We have returned from two whirlwind weekends of camping. Last weekend we were at Yogi Bear's house in Frankenmuth with Grandma and Papa Van Eeuwen. We visited "the Christmas Store" (Bronner's) and the Cheese Haus downtown, played around the campsite, and went swimming a lot. Doug and I played a lot of Hand & Foot cards and are determined to practice at home to get better (and for me to learn how to add up the points!).
This weekend we camped for the first time with our friends Mark & Jen and their 3 kids aged 3, 5, and almost-9. Roman hit it off best with the 5-year-old. We were at Sleeper State Park in Caseville, Michigan - in "the thumb." We had a great time... went to the beach, rode bikes, Roman got great at pedaling his Tigger bike. But the thing that took us by surprise was The Celebration. More specifically, the Cheeseburger in Caseville festival. It "celebrates the lifestyle and music made popular by Jimmy Buffett" according to their website. It was one of the funniest, happiest festivals I'd ever been to. What a great sense of humor. Even people at the campground were into it, some sites even having tiki bars and 10-foot light-up palm trees next to their campers. We all decided we have to stay longer next year.
Here's the serious brain work part. Tomorrow I start the third and last installment of the Teaching American History Grant in my district. This year's theme is "Whose America? The Struggle for Dignity and Identity in America." Focusing our units on the antebellum period and 1930s, but our studying for the week is on: Colonial period (women); antebellum period (slaves); 1930s (farmers); and 1950s/1960s (women). I realize there are lots of other groups that could and should be included in the "search for identity" but the above was selected by people more intelligent than myself.
I'm looking forward to it as always. Our end products in the past were a type of discussion (Socratic) and last year we did a museum display. This year we're tackling literature and how to incorporate it into Social Studies - or coordinate with the Language Arts department. To that end, we're designing units or mini-units to use in SS but involves one or more books (could be picture book, young or teen reader). My group has selected the Revolutionary War and the book "My Brother Sam is Dead" as our starting point; we will use this week to find other book(s) to coordinate with that in SS. More on that later, as the week progresses and Doug is bored with hearing about it.
I've done a bit of reading already - we've read Scarlet Letter, Narrative of a Fugitive Slave, The Harvest Gypsies, and watched Grapes of Wrath. I still have to catch up on chapter reading and packet reading - I've relaxed a bit on that this year!
This weekend we camped for the first time with our friends Mark & Jen and their 3 kids aged 3, 5, and almost-9. Roman hit it off best with the 5-year-old. We were at Sleeper State Park in Caseville, Michigan - in "the thumb." We had a great time... went to the beach, rode bikes, Roman got great at pedaling his Tigger bike. But the thing that took us by surprise was The Celebration. More specifically, the Cheeseburger in Caseville festival. It "celebrates the lifestyle and music made popular by Jimmy Buffett" according to their website. It was one of the funniest, happiest festivals I'd ever been to. What a great sense of humor. Even people at the campground were into it, some sites even having tiki bars and 10-foot light-up palm trees next to their campers. We all decided we have to stay longer next year.
Here's the serious brain work part. Tomorrow I start the third and last installment of the Teaching American History Grant in my district. This year's theme is "Whose America? The Struggle for Dignity and Identity in America." Focusing our units on the antebellum period and 1930s, but our studying for the week is on: Colonial period (women); antebellum period (slaves); 1930s (farmers); and 1950s/1960s (women). I realize there are lots of other groups that could and should be included in the "search for identity" but the above was selected by people more intelligent than myself.
I'm looking forward to it as always. Our end products in the past were a type of discussion (Socratic) and last year we did a museum display. This year we're tackling literature and how to incorporate it into Social Studies - or coordinate with the Language Arts department. To that end, we're designing units or mini-units to use in SS but involves one or more books (could be picture book, young or teen reader). My group has selected the Revolutionary War and the book "My Brother Sam is Dead" as our starting point; we will use this week to find other book(s) to coordinate with that in SS. More on that later, as the week progresses and Doug is bored with hearing about it.
I've done a bit of reading already - we've read Scarlet Letter, Narrative of a Fugitive Slave, The Harvest Gypsies, and watched Grapes of Wrath. I still have to catch up on chapter reading and packet reading - I've relaxed a bit on that this year!
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