File this...

Okay, so I've spent over three days going through file cabinets filled with paperwork accumulated over the last 25+ years.
Here's just a partial list of what's been exposed to the light of day. Each scrap of paper requiring me to make a decision. Keep or toss? Shred or recycle?Where to keep?

• court filings for my Mom's, my grandpa's, my uncle's estate
• semester grade reports from community college
• multiple copies of official transcripts from colleges along with the unofficial transcripts
• copies of applications to colleges, teaching program, graduation
• "correspondence" including letters (some with photos still tucked inside!), thank you cards, birthday cards, good-bye cards, notes from children. including from people I've lost touch with many years ago, dead people, people I can't read their writing, people I don't remember. Some tugged on my heart strings.
• interview questions and my answers
• info on house projects including the plans, the revisions, the possible bids that weren't chosen, installation guides, receipts, paint chips, marked up drawings, lists, schedules, permits, and more
• notes from jobs I worked last year, 10 years ago, 25 years ago.
• maps, receipts, menus, and brochures from trips we've taken, some even 20 years ago

 I've already tossed at least four grocery bags full of paper. Still have 3 file drawers full of stuff.
What do you do with this overwhelming detritus? I know no one will look at it after I've dead. Heck, I bet I'll never have a reason to look at 99.9% of these files again.
Why do I keep it?

• Just in Case. "Historical" value - What does that even mean? A stroll down memory lane? Evidence for selling the house?
• Can't let go of my hard work and effort and time on some past project or achievement. This file is the last proof of my achievement.
• Someone gave me this...I can't be cruel-hearted and toss it.

Ecosystem Walk Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Exploring Our Local Ecosystem: A Walk in the Environment Around Our School Objectives: Students will be able to

• Understand how ecosystems are characterized


• Understand that organisms interact with their environment


• Understand the cycling of matter and flow of energy through the living environment


• Classify organisms according to the function they serve in a food chain (producer, consumer, and/or decomposer of organic matter)


• Identify plants as the primary source of energy for most food chains Explain the role of decomposers in an ecosystem


• Identify four components of a healthy habitat: water, food, cover (shelter), and space to survive and raise young

Location: walking trails in Mountain Park neighborhood around school

Requirements for walk:

• One hour to 1 ½ hours for walk


• At least two adults


• Students need to be dressed for the weather including comfortable walking shoes and backpacks


• Water & snacks are optional


• Notebooks & pencils to take notes & make sketches Cameras are optional


• Binoculars are helpful and fun


• There are no restrooms available along trail

Process: Before starting, review safety rules and note-taking expectations. As you walk along trail (which provides a variety of environments including open meadow, forest, landscaped, etc.) look for examples shown in photos. Stop, observe, discuss, and make notes or sketches as appropriate. Allow enough time for exploration, note-taking & drawing, as well as snack breaks.

Producer organism (plant) what animal might eat this plant?

Evidence of animals (conifer cone & scale remains; chewed leaves, maybe bones!) What animal might eat this? What part is eaten? Discarded?

Evidence of animals: mole mounds. Space for animals. What affect does the mole have on the soil? Does the mole have enough space to live?

Water. Are there water sources for consumers and producers?

Decomposers: Mushrooms. What is the mushroom living on?

Decomposers: Slugs. How do slugs benefit the ecosystem? How do decomposers help producers (soil-making)?

Decomposition. What's happening to this tree? Why don't we just "clean it up & take it away?"

Consumer organism (animal). Can you spot the douglas squirrel? does this ecosytem or habitat provide food, water, cover, and space for the squirrel?

Assessment:

• Have students draw and label energy cycle (food chain) in ecosystem.


• Have students identify & define consumer, producer, and decomposer.


• Have students select an animal and draw/label the four components needed for this animal’s healthy habitat.

http://www.mountainparkhoa.com/assets/trailMap.pdf

Check out these class blogs!

I went to http://theedublogger.com/check-out-these-class-blogs to get a feel for how other classroom blogs look and work. The variety of blogs used by teachers is fantastic! I discovered many interesting sites as well as some ideas for my own blog. Here are my thoughts on five of these classroom or teacher blogs.

http://pioneeryearbook.blogspot.com/
This blog was created for a very specific audience and limited timeframe. Basically for assignments and conversations with her students, it’s almost like email updates from the teacher. I didn’t find the white text on black background to be easy to read – it gets tiring after a short time. The author’s profile is very detailed and deep and led me to another of her blogs which I found easier to read and more interesting: http://mrsgbookreviews.blogspot.com/ . On this blog, I discovered http://www.dailylit.com/home which is a great way to get classic literature emailed to you each day in short segments– maybe now I can finish some of the books I should have read in high school!

http://raigmore.edublogs.org/
This blog has an attractive first impression with lots of links to their other blogs and pertinent information sites. The video slideshow is enjoyable. The blog entries are concise with one photo and a brief yet interesting description by student – links mentioned as needed if the reader wanted to delve more. For example, it directs you to the writer’s blog to read more of students’ writing or to the ECO blog to take a litter survey. Useful gadgets like calendar, moon phases, current photo of school, local weather as well as links to sites families would use like fun stuff, homework help, junior high website, internet safety, and more. I especially like the short survey gadget that gives immediate feedback. This definitely feels like a blog for older students and one that probably requires a significant time commitment.

http://angliakids.edublogs.org/
This website is a very good example of how a blog can be used as a learning tool. The teacher used her posts to interact with her students so they could practice writing in English. She asked questions that student teams answered in their comments to her blog entry. This would be a great way to practice computer literacy skills as well as writing skills. Also posted were slideshows that student teams had created for presentations. I like the flag counter gadget on this blog that counts visitors by flag of their home country.

http://lpatrick29.edublogs.org/
This blog has several intriguing features. Each listed entry has a yellow star for the “bullet” that changed to red as you scrolled over the item – then it was hot and clickable. There is a tags widget that listed topics that could be searched for in the blog postings with larger font size for a word that is mentioned more often (for example, field trip or themes or science). There are legible, clear headings on gadgets and several useful gadgets like a Google calendar link for “what’s going on today?” showing today’s events in the school. Some postings have a voice recording, http://voicethread.com/ , with the student’s photos. The sound quality was spotty (probably because kids are young!) but this would be a great way to assess student’s learning as well as share learning with their parents. A shelfari widget http://www.shelfari.com/widget allows you to add a “bookshelf” with picture of favorite books. Rolling your cursor over the book pulls up a short synopsis. Clicking on the book cover takes you to reviews, buying info, and other similar books.

http://mrmillersblog.com/
Of all the blogs I looked at, this blog is the easiest to read because it is the simplest – very legible with plain white background and black text, one other font color for hot links/clickable text, and not so many widgets or side bars to distract the reader. It was easy to find out what this site is about and who is writing it. I like how this teacher included links to student group blogs where students provide the postings and information. This seems like a great way for students to work together to report and publish what they have learned especially in history, geography, science. The postings introduced me to scribble maps http://www.scribblemaps.com/ which allow students to create interactive maps using real maps and their own clickable comments or pop-up explanations.

My Interests.......for today anyway!

These days I don't seem to have enough time for all I want to do! Besides work at Touchstone School, I currently have several projects and hobbies I'm spending time on.

Landscaping

I've been rennovating a huge area in our yard. Out went multiple junipers (hate them!), a massive laurel, equally massive viburnam, and several other shrubs. In went new block retaining walls and steps. Thanks to my strong-backed husband for all the digging and hauling! Now I'm working on replanting - using mostly Oregon natives and other hardy plants that will grow well in clay soil with rainy winters and dry summers. October is an ideal month to plant shrubs, perennials and ground covers and I'm trying to beat the rains by getting all my new plants in the ground!

Jewelry Making

My boss introduced me to a fun and creative way to create jewelry charms using collage and soldering techniques. In a workshop with artist Maggie Raguse we sandwiched vintage manuscript letters between glass and a mirror then wrapped the edges with copper tape. Maggie and her trusty assistant Chris will silver solder the charms and add the chain and crystal embellishments we selected. I can't wait to get my pearl chain with its intricately drawn C. I'll be making some spooky Halloween charms next week with vintage images and text.

Quilting

I'm still in the process of getting my quilting room set up the way I want it. Now that I've got the Ikea tables -- with light box! and it tilts! -- in place, I'm working on painting, framing, and hanging a pegboard for all my tools. It will be such a convenient way to hold all my cutting tools, rulers, gadgets, and bins.

Making Friends and Memories

Summer camp at Touchstone is a time for making friends and memories. Children six to twelve years old get together with old friends - some from their school year, others from previous summers. Some campers have been joining us every summer since preschool. Seeing each other again is a joyful reunion for us all. At the same time, there are opportuinities to branch out and make new friends in an encouraging, safe environment.

Memories are made every day here! Field trips are one of the highlights of Summer Camp but we also have loads of fun right here at our home base. The camp room is equipped with a tent where kids can laugh and share secrets, read books, or just be in their own world. Exploring and building, performing and creating, happen spontaneously when kids, materials, imagination, and uunstructured time come together.

This summer was particulary special as several of our older campers -- soon to be moving on to higher grades away from our school -- took the younger kids under their wings and taught them a favorite game or creative craft. One sixth grader spent several days teaching younger campers how to make his unique pipe cleaner pequins. Another camper created and directed her friends in funny skits.

My blogging Experience

Well, I'm a good month into this blogging experience and so far I'm often confused and frequently let down by my lack of technical aptitude. So many things, like adding gadgets, seem easily done. I add a header photo, "About Me" section, and movie lists - with links! The gadgets even work! I get enthused to try more. Just when I get excited about the idea of sharing my photos in a slide show on my blog, I run into roadblocks and can't get the photos to load from Flicker. I try several different suggestions from the Internet, but nothing seems to work. I was also unsuccessful in adding more blogs to follow on my blog list. So far, blogging has been a roller coaster ride for me. - some thrills, but also some letdowns.
Do I want to stop blogging? Of course not!

Wheels Day!

One activity done at our school is Wheels Day. This is a special time during our summer camp for the campers to ride their bicycles, scooters, or in-line skates. It wasn't part of our initial camp schedule this year, but the returning campers love it so much that both older and younger kids requested it be reinstated. Being responsive to the kids' interests is one of the great things about our camp!

For safety's sake, we have several rules to follow. Of course, campers must wear a helmet and we encourage knee and elbow pads for skates and padded gloves for bikers. The parking lot is closed off with cones clearly marking the direction the course. For younger kids, it's helpful to use sidewalk chalk to mark directional arrows on the pavement. The traffic goes in one direction with stopping and dismounting areas clearly established with the riders. Our course works best with about eight to ten riders, so kids are usually divided into groups based on age. The groupings allow newer riders to practice without distractions and more experienced riders to go a bit faster. As I supervise this activity, I act as "traffic cop" slowing down speeders and breaking up traffic jams. I also help with spills and equipment repairs. Band-aids and paper towels are handy.

Campers bring out their water bottles and can rest in the shade any time they want. I provide another activity in the shade, like drawing or a puzzle, for those who get tired or didn't bring wheels. We usually blast the Disney radio station on the boom box. Even though our course is short and time limited, kids seem to get a kick out of riding with freinds, trying out jumps on the speed bumps, and maybe even showing off with no hands!