A Very Lovely Award

A big thank you to Michelle Baldwin from Apples and ABC's blog who nominated me for The Lovely Blog Award! 

 
Please check out her wonderful kindergarten blog.
Here are the rules for this award:
1.  Link back to the person who gave it to you.
2.  Follow the person that sent it to you.
3.  Pass it along to 15 (ish) other lovely bloggers.

Here are some of my favorite blogs.  Check them out!

Frog Spot

Go Figure!

Life in Special Education

Teacher Park

Lessons From the Middle 

 Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings

It's Elementary

Smart Chick

The Teched Out Teacher

Beautiful Arizona

I am taking a little breather from science fair to post some pictures and scenery from around Arizona.  Those of you who read my last post know why!  Actually, my 6th graders did very well with their science fair project today.  Hopefully 7th grade will do the same. 

Those of you who have been to Arizona probably know how varied the landscapes and geology are across the state.  For those of you who haven't been here I hope you can visit soon!  Here are some great examples of scenery from around Arizona. 

These are Aspen trees up from Lockett Meadow in Flagstaff.  Do you know that aspens have a particular smell when they turn yellow like this?  Wonderful!

Meteor Crater:  A huge hunk of space debris smashed into the earth here near Winslow, AZ about 50,000 years ago.  This is one of the best preserved craters due to the dry climate.

 

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures ever taken in Arizona!  Sedona is a great place to go to get out of the summer heat.  This is Courthouse Butte with a nice storm behind it.  You will see this picture all over my blog and button.  I just love it. 

 This is Montezuma's Castle that can be seen driving from Phoenix to Flagstaff.  It is a Sinagua cliff dwelling that is actually a national monument.

This scene also graces my blog.  It is a photo taken by my husband of Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson.  It is a wonderful place to go at sunset.  Those are metamorphic rocks  in the foreground.  

This is one of my favorite parks in Arizona.  Most people do not know that we have volcanoes here!  This picture was taken at the cinder cones at Sunset Crater National Monument.  A great place to visit near Flagstaff.  

 I will end near Phoenix with a picture taken in the White Tank Mountains.  These rocks show pictographs that could approach 10,000 years old.  

Hope you enjoyed some of these pictures from around the state.  It is truly a varied place with a lot of great outdoor adventure.

Agghh! Science Fair

I have yet to have a non-stressful science fair!  It is actually a huge project for a 11-13 year old to handle.  I try to make it bearable by giving students a packet with all due dates and parts of the project.  I still have a lot of aggravation!!!  I have discovered that part of my frustration comes about because of students and their partners.  I tell them they may do the project by themselves or in a group up to 3 people.  I do this because I see over 200 students and 200 projects is too much to oversee.  However, just today I had a group of girls who already had their problem and hypothesis done split up due to arguing over the project.  What is there to argue about on a science fair project when you already know what you are doing?!!

Another issue I have is that students want to change their problem in the middle of the project.  They start with a good question like: Which are stronger caged chicken eggs or free-range chicken eggs?  And turn into something like:  Which egg is faster a caged chicken egg or a free-range chicken egg?  What?  Faster down what, a ramp?  Why do we care about which egg is fastest?  All I have to say is AGGHHHH!