Hello,
Your observations are a joy to read and respond to. I am so lucky to have a few travelling learners this year!
This is just a friendly reminder to please fill out a weekly confirmation form once you submit your observation, then i know it is there and there is a record of when it was posted. I did one for week 13, so just resume doing it from now on.
Thank you and safe travels!
On your way to the Grand Canyon! I highly recommend going to Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands and Arches when you are in the area. I love the land in the southwest, it is so beautiful and interesting!
On the topic of space, my interest in space exploration got re-inspired with this film, Hidden Figures. There is a lot of high level math and science which might interest Ethan:
It is not for young children per se even though it is PG. The film offers such a powerful insight into the lives of brilliant Black women in the 60’s in segregated South working at NASA. I highly recommend.
There are many resources on space in the SD Library: https://selfdesign.learning.powerschool.com/selfdesignlearning/library/cms_page/view/28925551
Hello Ethan and Carl,
I will not be making comments on this week’s Observing for Learning.
Instead, I created a brief summary of Ethan’s learning highlights to date by Sunday Dec 3rd. This can be found on the Fall Connection page which is nested underneath “Learning Communications” in the left hand menu under Ethan’s name.
LC Natasha Cucek
I’ll post photos later, as we’re currently trying to get to the Grand Canyon. We left DC Thursday night and we’re now in Oklahoma City.
We ended up staying in Washington DC until Thursday night. That worked out well because it meant we got to experience our first US Thanksgiving at my friend Charles’ place.
Leading up to Thanksgiving, we spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in the hotel. During that time, Ethan made three new websites using Wix:
- This one he wanted to use as a membership site, so he added a members and chat function: https://carl3766.wixsite.com/ethan4website
- This was actually the first one he made. It’s for teaching people how to use the computer: https://carl3766.wixsite.com/ethanscomputertodo
- And this one is for what to do when you’re bored: https://carl3766.wixsite.com/whattodowhenurbored
On Thanksgiving day, we went back to the Museum of Natural History. Ethan spent most of his time in the “Q-rius” section. The Q-rius section is completely hands on and has different stations for different topics. One station taught kids about how diseases can spread, and we had to find out which disease was begin spread and who patient zero was. Other stations allowed for observing insect specimens, rocks, crystals, etc. Ethan loved the Museum of Natural History. We could have spent a whole week there.
For dinner, there were two other kids at Charles’ place: Avalon, who is Charles and Dena’s daughter, and Eloie, who is Avalon’s classmate at school. Ethan has played with Avalon but not Eloie. However, that didn’t stop them from organizing a show for us, as well as a haunted house.
We arrived at Charles’ house at 4pm and the kids started planning a performance and the haunted house. They prepared a show schedule, made tickets, collected money (Monopoly money or $1 was accepted as payment) and made announcements about the show. The show began after dinner and was a singing performance by Avalon and Eloie. Ethan acted as the MC.
After the show and dessert, the kids got the haunted house ready. They had set up one upstairs bedroom as the haunted house and had Ethan lead customers into the room. Once there, Avalon and Eloie jumped out with sheets over their heads to scare us. It was great.
There were nearly 20 people at dinner, so the kids performed for 17 people, many of whom they’d never met before.
On Friday, we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Air and Space Museum outside of Washington DC. We spent most of the day there and went on a tour to learn about the space shuttle Discovery, historic planes like the Wright Flyer and how different planes were used in WWI, WWII and the Cold War.
On the drive from DC, Ethan has been asking a lot of questions about space, different types of stars, how black holes work, etc. He was watching a lot of videos about space when we were at the hotel, so they obviously piqued his interest. He learned a lot about how powerful the sun is compared to a nuclear bomb and what can happen if you enter a black hole.
Those are the main things that happened from the 22nd to 25th.
Thanks.
These first few days of the week were unique learning days for Ethan. On the 19th, it was all about having fun and meeting my friend Charles and his family. Ethan played Monopoly Deal with Charles and his daughter Avalon.
We went to an Ethiopian restaurant with Charles and his family, so we all got to try some new food.
After dinner, we didn’t think we would see Charles again, so Ethan had to say goodbye. He loved playing with Avalon.
The following day, we saw the White House and went to the Museum of Natural History.
On the way, a local spoke to us about our trip and Ethan made a flower from the cup he got at Trader Joe’s.
The museum was fantastic, but the visit was cut short.
Our van stalled and wouldn’t restart while I was looking for a parking spot. So, Ethan got to see how to deal with this type of situation where we needed to have the van towed, find a place to stay for the night in a strange place and adjust to a new environment in the hotel.
Overall, Ethan has handled everything just as he does normally… with a happy attitude and enjoying each moment.
The van is fine, by the way.
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