Let There Be Lightning

Heads up, folks! In Math this week, we're going to be learning about positive and negative numbers and adding and subtracting them. This can be kind of tricky, but I will tell the kids that they really need to do their part and

1. listen in class.
2. pay attention while they're listening in class.
3. not put up the mental "I can't do this" wall, which keeps them from any conceptual understanding whatsoever.
   

If they agree to do all three of these things, they will understand integers. Maybe not the first day, maybe not the second day, but soon. We will be also reviewing PEMDAS heavily this week. The homework over that one was atrocious, so we will be once again hammering PEMDAS into them as though I am playing a game of whack-a-mole.

Also, we will be reading up on the westward expansion in Reading, MORE reviewing of re- and pre- (this seems to be the Rigby reading series' favorite learning point, as though it was difficult or something), more prepositional phrases (a sticking point for this class, but understandably so), and a review of dependent/independent clauses, just because I don't want them to forget those things. I tell ya, I'm making the middle school proud.

As though this wasn't enough, we will also be having a spelling list this week. Yes, even though Friday is Colonial Days (more on that later), we're having a spelling test. This is because our spelling list for this week (once again, brought to you by Rigby) is embarrassingly easy. Tomorrow I'll go over what I want due from the kids and when, but it probably won't be the same thing as normal. I will also be giving the kids a Caesar's English list this week as well, but I'm not sure when that quiz will be just yet.

The kids should be bringing in their notecards (actually, there's no reason for them to have them at home) this week, along with all of their research materials. We will be taking notes on them this week. Expect this to go all of this week, which will only be four days because of Colonial Days on Friday.

Colonial Days is this Friday! Yes, I realize that Colonial Days is a plural proper noun, but it's treated as though it is singular. This confused me at first too, but someone explained it to me as being the day when we "live as they did during the Colonial Days", so that's where the name came from.

Here is a reprint from this very blog on January 4:

February 1 , from 8:00-10:00am: This is for help with the Broombinder. The Broombinder is exactly what it sounds like; a guy who comes in to show the chillens how to make old-timey brooms.

February 4, from 8:30 to noon: As I said before, we need more volunteers always for the big event.

We also need donations! We need: empty small soup cans, brown paper grocery bags, and cereal boxes. Send them in and I'll give them to Kate to take home with her.

Clothing: Please plan on sending your child to school on February 4 dressed in Colonial clothing. You don't need to get fancy or go out and buy an elaborate hoop skirt or anything like that.

• Ladies: skirts, aprons, bonnets, blouses, calico, anything Little House on the Prairie-ish or Conner Prairie-ish. And let's not forget those old-timey hairstyles: braids, buns, whatever. I hear they sell bonnets at the Conner Prairie store.
  
• Gentlemen: tuck your pants into a pair of soccer socks (hopefully white ones), white shirts, vests, hats like coonskin caps and tri-corner hats (I know they have coonskin caps at the Conner Prairie store). Suspenders! Denim wasn't invented yet, by the way. And for the shoes, make sure to wear dark ones, and you can just make a buckle for the shoes out of paper and attach it to the front. It's fun!

For your Colonial Lunch: No plastic bags or aluminum cans! Nothing they wouldn't have had back in ye olde colonial times. Here are a few ideas: fried chicken, biscuits, jam, whole carrots and apples, boiled potatoes, beef jerky, lemonade or water in jars. Make sure you wrap your lunch in paper or with a cloth. You're free to even tie it up in a handkerchief and put it on the end of a branch and carry it in. Why not?

Add to that visits from a broom-squire (broom-making never seemed so possible!) on Tuesday, a visit from a lawyer on Thursday, and this week is going to be anything but ordinary.

Oh, and if you want a break from cooking and feel like helping out the Woodbrook PTO on Wednesday night, come on out to Cool River Pizza (in the same strip as Mudsocks, across from the Mega-Kroger at 146th and Hazel Dell). I'll be the "celebrity server" along with Mrs. Fadel and someone else (can't remember!) from 5:30 until 6:30, at least as of right now. Some things have happened lately that may change that, and I'll make sure and post it here with the assumption that everyone and their brother will be flocking to Cool River that night, not for their heavenly pizza (which it truly is), but for the possibility of being served by me. I have to say, though (because someone actually asked me this), that no, I will not be slicing the pizza using karate chops. That would be unsanitary.