Vote For Me (With Volcano Painting)!

I've spent the last 24 hours trying to figure out how to do this, and I think my best bet is to show you pictures of a cool idea to try out with the children in your life as a backdrop to this post of shameless self-promotion. That way, even if you have no intention of voting for me, you'll still click away with something to show for the time you spent here.

Most of us who work with young children have explored the chemical reaction between

vinegar and baking soda to make a volcano. This is the "new" volcano the children made

a couple summers ago.

I'm absolutely stunned to find that I've made the nomination short list for three 2011 Edublog awards, and humbled in the knowledge that this recognition comes from fellow teachers and parents. Thank you. 

I've been nominated as "Teacher Tom" in the category of Best Teacher Blog . . .

. . . as "Thomas Hobson" in the category of Best Individual Blog . . .

. . . and as Thomas "Teacher Tom" Hobson in the category of Most Influential Blog Post. I think of the three nominations, I might be most proud of this one. 

But yesterday was the first time we've ever tried volcano painting! I started

by spreading a couple pieces of white fabric (these were old curtains)

on the table tops, then turn the kids loose with baking soda, vinegar,

liquid water color, and baby food jars for the kids to use as their own

individual volcanos.

The nominated post is entitled Spoiled Brats, which was written as a follow up to a previous post called The Language Of Command in which I discussed the bad habit many of us grown-ups have of bossing kids around. Since the post was first published in August, it has made the rounds, having been shared on Facebook over 2,800 times at last count, and to this day there are still readers dropping by to have a look at it.

The resulting eruptions, overflowing their containers, then "painted" the

underlying fabric. I'd envisioned lots of circular bursts of color, almost

like tye-die, but the children, as usual, had other ideas about how this

ought to go. Some of them wanted to hold their volcanos, letting the

eruption run over their fingers and down their arms, others hurried

theirs along by dumping it on the fabric, and then, naturally, someone

had the idea of just pouring their baking soda and paint directly into our

bowl of vinegar, creating a sort of super eruption.

I would love your vote in one or all three of the categories. If you're so inclined, here's the link to the voting page. 

As you can see, however, despite their intense focus on "more vinegar," 

"more baking soda," and "more paint," they still managed to "volcano

paint" the fabric as a bi-product of their scientific exploration. And it did 

turn out quite beautiful. 

In fact, if you're really into it, you can vote once a day in each category between now and midnight on Tuesday, December 13. This is especially important information for those of you who can't decide for whom you'd like to vote. For instance, I'll likely have new "favorites" each day in several of the categories.

We went through over a pound of baking soda and a gallon of vinegar in

about a half hour. Not bad!

So please vote for me, vote soon, and vote often . . . but if not, at least enjoy some volcano painting!

I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you!