I'll Just Wait for the Movie

One of my favorite picture books is written by Chris Van Allsburg.  In 1995, he released Bad Day at Riverbend, a story set in the southwest.  In Riverbend, a typical southwestern town, every day is like the other...until one day, a stagecoach with no driver shows up, covered in SLIME!  Determined to figure out who cause this atrocity, the sheriff sets out into the desert to find the culprit.

That book was written 16 years ago, before the internet was commercially available.  Additionally, iPods, iPads, Kindles, smart phones, 3G networks, WiFi, and a plethora of other electronic devices weren't in existence either.  No Matrix Trilogy, hybrids, or Lady Gaga.  A lot has changed since 1995.

I'd love to tell you how the story ends, but that's not what this is about.  With such a wonderful delivery, you certainly wouldn't do justice to this story, speccifically the title of this post.  It makes me appreciate the blinding light the story describes.  Read to find out exactly what I'm talking about, because after all, you won't be able to wait for the movie.  Just be careful of the slime and blinding lights.

Buy Bad Day at Riverbend on amazon.com

Avoiding the Summer Slump

Before the kids left for the summer, I informed them of some homework they need to do over the summer.  That homework was this:  when doing anything, don't just do it, think about it. 

I've seen lots of kids say words like "I never get the ball" or "That's not fair".  While supervising recess one day, someone told me he never got the ball.  I continued watching.  There were 6 people on his team, and he got the ball twice...out of 14 plays.  That's one out of seven, which is almost one out of six.  After explaining this to him, he was still upset, but had a better understanding.

Someone also made a great connection in math.  We were learning about volume, and she said that she wondered how many cubic feet of water were in the city pool.  She now knows how to find that out, but it's just a matter of doing it.

Lastly, and this to me is a no-brainer, read.  Each day, our class enjoyed reading independently and within groups for 45 minutes.  When they have been conditioned to do so for that period of time, reading is incredibly enjoyale and rewarding.  However, if kids aren't given that 45 minute time for only reading, it's hard to enjoy reading when it comes in 5 minute segments.

Mark Twain writes, "I've never let school interfere with my education."  I don't completely agree with this, but outside of school really is where the skills developed can be used.  Enjoy your summer.