Tall Tower Solutions

Congratulations Luke and Noah on your tall tower of 23 inches! You should be proud!



Sebastian also did an amazing job! Hope you are also proud!





Bodhi also did a marvelous job with this challenge -- you should be proud!!!




The challenge is pretty hard if the toys you pick are soft! Check out the super work of Boo and Zee here. Hope you are proud of your successful Think!ing strategies!

Puppets Solutions

This one is harder than it appears!

Making puppets is challenging. Making them move is more challenging. Making them with these materials is even more challenging.

Congrats to Zee and Boo for doing an amazing job!



To read more about their solutions, visit Journey into Unschooling.

Tall Towers

Tell your student to select 10 toys. Do not tell why --

Once the toys are collected, tell the student to create the tallest tower possible using the 10 toys -- send in a pic, include your measurements. To make the challenge harder, build the tower on the clothes dryer and then turn it on and see if the tower still stands.

oops -- this posted early for some reason -- oh well. Consider it a bonus challenge!

Thanksgiving Games -- Solutions

Journey into Unschooling created this marvelous picture when they played this week's Thanksgiving game -- read about their creative process here.

I love it!

Puppets

Your challenge is to make a puppet using the following materials. You must use all of them and your puppet must have at least 3 moving parts:

24 inches of string
4 straws
2 objects of your choice
4 paperclips
4 index cards


Markers may be used in construction. Scissors may not. Good luck.

Thanksgiving Games

You've probably played a game similar to this, but this is a great activity that can start Thanksgiving morning and last all day. If you're not in the US, the game is the same -- there's nothing that makes it Thanksgiving-specific.

In the morning, place a poster somewhere that is accessible. Draw one line on it and invite others to add one line at a time. Do not give any other instructions. You may not talk about what you are drawing at any time during the day. You may only add 1 contiguous line at a time. You may not add another line until someone else has added a line. The more people that participate, the more fun this is.

If you join in the fun, send me a pic. I'll post it. I promise!

Check out the creation at Journey into Unschooling if you need some inspiration -- they colored theirs!!

Where I've Been

Several of you have emailed and asked where I've been. I have been pursuing a life dream of opening a school for economically disadvantaged middle school girls. We will open our doors in August 2010. You can find the school online at Charlotte Community School for Girls. Girls at CCSG transition into young women who appreciate the power of the individual to impact her family, community, city, state, nation, and world. CCSG is a family. We attend to each girl's needs and we celebrate and value differences. Scholars learn to think, to treat each other with respect, to appreciate the benefits of cooperation, and to balance the needs of the individual with those of the community. We provide a demanding environment for learning. While mastering the fundamentals in English, math, history/culture, science, and Spanish, our scholars engage in class discussions, experiments, research projects, presentations, and performances. Every scholar has her own laptop and develops confidence and competence in the use of technology. Enrichment classes in art, music, drama, technology, world topics, special topics, physical education and service learning complete each girl's learning experience. Our scholars will break the cycle of poverty that plagues our nation's cities. They will close the global achievement gap. They will live their dreams in this great country that we call America.

I am in the process of uploading challenges that will post weekly again starting next Thursday. I will post all solutions received as they come in, but prefer for you to send your solutions in within in a week.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support. Our school will have many needs. If you'd like to be involved or learn more, please contact me at cathy@charlottecommunityschool.org.