Cherry Blossom Candy Leaf

I have been teaching my kids about making inferences while they read. They know how to make inferences, but the concept itself is really difficult for them to understand. Inferring is when you use context clues and your own experiences and knowledge to understand what an author is trying to say even if it is not said explicitly. For example, in the following sentences: "Zelda and I won two tickets to Splash World. We couldn't wait to go down the water slides and soak in the pool." Students can infer that Splash World is a water park because of the clues "water slides" and "pool", that tickets are required and that Splash World is a proper noun, even though none of them have ever been to a Splash World.

I don't know exactly why I want them to recognize that they infer. It's just important that they do. I want them to see the reading skills they have that they didn't know they had. In addition, you infer in all subject areas, which leads me to my next story.

I was trying to demonstrate that scientists infer all the time because the scientific world is filled with unknowns... just think of the ocean or space and how little is really known about either. So I decided to do an experiment where students would have to infer. I put three items that the students could not see into containers. I chose toothpicks, salt, and grapes. We felt the items, wrote a description and inferred what the items were, even though we could not see them.

They recognized the toothpicks right away and everyone predicted that that's what they were. I showed them and they began to understand making inferences. Next we did the salt. The interesting thing (or maybe not to anyone but me) is that the salt was uncertain like some results found in scientifc studies. The class predicted it was salt, sugar, sand, fun dip, etc., After the experiment, I told them it was salt, but I did not show them. Finally I passed around the wet grapes and as the students felt the wet blobs, they pulled their hands out in disgust. They predicted that the container was full of olives, the world's smallest eggs, and grapes, to name a few.

At this point they were riled up and due to the wind this week, they have been crazy every day. I decided to get my revenge. I started to put all my mystery containers away and as I did so, they all begged for the answer. What were the interesting items in the container? That's when I nonchalantly stated that they were cow eyeballs. They began to gag into their hands and the horror on their faces was priceless. And much like Lard-Ass in Stand By Me , I just "sat back and watched what I had created."

Then the dismissal bell rang, and I sent them home to torture their parents.

It's Tuesday night and Ben and I have officially lived with Grandma for 4 days. Aside from playing 3,000 questions (the old lady version of 20 questions), everything is o.k. Everyone and their grandma (literally, everyone's grandma) knows how many linens we have and how much the T.V. cost and that there's a classic car in the garage, etc. There has already been a card tournament here, where 7 of grandma's gambling buddies were over. Their combined age is about 800 years old, no joke. She is currently convinced that her vision has gone from bad to worse in the days that we've been here and it's been taking some convincing that her vision has been terrible for a while, but we have had to move some of her things to get our stuff in here and so her items just might be a little harder to find, now. We are trying to be patient and, surprisingly, even with my dad's impatience gene, I am doing well. I have replaced sheer rage with sarcasm and it's working out well. I've noticed that at 90, you are unable to discern truth from exaggeration. Por ejemplo, during a game of 3,000 questions, Grandma asked me, "What's that?" pointing to my towel. I informed her that it was our turban set and that Ben and I have recently decided to wear turbans as a hobby. I thought she would sense the B.S. factor, but she only said, "Oh, really?" No, not really. Even when I am teaching English to newcomers, I don't label as many items each day as I do at home. That's a towel, that's a magazine, this is the remote control, those are my slippers, and the list goes on. She even grabbed the Windex bottle and said, "Oh, there's my purse." It's quite endearing, really.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. We brought Grandma with us. Olga came over, too, which was fun. Grandma kept telling her how easy her job was and how simple it is to find a job. She has forgotten that she has been out of the job market for almost 30 years. She told my parents that the replacement windows they bought were cheap and I thought my mom was going to drop dead. They have been wanting to get those windows for 11 years now. After the Czech American feast, we did some Karaoke which is quite fun after you get over your inability to sing, but soon enough, you realize that most people can't. Ben was so cute: Olga and Gabby serenaded him with Michael Jackson's "Ben", which he talked about on the drive home. I sang "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones and "Mother" by John Lennon which are low enough for a man voice like me.

On Friday, we began our 5 day moving stint. Moving is hell. At about 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, Ben decided that he could not leave his big screen T.V. in the old condo alone, so we went to pick it up. Yesterday, in sheer desperation, we began throwing the last of our things in garbage bags so we could clear that place out and start the cleaning process. When I entered the bathroom, a flood from that morning's rain greeted me. I knew then that leaving that shit hole was a good move. Last year, the bathroom flooded as well and the home owner's association decided to patch the holes in the roof as a temporary fix. All it took was another rainstorm to wear away the patch job they did. That 2 bedroom condo will go on the market for about $350,000. Unbelievable.

Other than that, life is good. School is as hard as ever, but enjoyable. Exhausting, but fun. I am looking forward to my trip to Alaska in June and hopefully somewhere else, too. Sasha and I will meet in Juneau (Juneau the capital of Alaska!) and then take a ferry for nine days along Alaska's coast and southern islands. My friend from work is renting a house in Costa Rica and invited me to stay for a while. However, she just realized that she will probably need surgery, so she may have to postpone the trip. I hope not, but I'm sure I can find another place to visit. I'm thinking about Greece, but I'd also like to take Ben to the Czech Republic. Belize is always an option. There are just so many places in the world. Ben keeps telling me that I should put my travel plans on hold since we want to buy a house. And although I would love to have a house, seeing the world is something I am just not willing to give up. If I won't be able to go anywhere just so I can pay a mortgage, I'm willing to put homeownership on the back burner.