03.18.07
Posted in Books at 12:18 pm by Meg
Just bringing this up in case it slipped off anyone radar.
We’ve taken advantage of this for years and have never been asked for ID - but that may just be an Indiana thing. Anyway, the sale is good for everything in the store without rationalizing why it has an ‘educational’ component. Enjoy!
Borders, Borders Express, and Waldenbooks stores nationwide will honor educators for their commitment to spreading knowledge and encouraging lifelong learning during our Educator Savings Week, Thursday, March 22 - Tuesday, March 27.
We understand the needs of homeschoolers and the challenges often faced trying to obtain appropriate materials. To help educators fill their classrooms with the tools they need, during this week, educators enjoy a 25% discount on books, CDs, DVDs, gifts & stationary, cafe and more.*
We welcome current and retired educators, librarians, principals, homeschoolers, professors, religious teachers, and other teachers to enjoy these six days of savings. Simply bring your current Classroom Discount Card, or state issued accreditation.
Don’t miss our Special Reception of food, fun, and prizes, Friday, March 23 from 4:00 - 8:00 PM at Borders stores nationwide. While you’re in store, enter to win Seattle’s Best Coffee for a
year!** Every store will have a winner!
Additional event information can be found at http://www.bordersstores.com/educator. Please feel free to share this information with the educators in your life, and post it on your blog!
We look forward to welcoming you to our stores on March 22 - 27. To locate a store near you, please click on “Store Locator” on http://www.bordersstores.com/ , or call toll free 888.81BOOKS.
During Educator Savings Week March 22-27, current and retired Educators save 25% on books, CDs, DVDs, and cafe!! Please join us for our Special Reception, Friday, March 23 4:00-8:00 PM and enter to win Seattle’s Best Coffee for a year!
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03.14.07
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 11:38 am by Meg
While one child goes back off to bed, sick, and I wait for the other to be ready to do his physics lab, I thought I’d touch on something else from Mimsy.
Everyone probably recognizes this toddler toy these days. I was totally fixated on it when I first saw it (Hubby probably couldn’t figure out why I spent so much time playing with it.) You see, the kids in Mimsy play with some toy that slides beads along wires until they disappear.
And yes, I didn’t think that these beads would disappear, but it seemed like the closest thing that we could make. And since it touched on the whole ‘point’ of the story, I was quite taken with it.
And to give you an idea of how much the story had ’stuck’ with me, I didn’t see this toy (or at least notice it) until Boy was born; about 15 years after I had read the story!
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03.11.07
Posted in Scholarships, Contests, Reading programs and the like at 10:39 am by Meg
I don’t know where to find out if you have a ‘local’ contest that will award cash prizes, but this looks like it could be fun to play with.
The United States Military Academy is pleased to offer the third annual West Point Bridge Design Contest. The purpose of the contest is to provide middle school and high school students with a realistic, engaging introduction to engineering. We provide this contest as a service to education–and as a tribute to the Academy’s two hundred years of service to the United States of America.
The contest will provide you with an opportunity to:
- Learn about engineering through a realistic, hands-on problem-solving experience.
- Learn about the engineering design process–the application of math, science, and technology to create devices and systems that meet human needs.
- Learn about truss bridges and how they work.
- Learn how engineers use the computer as a problem-solving tool.
We also hope you will have some fun pitting your problem-solving skills against those of other virtual bridge designers around the globe.
To enter the 2007 West Point Bridge Design Contest:
- Form a team, consisting of either one or two members.
- Download and install the West Point Bridge Designer 2007 software.
- Use the West Point Bridge Designer 2007 to design a bridge. Save your design as a bridge design file.
- Register for the contest. If you are participating in a local contest, be sure to enter your Local Contest Code during registration.
- Log in to your Team Home Page and upload your bridge design file for judging. You will receive immediate feedback about your current standing in the contest. For more information about how designs are judged, please see the Official Rules.
- Use the West Point Bridge Designer 2007 to improve your design.
- Log in to this website and submit your improved design. You may submit as many designs as you like; however, only your team’s best design will be included in the contest standings.
When you submit your design to the contest website, you will receive instant feedback on your team’s standing, with respect to all other teams that have submitted designs from your contest zone. If your score is in the current top 30 for your zone, your team name and school will be posted on our contest scoreboard.
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03.10.07
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 5:56 pm by Meg
It has been an interesting week of reflection and nostalgia.
It started with going to see the movie Wild Hogs - First off it takes place in Madrid, NM - a place that we visited a few times - and also has scenes that were filmed on Rt. 66 where it goes through Albuquerque (even though they claimed to be in Ohio). It was especially funny seeing the New Mexico Bank sign in the background of one scene where they get ready to leave ‘Ohio’ for the West Coast.
The second thing from the movie was seeing the trailer for Mimzy. I am soooo interested in seeing this movie. It is based on a short story that I read about 30 years ago by Henry Kuttner. The story, Mimsy were the Borogoves, was one of my favorite stories for YEARS. I had only read it twice in anthologies, but it seemed so amazing and the story stayed with me for years. Based on what I saw in the trailer, I’m guessing that they have modified the story (oh well) a lot, but I’m still looking forward to seeing it.
For anyone interested in reading the orginal story - I found a newly published collection of Kuttner’s short stories in Barnes and Noble this week. the last mimzy has about 20 of his short stories. I’ve reread Mimsy already, but I don’t know if I’ll recognize any of the other stories. I’m also having the kids read the story before we see the film. I’m hoping the story will work for them, but at least if the film is a dud, they might see why I’m looking forward to it.
Midweek was a fun night for just Hubby and I. We left the kids at home and went off to Indy to see The Who in concert. Their warm up band was short and poor, but the Who came on after a fairly short break and were amazing. It’s hard to believe it was 60 plus year old men up there. They play for over 2 hours and touched on a lot of old favorites as well as some of their new stuff. I especially loved all the stuff from Tommy that they did. That movie was what got me hooked on them in junior high. For whatever reason, I found a message in it that appealed to my teenage angst. Anyway, Townsend didn’t smash any guitars, but his playing was amazing.
And we ended the week going on a fieldtrip with our homeschool group to Springfield, IL. We visited the new Lincoln Museum
and then the Dana House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). The museum was well worth the trip, though I thought it was a little over strict in what you could and couldn’t do.
It was interesting taking the kids to Springfield. My mom’s family was from there and, in fact, family stories has the Withey Carriage Works (I think that was the name) making Lincoln’s carrages.
After our tours we left the group and went and had dinner with my cousin (think Norman Bates) and had a pleasant visit before heading home. Yeah, he looks like Bates, has never been married, and used to be a night clerk at a hotel - but he is nice. He did bring up the carriage story while we were talking and said that all the research he’s done has not proved that it was true. There’s a quote from Lincoln referring to the company in regards to storm damage, so he at least knew of them, but no remaining receipts showing a sale to him.
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03.01.07
Posted in Books at 8:01 am by Meg
What does it sound like to you?
What if you were a kid, hearing it for the first time?
What if it was in a book, your child was reading?
What if that book was a Newbery Medal winner, would you let them read it?
What if you were a librarian, would you stock the book for other people’s kids to read?
According to an article in last weekend’s NYT, (sorry you’ll need to register to get the full article) that’s exactly the decision that some librarians are making.
Excuse me! Aren’t the Newbery’s choosen by librarians?
I haven’t read the book (though I’m probably going to go check it out now), but no one seems to be saying that the story is something that wouldn’t be appropriate for kids to read, just that using the ‘correct’ term for a part of the body shouldn’t be in it.
Sorry, I think they’re out of line.
Anyway, here’s the author’s response (BTW, she’s a librarian!!)
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