Making Connections

Talk about making connections!!!  Yesterday during reading class, our discussion around a current events article regarding environmental issues in Antartica and drilling for natural resources sent our discussion far and wide.  Students began making connections to television programs they have seen with people drilling for resources in the Bering Strait.  I pulled down the atlas so they could have a better idea of where the areas were in the world compared to where we are.  One student began making more connections in his head.  He remembered talking about continental drift in science class (1 inch per year) and using his mathmatical skills and the scale on the atlas (geography class), began to figure out how many years it will take the continents to collide.  About 10 minutes later, he raised his hand and announced that it would be 119,000 years until the tip of Siberia collides with the tip of Alaska!  WOW!!  We were all impressed and had no idea he was doing all of this thinking in his head while still participating in our class discussion!!  I have such great students and I'm so proud of them for making so many great connections with their every day lives and our class instruction.  Way to go!!