Mardi's Musketeers

Labels: Rainforest Classroom

Labels: Tiki Hut

After about two months of collecting jugs, a gallon of hot glue, a couple bad burns on my fingers, but lots of fun in the process, my class finally finished our reading igloo.
Students brought empty jugs as a recycling project and earned "10 cents" per jug. This project encompassed science, social studies, math, art, and reading.

Students estimated just how many jugs they thought we would need.
Students counted the jugs already in place.
Students had a choice of receiving 1 dime or nickels and/or pennies for payment.
Students counted the "money" they had earned from recycling.
Students measured the growing igloo height using standard and nonstandard units of measure.
Recycling discussions and other recycling projects spawned off this one (bird feeders, sand scoops, Easter baskets).
Our Tundra unit had more meaning when students got to experience igloo life.

The final payoff was when students actually got to crawl into the igloo and read or play a board game. I worked "Igloo Time" into our positive reward system. Behavior drastically improved when "Igloo Time" was at stake.

The drivers who came up on the scene were positive that whoever was in that black Explorer that had just rolled a couple times and once end over end, wasn't going to get out of the vehicle on their own. They said that as they neared the sight, a young kid crawled out the passenger side front door. He was staggering around, but otherwise, seemed ok. He had only suffered a bad seat belt burn on his neck and a gash in the back of the head (probably sustained from tools flying around inside the car).
When the driver's side rear tire separated, the kid (15) had held it on the road as long as he could and then just curled into a ball and held on to the steering wheel as tight as he could when he started to flip. He said he could see the ground by his head a couple times as the SUV rolled.
Lesson Learned - Always Wear Your Seat Belt and Have a Guardian Grandma

This is Callie. She's about 3 years old and I took her in out of pity. Her previous owner was comparable to Sid the mean kid from Toy Story, and I couldn't bear for her to be mistreated another day.

She came from a large litter from a mother cat that's had inumerable litters of kittens. These people have never heard of neutering or spaying their animals. She was scrawny and scared when I first brought her home with me, but soon fattened up and became a very playful and happy house cat.

Although no longer a kitten, Callie seems to be perpetually stuck in the kitten stage. She's the cat that loves to chase green lizards. Actually they will change color to blend in with their surroundings - but since the front porch is green, they are usually green. Most always, before she's done with her lizard buddies, they've lost their tails and have to resort to playing dead until she looks away so they can make a run for it.

I joke that Callie used to be a pig in her other life. This cat can eat more cat chow than any cat I have every owned. When the food is poured, she gets to eat first. The older cat that I have always has to wait patiently until Callie has had her fill. Every morning when I wake up, she's simply starving. By the way she meows and paces, you'd think that she had been without food for a week!

It's nice to sit with a fresh cup of coffee and chat with the kids or just sit and listen to the mockingbirds dive bombing the squirrels (or maybe it's just the kids arguing over the radio station). Wish you could pull up a chair and sit a spell with me. Soon I'll post a picture of the green lizard family that inhabits the front porch. The cats are mesmerized by these little critters as they scuttle among the potted plants looking for whatever they are looking for.