"DJ takes up Prostitution...

a Very Special Full House... I mean Friday Fave Fives!

e-Missions: Moon, Mars, and Beyond, (the WannaBe Space Camp) Highlights!

1. Best Resource: STELLARIUM. Available for FREE at http://www.stellarium.org/ for download it is really fun and the kids love making the ground disappear, zooming in on planets, and making the PICTURES of the constellations appear over the constellations themselves. You can do a TON with it if you are willing to explore the hot keys.

I HIGHLY recommend it.



2. Best Book: Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System by Alvin and Steve Jenkins. Well, my favorite illustrations anyway. I liked the collage-style, especially the cloudy stuff. Awesome.



3. Best way to teach graphing: Draw a Shuttle.


4. Best hands on way to understand the size of the Solar System:
Marking receipt paper with scaled distance. One half did Astronomical Unit equaling one centimeter. But another we did AU equaling a METER... and look how far it stretched!

5. BUT THE VERY BEST PART OF THE DAY CAMP:

It is over and it is the LAST day camp of the summer!!!!!!!!

However, some other, ummm, honorable mentions and basically random stuff from camp.

* glue sticks, scissors, and a lot of patience... build a shuttle that FLIES! (It's a pdf)

* a cool NON-flying paper model shuttle (the other models are awesome too, if you like those things!)

* A TON of logic puzzles like this:

Outer Space Circus Sideshows
by Randall L. Whipkey

Last Tuesday when the Outer Space Circus came to town for a performance, Bobby and Teddy thrilled at the Midway with its panorama of exotic sideshows featuring beings from across the Milky Way. The boys paid to see five sideshow performers, including the Head, a being with no body. Can you find the order during the day in which Bobby and Teddy saw the five outlandish acts: the name (one is No Wa Ben) and home world (one is from PsiReef) of each geek and what makes each Outer Space Circus sideshow material?

1. Bobby and Teddy saw Ji-Dome earlier in the day than the being from the planet New Oz; they saw the New Oz alien earlier than they enjoyed the perplexed look on the Teleprobe's face as he read their minds.
2. Immediately after visiting the tent where they were in awe of the Transparent Man, a creature whose internal body parts are visible through a totally clear skin, the boys took in the native of Ilegate.
3. Bobby and Teddy were wowed by the Walking Stick, a 13-foot alien also billed as the Tallest Being in the Galaxy, right before they saw the Incredible Kreskeno's act.
4. The boys saw TuPaK immediately after paying to see the native of the planet Andromeda-77 but earlier in the day than they saw the Sheebang Charmer, who works with the Milky Way's deadliest serpents.
5. The being whose sideshow they saw 2nd isn't Azaliana.
6. The tents of Kreskeno and the sideshow geek from New Oz were next to each other on the Midway.
7. Ji-Dome, who isn't the Sheebang Charmer, and the native of Andromeda-77 require special breathing chambers to live on Earth.
8. TuPaK was Bobby's favorite sideshow entertainer; the being from planet Qrptn was Teddy's.

(Answer)

* a little rocket Tangram. (another pdf, just fyi)

* hot dog shuttle. Eww. Hot Dogs. But cute?

* hilarious kids. Because, well, they just ARE.


You'll notice I am only talking about the good stuff. That is on purpose. This was a rather hellish week. And I would rather just FORGET some of it, you know?

Yeah, even though I love the SUBJECT, just bad... timing. Emotionally.

Anyway it was the last day today. And the last day camp of the summer. WOO HOO!

So, between field trips and after school classes, my next big project will be to do for the Children's Garden what I was doing for the Dinosaur Museum. Basically make up field trip curriculum that follow state standards. So that's where my job is headed temporarily (like, till winter. (When I will definitely NOT be moving to California...))Well, that and I may go back to substitute teaching if it doesn't give me enough hours, but I am not that worried about it right now... I am a "part-time" employee who RARELY goes home before 7 at present. So, yeah, I am not worried about hours yet. I *will* be... but right now I NEED less. Because I can't really handle things right now.

Last night I set up my Padre's tank for my little boy Tortuga and he LOVES it! It is only temporary (I am BORROWING it... he gets it back for fish when they move. And so I will keep looking for a big tank) but needed and he looks SO much happier already! He LOVES more room to swim. It makes me happy to see HIM happy. He's a good little turtle.