Demitasse: The Most Delicious Coffee and Snacks Just Waiting for You in Sandy Hook Center

(This is a repost of part of a blog entry from August)


My New Favorite
A small coffee shop with good coffee and atmosphere closed last summer in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (a section of Newtown) called Mocha.  This quaint shop overlooks a rambling river called the Pootatuck.  A new place Demitasse took its place, so I thought I would give it a try.  Holy cow, I downed this cup in minutes.  After asking a few questions, I learned they serve Willoughby's roasted coffee out of Branford and New Haven.  This is near my home.  I happened to have an appointment right across the street from the Branford Willoughby's shop a few days later.  Reasonably priced, flavorful, leaving you wanting for more. It is just a bit difficult to get to, not on my ride anywhere.  I will go out of my way for this cup though.


I try to go there at least oncer per week.  It is always the best cup of the week. The pastries, including blondies, pecan bars, and various cakes and snacks are a must.
Coffee.  What else can be said.  Other thoughts come to mind, but I will save that for another day.  In the mean time, greet good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, with an unforgettable cup of Joe.

Please feel free to add your favorites to this list!

The Trout Story Continued

I forgot to continue the saga of the Trout.  I'm sure you have been on the edge of your seat. The suspense has been built to such an incomprehensible level that the blog page counts are going through the roof.  I know you all want to know what has happened with those fickle fish delivered back in November.

Well we stared out with 199 eggs.  We now have eight minuscule fish swimming freely in a tank fit for sharks.

What happened?

Fungus happened.

Within a couple of weeks of resting comfortably in the tank, the fish developed a quick spreading fungus.  When I say quick, I mean one morning there was nothing, then in the afternoon the eggs were covered in a suffocating fungus that could not be removed.  Only three of the eggs were spared.

Those three littles did make it.  We received a donation from Mr. Roody of about twelve fish or so.

They were enjoying there time in the free waters of the tank.  Then one morning, about seven went missing.  We looked all over, checked the filter, the tubes, the chiller, even on the floor.  Nothing.

This is still a mystery.  Even some of Mr. Stentiford's disappeared.  Some were in the filter, some unaccounted for.

Now we are trying our best to keep these eight healthy and ALIVE until they are ready to reach the open waters (tiny pond).

Wish us luck.

Next year we're raising worms instead.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/oct10/fish1010.htm

This is what the fungus looked like.

A Tutor's Perspective

I am lucky to be able to work with students outside of school on a one to one basis.  Unfortunately in the classroom you don't have the opportunity as often as you would like to do as much individualized instruction. It is quite interesting to learn about how and what other grade levels and other schools teach.  The methods are all different.  As a tutor, I need to adapt to those methods to help the student make sense of the information from which they will be assessed.

I can only feel like I am making a difference when my students are feeling confident and successful.   Some days they are confident and surely there are days when their level of confidence and understanding makes it quite difficult to help further their understanding.

I think the greatest thing I have learned as a teacher is that each student is an individual and my teaching methods need to be different for each student in order for them to be successful.  It has taken a long time for this realization to set in.  How I approach each student needs to be slightly different in order to get the best out of them.  Working individually with students has allowed me to develop new techniques and tricks to help students.  Often I am able to take these "new leanings" and apply them in the classroom.  I can see more clearly where students have difficulty on a certain topic.

One week not long ago I had probably my most gratifying week as a Tutor.  Over the course of three days one student got an A on a re-test they previously failed.  One student whom I have worked with for years passed his private school entrance exam with flying colors, and my little Kindergartner had mastered her sight words for Kindergarten and no longer needed her mom to sit with us while we worked.

Each of these students along with all of the others have taught me so much more than I could ever teach them.  I am proud of them.  I am proud of all of my students.  I guess this is why I would not change my chosen career path.  You never stop learning.

Now, lets get back to school!

Less Talking (by me), More Learning (by them)

http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/schoolboy_1.jpg

There are many things I learn each day.  One of the many things that have dawned on me since jumping headfirst, no... feet first, no... sideways describes it best, into inquiry based science is that students learn more when I talk less.  When they are given the opportunity to work collaboratively on a problem, project, or inquiry it is their discourse and thinking that leads to new learning.  My facilitating helps, but not from a pulpit at the front of the room.  This is a hard switch to make.  In order to feel control and know what is going on in every corner of the room, I have always felt that need to be in the front.  As this shift has begun to happen, being anywhere in the room has been fine because when the trust has been put in the students' hands. They have been on task and learning.  Probably, no, definitely more than if I was lecturing in the front of the room.

As the students have had opportunities to talk more in smaller groups, they have had more opportunities to think, and thus more opportunities to learn.  Two thousand ten was a great year of learning for me.  I hope 2011 is a year of less talking (by me), and more learning for my students!

Happy 2011!

Tim

Integrating Science and Reading...It isn't that hard.

This post is in response to an article written by George Stockwell in the Newtown Patch. 


http://newtown.patch.com/articles/we-need-to-make-time-for-srbi


My response is to the fact that teachers are required to teach more reading and science is always the subject that takes a back seat. 


You are preaching to the choir here! Integrating science and reading can be done at all grade levels. A bit of creativity, open-mindedness, and persistence can make it happen. When push comes to shove, those three things lose out and it is the same old instruction. It isn't that hard. Science is the easiest subject to integrate. Using an inquiry based approach, you use every single skill and more that you would be using in a reading or literacy lesson. You are using the same and at times much more in depth thinking skills. The writing connection is more genuine and connected because it is based on what the kids are actually doing. Unfortunately when science is missing, the kids are the ones that lose out. I think everyone loses out. 


It just makes sense to integrate the two.  The book called The Essentials of Science and Literacy focuses on this very idea.


Here is a testimonial: 


Essentials of Science and Literacy provides classroom teachers with a wealth of classroom tested and research-based best practices designed to engage students. It addresses one of the major shortcomings in many classrooms, providing students with the time and opportunity to make sense and to communicate their understanding of the science investigation they are engaged in.

—Mike Klentschy

Author of Scaffolding Science Inquiry Through Lesson Design

Thanks again for keeping this at the forefront. I heard this type of discussion at our cohort meetings last year. This year I am hearing a much different tone, students are getting more science from the 30 teachers in our group. They are loving it and learning. They read every day too!


As Bill Nye always says..."Science Rules!"


Here is a link to a NSTA article that explains clearly how standards for these the two disciplines mirror one another.  

Today's Lunch

Can you identify today's lunch?

Blend of 3 Fruit Juices From Concentrate: Apple, Grape, and Cherry Juices From Concentrate , (Water , Apple, Cherry and Grape Juice Concentrates) , With added ingredients & other natural flavor: Apple, Grape, and Cherry Juices From Concentrate , (Water , Apple, Cherry and Grape Juice Concentrates) , Blend of 3 Fruit Juices From Concentrate: Citric Acid , With added ingredients & other natural flavor: Citric Acid , Blend of 3 Fruit Juices From Concentrate: Natural Flavor , With added ingredients & other natural flavor: Natural Flavor , Pizza Crusts: Wheat Flour , (Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour , (Flour , Niacin , Reduced Iron , Thiamine Mononitrate , Riboflavin , Folic Acid) , Whole Wheat Flour) , Water , Soybean Oil , Glycerine , Sugar , Pizza Crusts Contains 2% or Less of: Yeast , Vital Wheat Gluten , Mono and Diglycerides , Salt , Soy Lecithin , Guar Gum , Carboxymethylcellulose , Datem , Calcium Propionate , Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate , Xanthan Gum , Enzyme , Natural and Artificial Flavor , Sorbic Acid , Pizza Sauce: Water , Tomato Paste , Sugar , Pizza Sauce Contains Less Than 2% of: Modified Food Starch , Salt , Garlic Powder , Onion Powder , Spice , Citric Acid , Potassium Sorbate , Xanthan Gum , Natural Flavor , Pasteurized Prepared Mozzarella Cheese Product: Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk , Water , Whey Protein Concentrate , Milk Protein Concentrate , Milkfat , Sodium Citrate , Salt , Sorbic Acid , Enzymes , Cheese Culture , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef: Pork , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Pork , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef: Mechanically Separated Chicken , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Mechanically Separated Chicken , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef: Beef , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Beef , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef: Salt , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Salt , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Pork Stock , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Pork Stock , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Spices , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Spices , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Dextrose , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Dextrose , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Lactic Acid Starter Culture , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Lactic Acid Starter Culture , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Oleoresin of Paprika , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Oleoresin of Paprika , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Flavoring , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Flavoring , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Sodium Ascorbate , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Sodium Ascorbate , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Sodium Nitrite , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Sodium Nitrite , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: BHA , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: BHA , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: BHT , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: BHT , Pepperoni Made With Pork, Chicken and Beef Contains 2% or less of: Citric Acid , BHA, BHT and citric acid added to preserve freshness.: Citric Acid , Artificially Flavored Cherry Candy: Sugar , Corn Syrup , Maltodextrin , Dextrose , Food Starch Modified , Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil , Citric Acid , Water , Artificial Flavor , Red 40


Can you identify this food?  It is a food product that people actually eat.  Many people eat this every day. 
I do not eat it.  It sure is scientific!


It is not an apple.

A Mechanical Meat Separator

Mechanically Separated Chicken

http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2009/08/03/guess-whats-in-the-picture-foodlike-substance/

I Will Now Call Every Assignment a Test

The students just finished a reading test. I have not graded them yet.  Based on the handwriting of the students I can see that they took extra time and give their best quality effort.  My theory is that the word "test" conjures some type of trigger in a student's mind.  It makes them focus extra hard on the task at hand.  Normally many of the students do have legible handwriting.  Some don't. Though none of the students on a day to day basis produce the quality that I saw on the test today.

This test handwriting is impeccable.

I will now call everything a test. Classwork-Test.  Homework-Test. Quiz-Test. Test...um Test?

No, I will not call everything a test.

But the question is:  How can I hold students accountable on every assignment to get them to produce such quality work?  If you have any suggestions, please share.

In the meantime...I need to grade some tests.