Preparations are complete . . .

I start teaching tomorrow, and I just finished pounding my last chip can. I made constellations by pounding nail holes into the bottom of pringles chip cans and covering the outside of the canisters with black construction paper. They look pretty neat, I must say, but I am tired of holding the nail in place! I did 18 of them (yes, we have been saving pringles cans for quite awhile, and I will be thrilled to have them out of the study!), and there are 6 different constellations that I did. I got the idea from someone on the Well-Trained Mind board several months back, and it was a good one! I think the kids will enjoy "star-gazing"' from the comfort of the classroom! It sure beats all the D.C. light pollution anyways. I also found, at the last minute, a demonstration on why stars twinkle, using a bowl of water, a mirror, and a flashlight. I had quite a time hunting up a small mirror, but finally I found one in an old compact. I managed to pry it out using a putty knife, so we're good to go on that as well. I had plenty of flashlights to choose from, though! LOL!

Ed, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and I did a reconnaisance foray to the Udvar-Hazy Museum last night while everyone else was at AWANAs to scout for our upcoming field trip there. The museum is technically free, but there is a $12/car charge for parking! Elizabeth got a hot tip that you can park after 4:30 for free (the museum closes at 5:30), so that is what we did. We had to organize a scavenger hunt for the k-4 through 2nd graders, since they don't get a guided tour, and their hands-on time is only about 30 minutes. There's some neat stuff there, especially if you are at all interested in space, but I hope it will keep the attention of the little guys!

Now all I need to do to be ready for tomorrow is type out my lesson plans in an attempt to be really organized. I suppose I should go ahead and sign off so I can get that done! You will notice that I haven't blogged for several days, but when there is something else that needs to be doing, all of a sudden I am full of words! LOL!