Sunday, June 18, 2006

Happy Father's Day

To day is father’s day and according to my favorite TV show “Sunday Morning” there are 66 million fathers in America, but only 26 million are married. 39% read or look at books with their children at least once a week and 68% play sports with their kids once a week. There are 2 million single fathers and 143,000 stay at home dad’s compared to the 5 million stay-at-home mom’s. And the number one gift for a father is still a tie.

Today is Father’s Day and we will celebrate the old fashion way with homemade and silly #1 DAD gifts. My 12-year-old spent all day yesterday making and wrapping his presents. We went out shopping and bought him some chocolate (his favorite) and a video he had express an interest in owing lately.

I think that homemade and silly gifts are the best gifts for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. I remember an ad that came out last June for a camera cell phone (I think). In the ad the guy who got the cell phone for Father’s Day took pictures of all of the silly gifts that other men in his office received, he sent the photos to wife and they laughed at his co-workers. I think the ad was trying to say ‘this expensive gift is sooooo much better than homemade of silly #1 DAD stuff.’ All that ad did for me was put off my purchase of a cell phone for a year.

When did we get so consumer driven? When did a #1 DAD cup or tie become a joke? Today my husband got a #1 DAD certificate that my 12-year-old lovingly made for her father, along with other homemade items. And he will eat some chocolate and we will all watch Hook Winked (for the 4th time) together, and have a family celebration of Father’s Day. We don’t need to spend a lot of money to say that we love him; a little imagination, scissors, paper, glue and chocolate are all that we need in this house to say I LOVE YOU DAD!!!

Friday, June 16, 2006

Work-out? Me?

I don’t like to workout, my idea of exercise is bending my elbow getting the cookies from the table to my mouth. This year in a moment of insanity I joined gym, ok, a semi-gym-I joined Curves. A few of my friends were members and talked about how much they liked it, so I joined. It is not bad (for an exercise place). Curves is a “women only” gym, how they can do that legally I don’t know. This is not the gym for the serious athlete, most of the woman there are over thirty and could stand to loose a few pounds. The equipment is set up in a circle so we can chat with each other as we exercise. What do we talk about? Food of course, I’ve gotten more calorie filled recipes while exercising than from the food channel.

Anyway, I have been very busy lately, with two jobs, two kids, two cats, one husband and graduate school, so I haven’t worked-out lately. But this morning I went to the semi-gym in spite of my schedule, I came back feeling great and ready to do more homework. Plus, I got a great new recipe.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Last Days of School

Well it is the end of the school year and things are winding down. Not much learning is going on at this point because it is time for the end-of-the-year parties. This entry is just to note some observations.
The teachers are taking everything off the walls, both in the classroom and in the halls. The walls look very empty now and thee institutional look is back. I miss the color. One of my favorite things about schools is the student art work that covers the hall and classrooms. Some is cleaver, some strange and some quite good. In one of my schools (5th and 6th grade) The walls were filled with life size caricatures of a book the whole 6th grade was reading called The Watson’s go to Birmingham, The art work was very good. Another school had a medieval theme, with pictures knights and castles made from milk cartons lining the halls. And the High School-WOW, their halls were filled with self-portrait’s. Almost everything is taken down now, but once and a while you can still see something interesting. Today I was in a science 5th grade science room, I notice on one walls 5 posters; the two on the left were of a hurricane and a tornado. The two on the right were of an earthquake and a volcano. The one in the middle was a picture of the Whitehouse.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

School Assembly

I subbed today in a school that has only 3rd and 4th graders. There was an assembly and I had to bring my class to it. I have mixed feeling about assemblies. On the one hand, if I bring a class to an assembly that means that I don’t have to teach anything while trying to control the class. On the other hand I still am responsible for my students and I have to keep them quiet and under control. The problem with that is-- I usually am not that familiar with the students so in a setting with lots of children it is easy to loose track of just what kids I am suppose to keep watch off. So what I do is as the program starts I just look mean and shush any child with in a twenty foot range. That makes all of the kids a little nervous so they all behave. I look like I am in control but the truth is I have no Idea which students I am supposed to watch.

If the assembly is good and the kids are engage it does not matter if I know who I am supposed to watch because they all are behaving. That is what happened today. The assembly was a student performance. It was a history of dance. One group of kids were the minstrels and narrated the story, which followed a family from medieval times to the present, who like to throw balls. Each generation gave their story (in rhyme) as to whom there are and what the latest dance craze is. I saw; a Minuet, a Waltz, Charleston, a Lindy Hop and a surprisingly good Break Dance, to name a few. The sound system wasn’t that good, and ten-year-olds aren’t the best at waltzing, but I give the show an A+ because the kids really put their hearts into it. The audience was dazzled, and a good time was had by all. I wish all assemblies were this much fun.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

TV-Free Weekend

On Friday one of my children told me that the TV wasn't working. Unfortunately the TV or electricity going out for a while around here is not all that uncommon. You see, I live is a tourist area, and on the weekends the parting starts-which means all too often a car will knock-out a telephone pole (kind-of sad, don't you think?) Hence, no electricity or cable. So, when the TV and DSL computers went out on a Friday night I didn't call the cable company, figuring that everything will be fine in a few hours.

By Saturday morning the cable was still out, but we had a parade and Founders Day celebration to go to, so I didn't call the cable company. By Saturday night my kids were mad at me--for a while. Then we got creative. Instead of everyone going off to there own room to watch their favorite shows we ended up hanging-out together playing cards and talking- it was a fun night.

So, when will I call the cable company for repairs? Whenever- I am not in any hurry.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

I Love a Parade?

I just came back from watching my little town's Founder's Day parade, which is a big event in these part. It was lots of fun. I went there to see my high school daughter who is in the school's marching band, and I stayed to watch the whole parade because it was so interesting. In the parade there was the local fire and police department, the ROTC, various amateur bands and even some Mummers. I think that every small business with-in 20 miles around was represented. We had a queen and her court, even a Little Miss. I was surprized to see a local military school represented, I didn't even know that there was a military school in the area. What I loved about the parade was that it was so local, no cameras, no celebraties.

I remember growing up as a kid that I could't wait for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, watching it on TV with my family was more important to me that the big meal. Once I went to New York the night before the parade to watch the balloons being blown-up, I thought that it would be lots of fun, in reality it was very cold and very borning. That night was the begining of the end of my love affair with big profesional parades. The Macy's Parade has changed over the years, nowaday the camera focus mainly on the celerbarties and Broadway Shows and not on the High School Bands and the balloons. I don't watch big professional parades anymore, but give me a small town parade- and I will be there.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Tale of two webs sights.

Last night I participated in a Relay-for Life overnight walk-a-than ( I only have had 4 hours sleep in the last 24 hours). This year they did something different. Instead of each walker registering by filling out a paper form and giving the form to their teem leader, who in turn sent it to the local office, each walker had to register online.

For people whom computers are not scary, this was no big deal. But for many participants, the new system either stopped them from registering or required that the get help for someone. I think that that switching the registers on paper strickly to the a web site stopped many people from signing-up. I don't think that the switch over was such a great idea, what they should have done is, for the next few years give participants a choice on how they sigh-up.


On the otherhand, this weekend I had an encounter with a web site that I was thrilled to see. The web site from our governed social security administration (ssa).

Seventeen years ago when I got married I needed to switch my social security card from my maiden name to my married one. The only information I had on how to contact the ssa was from the local phonebook, which had a 1-800 number and nothing else. The phonebook did not give the address of the local office. I called the number twice a day everyday, only to get a busy signal. Eight month later-I got to a real person, only to discover that the closest office was five minutes from my house.

Well, because of fincial-aid stuff I need to visit my local office again. This time I have a choice on how to fine the closest locatio, a 1-800 number or a web site. I chose the web sight and found that address right away (this time they are 30 minutes away).

My point is that as America moves into the techinal age we need to remember that not everyone feels comfortable with the changes. So we must give people a choice on whether they want embrace the new ways or stick to the old.

Friday, June 02, 2006

What is a textbook?

Today I was substitute teaching for a third grade class that had two teachers, and today was treat day.

"The kids have worked hard all year and today is just for fun." the other teacher said. We played games, then watched the movie "Chicken Little" then after lunch we had a "bubble festival." Six stations were set up by four mother volunteers and each station had different experiments for the kids. They love it. Then the kids went to their "special" which was a computer class.

This is when if got interesting. While cleaning-up the teacher and the mothers were talking about a meeting the parents had with the school board the other day. Starting next year the 4th, 5th and 6th grade social study teachers are only getting one set of textbooks for each classroom. Not each class-each classroom. The books are never to be taken home. It seem that they want the student to do all their homework research on the internet, the in-class books will be used only as sublimated information.

The question is: Is this generation going to loose its ability to learn from books? Will the computer be their only way of learning? And is this a good Idea?