Model Your Town

Calling All Sketchup Fans! Google is having a competition just for you! The 2012 Google Model Your Town Competition is currently accepting submissions from anyone who is 13 years or older.

Fame, fortune, and oodles of respect await you. (Ok, maybe just oodles of respect.) All you have to do is use Google Sketchup to create a model of Pleasant Hill. It doesn’t even have to be the entire city; how about just downtown? You might want to begin by seeing what previous winners have created: Previous Competitions. This video shows the 2010 winner talking about the model he created of his town, Barranco, Peru.

This video shows examples from the top five finalists of 2010:

The submission deadline is March 1, 2012, so get started today!

 

P.S. If when reading the first line of this post you read “Sketchup” as “ketchup,” this competition is probably not for you.

Make Your Own Flashcards

If you’re interested in making your own flashcards to upload to your iPod, iPhone, or iPad, I found a good video to help you. It explains how to create your flashcards in Keynote and then export them for uploading. I was able to follow it quite easily. Let me know if you try it or if you have questions.

Creating Flashcards With Keynote

Happy New Year’s Eve!

Happy New Year to one and all! May 2012 bring you many blessings along with plenty of warm memories!

 

R.I.P. Big Dog

Thanksgiving 2009

Amongst all the happy moments of this Christmas vacation, there is one tremendously sad note. Yesterday I received the news that McBro and McSis-in-Law had to say a final farewell to Conner, the coolest dog ever. The Big Dog was well over one hundred years old (in dog years), and had lived a good, happy life. With a tongue that was always ready to lick the lotion right off your legs (you never know…it might be jelly!), and a tail that could wreak havoc wherever it swung, Conner found a special place in my heart from the first time I saw him.

Of course, Conner was so much more than a dog.

Conner was family from the moment he walked into our lives.

How could you not love this face!?!

Or this one!?!

And while we humans might miss this face more than we ever thought possible, there is one amongst us who will miss Conner more than we can know. Little sister, Grendel.

Conner Gets a Smooch from Grendel

Farewell, old man! I hope Heaven is stocked with chewies, squirrels to chase, toys to play tug-o-war with, a big, cushy ball to lay your head on, and lots and lots of cheese.

Literature Map

If you’re looking for something new to read, try this website:

Literature Map

You simply enter the name of your favorite author into a box like this:

And, after you click “continue”, you receive a “map” that looks like this:

Each name in the resulting map links to another Literature Map, so the odds that you’ll find something new to read are really good!

Today’s Assignment

I know it’s Sunday, but I’m giving everyone (students and parents alike) an assignment. I’ve decided to declare today a You Matter Day in honor of what would have been my grandparents’ 72nd anniversary. You can read all about it here:

A #YouMatter Day

In short, I’m asking everyone to tell at least one person why they matter. You can write it in a note or say it in person; the important thing is that you share the sentiment with that person somehow. Let’s change the world today by letting everyone know they matter!

Carry on.

A Veterans Day Grammar Lesson

Ah, the poor apostrophe! So often misused or misunderstood. For example, let’s look at the holiday we just celebrated yesterday. Was it “Veterans Day”, “Veterans’ Day”, or “Veteran’s Day”? I’ll give you a moment to think it over…

Need a hint? Two of these options are correct; one is most definitely incorrect. I’ll give you another minute…

The one that is incorrect is…[insert drumroll here]…”Veteran’s Day” because it’s not just one veteran celebrating his or her day. For an explanation as to why both of the other options are acceptable we turn to the Grammar Girl herself: Why Doesn’t Veterans Day Have an Apostrophe?

This makes me feel a lot better about our decision to call our weekly group the Writers Club! (no apostrophe)

Simply Einstein

I have a feeling that Mrs. Bucci would greatly approve of this picture:

Weather Report

If you haven’t already checked it out, it looks like we’re in for a beautiful week at camp!

For future updates, check out Weather.com.

 

The Results Are In

More than 100 people from around the world voted in our Photo Captions Contest last week.  I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote on our captions and share with you the winning captions.

Congratulations to the students whose captions were chosen!