Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wearing Red, Purple, Peach, Pink...And a Few Algebraic Expressions!

You should see what I look like right now.  I look ridiculous. :)

There are two reasons why I look a mess today.  The first is because, last night in our basement, we experienced a catastrophe of catastrophic proportions.

My SIX clothing racks in the basement all toppled and fell upon one another from the sheer weight of too many clothes.  When they crashed, it was a horrible sound, and some of the rivets that once held the apparatuses together became dangerous projectiles that flew violently through the air, pelting the four walls of our basement, and causing Michael and I to duck in an effort to save our lives.


The mess will take hours to clean up.  The photo above is only about one-fourth of the mess.

Since I organize all my clothes by color, this means I now only have access to that which happens to be on the top of the massive pile of disarray.  So, when I went to pick out my clothes this morning, I could only choose from garments of the red, pink, peach, and purple hues.

Fortunately for me, today happens to be Clash Day at school, and this is the second reason why I look ridiculous today.  I'm wearing a tomato red t-shirt with a raspberry tank top over it.  My skirt is a deep cherry red, my tights are a light pink, and my socks are a strange, dark peach.

To add to the uniqueness of my attire, today I am adorned with equations dangling from my ear lobes, and the algebraic steps to solve for "x" in this case are conveniently incorporated into my matching necklace.  As luck would have it, the beads are a lovely mix of red and purple.  :)

These beautiful accessories are the early submission of a student's project that is not due for another two weeks.

Yes, I have my kids doing some rather unique things in pre-algebra this week!  To conclude our unit on solving one-step equations that contain negative numbers, fractions, and decimals, they're making algebraic moblies (that must be both visually and mathematically balanced on both sides) in all sorts of different forms, ranging from desktop knickknacks that spin, hanging mobiles that move with the wind, Christmas tree ornaments, fashion jewelry, and even...cupcakes!

We're having two days fun and creativity -- and then we're back to business with the start of Chapter 3.  :)