Free Stuff!

I love free stuff. We are members of two local Freecycle groups. If you aren't familiar with Freecycle you can read about it here. http://www.freecycle.org/

A former teacher posted that she had a 50 gallon, yes 50 gallon, storage tub full of her old teaching texts and supplies for grades K-3! Holy moly, I was all over it. The box literally filled my trunk and I have the largest trunk available without tracking down a 1970s station wagon. Let me tell you, there was quite a bit of good stuff in that tub and I'm still working on organizing it in our "school bookcase". Well since I so willingly took these things off of this former teacher's hands, she contacted us when she found a box of educational games. Bingo! Literally, we received Money Bingo, Time Bingo, etc. as well as many great spelling games.

Here are some pics of the family playing Spin and Spell.

Huh, Creative Math Learner, What?

The more I learn about giftedness and education, the more I come across all kinds of new lingo. It seems A. is a Creative Math Learner type of kid meaning he learns through story and application rather than worksheets. I want to be one too! It sounds like so much fun. Well, when I was at the CAG Conference I was quite unimpressed with the exhibits except for King Joe. King Joe is a set of texts that are in storybook form. I purchased the text that teaches problem solving and it is a huge hit. Both boys love this story and beg for more. At some point I may order the remaining texts.

www.kingjoe.com

CAG Conference

I co-presented with Dr. Barbara Klein at the California Association for the Gifted Conference today.

http://drbarbaraklein.squarespace.com/

http://www.cagifted.org/

It wasn't something I normally would do but Barbara asked for my help and I did have a good time. It was nice to step out of my normal role for the day.

Butterflies!

A. and I really enjoy Journey North and their education programs on the subject of migration. Today we watched the amazing videos of the Monarch butterflies.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/PoetrySanctuaryVideo.html

No Child Left Behind

Why, oh why are our schools in such poor shape. Could it be that it starts from the top?

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2007/11/05/the-education-secretary-talks-about-nclb.html