SPOOKY SKELETONS!!!

Because it's close to Halloween, we HAD to do something fun with skeletons! It's pretty neat to see what students already know about bones, and how much they don't know!  I have had a few classes that were able to name the largest bone in the body (Femur for those who didn't know....no judgment here.) I have had ZERO classes able to name the smallest bone (Stapes..it's in your ear.) We had some "homework" to do while watching our skeleton video.
1) Where is the largest bone in the body and what is it called? (Upper leg - Femur)
2) Where is the smallest bone in the body and what is it called? (Ear - Stapes)
3) How many bones make up your skull? (21)
4) What do bones make? (Blood)
Then we had some fun making skeletons!
We started by making legs, then arms, then a rib cage.
The grand master challenge was to make an entire skeleton out of our Keva Contraption blocks.
Check me out on TWITTER for more pictures!

Knees in the Breeze

The 5th grade STEM class meets for 5 days in a row.They are on a rotation with Art, Music, Gym, Computers, and STEM.  Even though I only see them every 5 weeks, being able to have them for a few days in a row means we are able to do some pretty cool stuff.

Wile E. Coyote rocking the chute!

This sections project is to build a parachute.  After some brief discussion about what a parachute is, the history of it, how it works, and the science behind it, we get right to work using newspaper and masking tape!
It is really interesting to see the different designs that 5th graders can come up with.
At the end of the week we take the parachutes out to the Flivver Field grandstands and drop them off.  Some of the parachutes work REALLY well, while some...don't. Either way, we had a lot of fun and learned a lot about how parachutes work and what causes them to fail.
It has been a great project. Pictures really don't do the project justice, so I ask that you watch the video we made.
Check out our YouTube video here!
Check me out on Twitter to check out our latest project!

Prepare to FAIL!

We all fail.
We have to.
In today's, "Everyone gets a ribbon" society, it is important to teach our children how to fail.
That's right.  I said we need to teach our children HOW TO FAIL.
I use failure in my classroom almost every day.  The catch is learning how to fail.
I can't find who said it, but a classic quote about failure says,

"Show me a person who has never failed and I'll show you someone who has never tried anything."

It's pretty interesting to watch children fail. Most of the time there is a collective, "OHHHHHHHH!!!" and then re-building begins immediately.   I have also had students who can't handle failure. The act of failing brings them to tears.  It seems silly to some, but to have a block tower fall, or a tin foil boat sink, is a massive failure that is completely unacceptable. Then we see the waterworks.

I fail all the time. Literally every day. But I also try a lot of things!

I have several thoughts on failure. I'll share a few here.

"If things aren't working and you try something that doesn't work...then you haven't lost anything."
I use this ALL the time on the football field.  When the defense I'm calling isn't working, I try something else. If that's not working, then I haven't lost anything.  I fail more than I succeed. But when I succeed...WA-BAM!  For example, I had a team scouted very thoroughly. They then had their quarterback who had been out for 4 weeks come back and ran a completely different offense. My middle blitz was not working at all.  So I tried a stunt with my defensive end and tackle. Fail.  So I tried an edge blitz to the short side of the field. Fail. After the second fail, I saw what was happening and started blitzing the wide-side outside linebacker. Success.  That combined with a stunt on the back side and we completely shut down their offense. WA-BAM!

"If I try and fail, at least I'll know what to do next."
I use this one a lot in the Army. Sometimes there is a feeling of, "What do I do now?" It's at this point that some people choose to not make a decision. I challenge leaders who work for me to make a decision faster.  Once you make a decision and start moving, you will quickly see what needs to be done. I think of it as a GPS. While your standing still, it may not be clear which way you need to go, but as soon as you start moving, it becomes clear where you need to go next.

"You failed? Good! What did you learn?"
I use this with children who can't handle failing very well. Though their tears I attempt to have them tell me something they learned.  Sometimes it's as simple as, "I learned that I can't stack blocks that high." Sometimes they learn from another success.  It's awesome when I see students fail a few times and then succeed. Don't look now...but your learning!
My favorite phrases, in this order:
"It's impossible."
"I can't do it."
"I think I got it."
"I DID IT!"
"This is easy!"

Failing is a part of learning and a HUGE part of life.  We need to teach our kids that they need to try, and that if they try and fail, it's okay as long as they learn, then try again.

Christopher Columbus: The worlds biggest FAILURE!

Watch his story here!

With Monday being Columbus day, I thought it would be a great week to talk about one of the biggest failures of all time!

Floating Easy

That may seem harsh, but Christopher Columbus failed miserably at his mission.  He was trying to get to India.  He missed by about 15,000 miles. Not his fault though!!  He thought the earth was a lot smaller than it really is.  It's hard to fault a guy for that when most of the world still believed that the world was flat!  Almost everyone he came across told him he was crazy for one, thinking the earth was round, and two, for wanting to go sail off the edge of it. 

So how do you celebrate a man who failed.  Easy! Christopher Columbus may have failed at his attempt to find the West Indies, but he was brave enough to try! He could have listened to his critics and not tried at all, but, because he was persistent, he opened up trade routes with the Americas and is credited as the first European to set foot on these new lands. 

It's SINKING!

He tried so hard, that he succeeded, even in failure.

The boats come in all shapes and sizes. A few students have realized (Sometimes before and sometimes after) that a wider boat works better. Next lesson? Displacement! HA!

The main lesson this week is that even when the world (flat or round) is against you, you should always go with your dreams. Even if you fail, you may end up doing something extraordinary.

There is saying that says, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars."
That's what Columbus did. You should too.

See more on TWITTER!

All About Apples!

The Kindergarten class went to an apple orchard for their field trip last week.  I thought it would be a PERFECT time to have a lesson about apples.

We watched a short video about how apples go from the tree to the store. (Watch it here) It is DEFINITELY for kids, but it's very informative and the students seemed to enjoy it. They especially liked the "apple river" and sticker machine.

Then we tried to build apple trees. We completed all 5 parts of the, "APPLE STACK CHALLENGE!" If you would like to try the Apple Stack Challenge, here are the Google Slides.  Feel free!

Building the apple trees was a lot of fun. I made a video of all the challenges here.

I was surprised while talking about apples how many students DIDN'T like applesauce....  Even less like applesauce with cinnamon.
I was NOT surprised at how many students liked apple pie, apple crisp, and caramel apples.
It seems that somewhere around 1st grade is when students start to experience apple cider.
Apple cider is one of my favorite drinks on a cold, winter day.

Learning all about apples this week has not only been a lot of fun!

See more on TWITTER!!

Am I a Great Assistant? I hope so!

Kingsford Flivvers

I recently read an article called, "How to Be a Great Assistant Coach."

With the exception of 1 year with the L'Anse Purple Hornets, and one year as an 8th grade basketball coach, I have always been an assistant.

I like to think I'm a good one...

Here are my answers to the questions asked in, "How to Be a Great Assistant Coach."

1) Why did I get into coaching? Great question. I really have no idea.  I guess I just LOVED football so much that I didn't want to be away from it.  When I was in college, I didn't coach at all.  I guess I didn't see the opportunity. I could have found one, but made the choice not to.  When I got to the student teaching part of my education, I asked in my initial interview with my principal and was immediately hired as the assistant coach to the Gwinn Modletowner 7/8 grade team. I have only missed two seasons since that first season of 2005.  In 2006 I was in Iraq and in 2013 I was in Afghanistan.


2) What do I love about coaching? The kids! That is by far the number one. I really enjoy watching them come together as a group of individuals and form a team. I enjoy watching them as they, "get it" and start to understand the game. I enjoy seeing how excited they get over simple things. Stopping at McDonald's is a simple thing... 
I also love the work.  Figuring out what the other team is doing/trying to do. What we can do to counter. What we can do to counter their counter to our counter. I love it!

3) What do I dislike about coaching? That I'm a dork. I spend a ton of time on film, scouting reports, scout cards, etc. Does it matter? Maybe. Have we won a game we would have lost if not for that work? Maybe. I guess for me, I want to be as prepared as possible. If we lose a game by one score, I don't want to think, "Man...If only I would have spent more time figuring out how to...."  I think that would be a huge disservice to the players. So part of what I love in finding out the little things, makes me a dork and I fee like NO ONE else understands besides other coaches.  Even some of them  look at me like I'm a dork.

4) What are my present and future goals? My present goal is to be the best coach I can possibly be for the Freshman Flivvers. We have two more games on the season. I'm positive we can get at least one more win.  Can we get two?  I sure hope so.
My future goal is to be the Varsity head coach of the Kingsford Flivvers. Is that possible?  Maybe.  I know I have a lot to learn before I'm ready to take on that position, but I am in a position right now to learn as much as I can from some really great coaches. In the mean-time, I hope to provide value to the program by helping with what I can, when I can, and learning all I can.


5) Why am I in coaching now? Back to question 1. I love football. I really really do!  I love watching it, coaching it, playing it. It is a wonderful game. I really can't see myself not coaching football.

GO FLIVVERS!!