Back on Track

WOW!  
It has been a while....

A lot has gone on since my last post.
In the words of Marty McFly, 
"...blues riff on B, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up."

1) Veterans Day Program: I was given the great honor of being able to speak at the Woodland Elementary Veterans Day Program.  It is never easy to figure out what to say, it's even harder when the audience is under 10 years old!  I talked about choices and sacrifice and what that means to military members and If you would like to watch it, click HERE.  You can read my speech HERE.
Leave comments below on how you think I did.

2) Hunting Season: In the U.P., hunting season is a holiday.  No joke, we get the day off of school.  Not all districts give the day off, but here at Kingsford, we do.  Funny thing happens when "Deer Day" is in the middle of the week.  Some students (and teachers) take Thursday and Friday off so they have a NICE...LONG...hunting weekend.  With my knee being messed up, I haven't made it in the woods at all.  For me, Deer Day was just a nice break in the middle of the week.

3) Thanksgiving: The week after Deer Day, we have a 1/2 day on Wednesday and Thursday/Friday off.  Another short week, but another week of spending time with friends and family. This was the first Thanksgiving without my mom. We were lucky enough to have some AMAZING friends bring us into their family (they are family...just not the blood kind).

4) Shoe Making: With the help of my friend CHRIS WOODS, I have my 5th graders building shoes out of cardboard.  It's a hoot!  I don't have the video uploaded yet, but check out my YOUTUBE channel for it.

5) Polygons: I got on a real polygon kick with my EK-4th graders.  We busted out the pegboards and really had a lot of fun. We worked with regular polygons and triangles. Then we watched how PIXAR studios uses polygons to make some of our favorite characters like Buzz Lightyear and Woody.  Super fun projects!  

It's been a BUSY November, and I don't see December slowing down any.

As always, keep up with Mr. VanDusen's STEM class on Social Media!

Do all this!! https://twitter.com/Mr_JVD https://mrvandusen.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/breitungtown... https://www.facebook.com/woodlandbts/