I've been otherwise engaged teaching summer school and have not kept up with everybody's business via the BLOG but I'm now caught up. When you get so behind, it's hard to get back into it. My summer school session got off to a rough start during preplanning because I had to create a pre and post test for the objectives that the 4th/5th grade teachers selected for the students. I had a combination class of 7 4th graders and 9 5th graders so I had to create tests for both levels and in math and reading. I gave the same writing test. We have to use the county item bank.
Normally, using the county item bank doesn't take long and is fairly easy to use. This year, however, they updated the item banks so the numbers did not match with the objectives the teachers selected. Also, several objectives did not have test questions in the item banks so I had to create multiple choice questions for the objective. I once learned in one of the psychology classes I took at Georgia State that it takes 8 hours to make up a good multiple choice question. I believe it! I had to hunt down reading materials for each grade level because my special education students don't read at that high of a level so I did not have appropriate materials. Once I got past the tests, summer school went fine. I had a very nice group of students - not one behavior problem for the first time ever.
On the last day, July 12, Scott, Patrick, Ray and I took off for the lake. We stayed until Saturday. On Thursday we went to visit Bunk at Camp Winfield where he has been a camp counselor and lifeguard for the summer. It is so beautiful up there. We were taking a walk around the camp and were on our way to the chapel when Scott spotted the black MOTHER bear and her two cubs which were approximately 50 yards away from us up a hill. Of course, I shrieked and started edging backward while the morons in my family were edging closer for a better look. That mother bear looked at us long and hard for what seemed like an eternity before it slowly trudged on up the hill out of sight. The bears had been spotted by many of the camp employees over the summer. They said there were three cubs but Scott, Bunk and Patrick only saw two. I only saw the ENORMOUS man-eating mother!
We spent the rest of the time just chillin' at Lake Hartwell. We had good weather. I got a little tan and relaxed a lot. Scott enjoyed fishing with his new fly rod and had great luck so life was good all around.
I wish you had thought twice before telling the bear story. It must have slipped your mind that in just a few days we are traveling to the Smokey Mountains where Smokey the Bear holds court. Strangely enough, shrieking was probably the correct response. I've heard that you should make a lot of noise if you encounter a bear in the woods. It sounds like you had a wonderful end-of-session mini-vacation. How about David -- when does he finish camp?
Keep those tips handy, Mom. Sue, I can't believe y'all were in a PBS Nature show. Wow. Bears.
I love Lake Hartwell. And fish. Mmmm.
We were camping about 10 years ago and came back from a hike to find a 2 year old bear in the campsite across the road from us. The people in that campsite had left their food inside their tent! Anyone who camps knows that you leave nothing resembling food or garbage in your site when you are not there. We made lots of noise as did our other camping neighbors and the bear toddled on back to the woods. When the campers returned they were suprised that the bear would enter the campground in broad daylight and then were trying to figure out how to repair the tent. For the size of the bear, the tear wasn't that big. I jokingly offered my duct tape (which to this day I have not used camping) that I keep with my gear. They laughed too and an hour later sheepishly came by to borrow some because they couldn't think of anything else to patch it up with. All of our tent repair options combined would not have covered that area. It needed to be covered to keep the mosquitoes out.
Nice to hear from you again Sue, enjoy what's left of your summer. I know you're back in school much sooner than my kids are. First day of school for us this year is 9/5. Always the day after Labor Day.