We had a great time with our dissection.  Thank you to Mrs. Garrick, Mrs. Dillon, and Mrs. Simmons for being extra hands and eyeballs during the dissection.  Some of my favorite quotes were "This is the grossest thing I've ever done, I love it!", "Look, I found the path of the artery." (with her finger sticking out of the hole.) and "Wow, look at how big I can inflate this part of the lung." 

I asked one of the students to write up a review and here is what she said:  The dissection was really interesting and fun.  You could tell all about the animal.  You could see if the air it breathed was clean or dirty by the way the lungs looked.  The heart was really small and you could follow all of the passways.  It was cool that the different parts of the heart changed color when it dried out.  The dissection was really, really, ...

We will, hopefully, be doing our dissection this Friday.  If you are available to help, please contact me.  :)

It's that time of year again when cupid can be seen fluttering around with his arrows.  Each year the students decorate boxes for their Valentines.  These boxes can be shoe, cereal, tissue, whatever you may have at home.  The students need to decorate the boxes for one of our themes: Most Creative, Most Beautiful, Most Colorful, Original/Funny, or Strangest and then bring the box in for our party.  These are done at home, however if the students need materials (construction paper for example), they are welcome to get that from our room.  There are really only 3 rules: The student's name is clearly and obviously on the box, a way to get the Valentines in easily, and a way to get the Valentines out easily.  The reason I have students do this at home is because it is my hope that it is a fun family time.  Happy creating and have fun!!

One more note on Valentine's Day: I have only one rule for Valentines and that ...

Some people have had questions about our field trips, I hope this helps.

A big thank you to our two guest speakers in the last few weeks.  Mr. Gonzales (Ethan's dad) came in and talked to us about being an industrial designer and the process involved with creating products.  He also started the kids thinking about what the next generation of the iphone will include.  That started some very interesting thoughts and ideas flowing.  Our other speaker was Mr. Dodt (my dad), he came in to talk to us about patents.  He shared the steps involved in getting a patent by showing us one of his patents from design to offical awarding of a patent.  We then looked up on the US patent office's website to see if someone with our same last names had any issued patents.  This inspired some of our kiddos who didn't have any issued patents under their sur names to start thinking about what they could invent to get a patent.

The kids asked great questions and we truly enjoyed both of our visitors.& ...

Amid all the craziness that can be this job, I am reminded daily how great it is to be working with these kiddos.  Recently we were discussing the class's "Top 10 Inventions for the World" and someone asked about fire,  "Well, wouldn't that be a discovery, not an invention?" .  After some debate  it was decided that electricity should also fit into the "discovery" category.  The consensus then was that fire and electricity themselves were discoveries however, how you use them or harness them is the invention.  So someone else said, "Well, couldn't you also say that about vaccinations?  I mean, the mold or the plant was there and the scientist figured out how to blend it or use it to help people, right?"  I was watching this discussion thinking this is why I'm here with these kiddos!  Yes, it's no ...

We will be getting into our short study of inventors and inventions this week. We will have some guest speakers and be looking at patents and who owns a patent with a very interesting role playing activity.

Anyone interested in being a guest speaker, please let me know.  Thank you.

It sounds like our basket was a success at the Gala and that many people liked our idea.  We enjoyed putting it together.

As many of you know I wasn't able to attend the Gala because I was in Minnesota at the National Association for Gifted Children conference.  It was a truly great experience getting to hear from the experts in the field and getting to actually talk to them about issues in gifted.  There were over 4000 participants from 50 states and 15 countries.  There were also over 350 different sessions one could attend on many different topics in the field of gifted.  I had several interesting conversations and attended many of the great sessions.  I look forward to reading the books I purchased and putting into practice many of the strategies I learned.  It is hard to be away for 5 days, but it was definately a well worth it experience.

As we get ready for our adventure to Keystone Science School, here is some helpful advice.

• The kiddos love to take pictures, I would suggest a disposable camera.  This way if it were to get dropped in the stream, roll down a mountain, fall out while hiking, there's no harm done.
• Try on all winter clothing first.  That way if you have grown, you have time to get new stuff and "break it in" before tromping around in the forest.  We do a bunch of walking and that's no fun if you have blisters from your new boots.
• 2 water bottles - you need to drink a lot of water.
• Sleeping bag and pillow in a garbage sack so they won't get dirty or wet while you carry them to the dorm.  Bring another sack for the trip home, sometimes the first one gets destroyed and we end up with lost and forgotten items.
• Put your name in your ...

Founder's conference is coming!  Founder's conference is coming!  It is Saturday, October 27 from 8:30-3:30.  There will be some great speakers and some fantastic presentations.  Registration includes breakfast and lunch.  To register you need to visit www.stargateschool.org and go the the "Parent" tab.  Nancy Hall, one of Stargate's creators, will be there.  It will be great to see her again!  Please come if you are able.

Our Gala basket is underway and we have had some great "things" come in.  Please remember we are asking everyone that is able to send in two items - one "gag" type item; these can be a plastic ice cube with a fly in it, a rubber chicken (the most popular idea so far), fake teeth, anything silly, and one real item; these can be gi ...