Loves....

I'm in love with.... teaching! (and I think also Mark Cavendish!)

So my 16 boys are just fantastic (ok, not all of them, some of them I want to tie to their chairs) and so much fun! Actually today we switched classes, so I had the other (girls and boys) 3rd grade class, and I missed my boys! They are loud and crazy, but they are so smart and energetic!! Controlling chaos is so much more fun than rolling rocks uphill. The other class is very mellow, which is great if you are watching a video or something, but when we tried to have group discussions, or even ask for volunteers....
.....
...
chirp-chirp (that's the crickets!)
....
.....
Nothing! Uuugghh... it was so painful. Definitely a good experience for how the same "lesson plan" can make two totally different lessons happen depending on class dynamics. I still have to teach that class a couple more times, so it also helps me mentally prepare, but I am glad I have my boys back tomorrow.

Its been a fun couple of days with the kids:
~~ pretending our class was in plant factory and watching the plant workers (that's us with head-bands on our heads with flowers sticking out on them) go through the photosynthesis process (aka collecting balloons and popping them!)
~~ experimenting with different insulators to see which one keeps in heat better
~~ playing with solar cells and trying to figure out if we can make them work in the shade (hint... try the mirror!!)

Tomorrow we are studying wind energy by making balloon powered race cars and ivory-soap sail boats! AND... it will be Friday!!! (I'm more than a little behind on sleep this week!)

Oh -- and Mark Cavendish is a very adorable British cyclist who won his third stage of the Tour today!!! He doesn't know it, but I have a crush on him :)