Having previously looked at what I believe to be the minimum requirements for a comprehensive Kindergarten curriculum, in this post I will break down what I believe are the appropriate learning goals for first and second-grade classrooms. First Grade: Much like Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth grade; First Grade is both a transitional and foundational year. Students are ecstatic to be with “the big kids” and begin “real” school. It’s important to keep students at this level engaged and focused on moving forward through the material. Math: By the end of this grade students should have mastered counting to one hundred,…
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A Writer’s Tale-Stieg Larsson’s Guerrillas
The name Stieg Larsson is one you may not be familiar with. The Swedish author of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo died before his novels became a global sensation, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t experience some wild things in his life. One of the main characters in Larsson’s Millennium trilogy is a journalist for a left-wing news organization. This is very much a reflection of Larsson’s own exploits as a young man. Back in 1977, when he was just twenty-two years of age, Larsson traveled to Ethiopia under the cover of being a journalist. What his employer and…
Science! For Parties- Flaming Teabags of Doom
Are we in Boston circa 1773 because let me tell you, dear reader, we are about to have a tea party! Well sort of. I’m about to teach you a cool trick you can do with a tea bag at a party! Okay, I’ll admit it, my historical reference only has a tenuous connection to what we’re going to do today. But there will be fire, so get excited. In this edition of Science! For Parties, we are going to turn an empty teabag into a flaming rocket. First, you’ll need to gather up your supplies. Which in this case…
Wily Wordplay- On Nature
With everything going on in the world, I thought it might be the appropriate time to take a step back and reconnect with nature. And, since you and I both seemed to be attached to our computers at the moment, I’ve come up with my favorite ten quotes about nature to give us at least a minor respite. Enjoy! 1.“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson 2.“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden 3.Look…
It’s The Economy Stupid- Quantitative Easing
Do you ever wish you could just create money out of thin air? Snap your fingers and buy that new car cash? Well, then you should be a central bank because thanks to a relatively new (this century) financial technique known as Quantitative Easing the can do just that. Money out of thin air you say? How does that work? Well, loyal reader, I’m going to tell you. But like any good writer, I’m going to build up your anticipation first by stalling with an exposition dump. You see the purpose of Quantitative Easing is to stimulate economic growth. And…
Reference Humor: South Park Season 10 Episode 8 “Make Love, Not Warcraft”
Welcome back to Reference Humor. Yesterday, I was privileged to attend the wedding of two dear friends who just happen to work at Blizzard Entertainment. I thought what better way to celebrate that union than by breaking down South Park’s infamous World of Warcraft episode. Obviously, I’m at a hotel lobby drinking mimosas right now to get rid of a raging hangover and I wrote this ahead of time, but for you, dear reader, its like I’m with you right now! As always bold numbers represent the time at which the reference happened and Spoilers abound for a wide variety…
On The Shelf- The Road
Sometimes our title On the Shelf means a book that’s been out a while that I’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to it yet and sometimes the books we look at have literally been on my shelf for years. The Road is a novel that falls into the latter category. Cormack McCarthy’s novel about a father and son trying to survive as they journey across a post-apocalyptic America is a poetic meditation on the things that drive us forward in life. What is the point of living when every day is a struggle to survive? When there…
World Building 101- Plant and Animal Life
Hello and welcome faithful reader! Thanks for taking the precious moments out of your busy schedule watching cat videos and spending a little time with me. Speaking of cats, which we totally just were and this isn’t a forced segue at all, we’ve come far enough in your world building journey its time to start peppering your imaginary world with plants and animals. Now while I know my usual advice is to be thorough and think out everything about your world beforehand I’m not recommending that for this particular phase of world building. Scientists estimate that their exist a roughly…
Subtitle Subversives-Intouchables
It is a fact of life that sometimes we set our expectations a little too high and, as a result, end up disappointed with something we might have been satisfied with if we’d gone in with no expectations at all. I have been waiting to watch this month’s entry of Subtitle Subversives for a while and was well aware of the numerous awards and top list considerations it had garnered. But while I don’t take the Subversive part of Subtitle Subversive too seriously, it is usually my goal to showcase movies here that set themselves apart from the formulaic Hollywood…
Mind Blown-The Origins of Life
Science is all about answering the big questions, and they don’t make questions any bigger than “Where does life come from?”. In this edition of Mind Blown will discuss some of the more far out Scientific theories concerning the origins of life on Earth. Let’s start by getting the more mundane theories out of the way first. Lightning zapping some primordial goo and creating amino acids. I mean its cool but its hardly brain bending. Organic compounds muddled around in hydro-thermal vents? Boring. Panspermia? The theory that life came to Earth via a piece of space rock? Bingo. That’s what…