Monday, May 30, 2011

Fifth Grade: It's more than just the year you get B.O.

I recently took some time off work to go with my daughter’s class on the annual fifth grade Oregon Coast field trip. I had three big revelations over the three-day event: 1) Eleven year old boys are like perpetual-motion machines, 2) Fifth grade is the year you start to smell, and 3) Learning is hard!

I had forgotten how exhausting it was to actively learn. This was stuff I was really interested in and it was still difficult to pay attention and really be engaged with an instructor hour after hour. Now I have a bit more sympathy for my kids who come home wiped out from school. I used to be all, “Suck it up! You should try working! You have two recesses and snack time!” Now I get it. At the end of a day of cramming information into every wee crenulation of your brain, a little Sponge Bob can be a balm.

Some highlights:

Juliet driving the trawler up the estuary.


Awaiting the bottom-dwelling creatures!


Mmmmm, a frosty glass of English Flounder.

Trying not to get blown off the cliff for a photo op.

Rife with life!

Juliet falls in love with a sea slug.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

Putting together a deep-diving whale. How do we know it was a deep diver? It  has stinky, oily bones. 

In the shark tube at the aquarium that Keiko built. 

This is the inside of a Yurt. Is this an Oregon thing? It's like camping, without a tent.

Friday, May 27, 2011

First giveaway for the new book!




Goodreads Book Giveaway





The Serpent's Coil by Christy Raedeke



The Serpent's Coil


by Christy Raedeke



Giveaway ends July 11, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.




Enter to win