Tuesday, March 22, 2011

What do YOU do with a potato?

It has been a good week back so far. On Monday, I had not a sinlge student in my early Math class. Got lots of marking done in preparation for reports, LOL! Monday afternoon, the floor in Grade 7 room was being replaced so the student s and I walked to the arena and spent the time skating. Or rather, THEY skated and I supervised carefully from the sidelines. A fool I am not, hmmm? Don't care to break a bone so far from a hospital!

Today, the students in my Grade 10 Math class were finally figuring out common denominators and equivalent fractions with some laminated fraction sticks I had made for them. I love to see the light bulb click on as they finally get it, and then they smile and say, "Well THAT was easy!" Ahhhh....a feel-good moment...

And we capped off the afternoon by getting out the potato gun with my Grade 7 boys while the girls were in the sewing room. We all sat in the hall (fewer lights to risk breaking) and they waited quietly, took turns, and cleaned up after. We got to use the idea that gases can compress, and by plugging both ends of the narrow tube with a potato core and then pushing in one end with a rod, the air pressure finally forces the other plug out with a deliciously satisfying "POP!" They all got quite a number of tries. It was a hoot! Man, I love Science! Wish my teachers had cool toys when I was in school...

So Thursday we are going sliding and then I am treating the students to hot dogs and hot chocolate afterwards. Oh, what a hard teaching life I lead! :-D

TTFN!

Friday, March 18, 2011

An Igloo in the Harbour.

Here is a list of the top five ways you can tell that you're in Sanikiluaq:

5) Snow dunes created by the ever-present wind. Just like sand dunes, only colder.

4) Icicles hanging from the side of the house tell you whether or not you got water delivery that day.

3) You get one student in your first period of Math class.

2) Your students address their younger cousins as "Grandmother". Naming after a cherished relative is a way to honour their memory, and if the relative was a granparent, you call them "Grandmother" or "Grandfather".

And the number one way to tell that you're alive and living in Sanikiluaq?

1) You go across the harbour ice to spend time in the igloo!

It was really cool, and I wish I had brought my camera. I'm glad that I have lost so much weight, as I was able to wiggle in through the tiny front opening to sit inside with my students. We then all signed our names into the outside wall, slid down the hill a few times, and then got hot dogs and hot chocolate at teh Northern to enjoy when we went back to class.

A lovely end to the week! Except that my voice has gone again, thanks to a cold passed on from my lovely granddaughter, Typhoid Mary! (Love you, Kayley, LOL!)

TTFN!