Day 152: Storms and Flooding

Whoa.

I know I've been asking for spring to arrive, especially after the winter we had, but today takes the cake.  As we all know, with spring comes the arrival of rain, rain, and more rain.  Well last night and into today, we got hit with that storm front that made it's way across the country and devastated the Midwest and the southern states. 

Around 10:00 last night, the lightning started.  No thunder until later in the night.  And then the rain started.  Buckets and buckets and buckets of rain.  It sounded like someone had a pressure washer aimed at my windows all night long.

When I got up in the morning I clicked on the local news and the entire Doppler radar area was covered in dark green, yellow, orange, or red.  Not colors you want to see first thing in the morning.  My family and I went on through our morning getting ready for school.  My husband took my daughter, who is recovering from a sprained ankle, up to the bus stop. My son and I finished our morning routine and were about ready to walk out the door only to get a phone call telling us that one of the major roads near my home was flooded.  And school would be on a two-hour delay due to the flooding there and other parts of the area.   The middle schools, which miraculously already had some students on their way to the buildings (my daughter being one of them), were on a liberal tardy policy.  That basically means that any students who were held up by detours would not be marked late.

(In 10 years of teaching, I think I've only had two other days where school was cancelled or delayed due to flooding.  That was the year Hurricane Isabel hit the middle Atlantic states.  I lived in Baltimore at the time, and a good portion of the area near my school--including my husband's office--was flooded.  But here?  Definitely NOT your everyday occurrence!)

Anyhow, while I waited at home for the water to subside a bit (the rain finally stopped), no less than four tornado warnings crawled across the screen for surrounding counties.  I don't know how my county was missed, but I'm not complaining.

Okay, I get it.  Spring is here. 

It just needs to tone itself down a bit!

Day 151: Project Update!

My students finished their projects on The Wartville Wizard.  Here are some of their finished drawings:



I love the look on his face.




Stylish, even when covered in trash.




Trash as hair accessory and earrings.  Priceless.




So much trash that it floats above him.

 The students really enjoyed this project!  I think they were surprised to find out how much trash they make, even as little children.  They also learned how they can cut down on the amount of trash they generate and how to properly recycle/reuse/dispose of everything.

A good lesson for anyone.

Day 150: Spring Has Sprung!

Tuesday, April 26, was Day 150.  First day back from Easter/Spring Break.  First day of what is yet to come.

The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, the butterflies are fluttering...and the heat is returning.  The day's high temperature was 86 degrees.  I actually dressed in dress shorts, a sleeveless top, and sandals.  Why?  If you remember my post from the beginning of the year, I work in a building with no air conditioning.  My building also has a metal roof.  Oh, and my room faces the pavement on the bus loop.  Which means that if it is 86 degrees outside, it is 96 degrees in my room.  The ceiling fans succeed only in blowing the warm/hot air around.  So by the end of the day, my students and I are lumps of sweaty messes. 

The good news is that there are only 30 days left until the end of the school year, so we won't have to be sweaty messes for long! (At least during the summer we have the option of running to the local ice cream parlor.  I don't think field trip monies would cover that!)

Day 149: Earth Day Projects

I usually dedicate a whole week to Earth Day stuff, but since this week was a short week due to the Easter holiday, I had to cut back a bit.

Monday, we read about our human footprints in National Geographic's Human Footprint.  The students couldn't believe the amount of stuff ONE person uses in a lifetime.  On Wednesday we read The Wartville Wizard by Don Madden. (Tuesday was when we did our egg project because that's when my class was scheduled for computer lab.) Thursday, I had the children pretend they were a resident of Wartville and draw what they would look like with trash all over with them.  (This after we brainstormed what type of trash they would produce as children: straws, candy wrappers, gogurt containers, etc.) I'll post those pictures in a few days.

We also watched School House Rock Earth.  The children loved the video and some of them were still singing the songs as they were dismissed.  If you get the classroom edition, you will get bonus content to use with the students as well as a teacher's guide. 

Another thing I like to do to supplement my Earth Day lessons is show pictures/share articles from National Geographic. I think pictures really make the issues real to the children.

Happy Earth Day!

Day 148: Egg Update

Here are some of the students' egg projects I referenced in Day 147.

Nature-themed

Another nature theme