Fun finds

Brrr! A front is coming in, and it's become a surprisingly cold Spring Break! Many of the team had to procure extra sweatshirts in town. (Too bad they don't have Mrs. D, Mistress of Procurement, looking out for them!)

We got a lot done today, though.

A good bit of the morning was devoted to completing a layer over the bottom/now-top of the jacket. Our plaster-splattered clothes (and hair and hats and glasses and . . . ) made quite the spectacle in town at lunch!


We (well, mostly Chris) spent the afternoon at the main quarry, scooping out the muck that had eroded from above.

At first, Fluffy and I found ourselves excavating buried tools from a past dig season. Suddenly, this was an archaeological dig!

The mud revealed a real cache! A couple bottles of Vinac, super glue, a water bottle, a screw driver, a pick, a brush, a tent stake--enough to assemble a tool kit! We were excited to be finding anything in that muddy mess.

Of course, it's far more exciting to find bone . . .

Especially big, giant Texas-sized Dimetrodon bones like this one (the two pieces above fit together)! Wahoo! My find of the day!

It's a caudal (tail) vertebra that would be positioned where the pick is pointed on the Dimetrodon skeleton! Chris says he's never seen one so large.

Feel your own vertebrae. Then check out the size of this one, and just imagine how big this guy must have been!

The erosion mess was finally cleaned up,

and we were suddenly finding bone after bone. The good stuff always turns up at the end of a field day (or often at the end of the field week), and we maintained the tradition.

No one wanted to stop digging!

The bad news is that it's started to rain, and we'll have to start all over again tomorrow!

Suddenly Seymour!

We've arrived!




The field truck is loaded with pounds of plaster, ready for action.





Last season, a bulldozer operator was working on the ranch, digging a new cow "tank." We are lucky he had a good eye because he stopped when he spotted fossils. Soon, the dig team was over in the area working, and they found Trimerorhachis skulls--lots of them! The amphibian skulls and the mound of soil around them were covered in plaster. With some clever, careful work, the huge plaster jacket was moved to a safer spot on the ranch (one that wasn't about to be flooded with drinking water for cows). With so much rain this winter, the area where they were found is now under 25 feet of water!

Our big job today was to work on that huge "jacket." First, we needed to reduce its weight by removing a few layers of dirt from the bottom (which now sits on the top).




As the layers split off in neat sheets, we looked carefully to be sure we were only removing layers of dirt and not fossils!



Michele discovered something amazing!




Trimerorhachis footprints! Wow!

After the excitement (and the paleo-paparazzi) died down, we were ready to begin jacketing the footprints and the rest of the bottom of the jacket (now on top) so that those precious skulls can be safely transported.



The area is covered in foil to protect the footprints.






Next, fabric dipped in plaster and smoothed over the foil.







Shirley really gets into her work!








The sad news for the day is at the main quarry. The wet winter weather caused the soil above the site to erode under the tarp and down onto the area where the team is digging. This means more work for the team to undo the work of water and gravity--and it also means that fossils that were "in place"are no longer organized in layers. This means that clues about what was living with what and who was eating whom may be lost.

But the ranch owners have a happy surprise for us!


No indoor plumbing on the ranch, but now the team will have fancy facilities!

Into the field

Spring Break! Time to dig in the dirt!

Fortunately for me, weather forced the paleo team at the Houston Museum of Natural Science to postpone their trip out to Baylor County several times this season--meaning the actual trip coincides with my Spring Break and I finally get to join them again!

We broke up the long drive across Texas to Seymour with a few fossil-hunting stops.

Today's finds . . .

a bag full of gorgeous, gorgeous ammonites (the size of my hand and bigger!) near Ft. Worth,

along with some smaller invertebrates from a road cut.

Tomorrow, we'll be able to drive out to the main site and check out how things weathered the winter. Fingers crossed for no rain!

Celebrating . . . snow?

Our principal (and my mother) teases that I deny our children candy and parties for good behavior because we expect them to behave properly without giving them candy or sending a handful of select students to the "Party with the Principal."

It's true. We are clear and consistent about behavior expectations, and the children understand the reasons for each expectation. In fact, most of the behavior norms in our classroom were developed by the children themselves. They don't need candy or parties to do the right thing for our community. Plus, I'm mean.

Not really--we find lots of reasons to celebrate . . . together! It's just that our celebrations are more about enjoying one another together in community, rather than rewarding individuals. Today, we celebrate snow--again. It's not April yet, but it sure feels like an April fool. Snow in Houston . . . again?! Come on! There are reasons I moved back to Houston after four cold years of college in Ohio.

Mrs. D has proposed a new tradition: Every time the weather forecast includes snowflakes on the precipitation indicator ("Like when they really say it's going to snow--not just a maybe snow"), we should have hot chocolate. She called last night to ask if I'd bring my electric kettle.

. . . I'm certainly not one to turn away chocolate! Books and hot chocolate--what could be better on a cold, gray afternoon?

What We're Reading:

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

Pressed into service

"This crayon just might be turning me into The Hulk."

"Now that's what I call a green thumb!"

Our children are funny. We've been working on art projects that will be auctioned this weekend at a fundraiser for Friends of Montessori (an organization that serves as our Montessori booster club).

A parent donated a quilt kit from Oriental Trading. At first, I was thinking we would batik the quilt pieces. Then I envisioned the hazards of hot wax in the classroom . . . with fifteen first graders. Next, I found a method similar to batik but using glue gel. Perfect and no (well, lower) risk of injury! But this project specifies cold water dye rather than the hot water dyes that were the only ones to be found when I arrived at Hobby Lobby thirteen minutes before closing time (and after closing time at Texas Art Supply--of course). Aargh! Then I read that only specialized hazardous-chemical dyes will work on fabrics with high polyester content. Uh, oh. When Mrs. D pre-washed our quilt pieces (to remove any sizing or finishes from the fabric), they did not wrinkle at all. Looks like polyester to me . . . What to do?!

Then, I discovered this little gem of an idea. Fabric crayons (which work best on synthetic fibers)--used with leaves and feathers acting as resists during the dye-transfer process. Very much like sunprints. Hooray! Third try's the charm.

We cut paper the size of our white quilt squares. Each child chose a fabric crayon and coated a square of white paper with a single solid color.

The child then arranged leaves or feathers on a white quilt square. (Note: It is difficult to iron around feathers with thick quills.)

We placed the dye-coated paper over the fabric (and leaves), dye side down, and then ironed . . . and ironed . . . and ironed. (Note: Due to the iron, this project is more adult-intensive than I like, but I discovered that it works best to leave the iron in place on the fabric for a minute or two and then return to relocate the iron. Though, you'll need Mrs. D around to remind you to move the iron to a new spot!)

The results have been fabulous---and we discovered that when re-used (and flipped over), the dye-coated leaves can add additional colors to the fabric. A happy accident!

Some of our girls have also been busy with a cottage industry, constructing origami ornaments with wire and beads.

They're beautiful and we got to use the adorable child-size pliers I found on sale at Hobby Lobby!

We also produced a few origami & paste paper cards,

along with some Bogolanfini cards and bookmarks.

Lots of beautiful art to buy! Happy shopping!

Driven to Learn

Mrs. C stumbled upon Daniel Pink's Drive and got all excited. "The Montessori community needs to know about this!" She immediately e-mailed Trevor Eissler, author of Montessori Madness: A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education, to suggest that he include Pink's ideas in his next book. ‘Yeah, isn't he great? He's one of the keynote speakers at this year's America Montessori Society conference.’ Apparently Mrs. C was not the first to notice the relationship between Pink's ideas and Montessori education.

Pink points to research demonstrating that extrinsic motivators (rewards and punishments) work well for rote, routine tasks. But they are ineffective motivators for outside-the-box (or even repurposing-the-box), creative problem-solving. He states, "Traditional notions of management work great if you want compliance. But if you want engagement, self-direction works better." Pink identifies three components for fostering intrinsic motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Now, this is a business book about motivation in the workplace, but the same applies to motivation in the classroom--and Dr. Maria Montessori understood this well. In Montessori classrooms, we offer learners autonomy, respect, freedom (within limits), and choice. We emphasize individual responsibility and working toward mastery of concepts. We don't pass out stickers or grades or award certificates. No carrots. No sticks. Instead, we work to cultivate intrinsic motivation, turning the focus to learning--for the joy and enrichment of learning. Montessori wrote, "The secret of good teaching is to regard the children’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seed may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the children understand, and still less to force them to memorize, but so to touch their imagination as to enthuse them to their inmost core. We do not want complacent pupils, but eager ones" (To Educate the Human Potential). I look forward to hearing Pink's talk at the conference!

Last night, a friend was telling me about a TED talk he'd heard recently. Ooo . . . I bet Daniel Pink's done a TED talk! Sure enough. Only 18 minutes long--enjoy!



Interesting implications for increasingly prevalent performance pay and punitive test-related firing policies, no? Feeling motivated yet? Neither of these misguided policies is what drives me to do better with and for children. But feeling respected and valued as a creative and thoughtful professional by decision-makers would go a long way toward motivating me to go the extra mile for the learners with whom I'm charged.

Bibbity Bobbity Boo!

Beans "'ll do magic, believe it or not."





I know I’m mixing metaphors here, but it's amazing when odd bits of two-dimensional nothing transform themselves into something.









The pipecleaners and felt were just lying around in “the back” of our classroom, waiting for their day to shine. As previously confessed, the opaque green tights were artifacts of a tackier wardrobe era. (It is quite possible they were once worn under acid-wash denim shorts.) Mrs. D again proved worthy as Mistress of Procurement by conjuring a Jack hat! It did not escape the children (not much does!) that Ms. Frizzle loaned her shoes for the cause. When I went over to borrow them, I could see the wheels turning as she eyed my beanstalk . . .

This project was not the “quick” assembly I envisioned. Somehow, in my hands, these things rarely are. “Boy, you’re spending a lot of time on this,” commented one innocent bystander. Yes, that’s who I am. Far too much time was spent communing with the glue gun, thoughtfully positioning and attaching individually-cut felt beans and pipecleaner tendrils to the “almost done” stalks. Definitely among the top ten signs of "You Know You're Crazy When . . ." But it is a fabulous beanstalk.

Those who paddled out to school on this rainy evening were in for a treat! Our Family Literacy Night activities were a success.

Mrs. D (a.ka. Jack's poor mother) read Jack and the Beanstalk while I mutely pantomimed.

We discussed the parts of a seed and looked at seed embryos under the microscope.

Each family assembled a grow-your-own-beanstalk take-home kit,

and the children worked together to measure Jack's beanstalk.
Happy literacy to all, and to all, a goodnight!