Okay, a couple more vaguely educational trip pictures. Here we are at Manzanar. The human found this place rather deeply affecting. The dogs were bored out of their minds.
But they seemed to sense there might be something wrong when I maliciously brought them to this section of the old detention camp:
OK, enough of the doggie snapshots. We had a great day, once again. The students are really getting the hang of the Writer's Workshop. I am looking forward to publishing some of their work shortly. I am seeing some very creative work!
After recess we had a good discussion of the early twentieth century water projects in California. We talked a lot about William Mulholland and the diversion of the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aquaduct. I showed the students some of my pictures of the sand flat which is now Owens Lake, and told them that it was over 30 feet deep in the nineteenth century. We also discussed the building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of Yosemite. The students were outraged by the idea of flooding a national park.
After lunch we corrected our math homework. We also started talking about functions. Now, for some of you who have not taken a math class for a while, a function is an equation which has a potentially infinite number of correct answers. These usually involve two variables which are generally x and y. A simple example of this would be x + 3 = y. So the answers here would be (0,3), (1,4), (2,5) and so on. All of these can also be graphed on a coordinate grid, and we will be doing that quite soon. Aren't you amazed at what they're learning in fourth grade now? I am not sure I was doing this kind of stuff when I was in junior high school (way back in the middle of the last century).
Homework: (1) Do the spelling wordsearch. (2) Finish reading "Water for a Thirsty Land" and do the study questions. (3) Do "Equation," pages 460-461 in the Math book. We did page 459 together in class.
Additionally, some students need to finish the By the Great Horn Spoon! work from this morning.
4 comments:
Hmm... Dogs always jump to hear the doorbell... How do they react if the bell rang 12 times? Beware, dogs, the Grim Reaper is looking for a pet to take as one of his own!
Mr. Bassett, Nietzsche would have been so PROUD that you encouraged your dogs to confront their own mortality, allowing them the pleasure of trembling for a few moments on the edge of the existential abyss!
Actually, as I recall, it was the sight of horses being mistreated which drove Nietzsche over the edge and sent him to the insane asylum. So maybe my dogs' mortality will have the same effect on me. Lord almighty knows that 20 odd years working for LAUSD has left me mentally frail....
Ha! Ha! Well, Nietzsche also believed in “life-affirmation,” an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's energies! So, you are doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. You enjoy the challenge.
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