School place

This was the first "Symphony of Science" video. It's pretty nifty... and there are more at symphonyofscience.com.

(previously deleted, recently reposted)

The trick to this program is making sure that the kids are learning TEKS material in addition to the other things that they learn. So, today, when we talked about our voices, I used to Science TEKS material as an example to help them. 

We defined our voices as what we loved to do. What we often found ourselves doing, what made us happy. The answers were as varied as you could expect from a group of 9 kids - we had representation from writers, builders, video game designers, singers, an artist and one girl who simply loves to collect information about everything (Peanut is soooo cute!). 

And then, we grouped up and began to work in the garden. And each group talked with each other about how each individual kid could use the science vocabulary words of the week to do what they loved.

I recorded information about them afterwards, shown below (there are a few other details that I felt were important, too):

D - loves games and making them. Worked well with J on coming up with a video game for science. Thought that learned behaviors and instinctive behaviors were funny. Loud and full of energy. Very into making things fun for people.

G - loves music. Worked well with Jb on coming up with a song that talked about space. Used learned behaviors vs instinctive behaviors, talked about their goods and bads. Loves saying "Miss Jones". A good person with an interesting aura. Very calm and centered.

E - loves building things and taking things apart. Interested in habitats and environments especially - stimuli and responses. Was able to talk about building things with T and Peanut. Quirky, but when she talks with the other girls she's able to relate to them.

T - loves writing. Worked well with Peanut and E to describe some things about her characters and their environments. Very intelligent, and says some bold things. A little bit nonchalant, but not because she doesn't care.

B - somewhat of a tomboy, like T. Loves to sing. She sings all of the time, about everything. When she's sad, when she's happy, whenever. Wants to write songs about expressing yourself.

J - Loves making video games and loves making music. Most often finds himself playing video games. Worked well with D - the two seem to not want to talk to anyone else, really, and find ways to work together when they can. 

Js - Very sweet, loves to draw. Was very inventive with the sorts of science things she could include in her vocabulary. Worked well with B even though she's usually with Peanut. Quiet, but very intelligent.

Peanut - Very sweet, very shy but loves to collect information about everything and then share it. Loves to explore and find and know. Does experiments, etc, on her own -- is a wonderful wealth of information about science topics and liked to share what she knows with T and E. 

Jb - Quiet, but good. Like George in that both of them are centered and calm. A different sort of energy from Jorge and Dylan, but not bad. Likes to make music and worked well with George in making the musical song about space exploration.  

 

Their homework for the week is to find one family member and help that family member share their voice using 3 vocabulary words. I'm kind of excited to hear about it next week. 

 

I'm not taking grades, and I'm not really expecting them to bring something back that's got lots of bells and whistles. I think the most important goal of today was already accomplished.  

 

Things to work on? Okay well... it might not have been the best idea to bring out worksheets in the garden. Possibly. It's possibly possible that... yeah so, anyway. That's fine.

 

Miss Tinnell is going to send me a list of vocabulary words for the whole year, which will be great because then I can have a little bit more freedom to do things like I did today. 

 

I think that with this program I want to focus on creating understanding. So I don't have a whole lot of information that I want to hurl at the kids. I want them to understand that education is a tool that they can use to do what they love. So I'm going to be focusing all the lessons on that. With, of course, a strong emphasis on Science TEKS... we really can't get away from that so I'm trying to find simple ways to help build a global perspective... the most important thing is learning to work with different people though. Communications skills. Using your voice with other people who are using theirs. 

 

Last thoughts: I was very surprised to find that even at the 5th grade level... kids are already self-conscious about their own ideas and whether or not it's okay to be creative. I mean, once we established that it was okay, they got into it... but at first? There was this fear that they may not say the 'right answer'. 

 

Definitely need to work on that, too. 

 

... 

 

That's it, for now :) 

We played a game of telephone. The first time around, I told the kids that they could only whisper a message to the person next to them once for it to be passed on... and to make things interesting, I told the other kids to say "blah blah blah blah blah" as loud as they could. Which they thought was hilarious. 

I don't even remember M's original phrase that he came up with. It had something to do with photosynthesis. At one point, one kid asked "I'm a gangster because I like photosynthesis?!?" The message came out garbled and wrong. 

We went around a second time -- D said, "Okay but this time no one say "Blah" okay?"

So, this time... no one said blah. And people weren't allowed to pass the message on until the one who sent the message said that it was okay. (That is, the listener had to repeat it to the messenger until the messenger was satisfied)

We were only one word off. "The sky is blue because it reflects the ocean" was the original phrase, and we ended up with "the sky is blue because it reflects the sun". Which... debatably, isn't a problem in this instance. 

And we decided a few important things about listening and understanding. Namely, that a message was easier to understand when you didn't have a lot of distractions and when you made sure you understood the other person before trying to pass it on. 

And then Mr. R. came. And even though I had a lesson plan, it didn't... really happen. 

I was tense about this until I asked Mr. R if he was okay with the fact that the kids wouldn't be only drilling in science terms. That they would be learning to work together and get an experience in the garden. He said that he knew. That the principal knew. And that these kids deserved a break.

I listened to the moment. And then I relaxed. Because they were learning about Science still. They were living it. And they were connecting with each other. And they were doing something that gave them a sense of self-worth. Key purposes of the program that were manifesting themselves without my 'help' at all.

It's all going to be okay. Really. 

And to be honest...

I think it's better if love helps them grow.
Not me.   

I'm always on the lookout for interesting words. This is what I love about the English langauge as there seem to be a never ending stream falling into that category... I don't even know if there is such a word in my native language.

A tongue twister. :)

triskaidekaphobia

\triss-kye-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\

noun

Meaning
: fear of the number 13

Created in 1977, the groundbreaking short film "Powers of Ten" was the first visual depiction of the orders of magnitude of the known universe.

Thanks to Stephan Schwartz and his Schwartz Report for bringing this video to my attention.

Remarkable things happen in the ocean. Thanks to Kevin Kelley for bringing this video to my attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG17TsgV_qI

This video a good mind-expanding exercise.

In addition, for me it symbolizes the transition between states of consciousness. What if the world "out there" is our own Self turned inside-out?

...it has been a member of the European Union since January 1, 1995.

...the third largest country by area in Western Europe and fourth largest in Europe.

...emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages.

...in the 17th century the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries.

...the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union with Sweden, a union which lasted until 1905. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.

...the most visited country of the Nordic countries with 5.2 million visitors in 2007.