The state bee

Today is gonna be a great day. I usually end my posts with this, but today I’ll start AND end with the quote. The quate is aline is from a song, aptly named “Today is gonna be a great day” and it was in part, part of the inspiration for Making the Days Count almost five years ago.

This could possibly be the best day ever
And the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be
A million and six times better

So make every minute count
Jump up, jump in and seize the day
And let’s make sure that in every single possible way
Today is gonna to be a great day

It is gonna be a great day, because today is the National Geography Society’s state Geography Bee and my student qualified for it. Actually, he really isn’t my student he’s a sixth grader and he goes to my school. I just happen to be the Geo Bee coordinator and very passionate about geography. I’ve been helping him prepare, first for the state qualifying test and then for the state competition. We’ve had two study sessions where I’ve helped him and guided him by asking questions from past geography bees, but he really knows his stuff. Today will be the big test and he’ll be up against 100 other kids from across Illinois from grades 4 to 8 or ages 9-14. Most of them will be boys, about 80-90% and I wish him the best.

The best part is that I get to go and watch. I am excited. I won’t be able to watch him in the preliminaries, the rooms are too small for spectators, but, instead, I’ll attend a class on how to teach geography and learn new ways to make geography more fun for my students. I’ve been to the state Geo Bee before and attended previous classes they all have been very interesting and I was able to incorporate an idea for a lesson into my US History class a couple of weeks ago, here is where I got the material. After the preliminaries, we’ll meet and I’ll learn if he qualified for the final. If he qualifies, fabulous, if not, then, we’ll both stay to watch the final. It’s a blast, ten kids answering questions until only one is left. The winner qualifies for the National Geography Bee – it’s in Washington, D. C. in May. Here is a highlight video from the National Geographic Society.

It’s been a thrilling week and the past week has screamed by at the speed of light. I blinked and it was gone, or so it seems. Science has been fun and all of the classes had an assessment (test) to let me know what they learned – what they know and what they don’t. We also did a lab in class Monday. It was a chemical reaction.

Hydrogen peroxide + soap + yeast + food coloring →  foam  +  oxygen  + heat

The reaction is exothermic and fun to watch and what is produced is fun to play with. I made a video of the reaction – it’s below.

 

and another…. a second reaction and a makeup.

 

My students had more fun with the lab than the assessment and they handed in their lab reports – I’ll be reading them over the next couple of days and grading their tests.

It snowed Sunday night and into Monday morning, we had almost five inches of wet sticky snow on the ground Monday night. It has since melted and disappeared – it’s spring. I looked out this morning and saw it was snowing this morning giving the grass and rooftops a dusting of white. It’s 24 degrees. Perfect for a Friday before Spring Break.

In the meantime, after the Geography Bee, Spring Break begins for my kids and I and the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better. I don’t know about that – that seems a tall order, but I do know that I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day because today is gonna be a great day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, on moment, one question, one answer.

What’s gonna make your day great today?

5 thoughts on “The state bee

    1. Thanks – my student did well, but not strong enough to make the final ten – we watched the finals together and had a great time. I woke up in a Fort Wayne this morning and drove into the sunrise – it was glorious. Now we are in southwestern Ohio for a funeral and then on to DC for a few days of catching the sights. I am sure we will be more functional than the 535 already there 🙂 – have a wonderful week, too.

Thanks for visiting MtDC. How are YOU Making YOUR Days Count?