School 180

It's science project time! And Little K did his first science project on music. Pretty cool. He followed the tried and true formula for making a rock band:

1. Make your own instruments (guitar, flute, drums, maraca, xylophone)

2. Give your band a cool name like "Picachu!"

3. Produce a cool music video like the one above

I don't know how much "science" was involved, but he sure had fun! And that's the most important thing. Anyone else have cool science project stories?

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Little K explains how the "estimator jar" works. Given that he can already count into the thousands and recognize numerals in the hundreds of thousands, I think it's great that he loves to estimate numbers between 1 and 30 - a testament to Kindergarten curriculum. It may not be individualized instruction, but the kid still loves it!

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Over the weekend, the kids went to an apple farm to pick some apples. They had "dwarf" apple trees - just the right size for munchkins to pick. Here Little K retells the story of the experience and how he gave Mrs. E one of his apples - only to find out that everyone needs to bring one in to make apple sauce. For once, we're ahead of schedule. : )

Oh yeah - and don't miss the letter of the week!

Giant pumpkin photo credit: Mathew Sumner/San Mateo County Times
"Oregon farmer sets record at Half Moon Bay event"

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Today was "Teddy Bear Picnic Day" in Little K's class, and I was really looking forward to shooting a video. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a press pass to the event, and Little K declined to comment on camera. All I could get out of him was this:

"We brought our Teddy's. We ate Teddy Bear Bread. We played."

Alright, then. Nuff said.

Turns out that Teddy Bears and Teddy Bear Picnics are a BIG deal! The whole concept of the "Teddy Bear's Picnic" is based on a famous song recorded in 1932. (Hmmm. So Mrs. Davidson, why didn't we hold a TB picnic in my 1974 Kindergarten class?)

It turns out that people all over the world (New Zealand, Great Britain) celebrate the official Teddy Bear Picnic Day on July 10th every year. And you know it's a big holiday , when there are SIX classic e-greetings to choose from!

I guess the only person who doesn't love to dine with Teddy Bears is Stephen Col-bear. Feel free to send him an eCard next July!

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Our good friends - Mike, Julie, and J - have been watching School 180 from the beginning. And in their honor we've made them founding members of the "Club 180" - a self-selected group of people who are crazy enough to think this stuff is actually interesting!

And so, here's J's first official video response for School 180... we hope it's the first of many!

Thanks M,J,J!

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Here are a few more "lessons" from Kindergarten that Robert Fulgham accidentally left out of his famous essay - "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"...

1) Listen
2) Maintain eye contact
3) Control your body language
4) When asked, always turn down the volume
5) Stay put
6) Use a fun clap to get people's attention
7) No "shouter-outers"
8) Avoid time-outs (i.e. never get a drink after recess is over)

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Anyone have more "lessons" to add?

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We had the honor of being the first family to take home the class guinea pig! Follow along as we get "Sugar" all set-up in the house, and we learn all about him!

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