but flies at 7 mph (11 km/h). A midge flails his wings more than 1000 times per second — the record — but just putters along.

I never know what I will learn, but I know it will be fascinting.

Superbowl Winners

Here is the next installment of Superbowl winners. Stay tuned for the day I switch desks with one of my students. That will take place on Wednesday the 18th.

What a Glorious Weekend

I had a great weekend and was able to spend part of it outside. I saw a pair of beautiful birds who proved to be quite shy. The pictures don't do the birds justice. It seemed to be some sort of a woodpecker. I'll have to ask Miss Spadone, our resident ornithologist, for an identification. It could be an acorn woodpecker or a pileated woodpecker. I'll have to try for a better picture next time.

The Estimating Winners

We had three winners this week due to some great guessing. The actual number of lollipops was 66 and these three were quite close. The boy guessed 65 but since he has already taken home the jar he got a homework pass. The girl with the Pilot Class friend blinking (I'll do a retake on Monday if all goes well) is in my math class so she took the jar home with a great guess of 63. The girl holding the bag is in my reading class and ended the streak of the girl who had won three times in a row with a guess of 74.

Today's Spelling Test

The winner of the "Give the Class the Spelling Test" which was part of our Superbowl game gave the test today and did a great job.

Benefits of the Information Age

We had a fantastic composition class today during which the boys wrote about Julius Caesar's life. The information I shared with the boys mentioned that Caesar's father died when Caesar was fifteen years old. I always encourage the boys to add as much detail as possible, and one boy asked if I knew how Caesar's father died. I Googled it and got a few hits that looked promising. The consensus of opinion was that he died during military action in Pisa, Italy. When I was a student at Calvert my teacher might have been able to find out the answer to that somewhat obscure question, but it would have involved a trip to the library and a bit of research. What a great world we live in where answers are usually close at hand. I wonder what the future will hold? I'm sure it will be impressive.

The Estimating Jar

This week we have all sorts of delicious lollipops to estimate. Good Luck!!

Word of the Week

Life must be getting crazy around here when I am posting the word of the week on Wednesday. In honor of our play the word this week is rehearsal and it comes from c.1300, "to give an account of," from Anglo-Fr. rehearser, O.Fr. rehercier "to go over again, repeat," lit. "to rake over," from re- "again" + hercier "to rake, harrow" Meaning "to say over again" is from 1340; sense of "practice a play, part, etc." is from 1579.

As a reminder... the play is Wednesday, February 11th at 8:45 AM. The girls play will be first so if you are running a minute or two late there will be no need to despair. If you can't make it on Wednesday feel free to join us at 9:00 AM the day before on Tuesday the 10th. On Tuesday we have our dress rehearsal with the students as our audience. The play is shaping up nicely and should be a lot of fun to see.

The Abalone Game

Last year while we were reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins I noticed that some students did not follow along as a classmate read aloud in reading class, so I started the abalone game. The word abalone comes up throughout the book but not too frequently. The challenge for the students is to say the word abalone together as a class each time it comes up. We reached page 28 in class today and abalone has finally started popping up. The video shows the third occurrence which elicited a spirited response.