racing through the weekend

This weekend was one of those weekends that just wipes you out. There was so much planned, activities with our family...as well as things unplanned that I just feel so grateful for today, Monday, so I can stop.  Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time with my family this weekend, but I am really wiped out from racing through it all!

Starting with Friday: The kids had no school due to a Teacher Institute Day. I decided to take them to the zoo! It was such an odd experience to be at Brookfield during winter weather without other people there. We usually go at night for the Holiday Lights at Christmas, but this was amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone. We parked the van and I was car number 12. Yep, that's it. 12 cars in the parking lot!  There were times we just didn't see ANYONE else and walked through exhibit houses without anyone else except zookeepers who were only too happy to talk to my kids and I about the animals. We were also able to observe animals playing in the snow, wrestling with each other, and chasing prey through their environment. Watching the wolves run together as a pack was downright creepy and amazing!   We were able to take our time and never once got pushed, shoved, or had to wait in line to see something we wanted to see. And we took all the time we wanted at each exhibit. The QUIET was so strange and very good. We were also able to spend time with a newborn giraffe and wait quietly for another to have her  baby. No baby came yet, but was expected to deliver by yesterday. Watch the news!

Saturday brought Adam's STEM class at NIU. He spent the morning constructing a Popsicle stick bridge with a team. Next time, they will break the bridges to find out how  much weight each can support. They had to use a variety of engineering skills to build the strongest bridge. He's so excited to see what happens to it!

Late that afternoon, Mark took us to Johnson's Mound in Elburn to join a forest preserve program. They showed us how to tap maple trees using a spiel to collect the sap used to make maple syrup  It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed spending it outside. But we really enjoyed watching them cook the sap over the campfire and then sampling the syrup! Yum! The newspaper was there. Here's the article from the Chronicle and picture about the whole program. You can see Adam's coat sleeve! :)

Saturday came to a close with delivering Girl Scout Cookies (which means a chance to catch up with the neighbors) and finding that our oven has finally bit the dust! So our yummy dinner get put into the fridge and a pizza was order quickly.

Sunday was  Adam's big District Pinewood Derby race in Oswego. He was Grand Champion from our pack, beating over 140 cars. Sunday's race wasn't as successful and he didn't place at all. But he had a great time and it was exciting to participate in a different race. He did get a participation trophy because going to district is a big deal! AND it all took place in my old junior high building...Traughber Junior High. Very surreal for me!

We wrapped up our Sunday by shopping for a new stove. And a miracle happened...we fell into a deal! Not just a good sale, but a ridiculous, once in a lifetime, too good to be true, can't pass it up, "make you an offer you can't refuse" deal. So we took it. And now my kitchen will feel like a new one. Can't wait to bake!  But for now, I need to rest a little. It's been a busy weekend and I need to slow down from the race.

if I ever see another noodle....

This week put an end to my school's 4th Grade Engineering Unit. My students spent 2 days designing a "to scale" plan for a pasta car. The goal? Creating a car that will race the furthest distance of a ramp, against other student's pasta cars. They were each given a blank "blue print" page, a engineering code of specs and requirements, a rubric they would be assessed with, and a specified number of dried pasta in various shapes and sizes. 2 lasagna noodles (no more) and any number of bucatini, rotelle, penne, ditalini, and ziti. The kids were able to assemble their visions using a hot glue gun. After they built their cars there was a series of tests, analysis, and rebuilds.

The following week, students worked in teams to construct pasta BRIDGES using the same ideas and requirements as with the cars. The goal being to build a strong bridge that would hold the most weight before breaking. A bucket is tied to a string, hung from a paint stick, suspended from the bridge, sets of 10 metal washers are thrown into the bucket at a time until the bridge ultimately breaks. Finally, this week, we spent the mornings of our ISAT testing putting our engineering skills to the test. All 4th grade classes raced their cars on Monday, 1 class a day for the rest of the week broke their bridges. The most a bridge held in my classroom was 249 washers! That was comparable to most other high weights in the other classes with the exception of 1 bridge, the big winner, that held over 500 washers! WAY more than anyone else's! The kids had a great time, learned alot, and I even overheard some say they wanted to try it again at home now that they learned some techniques to make a stronger bridge (triangles!!) and faster car (less glue, better axles!).

As a result of the past 2 weeks' construction events, my classroom has been covered in sticky clumps of dried hot glue, wayward "spiderwebs" of glue gun mess, and pounds of broken bits of dried pasta noodles. I have been discovering them in the strangest places: bookshelves, desks, behind chairs, in the computer printer, on the white board ledges...even after severals days of vacuuming, cleaning and wiping down. So...like the kids...I had a great time, but...if I ever see another noodle...it will be TOO SOON.