Daniel and Isabella are best friends. They are so cute together. 
My group that I was responsible for. They were awesome.
The snakes were awesome to look at. 
On the nature walk we came across a dinosaur. 
Ever since the elephant died, the zoo has been keeping the Shriner's camels.
We got a chance to get up close and personal with some of the animals that are native to Florida. 
Daniel and the turkey - right after I took this picture, the turkey puffed out and started gobbling.
Checking out the llama. 
We took a break to play on the giant chess set and then play on the huge playground.
Daniel and Isabella hanging out in the butterfly garden.
They were exhausted and fell asleep on the way back to school.
When we got back to the school, I signed Daniel out early and we went to find some nice cool Italian ice. 
This past weekend, I helped out in Megan's Sabbath School class as a table teacher. There she is in her pink twirly dress working on her craft. Yesterday was an appointment for Mom at the Oncologist. It was certainly a very informative appointment, but did not end with good results.
This morning we had to get to school an hour before school started for Muffins, Math and Moms breakfast.
We did some tanagram puzzles and then worked on some complicated math problems.
The problem on the overhead was:
We did some tanagram puzzles and then worked on some complicated math problems.
The problem on the overhead was:A farmer buys a horse for $50.
Then he sells the horse to his neighbor for $60.
Then he buys the horse back for $70.
Then he sells the horse to another neighbor for $80.
Did the farmer make money or lose money and how much?
Well, on paper, we were able to figure out right away that the farmer had a surplus of $20 after all was said and done. The Vice Principal got her feathers a little ruffled when I asked what kind of help was available to kids who were struggling with multi-step problems. I was not confrontational, however I did ask her to break down the problem the way the teachers want us to reinforce at home. She struggled for a few minutes trying to simplify and explain the problem, which was kindof my point. In the end, I ended up meeting with Megan's teacher today to discuss if she wants me to reinforce this new "creative" math of acting out word problems, or if pencil and paper problem solving is her preference. Fortunately, it seems as though (from what I've gleaned from spending time at the school board) everyone is grasping at straws trying to figure out how to teach math concepts and in this instance, the leadership was trying to make the problem harder than it needed to be. Keith and I both check over the kids homework nightly and if there is a problem, we usually ask how they came up with the answer they came up with and then they find their mistake and fix it. Megan's teacher said that was probably the best way for Megan to continue to grow in her Math skills.
I then spent the remainder of my day working through my on-line orientation for a math class I'm taking this summer. I have to take a more advanced Statistics class then what I took when I earned my Bachelors. This is a prerequisite for a Masters program that I have applied to.
Tonight, we met up with Shandra and Juan and Bradley and Jackson for dinner at Kobe. Yay for Tuesdays - kids eat free! Now there's some math that needs no explaining! Our kids have never been to anyplace like this before and they had a blast. Except for Daniel; he doesn't like fire.
However, he does love salad. And what's more fun than salad? Salad with chopsticks! This was after he picked up his bowl of soup and drank it down. I'm so blessed with un-picky eaters!
The onion volcano is awesome (for some of us!). 
Here, you can see Daniel pulling away. We then had a quick switcheroo and put Daniel beside me and Joshua in Daniel's place. 
There he is much happier and excited to be taking his umbrella and chopsticks home. It was a fun night, and I'm stuffed. 
No comments:
Post a Comment