Girls with Power Tools

For the first time, our school's girl scout troops get to do their own pinewood derby. Look it up. It's cool.  Because (a) girls are good at design (b) girls are good at using tools and (c) girls are good at applying physics concepts. 

Erin learned how to use a sawzall:

Chiseling: 

Belt sanding (not shown) and other cool stuff. 

Robin was content to color her block rather than shape:

And then gave us all a riveting rendition of the "Roses are Red" poem, beat-poet style. 

I love Girl Scouts!

How to Get Kids to Love Nature

Rule 1: Take your kids into Nature.



Rule 2: Stop making rules.

Robin Rides, Erin Instructs

There's so much going on in this movie, I won't spend time talking about it. Just will tag it with a bunch of things and let you enjoy!

Now that's sticky!

We checked out The Letter Factory from the library yesterday and the kids have been begging nonstop to watch it. It is repetitive, cute, non-confrontational, and all about phonics. And it's driving me crazy! 

Apparently, there's is a whole line of research into what kids like to watch. And not to generate the kind of data that will just sell more frosted cocoa sugar bombs. The book "Tipping Point" discusses the efforts Sesame Street has made with child-based focus groups to make their shows more interesting. It also talks about Blues Clues to be the "stickiest" of all shows, at least for the preschooler set.

So what is it about The Letter Factory, a show that methodically goes through the alphabet with nmenoics, narrated by a daddy and boy frog, that makes it the bees-knees in this house? At the same time it makes me kind of glad that the show they gravitate towards is gentle, educational, and shown to really help kids learn letters. I totally acknowledge it could be much worse. They could be begging to watch this.

The ABC song, now with Banana

It is a little muddled in the middle, but all the elements are there.

Pre-School!

Erin had her first day at her new preschool today. She was dressed in fancy new back-to-school clothes (thanks, Grammie) and a new lunchbox (or purse, depending on your perspective) selected by Erin herself.



Here she is testing out the playground:



It was a bit of a rough start, but she had a great day including a riveting round of Itys Bitsy spider, a watercolor painting session, and of course, lots of playground play.

Dr. A

After six years of hard work, Ms. A is now a Ph.D. Ms. A, you're a dedicated and successful researcher who touches those around you with your passion for science. I wish you all the best in your career -- I'm very proud of you!







Ms. A in the news:

• Big Dutch Baby
• Life at the condo
• the wagners five
  

File this under, "Seriously?"

I remember in about 2nd or 3rd grade playing "homework" with my BFF at the time.  Because we didn't have homework.  Or at least none that was what we thought of as homework.  Sure, memorizing words for a spelling test, or reading a book, or bringing in something for show-and-tell, but not real get-graded-and-assessed-on assignments.

Last Sunday's NYT magazine had a short article emphasizing how much has changed:

"A survey of 254 teachers in New York and Los Angeles the group commissioned found that kindergartners spent two to three hours a day being instructed and tested in reading and math. They spent less than 30 minutes playing."

Huh.  

Chilling thoughts

He would have been so happy to see this.

The real question, though, is who was the lazy person who never cleaned out that freezer?

Primary article here.

Update: If you do not have access to Nature.com, click here to see another summary of the story

Palin Poll

Thought this was interesting enough to warrant a post.

PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is qualified.   

The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up by mainstream media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states. 

Click here to vote for yourself. 

The good friend who forwarded this to me states the right wing knew about this before the poll began, and has been flooding the site with "yes" votes. 

Here is more info about the poll. 

Preventative Ounce

Here is an interesting link sent to me by a neighborhood mom.  It's a questionnaire based on developmental biology research and gives some insight as to the temperament of your infant/child.  The mom who sent it to me had the luxury of a follow up consultation with her son's pediatrician, thanks to Kaiser.  But it was interesting even without that. 

Enjoy!

Poison Bottle Update

So I freaked out my coworker who has two small boys and used the same bottles mentioned in the previous post.   She contacted friends in Europe who informed her the Avent bottles (and other BPA containing bottles) are not banned in Europe, as I'd read on some sites.  She found this and this.  The first, compiled by, as far as I can tell, a completely independent source brings up some good points about how rodent models may be inappropriate for testing BPA exposure.  The second is from a website sponsored by the Polycarbonate/BPA global group.  Might not be the most unbiased information source around. 

Either way, we've switched bottles 'cause dangerous exposure or not the milk in those bottles smelled & tasted awful. Here's what manufacturer of the offending bottles has to say.

Back to School

Week 1 for Erin in daycare, and she handled it like a champ. She looked at all the other babies, heard some riveting storytelling, napped quite a bit, and learned to eat well from someone other than Mom.

The end of each day we received documentation of all her biological functions for that day. This morning Ms. A put together a flow-chart to see if any patterns are emerging. None so far but that prompted a cry of "NERD!" from Mr. B.

An unexpected side effect from this experience is her newfound desire to go to bed early, sleep alone in her crib for most of the night, and to be exceedingly happy and cuddly when awake. (Pictured here: a good morning nap in the crib.) Three cheers for Daycare! If anyone is in the market, we can now recommend YMCA. They rock.