January 5 The first day

Capital: Lima

Spanish word: Buenos dias Good morning (good day)

A student named J. showed me his poster about Joey a football player for the Steelers. He talked about the poster and we made a photo. I promised him a CD with the photo on the CD. It was fun. .. oh, I have to get approval to give a CD to a child. So my next work is going to be collecting ebooks that I can include on the CD.

I arrived at 7:20 a.m.

I like being a mentor. Kids liked looking at the atlas that I brought. I think it is best to sit with two or three kids and talk for 20-30 minutes than to walk around a lot. This first day I set an example by picking up trash, using the unused napkins to clean up spills and demonstrate by modeling that an adult male cleans up. So maybe it will be cool to wipe the crumbs from the table into the tray and keep the trash from falling on the floor.

January 6 and 7 The Breakfast Club at Sunland Elementary

January 6: the capital of the day was "Ottawa." The kids who went to north had a lot of fun finding this city.

Spanish word: Hasta la vista. Until the seeing (the next time I see you).

I brought in a book showing photos from space. The Earth looks interesting from up there. We looked at photos of Florida and we found Lake Okeechobee. We also used napkins to clean up messes on the table. It was fun to leave the table looking as good as we found it.

I arrived at 7:20 am

January 7: The capital: Nassau

Spanish: Libro. Tengo dos libros. I have two books.

I brought two letters that I needed to compile. I showed the kids how I work and create a presentation. It was a good idea because a lot of kids don't see adults working in a home office. It is useful, as Dr. Alison Gopnik (UC Berkeley) points out, for youngsters to watch adults make mistakes, confront obstacles and move ahead.

I also promised a student named J. that I would bring a photo (that I took on Tuesday 5 Jan.) and I hope he liked the photo. He said that he has a place in his house for keeping important things. I was later than usual, I arrived at 7:28 am.

I talked to kids about the SHUTTLE LAUNCH that will happen on 7 February. That's a Sunday and they can see the link to the shuttle at www.nasa.gov.

Date: Feb. 7 + Sunday
Launch Time: 4:39 a.m. EST

Date: March 18 + Thursday

Launch Time: 4 p.m. EDT

Date: May 14 +
Launch Time: 2:28 p.m. EDT

(I wonder what the "+" sign means...)

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

I also recommended the Film Festival -- FREE FILMS -- at Cinema Paradiso at www.FLIFF.com. I hope the slips of paper that I gave four kids will get home.