A Telescopaphone?!

TODAY'S ACTIVITY
Our class decorated tubes yesterday with tissue paper and glue. Today they added blue and red transparency to the ends for a color-distorted telescope. Little did we know that our clever students would discover an alternate use for these contraptions - KAZOOS! Yes, (clearing ears) I know...
Next week, further discussions about sound and vibration. Science is EVERYWHERE!!

TODAY'S STORY
An advanced reading of Stay Awake Sally!, by Mitra Modarressi. As accomplished as our favorite children's book author is, Mitra really hit this one out of the park! The illustrations are beautifully rendered with bold compositions on each page. Sally Raccoon wants to go to bed, but her parents come up with reason after reason to stay up late with them. This role reversal was hilarious to our students who obviously recognized a few of these bedtime tricks (and likely made note of a few others). All the more rewarding to this teacher was a response in the discussion that followed - "Raccoons are nocturnal."

This particular statement was golden:
A) Great critical thinking, considering how to make sense of something absurd to us.
B) Vocabulary word 'nocturnal' was applied in appropriate context.
C) They immediately began thinking of more animals that are nocturnal.