The Georgia Carnival Is Up

This picture is from Savannah, Georgia. I thought it was appropriate to go along with my announcement that the Georgia Carnival is now up over at Georgia On My Mind.

Elementaryhistoryteacher does a great job keeping the carnival going plus she confounds and astounds us with making history seem easy over at History Is Elementary.


The Education Carnival is also up over at What It's Like On the Inside!

Go Visit the Georgia Carnival

The Georgia Carnival is up over at Georgia On My Mind. Go visit. You might find something of interest……they even linked to one of my postings. I guess you can skip that one, but there are many other interesting tidbits over there.

Let’s see----posts about politics including one about the Alabama legislators slapping at each other, posts about education (what’s the world’s longest spelling word?), and did you ever wonder why some lawyers call each other colonel here in the south?

It’s all there waiting on you.

Head on over. I’ll still be here.

Boy Boredom...A Way to Stop the Madness

My students have been out of school for almost ten days and I’m sure they have already announced to their mothers, “I’m bored!”

Yes, I know that’s surprising. Young men have bikes, motorbikes, pools, trips to the movies, video games, i-pods, television…..need I go on. Even with all the new fangled technology our young men get bored. Many moms lament the fact that getting little Tommy or Bobby out the house for some summer fun is difficult because they won’t leave the video game box or the computer. Instead of tanned, slim little boys we end up roly-poly butterballs.

I have found the answer…..The Dangerous Book for Boys

Watch this video and you’ll understand where I’m heading with all this….



Need more convincing…..Blogging mothers are raving about this book.

Click here on the title to order the book………The Dangerous Book for Boys

Fluff...Is This News? Should We Care?

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time online. Everytime I headed back to my Internet provider page I was greeted each time with a picture of Paris. Dear sweet Paris…..I’ve been so worried about her. I was so glad I had minute by minute updates that she was faring well her first full day of jail. This morning I was relieved to learn she had made it through the night, however just a few minutes ago I learned the jail she is at has a high rate of staph infections.

Oh the humanity!

Quite frankly I’m way past caring about Paris or any of the Trash-e-nistas whose exploits bombard us daily on webpages and television shows. When we begin to digest news about shallow and dim people we end up shallow and dim ourselves.

So, a best practice for us all would be to begin to send a message to media outlets that we don’t care. Fluff…that’s all it is. Fluff when examined very closely has pockets of empty space, its structure is very week, and its existence is flimsey….easily tossed away.

I wonder….if I provide the links to fluff news do you have the stamina to make a stand and not click through to read them. Let’s see…

Here are my top five news items that make me say bleh:

1. Inmates where Paris Hilton is serving time have had staph infections
2. Nicole Ritchie is being slammed by a weight loss group
3. Drew Barrymore likes the new clothing designs of Kate Moss=
4. Kim Cattrall takes public transportation in England=
5. John Ramsey and Beth Holloway Twitty are dating

I wish these folks well, but really…………..is this news?

Which news stories do you classify as fluff?

The Best of Parents and the Worst of Parents

These days it almost isn’t worth it to contact a parent regarding a child’s behavior problems.

You get hung up on, cussed at, and told it’s your fault the child did thus and so.

Heavy sigh.

The following pictures are a welcome change to all that. Check out these pics found at Boortz.com. Make sure you click to the next picture to see a close up of the sign the child is holding. Way to go Mom!

On the flip side is this guy.

Check out the survey in the upper right corner and click on results. As I posted this 92% of those who responded said the father’s case doesn’t hold water.

Sing a Song About Testing

The Georgia Carnival is up over at Georgia On My Mind hosted by Elementaryhistoryteacher. I guess Georgia women bloggers need to get a few submissions in for the next carnival, It has some great submissions, but there isn't a female among them.

The most recent education carnival can be found at The Education Wonks.

We begin state testing on Tuesday, and we have reached the place where the rubber meets the road so to speak. I’m not going to be able to cram anything else in their heads.

I opened up my email yesterday to find the following. It had been sent to me by a colleague. She had gotten it from someone else, who had gotten it from someone else. You get the idea.

Here’s how it went:

Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It’s reading and math, forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.
Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers.
Their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.
The School Board is faced with no child left behind with rules but no funding;
they're caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best are not in your school
'cause they're not on the test.
Sleep, sleep, and as you progressyou’ll learn there's a lot that is not on the test.
Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you're in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed'
Cause rational discourse was not on the test.
Thinking's important.
It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now.
You need your rest.
Don’t think about thinking.
It’s not on the test.

I’m not really sure how I feel about the words contained here. I guess it does pretty much sum up the culture that mandated testing has brought us.

At any rate….the email provided a link and gave the following information regarding the guys who wrote the song:

NOT ON THE TEST

by John Forster & Tom Chapin 2007 Limousine Music Co. & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)

Illustration credit: John Enos

What's on YOUR Wish List?

So as the title says....What's on your wish list?

Here's some of the things on my list:

-several large volcanic pumice samples plucked from the rivers of Oregon after a spring thaw
-crime scene tape
-Mad Cow Disease microbes (the plush kind)
-instant snow polymer
-several pieces of Lignum Vitae wood----it actually sinks in water
-one 3D Standing Wave machine
-a few Neodymium magnets (most powerful magnet material in the world)

It’s that time of year again……when the Instructional Materials Money fairy begins to flit about awarding teachers with classroom money to spend on items needed for instruction. The above is my wish list for science items.

All of these items can be purchased from Educational Innovations, Inc., a fantastic company that lives up to its name……their materials are very innovative.

Follow the link and visit their online catalog. These items are great for parents to supplement their little Einstein’s toy chest or for homeschoolers and classroom educators to use in planning motivating lessons for students.