Newfangled Dad

The corner of Greenfield and Forest is currently one of the few remaining uncontrolled intersections in Oak Park. No stop signs from any direction. It's a residential T intersection that dead-ends into a large park, is one block north of a school, and is frequently congested with event parking for baseball/soccer games. The only crosswalk is the older style (faded) parallel bars. The walkways coming out of the park slope downward towards the street and don't feature any markings, ADA-compliant texture, etc.. The route features about 1,600 cars per day (800-1200 is typical for a residential street in the village) with speeds of 30 mph as drivers cut-through the neighborhood from major roads. What to do? The resident petition last night was for upgrading to an all-way stop. But there have been no crashes at the intersection in the last 3 years or in the village-wide traffic study from a decade ago. As I've discussed before on the blog, stop signs may be the cheap/obvious ...

I was approached by the folks at  Education.com  about possibly doing an activity of theirs as a guest post. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way.) It's a kinda cool science experiment to do with your kids and I'm all for that. Enjoy! Activity: Amazing Aerodynamics With a button, string and a stopwatch, children can see, hear and measure  aerodynamics  in action! In this energy transfer activity, your child will compare the spin duration of a button strung on different kinds of string. Two key elements of the  scientific method  are introduced: how to record results of an experiment on a data chart and how to use data to support a conclusion. Grade Third Grade Subject Science Physical Science What You Need: Flat button with 2 holes 5-10 kinds of string (thread, yarn, fishing line, kite string, dental floss, waxed thread, twine, etc.) Measuring tape Stopwatch Paper and pen What You Do: Ask your child to ...