Sidewalk Chalk = Teacher's Helper

There were four teens at the summer program today. After doing the worksheet -- 16 problems involving "How much money did you save on #w of x item if it's regularly $y and it's on sale for $z? -- as a group, the general consensus was that none of us felt like sitting at a desk and doing more math.

Unfortunately, the teens still needed to work on their addition/subtraction with money; most of them are lacking that skill, and it's needed for their work in the LC Store.

A suggested that we go outside for a while. I took one look at the pouring rain, and shooed everyone out to the patio connected to the building. R drew the short straw, and got sent back in to dig some chalk out of the sports closet.

We spent the next half an hour doing "Math Relays." I put them into groups of two, facing away from me at the other end of the patio, and drew two sets of math problems on the floor (i.e. $1.50 + $.75), gave them chalk, and had them tag-team the problems.

It was great, and fun, and being outside meant I could shout "3 ... 2... 1... Math!" and not feel like a complete dork :-D. Once the rain stopped, we extended the running part of the relay to the length of the sidewalk ^-^

By the time we ran out of room to write (and chalk), the teens were more willing to come indoors and do store inventory, which was a great perk!

Video Post

You knowit's been a long week when: having an hour to surf youtube clips feels like a special vacation.

Everyone will now be subjected to John Barrowman clips, because he is my new favorite famous-person.

First, him singing Moon River. 'Cause it makes me cry.





Singing Marry Me A Little. 'Cause it's a great song.

On The Weakest Link. 'Cause ... AWESOME.




And, finally, a scene from De-Lovely. 'Cause it has a Kevin Kline.

Pirate Camp

Work at FC is going nicely so far. Remember how I was bemoaning the fact that no teens showed up the first day? Yeah, there were 10 last Friday. Granted, there are only three today, but still. 10!

They should all be done with their interviews this week, at which point we're moving on to how to write checks/balance a checkbook/use credit cards.

Also, as part of the "business and sales" theme, the teens opened a store at the Learning Center last Monday, selling soda, bottled water, candy, and chips (yeah, I know; the boss has me trying to get them to sell some healthier things over the next few weeks). Even with just being open 25 minutes during lunch and 10 minutes after the program, they brought in $180 last week! The vote on Friday was to spend 60% on new stock and put 40% into a savings account.

I'm very excited to see how much they're able to make with it this summer. The thought at the moment is that the money is going towards a party for them at the end of the program.


On a side note, in keeping with our pirate theme we have "pirate camp" two days a week. I ran the art program a while back -- the kids got to design their own pirate flags, and then explain why they chose their design. There are a bunch up on the wall next to me -- my favorite responses are:

Cus it is skaree

I made a bleeding X, That means, come on this boat without permison you will be sorry.

I picked this because its scary. This guys Brain got stabbed.