Sorting quibbles and Bear with me

What this? If only an invisibility potion was possible.(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

The end is near? Promises, promises.

Manipulating challenges with Rubik’s cube is less complex than the current logistics around here.

The stock of live moooved and hearded, leaving the furniture and domicile to be dealt with. (Of course, there’s the rush to ship what items discovered left behind are being wailed over…the FedEx counter guys are getting to know us way too well….)

Anyway, all arrived safe and sound-ish at new place near the hospital, so that’s a relief.

Speaking of relief, laughter is the best, so a few giggles:

First at bat

Now that’s timely word choice? Halloween. World Series. Old Bat – Wait. We’re talking baseball again here, not character analysis.

World Series. The current communal gladiator distraction one must participate in or be frozen out of conversations…Seems to me that the World Series is at the wrong time. Football is going on. During elementary school (during the dinosaur era before air conditioning) there was always the couple of boys who would try to sneak in small plastic radios into their desks and snake the wired ear plugs up their jeans or long sleeves and cautiously have the wire exit the shirt’s neck/collar supposedly hidden up to their ear in order to hear the World Series games going on during school. Most would have realized the long sleeves that time of year with all the heat were a real tip off for teachers…

Anyway, batting your way a couple of seasonally worthy, if vintage, stories thought relevant today: 

• Large and Growly Bear (by Gertrude Crampton/Miller, ill./Golden Press.) Bear wakes up bored one day and decided “I will find someone to frighten! That is what a large and growly bear needs.” So the large and growly bear went growling and prowling and scowling…” (Sound like current individuals and their activities these days? HaHa) He sneaks up on all sorts of creatures, “takes a deep breath and it came out, “GRRRR!” Only to be ssssh-ed repeatedly as everyone is too busy to be frightened…….(one was digging tunnels to China – see what I mean about story line being current?) The large bear gets really cross then has an idea. “Fish are never too busy to be frightened. I will go to the shining silver river. I will find some little fish and I will frighten them to death.” He sneaks up holding Allis breath for an enormous GRRRRR!” Then all my paws and claws! He ran all the way home after a terrible fright…Once home he poked his nose out of his door and told the bluebird, the rabbits, the moles “in a small and not growly voice” who he found to frighten….It’s two letters – you can guess, right?  So relevant these days. (Original cost: 39 cents, now at Amazon, new: $594.00, used from $20-$40.00….)
• What was That! (Mathews/Charier, ill./Golden Press) It’s a spooky time of year, so this one’s good. Baby Bear tries to snuggle down and go to sleep, in the dark but – “a creak and a squeak”  – “What was that?” and he skedaddles to big brother’s bed down the hall who explains
  Nothing to be frightened of…mouse bed springs, and baby mouse’s mom saying good night. And they settle down in the blankets until “a tap, and a rap, and a snap” and “What was that?” They skedaddled downtime hall to the biggest brother’s bed. “Nothing to be frightened of – only little spiders getting ready for bed”: brushing teeth, tapping water off tooth brush, rap of hair brush as he sets it one dresser, and snap of light as his mom turned it off and said good night. And they settled down until a bump and a thump and a clump. “What was that?” The three skedaddle down the hall to mama and papa’s bed. Mama Bear explains it’s only a little bug taking off shoes, thumping his pillow to fluff, and his picture book hitting the floor. Papa Bear says the bed is too full and ordered them back to their beds. Only before they could go, “eek, creak, squeak, and a tap, rap , snap, and a bump, thump, clump and a CRASH as the whole bed crashes down. “And the little mice, little spiders, little bugs sat straight up in their beds and called out in fright, WHAT WAS THAT?” Thing that go bump in the dark and jumping to conclusions. Still crazy good after all these years. (Originally  $1.25. Amazon used hardback from $24-$40.00, used paperbacks from $4-$14.00..a new one for $860.00.)

Did you note the price increase of those books? Seriously? I may have to start haunting garage sales. Reselling children’s classics could be a real career move opportunity.

The kid’s bookcase is right over there. If the window doesn’t creak, and the floor doesn’t squeak, I can grab a few of those old Golden Books…Oh, what the heck. If anyone wakes up I’ll just pretend to be Wendy needing a new storybook to read to Peter Pan and the lost Boys. (USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

Batting zeros: two more worth a haunting snort or two:

• From Reuters: “Fewer emergency surgeries, more deaths in British hospitals vs U.S.” This is my favorite part: ““It would be unwise to interpret the data as implying some form of rationing of surgery by surgeons in the UK.”

Yep, let’s not jump to conclusions. Nothing to see here.

• Your tax dollars at work:REL Central studied the possible connections between the teacher qualifications of middle school Algebra I students (teacher certifications to teach math, education background, and performance on certification exams)—and how well their students actually did in math.

(FYI Regional Educational Laboratories are regional “think tanks” that “build the capacity of educators to use data and research to improve student outcomes. Each REL responds to needs identified in its region and makes learning opportunities and other resources available to educators throughout the United States.” The RELs are part of The Institute of Education Sciences, which is part of the U.S. Department of Education. IES is the “nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.” We’re talking data collection and analysis here…often by those who have no classroom experience and do not have any children of their own – Hey, it’s all a numbers game anyway. New math rules.

Key study findings include: (Read complete report here.)

• • Teacher performance on math certification exams and years of experience teaching math were the qualifications most strongly associated with the Algebra I achievement of middle school students.
  • Teacher performance on math certification exams and years of experience teaching math were also strongly associated with Algebra I achievement for Black students, Hispanic students, students receiving special education services, and students eligible for the national school lunch program.

Is this a DUH moment or not? Reinventing the wheel is so, well, lucrative for some.

Still managing to hang on through out this whole rambling thing?

Impressive – or scary…how bored are you? HaHa.

Thanks for your stick-to-it-ness.

Hasta later – until we meet again…or I can chase you down

(Promises, promises…No, that is so not a threat.)

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

“And just How do Dinosaurs say I’m Mad? Wait, this is a kid’s book, not one for older adults? Oh, well, pretty much the same though processes.”(USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

 

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