Phenology and Kite Ships

Funny thing.  When you're a teacher people often offer you random stuff that they think might be fun for kids - art supplies, magazines for collaging, office supplies - especially when you have a notoriously low threshold for accumulating projects.  So, as much as that can complicate your home life, it does lead to some fun in the classroom.  My parents are very implicated in this process.  When I visited them over break I came back with some Indonesian kites that had been languishing in their basement.  Then they languished in the office I share with my partner.  This morning I noticed they were in the trunk of our car, meaning they were heading for our class or ... do or die time.

Fortunately, Kristina, Jaron's mom, showed up to volunteer.  After putting homework packets in mailboxes, she agreed to help assemble some cool pirate ship kites at a station while we did partner reading.  The instructions were pretty vague and the pieces seemed like they might snap if you strained them, but group after group toiled over the puzzle of how to make the kite work.  They put it together one way, took it apart when it seemed like it wasn't right, tried it another way and then, after about 45 minutes we had a couple of really cool kites assembled.

Coming soon: info on our study of phenology, migration and climate change!