Your Classroom Atmosphere

CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE

MAKING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION- DOES YOUR CLASSROOM ‘REEK’ OF SCIENCE?

By Ida Swenson

   Everyone knows that first impressions do count.  In the science classroom, first, middle and last impressions count.   What impression does your classroom create?  Does it show that students spend time there and do worthwhile things?   Does it look like a place where science happens?  Do you look like a scientist or at least someone who enjoys science?   Do living things have a place or is your classroom sterile?   The atmosphere is something you breathe.  Can a student breathe science in your room? 

          The first thing most students notice in the classroom is the teacher.  Do you look scientific?   I have worn a lab coat for years.   (Not the same one - and I do take it home frequently to wash it.)   You can get them from a uniform shop or order them.  I embroider my name on the pocket in "Roy G Biv" colors.  Some people think I wear the coat because I'm scientific.   The truth is that I need the pockets and the labcoat saves my other clothes from stains, keeps me warm when the heat goes down and of course supplies pockets.       It is also great fun to dress for the subject matter.  T-shirts that fit your subject matter are always in style.  Ties, skirts, blouses, earrings,--and whatever else fits the topic-- can be found everywhere from T.J. Maxx to K-mart if you keep your eyes open.   If you sew and can find appropriate fabric, use it to create your own Ms. Frizzle aura in the classroom.   Even if you don't sew, a simple, elastic waist skirt can be made with one seam, a 'tunnel' for the elastic, and a hem.  A T-shirt over the top, or a belt will cover the waist; my dinosaur skirt fits sizes 6 to 20.  One of the highlights of my year was when a student excitedly told his Mom at open house, "You should see what she wears!  You can tell what we're studying just by looking at her."   And I knew I had created a monster when a student looked at me in May and asked, "What does what you're wearing have to do with science?"   Do be prepared to be referred to as "The Friz". 

 Of course, the most important thing to wear is a smile.  Enthusiasm for the subject is crucial- if science doesn't excite you, how can it excite the students?   The book, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, discusses the importance of positive emotions in enhancing learning and the stifling effect of fear, anger and boredom on learning.  If a student feels threatened by you or another student, fear will shut down his/her mind.  Anger and depression slow learning as well.  If a student is laughing, learning is greater – and the studies show it!  (See the handout on “Fun and Games”.)  Of course, you need to be sure the laughs are appropriate to the learning.  (For more on the role of emotions and learning, start with http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/connect_emotions.php by Candy Lawson, Ph.D.)

           I find it amazing to go into a life science classroom and find the only living things are people.  Countless times during the year I refer to the plants and animals in my room as examples.  They provide a common experiential base for my students.  EVERY science classroom should have a pond.  Collect water, mud, tadpoles and algae from a pond - preferably a nutrient rich cow pond.  Do this as early in the fall as possible.  Any container of at least five gallons will hold your 'goo'.  Keep it near a window, but don't let it get too warm.  (Avoid heat registers.)  Don't worry about an air pump unless you have lots of animals.  It may smell some at first, but have patience - or use the pump for a little bit.  The water will look dirty - that's OK.   It is not 'dirt', it is organisms that will come alive for the students when you use the microscopes.    Do scrape the sides of the tank occasionally to clean off the living diatoms and other algae.  Watch out for the snail eggs!  If your plant population dwindles, add Elodea or Anacharis from another pond or pet store.  (Be sure to ask for native plants, not ‘alien’ exotics.)  I find that they grow better in my pond tank than they ever did in the tropical fish tanks.  If you collect river water, use a high powered pump and air stone to maintain the high oxygen level required by stream organisms.  Your pond should be in balance after a couple weeks, and you won't have to worry about a pump or even feeding the animals.     The main 'problem' I have with the ponds is the constant fascination they hold for the students, and the time we spend together looking at some new thing we never realized was in the water.    If you are fortunate, you will find diving beetles, tadpoles (probably either for bull frogs or green frogs), midge larvae, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, fairy shrimp, daphnia, copepods, leeches (they are very shy and only show themselves in the spring when it is time to mate), planaria, minnows (I have one that is three years old), etc.  If you like, add some fish food or frozen or fresh spinach (not canned - - too much salt) a couple times during the year.   Be sure the students know you don't have to feed the animals if the pond is in balance, because the producers are making enough food and oxygen for the animals to survive.   The pond should NOT be cleaned, except to occasionally scrape the sides of the tank so light can get in and we can observe the life.  The pond can stay in the classroom all summer without any feeding, machinery, etc.  Organisms I can use in microscope and taxonomy labs are readily available, and many kinds of life cycles can be observed, not just that of guppies.   And it is lots of fun in late summer to 'muck' around collecting pond organisms for your pond.

           Plants are a wonderful addition to the classroom.  Turn your leaky aquariums into terrariums.  Use many kinds of plants, such as cacti.  Spider plants, Schefflera and others will actually help clean the air.   Try to include plants that show asexual reproduction such as budding cacti, spider plants, aloe, etc.  Let the students see you starting stem or leaf cuttings. 

           But you say plants are messy.  Why not put those dead leaves, pieces of stems, and worn out flowers in a compost pile?  You can have the students add their apple cores, bread rinds and rejected celery sticks.  Just take a five gallon bucket, or large dishpan, add leaf litter or a shovel of already started compost, a few red worms if available and start adding organic materials.  Shredded paper will help it to retain moisture.  Stir it frequently or transfer to another container to add oxygen and thus avoid odors.  Keep it moist, but never wet (or you will have an odor).  Avoid broccoli, onions, cauliflower and cabbage as they will also cause aromas you will want to live without.   You will be amazed at the LACK of smell when you maintain it properly.   Of course, you will want to use the compost on all those plants you have.  You will also have available instant examples of earthworms, round worms, mites, millipedes, sowbugs, etc., if you start with lots of leaf litter.  Use it as the best example of nature's constant recycling.  (Whatever you do, DON”T add animal wastes.  I shut down several classrooms with that mistake.)

           Kids love warm-blooded animals.  I try to avoid them in my classroom because many students are allergic to fur or feathers.  If you have them anyway, have the students wash their hands thoroughly after handling them to avoid making other students ill.  If a student is bitten, call your health department to get their instructions.  Be sure they are treated humanely.

          My favorite animals are reptiles, amphibians and insects.   I keep anoles when possible.  They are cheap and afford interesting hypotheses by the students as to why they change colors.  Most reptiles must have a 'heat rock' for proper digestion.   To feed them cheaply, I keep mealworms.  The mealworms require only chicken feed or bran and occasional apple or potato peelings.  They provide an excellent example of incomplete metamorphosis and sometimes of the population control nature will undertake on its own.   I also have found a pet store that occasionally will trade an anole lizard for a few hundred worms.  I always have tadpoles which are taken back to their original pond as soon as possible after they 'frog out'.  I have had a yellow-spotted salamander and a yellow-spotted newt that I raised from tadpoles.  They ate mealworms and earthworms - in fact they survived long periods in a moist terrarium full of leaf litter with no attention other than adding water.  An apple core attracted fruit flies and other insects for them.  If you can get crickets started growing in your room, they also will provide food for your cold-blooded vertebrates.  I have not had much luck, but my pet store owner will eagerly trade with me if I can get them going.  And how about some hissing cockroaches?  They can be kept in a jar or old aquarium with only a ring of vaseline around the top two inches of the glass.  They can also be the subject of experiments on food preferences, habitat preference, etc.  I kept tropical fish for several years, but had to watch carefully for under feeding, over feeding, chemical levels, heat levels, etc., etc.   The tank had to be cleaned out, the fish had to be purchased and then disposed of for the summer.   It was a royal pain in the neck.  Once I started keeping a pond, I rapidly discontinued the tropical fish tank.  

          Many articles have been written about the physical setting in the classroom.  Bulletin board ideas abound in Science Scope, Science for Children, on the internet and trade books.  A subscription or two to Ranger Rick, National Geographic or your state conservation magazine will furnish display ideas.   Show student work.  Is there a place for recognizing outstanding students or team sheets?   Are there cartoons that have to do with your current topic?   Hang posters from the ceiling.   If you have a dropped ceiling with grids showing, use bent paper clips and a hole punch to hang posters next to the ceiling.   Change the posters frequently to reflect the current unit, so even the day dreamers will be learning about science.   A riddler poster can have puzzlers, knock-knock jokes, riddles or other funny quips related to the topic.   A sheet of laminated colored paper that holds interesting things will become a center of attention before and after class.   I am very fortunate  to have a magnetic blackboard, but you can purchase magnetic 'whiteboard' by the roll.   I have even seen magnetic paint advertised, and am thinking about purchasing some for one of the walls in my room.   I use magnets to hold up team sheets, arrows that alert students to what they need to get ready for class, announcements, posters, and game cards to arrange into groups when we study protists and invertebrates.   Cupboard doors can become bulletin boards as well as using brown paper hung by the bent paper clip method.  The advantage to the brown paper is being able to roll it up for next year. 

          What does your classroom sound like?  Are there occasional animal noises?  Do songs about the content make an occasional ‘appearance’?  Is there appropriate background music and noises when you are doing some labs?  Is there laughter to open the mind to new ideas?  Is there a low hum of ideas being shared during labs and group work?    Do your students feel comfortable asking you questions because you will treat their inquiries with respect and occasional good humor?  Do they know that disrespect from you or anyone else in the room is forbidden?  The very quiet classroom is rarely the best classroom atmosphere.

          A set of encyclopedias or the internet can furnish instant answers to questions that come up.  Sometimes a dictionary even helps.  It is good for students to see that you do not know everything, but you do know where to go to try to find the answers.  It is also good for students to understand that scientists do not HAVE all the answers, that there are still mysteries left for them to solve.  A shelf of old National Geographic, Ranger Rick, and Popular Science magazines will provide reading and reference materials for bored study hall students, reports, and borrowing for pleasure reading.  My librarian offered me references and magazines that were about to be discarded.   I also made an appeal for magazines and solicitation calendars to parents each year, as we did a couple projects that necessitate cutting out pictures.  

           Desks are made to be moved into groups for teamwork.  Glassed cupboards should contain the most interesting specimens you can find.  A table, desk, or spot on your lab table can have interesting items with accompanying questions to make the students think.   A carrel can become a science quiz station for students who have completed their work, or for extra credit during a study hall.  Computers should have word processing capability, science games, and a modem to connect your classroom to scientists elsewhere.        

           What is the impression that one gets when they first walk into your classroom?   Is it a place of discovery of real organisms and experiences?   Take inventory.  Maybe your classroom occasionally emanates strange odors.  That is the atmosphere of science.  The eyes, the ears - and the nose - should be able to soak in an atmosphere that shouts, "Science is happening here!"    A large bracket fungus is in the front of my room with a sign that proclaims "The Fungus Rises First In Room 400."   It is a take-off on our school motto, "The Sun Rises First Over East Middle School."   Sure, my room is a mess and sometimes it smells bad, but it's a mess that provides many good experiences and hopefully lots of learning, for all the students who enter it.  

   Ida Swenson lives in Palmyra, Virginia.  She is retired from Binghamton City School District in Binghamton, New York.  You email her at idathefriz@gmail.com.

 

         

Energy Pyramid Simulation

ENERGY PYRAMID SIMULATION

By Ida Swenson

 INTRODUCTION:

  One of the most difficult concepts for students to grasp is the energy pyramid.  Why is a triangle used?  Where does the energy go?  This simulation will help them understand what is happening and gets them out of their seats and involved in their learning.  It assists the learning of tactile/kinesthetic and spatial-visual learners.  If you add some sort of rhythmic music in the background as students are coming forward to take out the ‘energies’, it will help your musical learners.

PROCEDURE FOR OVER TEN STUDENTS:

MATERIALS NEEDED: large writing surface (blackboard) and chalk, corn starch packing peanuts, two gallon clear Ziploc bag, dishpan filled with water

 3x5 cards with ONE EACH of  the following: (Color coding can be useful.)

Sun, grasshopper, grass, frog, snake, hawk

Grass uses 2 ‘energies’ for metabolism

Grass uses 2 ‘energies’ for growth

Grass uses 3 ‘energies’ for reproduction

Grass uses 1 ‘energy’ for moving materials within itself

Grasshopper uses 3 ‘energies’ for metabolism

Grasshopper uses 3 energies for reproduction

Grasshopper uses 3 energies for growth

Grasshopper uses 5 energies to move around and get food

            Frog uses 4 ‘energies’ for metabolism

            Frog uses 5 ‘energies’ for reproduction

            Frog uses 4 ‘energies’ for growth

            Frog uses 11 ‘energies’ to move around and get food

            Snake uses 5 energies for metabolism

            Snake uses 6 ‘energies’ for reproduction

            Snake uses 4 ‘energies’ for growth

            Snake uses 6 ‘energies’ for moving around

            Snake uses 2 energies to molt

            Hawk uses 10 energies for metabolism    Why?

            Hawk uses 6 energies for growth

Hawk uses 20 energies for reproduction: making a nest, hatching the eggs, finding food for young

            Hawk uses 10 ‘energies’ for movement and getting food

            WHAT TO DO:  Fill Ziploc bag with peanuts.  Draw the energy pyramid on the blackboard and make the grass à grasshopper à frog à snake à hawk food chain.  Show where it fits in the pyramid.  Why is it a pyramid?  Hand out the cards, giving more than one card to some students so all are participating.  (Be sure your more distractible students get a hawk card to help them stay on task.   If you have a small class or a very short time, you may want to eliminate the snake from the food chain.)   What is the source of all the energy?  Call the sun to the front of the room.  Which organism can change the sun’s energy into food energy?  Call the grass up.  Will the grass get all the sun’s energy? (No, some goes to outer space, some is reflected, some warms us up and gives light.)  Ask for the each of the grass cards to come forward and take out their ‘energies’ and put them into the dishpan of water (representing heat in the atmosphere).  After each food chain member has used up their ‘energies’ for growth, metabolism, reproduction, and movement show how the level of energies has diminished by holding the bag up by one corner to give the triangular effect. 

 

PROCEDURE FOR TEN OR FEWER STUDENTS:

MATERIALS NEEDED: large writing surface (blackboard) and chalk, corn starch packing peanuts, two gallon clear Ziploc bag, dishpan filled with water, masking tape/labels/or over-the-head placards saying: sun, grass, grasshopper, frog, snake, metabolism, reproduction, circulation and movement.

WHAT TO DO:  Follow the procedure for the large group of students, except instead of handing out the cards, have each student take a label (Sun can have two since ‘his’ part is small.)  The bag of ‘energies’ will be passed from one member of the food chain to another, and the ‘metabolism’, ‘reproduction’, ‘movement and circulation’, and ‘growth’ people will come up and take their energies from each member of the food chain. 

 

CONCLUSIONS FOR ALL STUDENTS:

   After all of the cards (or food chain members) have been used up, discuss with the students the reason why a pyramid shape is most appropriate.  Should it be a narrow, tall triangle, or a long, flat triangle to be most accurate?  Give the ‘rule of thumb’ that it takes ten times as many organisms at each level to support the level above.  (Actually it takes many more.)   Where did the energy go?  Has it been lost? (A good chance to remind them of the law of conservation of energy.)   Show them the dishpan.  Where did the energy go?  Are the packing peanuts still there?  They have just changed form, just as the food energy used by the organism has been changed into kinetic energy and then to heat.

 

ELABORATIONS:  This is a good way to talk about many things, for example the high metabolism energy needs of warm-blooded animals.  It is also a good way to reinforce the importance of food in maintaining metabolism and circulation even in organisms which stay in one place.  The higher energy needs involved in caring for young is very evident.  If you have stickers you can use for each animal in the food chain, modify the activity to make it appropriate for the stickers. 

Activities For Life Science Presentation

Hmmmm.  How to share some of my favorite classroom activities??

AHA!!  I have a blog!!  I can attach them to the blog, then the teachers I am presenting to on Monday can open the documents and get them from my blog site!!  And of course they will carefully preserve my rights in terms of copyright to those documents, but they can use adapt them for use in their classrooms.   And it's not like I 've written the book I promised to write in my retirement!  

Ooops. . .the blog won't let me attach them!!

Hmmm.   How else can I share them with others?   I know!   I will put them on google docs and tell folks to contact me so I can give them access to those private google documents.  And at least I can then get some feedback. . . and at least a thank you if not a check!!!

So, my dear colleagues and fellow life science educators, if you would like access to some of my favorite activities, do email me at idathefriz@gmail.com.   Please do not put my name on any spam lists.   And all of you publishers who can't wait to make a ton of money off of them, please contact me as well.

Please feel free to use my activities, adapt them for your classroom use, etc, but please if you decide to make money publishing them (hysterical laughter follows here!), send me the appropriate checks.

Onward and upward!!!

"This world is not my home. . . "

   Must be my day to blog.   It sure is good to be home after another week in NC.  I love to be with the kids. . Paul and Kaylene as well as the boys. .. but it's good to be back.

   Speaking of home, it occurred to me today that I really need to write about what you should know when I die.  We have been having a wonderful Sunday school class on death and dying, and one of the recurring themes is hope. .. and how hopelessness is one of the most painful things endured by hospice patients.  And I want to be sure you know where my very CERTAIN hope is.

     I have been planning my funeral for a long time (and the plan is written down in my Bible as well as in a document on my computer in case you need to find it).   I really can't wait to go.   I will see Grandma Beetham and dance with her and Grandpa.  I know Grandpa Henderson will be there, and my Mom.  Of course Laura and Karin will be waiting with open arms.  And most wonderful of all, Jesus will enfold me with the greatest love of all.   I have no fear of passing into any and all of their arms.    And I want my funeral to reflect the joy that I will be having while others are grieving.  

   Oh, I know, there will be those who find my absence very sad, and will miss me.  But I want them to know that I will be much happier to be gone.  My prayer is that I will have supplied them well with love, and they will know that I care very much about them and they will remember me that way.    And I think of my Mom and Grandma before they died and how they wished to leave here and be home with the Lord.    As much as I miss them, I wouldn't wish them back from that.    And I think of Laura and all the blessings she left behind her and the good memories and joy she filled our lives with.   I hope my life will be as joyful and a blessing to others.

   So. .. . please understand why my funeral will have joyful songs of heaven, and know that I will be singing "
Agnus Dei" with you. .. but from the throne of Jesus.     And do not weep for me.   If you must weep for yourself, feel free.  I am so sorry I can't hug you and dry your tears.   But I will be much happier in heaven!!

One is silver and the other gold

   I've been thinking a lot lately about the old Girl Scout song. .. "Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold."   And this weekend has just reinforced it!!  

   I got a phone call a couple weeks ago from an old High School buddy.  Pam and I went to different schools, but did a lot together through church and have always stayed in touch.   For a lark, a number of years back, we went back to our old church camp town. . .but this time we hit the wineries close by.  And I took her to NYC for her first time. . . it was a ton of fun seeing her reaction to the drivers, the skaters, the buildings, and the rapid pace.    She remarried recently and I've never met her new hubby and they will be in DC on business once a month for the foreseeable future.   I am thrilled and really looking forward to it as we always have a ton of fun together.

   Today, my best friend in HS called me.  She had spent the weekend in our old home town (I couldn't be there due to other commitments) and was giving me the report on her way home.  We sure had a lot to catch up on.  She'll always be "Lenke" to me, and I had a pretty good guess who was on the line when she greeted me with "Ida Louuuuuu".

   And yesterday I had a good chat with my dear friend from Greene now in Tennessee.   To say that Karen and I are close. . .well, in Sunday School class today we were talking about death and dying and the importance for being there when someone passes.   And I thought of her constant prayers and support through all of Laura's illness.   I don't remember her being with us in the ICU waiting room. . . but she was.  In fact I don't remember much of that waiting room at all except the misery.    We were talking a couple years later after I was there with another friend, and I mentioned that I didn't remember it had an attached bathroom. . that's when she reminded me she had been there most of the time.  I suppose it will be like that when we meet Jesus in heaven.  We'll say, "Lord, did you know. . ." and He'll say, "I know. . I was there all the time.

   And then there are the new friends.   I was killing time in the fabric store waiting for a phone decision on curtain fabric for Paul and Kaylene.  "Are you a quilter?" the sweet young thing asked as I browsed the quality cottons.  
   "Occasionally.  Why?"
   "I'm getting ready to make my first quilt and I need 10 fabrics.   Can you help me?"   And a delightful half hour ensued with us cruising the aisles together, and my tutorial on quilting terms, color choices, print sizes, etc.   And as God would have it, it turned out she is an environmental studies person with an interest in volunteering on some of the same things I do.   I sure hope Hannah uses the email address I gave her to get back to me and share the quilt top when she has it done.  And for sure, I hope to see her at a Stream Watch or Master Naturalist function as of course, I gave her all the contact info for those programs, too.

   Yep - - one is silver and the other gold.  It's getting to the point that most of my "old" friends are silver now. . . but they are all treasure to me.    I'm one of the only people I know who can call a wrong number and talk for half an hour.    They are all dear.   What a blessing!!!

   Thank you for being my friend.

Camp Fun - May 2012

The squirrel in the picture was NOT on the path to the boy's bathroom when we arrived at camp.  (I had been up that path personally!!).   

Somehow he must have fallen out of the tree. . much to his demise. . . and the kids were having a fit.   Needless to say, he could not be left there, so I went over and picked him up.  The butterfly net just happened to be in my hand.  We all thought it made a great picture!   Just another dull day at Camp Albemarle!

PHEW!! What a month!! Is it over yet?

Have you been looking forward to 'retirement'??  Plans to put your feet up??  Try this on for size. . .

June 1  Teaching Bible class.  (And I love that God has called me to it.)
June 2  Table at the annual "Clean the Bay Day". . and oh, by the way, help clean up a homeless shelter we found as well.  Then off to BBQ with good friends and see Steve Martin at the Pavilion. . . GREAT FUN!
June 3  Church. . . and family fun
June 3-4   At Tangier Island learning about the Chesapeake Bay, crabbing, etc
June 6   Unpack.  Dentist to FINALLY get missing crown fixed.   oh, oh. . needs extra work!
June 7   Dentist in AM, delightful spring quilter's luncheon and then to friends for wonderful dinner
June 8  Teaching Bible Class. . . last one for the summer!  And the original Paul Swenson arrives for the weekend of golf with John they look forward to all year.
June 9  Table and help at Lake M fishing day for little kids.  Then play with my sister-in-law who came over for the golf tournament dinner
June 10   Nurse wounded golfers in AM before church, then play with Janet and Dick after. . . but WAIT!  Keys locked in their car, shuttling swimmers, and finally home just in time to go to Newcomers' picnic because I have a guest!!
June 11  Podiatrist appointment and Bible study. . .but I need this day to get ready for the next one!!
June 12   Teach workshop I've never done before on Project Wild's new HS/MS curriculum.   Then go to Circle salad supper.
June 13  Teach at a watershed camp in Scottsville. . .nice kids!   Pack to go to Greensboro.
June 14-15  Delightful two days with grandsons. . and their Mom and Dad. . .swimming in motel pool, playing, but wait. .. . Grandpa is sick and can't play while Grandma gives Mom and Dad some time off.
June 16  Decorate room for VBS.  Happy Birthday, Kaylene
June 17  Happy Father's Day.  Planning for VBS. . . like crazy since I'm doing extras!
June 18  VBS begins. . .I teach fifth grade class with three fabulous helpers, but also doing the opening assembly stunts as 'Anaconda Ida'.   Setting up plans for subs  (Takes three to replace me!)
June 19   Go to Richmond to testify against our outrageous water company!!   Making connections to start a state wide campaign to control them.
June 20  Back to VBS.   Board of Directors (LMOA) in evening
June 21  V BS
June 22  VBS  Gotta clean up from it!    And then a party at 4 PM.   And then another at 6 PM and dinner out
June 23   Miss the BBQ festival in our county so I can table at the mussel festival  (no eating. . just saving them!) Figure it would be nice to have groceries in house, then rush home to run to sister-in-law's for birthday cake for Uncle Paul and Aunt Janet, rook with all John's sibs and Mom, then fabulous production of 1776 - the musical-  at UVA.   Sitting two rows behind President Sullivan (and if you have followed UVA news, you know that's a big deal!)
June 24  Do reading of scripture in today's Church service. . .Romans 8:18-30.   Gives me great hope!!  Great fun back at sister-in-laws' trying to save the world from 'Pandemic'. . .this game is played at least one-three times a day by John and I.   Just think what I could get done if we didn't have to play so much!!

And that gets me to today. . . Hair at 11, then planning meeting in streams for one class next year in our Master Naturalist course.    But should be a fun day.   Got the copperhead started toward preservation this AM.  (Claimed him/her on Sat. He was killed on the path we were using to the river.)   Shhh.  Only two evening things this week, and three day time things.   But Saturday closes the month with big board of directors' doings at the annual meeting!!    I hope to reclaim my bedroom and office and batten the hatches for kids coming on July 4.

Looking at all of this causes me to reflect on my life.  There are very great riches in all of this.   And not nearly enough time for God.   Considering how greatly He has blessed John and I, I need to carve out more time for Him.   And maybe carve is the wrong word.   It implies some kind of cutting into my life, when the rest of my life should be an extension of Him!  May God make my life and extension of Himself.