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Dmmetler

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Everything posted by Dmmetler

  1. Two other possibilities which occur in other ectotherms- The first is that if she was ever with a male, a lot of species can retain sperm for YEARS. There have been some "parthenogenesis" cases that, after genetic testing turned out to be a chance encounter in a shipping container before the animal got to that zoo or aquarium. And, a really cool option-some all female species are kleptogenetic-they mate with members of other species, and use their genetic material selectively. As far as I know, it hasn't been documented in any species that HAS both males and females. And there have been a LOT of cross-breeds in snakes that occured in captivity that would never occur in the wild-which has, in some cases, caused reclassification of species because "well, guess they're more closely related than we thought!" Like basically any king snake can interbreed and have fertile offspring with any rat snake, despite being different genus. One thing I've learned from having a kid with a special interest in herps---if we think it can't happen, it's because we haven't seen it happen yet...not that it's impossible. And there are good reasons why the herpetology and Icthyology folks do meetings together and a lot of jobs are for both. Regardless, it's getting the aquarium a lot of press, and probably a lot of visitors and donations. And that's a great thing for conservation.
  2. We haven't made a huge amount of progress on putting laminate in our dining room, but we did get an entire house done 🙂
  3. I got magnets. I do think I lucked out because L started learning to drive right about when things shut down in 2020-which meant that there were a LOT of empty parking lots and not-busy roads for several months, and even the interstate at rush hour wasn't the "deep end" for a bit.
  4. I actually buy an app subscription that provides online support for the piano books I use because I found that about half my "never practicers" started practicing when I used it. It's the same content, and I put post it flags in the books and have an assignment notebook, and have tried every practice record/incentive under the planet. And what has worked best is the stupid app, where all the music is in there, they get stars for playing, it automatically sends great performances to the parent's email, I can send little graphics when I see they've been on a lot, and I can look at it and say "great job! You played 68 songs this week!!" And these are kids who presumably WANT to play piano, and parents who are paying $50/hr for them to take private lessons, and I don't think anyone expects one lesson a week to provide complete instruction (if I had them 5 hours/week for piano, there would be no need for home practice for anyone who isn't planning to major in music!) So I can kind of understand schools assigning online stuff for homework if they get similar responses.
  5. If she can leave the airport, Butterfly Creek is a nice little zoo thathas a shuttle from the airport. It's primarily native animals, with a big focus on insects-they're a SSP for Wetapunga, which was kind of neat. They were also the one zoo we went to on the entire trip where kiwi were visible-we'd been to multiple zoos and ecosanctuaries that had them and finally saw them during the airport layover.
  6. Which usually means that there is no budget for materials and instruments, not that the teacher can't teach it. And EVERY music curriculum involves sheet music-if the district bothered to buy the books vs buying one copy. Whole, half, quarter and eighth notes are in the KINDERGARTEN standards, as is mastering steady beat and singing melodic patterns . Playing simple harmonic patterns, like open 5ths, are, too. Simple melodies on percussion instruments comes in early elementary. By 4th grade, students are reading treble clef, playing melodies on recorder, and playing in ensembles, as well as singing rounds, canons, and simple 2 part harmonies. But it's really hard to teach that if your room doesn't have even a piano and you don't have materials for students to use. Art and PE have similar standards-and similar problems. We aren't child care. We aren't a fun place for kids to spend an hour so the real teachers get a break. And as long as we're treated as such, you won't have an effective art, music, or PE program.
  7. The reason for art, music, PE, etc being specialist areas is to provide something for kids to do while the classroom teachers have time for planning, prep, and meetings. It's fairly common for students to rotate in grades 4-6 which lets teachers specialize in LA or Math, much less common in K-3. I have seen some paired classes in schools using an open classroom model. FWIW, I am confident that any of my elementary music Ed graduates could teach an elementary school grade level class because the degree was essentially a music degree AND an ELED licensing program, with electives focused on music teaching-if the program is inadequate for them it's also inadequate for ELED majors. I am a lot less confident that the ELED majors could teach music because they could get certified with one music class, which could be music appreciation. If you can't read music, it's going to be hard to do anything but hit "play" on a recording.
  8. When they first started offering it, all the flyers had these pickle people, so when I found the pickle toys (they're cat toys), I figured it had to be done. Mary (the resident ghost) is exploring... https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3IUCWWOg16/?igsh=MW0wZDJmcWs4bGV4Yw==
  9. I added the basketball court , pickleball, and playground :).
  10. I think you're right-it's missing the porch railing, but the rest is a pretty close match.
  11. One of my students brought this to me today :). According to her mom, she and her oldest DD tried refurbing it after finding it at a yard sale, never got very far, and neither of hee other kkds want to mess with it, so it's been sitting around about a decade 🙂 They like the idea of turning it into a haunted House. Of course, in the last week, I've gotten as far on the community center as to paint the baseboards and make part of a swing set for the playground....work definitely gets in the way of fun!
  12. Participating in Pride would definitely be a clear indicator. I think a logo on the front page, and then photos to back it up. Conversely, I appreciate it when churches have statements up front that indicate that they are NOT supportive. The real whiplash is the church that says they are open minded...until they have someone in the church who is openly LGBT.
  13. Whether the church is a safe place for my family. Unfortunately, my long time denomination no longer indicates that.
  14. I tell my students that a cold can make me sick for a long time, and then no one gets music class while I'm out, so please wear a mask if you’re feeling sick or have been around someone who is, and that I am doing everything I can to keep the air clean and as safe as possible. I don't stress COVID. And it's true. I haven't missed a day due to personal illness since 2019. Masking and cleaning the air and having kids wash hands before touching the instruments has made a difference-so I see no reason to change that. I do think that getting masks with dinosaurs, pandas, unicorns, camouflage, tie-dye and in bright colors helps, because the kids seem to have almost as much fun picking a cool mask each time as they do a cool sticker at the end of a lesson, and the cost of the masks is a minor expense compared to the cost of being sick.
  15. I agree here. L's college has a LOT of people still masking, and professors are allowed to request it.
  16. I mask when out in public, and I mask when up close to students. I run air purifiers in my classroom, and will take my mask off if I'm giving instructions and I'm across the room, so I can be heard better, plus we have building-wide HEPA because they used Covid relief funds to replace an HVAC system installed in the 1960's. CO2 in my room runs about 650. I go to the Asian grocery and buy cute KN95's for me and the kids, and about half my students mask when they're in my room still, and I ask that if someone in your household is sick, please mask or stay home-and if you're sick, stay home!
  17. My Endo says everyone who has PPD (or reactive depression after a pregnancy loss or miscarriage) needs to be screened for autoimmune antibodies, because often they have subclinical Hashimotos which the stress of pregnancy has brought out temporarily-and if you catch it and treat with a tiny dose of levothyroxine, it can prevent progression, not just for Hashi's, but other endocrine issues. Hypothyroid and depression symptoms overlap. This becomes even more a vicious circle because Hashi's also affects fertility and is implicated on pregnancy complications-which are known to have a higher risk of PPD.
  18. I think I'd do what you can get done, and if that means not finishing a full book, it's OK. Field trips and hands on stuff are excellent learning opportunities, and giving up a day of book stuff for them is fine.
  19. Retrievers can be problematic for snake aversion training because they tend to go for the animal vs detecting them and waiting for results. It can be done, but it's harder than it is with a pointer or hound. I know a very small poodle mix who is excellent at finding rattlesnakes and pointing them out-I figure the dog realizes that she's prey! OTOH, one of the herpetologists we know lost his vision as an adult, and when he was matched with his golden lab assistance dog, discovered that she would happily find and bring him box turtles-which let him continue his research.
  20. My brother is a staff attorney for a disabilities law center that offers unpaid internships, and they get piles of applications for every summer. It lets them filter to the kids who really have a passion for public service law and want to eventually work in a similar setting-but it also means a lot of great kids who are possibly a little less passionate or just have a slightly less stacked resume don't get the chance, even though they might be great in the field. It's especially hard for ND folks who might struggle in communicating face to face, but are awesome researchers and would be a real asset.
  21. The good news is that for grad school, the faculty advisors and school do most of the heavy lifting (L is starting the grad school search process)-which is good because being guidance counselor for high school kids is hard enough!
  22. I know L's school wants the FAFSA before releasing merit aid, because they won't give aid over the cost of attendance. So if you get 25K in need based aid, you won't also get a 25K merit scholarship. There are schools that will stack-one of L's friends gets more in scholarship money than the cost of attendance and literally is paid to go to school, but I think that's unusual.
  23. If you have an old one you want to sacrifice, paint it with spray paint, print what you want on your computer, decopage the graphics on the button with ModPodge. We had an event cancelled due to COVID at the center and had a bunch of dated ones, and I've been using them for crafting ever since.
  24. This is bad for us. For L, it's no big deal-L's aid is all merit aid, and while the school requires the FAFSA (because it's last money aid), we don't qualify for need based aid beyond the minimum loan anyone can get. Plus L only has one more year, so we know what to expect financially at this point. But M should be pell eligible, and probably won't get merit aid-and is likely to have to do an appeal because there are substantial medical expenses, etc beyond what the financial profile shows. Cost of attendance is likely to be the deciding factor as to where they can go at all.
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