The Building Phase Has Begun

Yesterday in class I made a template that the boys could use for the first bridge. While I had envisioned a bridge spanning an 18 inch gap, I quickly realized that it would be difficult to start with such a wide span, so I shortened it to 10 inches. This way, three popsicle sticks can form a girder that easily spans the gap. After the first bridges are completed, the boys will have the option of building a second, longer one. Here are a few pictures from our first day.

The Second Phase of the Bridge Project

In technology class we looked at different type of truss bridges. Tomorrow we will start the planning and construction of them using popsicle sticks and glue. Here are the sites we looked at in class:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_bridge

http://www.trussbridges.org/

http://www.prhs.k12.ny.us/fac/HerskowitzM/bridges.htm

This will turn into a bit of a competition, portions of which may be accomplished at home. Parental help is welcome but certainly not required.

What Am I?

In math class we have moved into measurement, and today we discussed the metric system. Can you identify the picture below?

Billy Visits a New Friend

Billy had a lot of fun this weekend making a new four legged friend and playing in the great outdoors.

I Scream, You Scream...

We all scream for ice cream!!! After working hard all week on a composition about the history of the ice cream sundae, we celebrated on Friday afternoon with an ice cream sundae party.

March Madness

The boys had the opportunity to pick a team from the sweet sixteen to root for in the upcoming games. Check out the photos below. Best of luck to all!!!

Hopper Cricket Basketball

The boys played hard and showed great sportsmanship in their Hopper/Cricket games this afternoon. I am very proud of all of them.

The Dinosaur Plant

Each spring for the past few years I have tried a spring plant project with the boys in my class. Every year it has been a spectacular failure. A few years ago it was bok choy, next came flowers from seeds, and for the past two years we have tried to grow tomatoes. Nothing has ever worked. This year I went with a plant that said on the box it was extremely easy to grow. It is so easy that I can neglect it for fifty years (literally), and it will not die. This is the plant for 9-2!! It is called the dinosaur plant, not because it resembles a dinosaur but rather it has been around since the time of the dinosaurs. It came in a box and had very simple directions...Place lava rocks and plant in container and add water. After an hour it was supposed to spring to life. Today in class we did as instructed, and sure enough it is showing signs of life. The three pictures below were taken at 11:00 when we began and then at 12:00 and 1:00. The results so far look great.

The Bridge Project

In class today we started a new unit on bridges. We have been studying the Romans and how they used bridges and arches to form aqueducts. Today I gave the boys the challenge of building a bridge that spanned nine inches with three sheets of 8.5 by 11 inch paper. After the bridges were finished the boys added pennies to see how many they could hold. In 45 minutes the boys went from not being able to add a single penny to bridges that could hold more than 150 pennies!! The boys will have the chance to build more bridges later this week and next week we will begin the next phase of our project. I can't wait!!

The Final Results!!

The Iditarod has come to a close and the results are in. The mushers we were following finished in the following order...

Getting A Shuttle Ready

Watch the space shuttle Discovery as it was prepared and launched last April. This is the same shuttle that we saw overhead last week. I read that Discovery may be headed to the Smithsonian in the future, but at this point no decision has been made. (note: OPF stands for Orbiter Processing Facility)

Baker is Back in Front

The Fabulous Baker Boys are celebrating once again, but Schnuelle is close behind. There is still a lot of racing left. The race will probably conclude on Tuesday.

A New Leader!!!

Team Schnuelle has reason to celebrate as their musher has taken the lead in the Iditarod. Baker is close behind in 3rd, followed by Mackey in 4th, Buser in 6th, Jonrowe in 10th, Williams Jr. in 12th, and Kaiser in 18th. Seavey is out due to his hand injury.

The Iditarod is Back in Full Swing

After the leaders took their mandatory 24 hour rest, they are all back out on the trail. Amongst the mushers we are following, John Baker is in 2nd, followed by Schnuelle in 3rd, Buser in 4th, Mackey in 6th, Williams Jr. in 8th, Jonrowe in 16th, Kaiser in 18th, and Seavey out of the race. Team Baker, on hearing the news that they were leading the class competition were quite happy as can be seen below.

A Tough Day for Mitch Seavey and His Fans

In the wee hours of the morning as he was cutting open a bale of hay, Mitch Seavey injured his hand and has withdrawn from the race. Team Seavey was devasted by the news and had this to say, "It's horrible and sad and terrible that he had to leave the race." A picture of the distraught duo can be seen below.

The Shuttle Has Landed

During composition class, as we were writing about the space shuttle and the space station we got to watch the shuttle land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The boys loved the experience.

Billy Takes Over Calvert

Early this week there was an attempted coup as Billy briefly seized control of Calvert and tried to shake things up a bit. After Billy and his right hand man made their way into the Head Master's office, they fired off some emails outlining Billy's three part plan. The plan in a nutshell calls for the school to take snow days whenever snow is in the forecast in Maryland or any of the surrounding states, more recess time for all grades, and brunch in the cafeteria every day. Dr. Martire was able to regain control and thwarted Billy's misguided plans. (Calvert puts the "no" in snow) Some pictures from his brief reign can be seen below. The last picture, unrelated to the coup, was taken outside of the Middle School entrance just after the shuttle flyover (which Billy is somehow taking credit for) on Monday night.