really fascinating exercise

Today I needed a "filler" assignment to give the kids in my class. We were finishing up a couple of tests and projects; everyone was at various stages of completion, and the room had to be quiet without a lot of kids up and moving around. I also didn't want to assign something that I would have to grade and enter into the computer (especially since I knew that some of the students wouldn't even get to this assignment, because they had too much other stuff to finish, and since several kids were absent.)

A couple of weeks ago, my brilliant friend from across the hall had given me a worksheet to use for just such a purpose. Basically, it is a blank piece of paper, landscape format, with space for name and date and the following instruction: In the space below, draw the most accurate world map that you can (include labels).

The results were really interesting -- so much so that I brought the papers home to show my mom, and then we had the boyz draw their own world maps. A few minutes ago, she and my dad knocked on the door: he wanted to turn his map in, too.

Try it and see how you do. Don't cheat -- just take a blank piece of paper and draw from memory. What comes easily? What do you forget?

go here now!

I've got a couple of new posts in the works, and plans to get them up this weekend. In the meantime, click this link and follow the directions. Seriously. Do it now! Super important, and she says it better than I could. I knew this whole new toy law thing was freaky (or, as we say around here, pweaky*) but this aspect of it really has me pweaked out.

*Just like we still say Whole Poods, yip dyoss (that's lip gloss for you folks who didn't know Sebastian at two) and soooornbread (corn bread, with a drawn out long o from the time that Dante tried to correct my mispronunciation when really I was just imitating his mispronunciation: "It's not sornbread, mom, it's sooooooornbread!") even though it's been years since my kids couldn't pronounce those words