A Bridge To Fear

Today in class, we had the official Paper Bridge penny-holding contest. One piece of paper, an eight-inch span...you be the engineer.

The low bridge on the totem pole held 49 pennies. That's one penny short of a Solo cup. I kind of like that. It might be my new saying. My own personal "fetch". You won't get that unless you're a Tina Fey/Mean Girls fan. In case you haven't been dropping into the Mansion regularly, and are afraid to risk my ire by asking what a Solo cup has to do with anything...GET WITH THE PROGRAM! Scroll down and figure it out your own self. Criminy! I feel like I'm in class with two weeks left of school!

The current reigning champion held 289 pennies. That beat last year's grand champion of 237. There is still one class left to test, so we'll see how the pennies stack up tomorrow.

I put the students in groups of three by drawing index cards with their names. It's the greatest invention since sliced bread. I have used this process since...well...since the invention of sliced bread. You can pick people to read out loud, people to answer your question that the whole class is pretending is rhetorical, form groups, choose special helpers, pick the order of presentations, and more! It's like the Popeil Pocket Picker. Not to be confused with the Popeil Pocket Fisherman:






















That could be dangerous, picking students with the pocket fisherman. It could get all snaggy and bloody and out-of-hand. I don't need those kind of headaches. No sirree Bob!

The groups were allowed to name themselves. Bob the Bridge Builders went in the first round. The Dudes was simple and to-the-point. I had to veto the proposed name of STD, even though it was the initials of the members. I tried to veto Two Gingers and a Nerd, but they had all agreed on the name. Team George should have been renamed Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater, but I refrained. One moniker that caught my eye, but not in a pocket fisherman kind of way, was Dr. Bridge.

After we wrap up this construction contest, we are settling in for a viewing of October Sky to complement our recent Science World space exploration issue.

The school year is almost over, you know.