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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Base of a Strong Tower...

Last Slide Show of the Year...

OSHA Mandated Hard Hat Area!!!

E a R t H q U a K e S!!!

The students have just finished the unit on earthquakes. The students have put on their engineer hats and built their own skyscrapers to see if their blueprint could withstand an earthquake.

The students learned firsthand about the devastation earthquakes cause all over the world. The students learned all about vocabulary associated with earthquakes. The students had to abide by the classroom building codes for their skyscrapers. The students rolled everything they learned about earthquakes and built their towers to withstand earthquakes.



Be prepared here comes the Iannone Quake. On the Richter Scale I think this one measured 7.2. This structure unfortunately did not survive the quake.



The building that would not fall under any circumstances. This group of students have a bright future as engineers.



The creation from Djordje, Stefan, and Javi.



Skyscraper city.



Over 20,000 toothpicks in this skyline. In the comments write what ones you think survived...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Mr. Lane Graduates!!!



Last week I had the dubious honor to attend commencement at Sun Devil Stadium. As many of you know I am finishing up my masters degree in elementary education at ASU. At graduation all of the graduates and their families were treated to the Commander in Chief delivering the keynote address. POTUS (President of the United States) as he is also known flew over Sun Devil Stadium in Air Force One prior to taking the stage. Our 44th president Barack Obama spoke for over thirty minutes about fulfilling ones potential and leading a life devoted to public service. The president spoke to an estimated crowd of 71,000 people. The president was eloquent, charming, inspiring, and funny all in the same breath. As a teacher I do a lot of talking and was entranced by each and every word he spoke.

Having the opportunity to hear president Barack Obama speak at graduation is something that will always be with me and my family. As a soon to be teacher I was enamored with his powerful words and wit all at the same time. I often feel that I have the educational speak down on top of the sense of humor (I know many of you would disagree). With each pause you could feel the silence within the stadium as the enormous crowd was waiting for his next word. It was certainly an experience that I will never forget. I remember sitting and just listening to his speech and Ms. Sandvig turned to me and said "Can you believe this? The president is speaking at our graduation." If anyone asked me again would I sit through 100˚ heat and wait for hours on end to hear the president speak and I would immediately reply with an emphatic yes in a heartbeat. It was truly a surreal moment for myself and all of the graduates.

I did miss each and every one of you last week. I did laugh this morning when Mr. Iannone told me you guys kept bugging him asking where I was. It was great to be back in the classroom and seeing everyone today. Sitting at graduation it dawned on me how much of this year I have actually spent with you guys. I have been so very fortunate to be with the 6th grade team since October (many of you have told me that you feel I have been with you guys the entire year). As the year comes to an end I know I have grown as a teacher and my experiences will go with me throughout my educational career. It has been exciting to see my own maturation as an educator, but also to witness how much the entire 6th grade has matured. I hope I taught you some valuable lessons that you will carry with you as you move onto 7th grade. I hope that I inspired you. I hope that I made you laugh. Most importantly I hope I made your education more valuable.

I want to thank Mr. Iannone for being such a great mentor and friend. I do not know what I am going to do next year without him. Mr. Iannone has allowed me to grow as a teacher and has been there for me no matter what the situation was. I also want to thank Mrs. Raimondo for allowing me into her classroom as well. In Mrs. Raimondo's room I got to meet and teach most of you for the first time. I also want to thank Mr. Waagner for always making me smile and providing words of encouragement. The biggest thanks goes out to all of you students who have been more than great each and everyday.

Graduation was a tremendous moment in my life, but in all comparisons it will never compare to the experiences I was fortunate to have shared with you the students each and everyday. The other special thing about graduation was the fact that I got to graduate with two great teachers that are my dear friends (Ms. Sandvig/Mr. Iannone's room) and (Mrs. Chavez/Mrs. Raimondo's room). I know they are both going to be great teachers and they have grown as teachers because they got to know each and everyone of you.

I want to give a special thanks to Garrick for the card. I am the Big Dawg now. I also want to thank Giddy Up for the donut. I want to thank everyone for their kind words Amber/Chatty and so many more.




Mrs. Chavez, myself, and Ms. Sandvig











Saturday, May 16, 2009

BASKETBALL SKILLS





Basketball Shooting Skills with Jay Hernandez

Shooting the ball and making shots consistently are two very different things. My partners covered the art of shooting very thoroughly. What are some pitfalls that will hurt your chances of making shots?



1. Not being ready to shoot. Stay in a stance on offense like you would on Defense.



2. Not being balanced and feet placement. Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart and when you land they should stay that way. Make sure on the move that your right foot is slightly in front of your left foot no matter how you catch the ball. I also see players clicking their feet together on the jump or landing awkwardly.



3. Players hitch their shot or hold the ball too long. Some players stop the momentum of their shot at multiple spots before releasing the ball. Other players elevate and hold the ball too long. This causes players to lose the power they get from the lift and make the shot more of an arm throw. This usually causes flat shots and misses at the end of games.



4. The crooked follow thru. Make sure your follow thru is at the basket and not to the left or right. When players make passes it is rare for their follow thru to be left or right when their target is straight ahead. The same concept goes for shooting.



5. Focus on the target. I have seen over and over again players looking at the rim and then taking their focus off of the rim and onto the ball as it is in the air. Players should focus on the hoop the whole time. The same goes for any other sport or activity like pitching, playing darts or bowling to name a few.


Basketball Passing Skills with Jay Hernandez

Passing is as fun as any skill set because it involves more than 1 person. Any opportunity you get to involve a friend in an activity it usually makes that activity more fun. Players who are prolific passers are usually the same players who know how to handle and get into seams. Players who can do this usually force help which opens up passing lanes for your teammates. Passing is a great pressure release. When you play against great defensive teams or a great individual player the best way to get them off of you is to make a pass and cut.

A couple of keys to passing includes:

1. Don’t telegraph your passes. Look to score and just that threat alone will have the help defense come over and you will instinctively make the read.
Fake a pass to make a pass. If you want to go chest pass off of triple threat you will fake low and get the defenders hands down and you quickly pass high or vice versa.

2. Use different types of passes through out the game. Using the same move over and over will be easy to stop after a while. Same goes for passes. If you only use one type of pass the defender will be able to get their hands in a position to get a deflection or a steal.

3. Try to hit players in rhythm. This means if a player is coming off of a screen the ball should already be in the air as they are going shoulder to shoulder off of the screen. There is nothing worse than a player fighting to get open and the ball arrives 2 seconds too late. This hurts the chances of scoring and also negates the assist for you. “Train like a Pro!”

Thursday, May 14, 2009

SUNCREEN ON THE MEANING OF LIFE






A TIME TO REFLECT ON YOUR LIFE

THERE ARE TIMES IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU SHOULD REFLECT ON YOUR LIFE. IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO RECONNECT ON HOW YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING YOUR LIFE. CHARATER DEVELOPMENT IS IMPORTANT TO EVERYONE. IT COULD LEAD TO A BETTER WORLD. SO TAKE THESE WORDS OF WISDOM AND LIVE BY THEM TO MAKE YOUR LIFE A LITTLE BETTER. THESE WORDS COME FROM A SONG CALLED THE SUNSCREEN SONG. THEY DO HAVE A VIDEO ON THIS ON YOUTUBE.

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with you.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So is everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5NAPZp2w-o

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Pictures of the Students Working with the Mealworms

Life Science



The students have had a wonderful time with the earthworm and mealworm units. The students have had the opportunity to learn all about earthworms and mealworms. The students have put their pets through rigorous experiments. The students learned about all of their likes and dislikes. The students have also been writing in their journals each day about the experiments they have conducted. The students will have a test tomorrow on the mealworms. The students will continue to write in their journals each day. The students will watch the mealworms as they complete the metamorphosis process. The students will begin the unit on earthquakes next Monday.

The students will be working in teams of two and three. The students will have to construct a skyscraper out of tooth picks and hot glue. The students skyscraper will have to hold a masonary brick for thirty seconds. The students will have to test their engineering skills when they test their structure on the Earthquake Board.









The Invention Convention

The Invention Convention

The Invention Convention was a huge success this year. The Invention Convention was well attended by students and parents. A special congratulations goes out to all of this years participants. Happy inventing Paseo Hills. A special thanks to all of those who made this years event such a success.











Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Green Box Pizza Box (Great Invention)

Peaches The Love Bird




Don’t forget the
Love birds!

By: Giddy-up Beauchamp


Don’t forget the lovebirds!!! All the students are doing reports on all the animals…..except peaches!!! So let’s talk about these little lovebirds. These petite 'pocket parrots' are very intriguing! Though lovebirds are not going to learn a lot of tricks or necessarily want to have a lot of handling, they are very flamboyant, very social with both their keepers and their mate, and are wonderful birds to observe and enjoy. Lovebirds are one of the smallest parrots bred in captivity, but don't let their small size fool you. They have big parrot personality packed into their tiny bodies! Lovebirds are a very high-energy pet. They love to swing from toys, attack bells, and make splinters of any wood toy. But lovebirds are also sweeties that easily learn to step-up for a quick kiss, and love to hang out on their favorite person's shoulder, snuggling into your neck and hair. Like many small animals, lovebirds seem fearless when confronted by a larger species. A lovebird will not hesitate to walk right over and bite a bigger parrot or even a cat or dog. Lovebirds are native to the tropical rainforests of southwestern Africa. These comical little birds can live 15-30 years with the proper diet, exercise, and stimulation. Well now you know a lot about peaches!!!! So next time don’t forget about the lovebirds!!!
-giddyup