Veteran's day means extra hard work

You know, I figured since the veteran's did hard work every day while they were deployed, I could do an extra set of sprints today during my run.  Sure it's 100% not the same, but whatever gets you through the run right?  I won't lie, those sprints were tough too.  Mostly due to the fact that the side rails on the treadmill I was using were broken, so instead of hoping off to slow the tread down, I had to use my arms to pull myself up and hang there until it slowed down enough for me to jump back on without flying off.  The last round of sprints my arms almost didn't support my weight and it could have ended poorly, but I managed to throw myself forward instead of falling backwards, which balanced out the weight enough.  After that though, I did give up, because I didn't want to end up dead or smashed up by the concrete wall behind me.  Also, terrible idea, putting a treadmill in front of a concrete wall, get that worked out!
That's all I did in terms of working out today.  Then after that I took my cousin out to breakfast, since it's been a few months since I've seen him and since he's a veteran and I felt like he deserved it.  My veteran brother was also supposed to join us, but he chose sleep instead.  RUDE.  We were also going to take my veteran grandfather out for dinner tonight, but that fell through.  You like how I worked that into this huh?  I never really thought much about it before, but it's interesting thinking about the fact that we've had family in all the branches of the armed forces.  My grandfather was in the Navy in WWII, fought in some of the biggest battles in Europe, but not D-Day. He was also a lightweight boxer, had 5 matches before hanging up the gloves after a KO in Algiers.  I like to think I picked up my skills from him.  They called him Spider because he moved like a spider.  They might still call him that, I don't actually know. But anyways, my cousin was in the Army and fought in Afghanistan and my brother was a Marine and fought in Afghanistan.  All my grandfather's brothers and sisters were in the armed forces too, during WWII, so I'm pretty sure my family has covered every branch at this point. Not sure about the Air Force, but everything else is covered.  Of course, I have zero pictures from my grandfather's Navy experience, because he still has them at his place, but I do have the pair of wooden shoes that he got in Belgium when he escorted Harry Truman over to the Potsdam Conference.  So, that's cool.  
And now for something completely different...
As you know, I'm all about selling my creative ideas, even though I never actually sell any of them.  My newest one is selling educational anchor charts.  If there was a market for such a thing, I'd have that on lock.  Imagine being able to buy a poster for $5 instead of trying to make one on your own.  Yea, teacher friends, you know what I'm talking about.  Sure, it's nice to make your own, but let's be honest, who has time during the week, and who really wants to do it on the weekends?  Well, except for people like me, who actually have a dedicated drawing area.  So, that's my new plan.  Buy my posters.  Thanks.

Enjoy some pictures now

These are the Belgium shoes, with a locket of my grandparents when they were children.

And a math anchor chart to explain the area model to 4th grade.

Snow place like home

Whooooeee it has been a long week or two.  Honestly, the days have all but blended together with all the snowstorms and school cancellations.  February has never seemed shorter, and that's saying a lot, since it's already the shortest month!  Seriously though, if the snow could quit, I'd be a little bit happier.  There's pretty much no place left to walk, park, or drive if another car is coming at you.  It's getting out of hand.  Yet, we are intrepid, we carry on.  What else can you do, with all this snow around and talk of another storm or two heading this way? The good news is, it's almost February vacation.  The bad news is, it's almost February vacation.  I make this next statement with the knowledge that teachers in the state of Massachusetts will be calling for my head, but it's about time we did away with February vacation.  Let's be honest, we just got back from Winter Break, and with the SEVEN snow days we've had in the past 15 days, this vacation is a bit of a joke.  What the students could really use is 5 more days of work.  Besides, we're one of the only states that still has this vacation hanging about.  I say scrap it, start school earlier than the Wednesday before Labor Day, and use March for Spring break.  It would solve SO many problems. But, who am I to change things?  Alright, aside from the snow days, there's no where to run, so I've been spending a lot of quality time with the treadmill.  I don't love it.  Also due to the snow, I missed 4 days of being able to workout.  I know, that's insane! At this point though I've made it up and I feel like I'm back on track.  Wouldn't you know it, that means I'm getting a cold.  I can feel it coming on.  My nose is stuffy/runny, my eyes are itchy, and things hurt.  Fantastic.  Nothing like a good cold to start vacation. Since I don't have a new goal in the near future, I decided to work towards upping my punches at boxing.  I started low today with a total of just over 3000 punches. My goal is to try and add on at least 100 more punches each week.  I only need to track one day, but I might track all and just pick my best.  Except Sunday's because that's a 12 round class and that would feel like cheating.
Completely out of the realm of working out, but back on the snow day thing, I made one final pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago.  I went Little Mermaid themed, just to see how it worked out,  They came out alright, but I'm not sure I love them.  However, I did want to try and fix the paint chipping problem I had on the first pair.  The paint on the rubber part of the sole chipped off as they were worn around, so I wanted to try and fix that.  I saw a trick online that if you sand the rubber with fine grain sandpaper it makes the paint more likely to absorb into the rubber, so I tried that.  It looks like the paint held up a bit better, but still chipped off in places.  At this point, I'm beginning to think it's the sealant that's chipping it off, not the actual paint.  Anyways, I'll add a picture of those in a minute.  Finally, the students at my school are number one in the city for the math program we've been doing.  Yes, that's right, number one! We're third in the state, and in the top 100 in the nation! There are some days when I feel like I'm doing a real bad job teaching, but learning this made me feel like I must be doing something right.  I'm very proud of the school and I love being able to brag about the students.  Tomorrow they're getting a special award from the school committee, which is very exciting.  So, that's it, snow city in a nutshell. Enjoy the pictures!

Punch counters

Icicles and ice dams 

Way to go Tracy School!

Snow pile...it's gotten a lot bigger since this picture

I need your help to INSPIRE!

In a bit of a deviation from my usual blabber, tonight's post has a new and very important topic.  My wonderful school full of students and their (and my) desperate need for some new materials. For some quick background information, I teach math, all students grade 1-5, at an elementary school in an urban city just outside of Boston.  My school is old and we are missing a lot of new technology.  Most noticeably, we have no library, just some bookshelves in the hallway on each of the three floors.  Without a library, it's hard to keep these books organized and even harder to find books that are relative to the subject matter.  In an ideal world, I'd be a millionaire.  In the real world, I'm not even close.  This poses a problem most often when there are supplies I want to give my students, but lack the means to acquire the supplies.  Last year I noticed a major drop in mathematical literature for students above grade 2.  There are lots of books at the school about counting, sequencing, and ordering numbers.  Past those basic skills though, there is little to nothing.  I desperately want to give my older students new fictional, math centered stories.  Plenty of these books exist, the problem is getting them into the hands of those who need them.  Some of my favorite math centered books include the Sir Cumference stories and the other math adventure series.  Unfortunately, these books come at a price, and when added up, it becomes more than I can support on my own.
So, this is where your help become necessary.  I've set up a donorschoose project focused around fictional math literature for older students.  My project also includes a video recorder so that the students can practice, explain, and record math strategies, using the books, to show to other students.  You will also see a request for bins, necessary to store the books in a central location and provide an easy way to keep track of what is being used at the moment.  Donating money is a lot to ask, I know this.  But if you can't donate, there are other ways you can help.  One of the simplest ways is to share this blog post or my project link.  If enough people share, I am confident it will reach people that would be able to donate.  Remember, no donation is too small.  Even $1 will push the project along.  In fact, if you donate this week, and enter the code INSPIRE at the payment screen, donorschoose will even match your donation.  This code expires on August 26, but the project will be open until it is fully funded or until December, whichever comes first.
If you read this blog, please take a moment to share or donate, and help these students have a future in math!  Here's the link to my project, just click and go.  Flipping for math
Thank you!

The first Sir Cumference story