Getting Ready for a New Year

I have been working to begin preparing the classroom for the start of the school year. Room 204 is beginning to take shape: the bulletin boards are up, and the desks are all arranged. I have new student "mailboxes" that look great. I've got some "name statistics" pages -- one for each student -- that I'll get hung up in the next couple of days. Probably tomorrow, I'll begin working to set out the textbooks for my classes. There's a lot to do, but I am excited about starting a new year. I am looking forward to getting to really know this new group of 6th grade students. I've talked with so many of these students in the halls and on the playground, but now we get to really learn about one another, and begin a year of growth and learning. I am anxious to get going.

Very Old Mammal Discovered

Here's an interesting and exciting scientific discovery...a new and very old species of mammal that may have lived before the dinosaurs...

By Jennifer Viegas Wed., July 29, 2009 The world's first known tree-dwelling vertebrate has just been identified, according to a new study. The tiny, agile animal lived 30 million years before the first dinosaurs and was a distant relative of mammals, including humans.

Blind Faith?

I saw a news broadcast tonight about a group of climbers on Mt. Kilimanjaro (15,100 ft). Just climbing the mountain is a pretty amazing feat, but it is even more amazing to realize that these climbers are all legally blind. Over rocks and up steep cliff faces, accompanied by sighted guides, they climbed to the summit by feel and by raw courage and by "blind" faith. I wanted to put their story here so that on the days when I feel like I can't do whatever is in front of me at the moment, I have their courage and their faith to be my inspiration. Here's the link to their blog telling the story of their training and their climb.

Sky Things

Yesterday, Helen forwarded me an email that told of an amazing astronomical event that would happen in August. According to the email, the planet Mars will be much closer to the Earth than is normal, and so will appear very large in the nightime sky. The message came complete with a pretty neat slide show that got me all excited. I know that many of you received the same email. Then, I did some research and discovered that it was really a "recycled" email from 2003 when this close orbit really did happen. Bummer! Then I thought that maybe I could find out about some other amazing things to share with you -- a way to kind of make up for the disappointment. So, here you go: a really cool website about some of the amazing things that DO happen in the sky. Enjoy!

Australia Trip

It seems that our delegation to Australia had a great time. You can check out their emails at the school website, and you can find more information at the blog that the teachers from Australia put together. By now, they are all home safe and sound here in Cincinnati, but it does sound like they had a wonderful adventure.

International Fair Pictures

Some pictures from the International Fair...

Uighurs (Weegers)

If you are listening to news this summer (and of course you are!), you may have heard about the unrest in Western China -- involving the Uighur People (pronounced Weeger). This article explains who they are and what the disagreements are about...