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helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

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super-supreme saturday

home / family life / travel / super-supreme saturday
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We are incredibly lucky to have an awesome hook-up at the Supreme Court this year (no joke), so today we got a behind-the-scenes tour of one of our nation’s most important buildings.

We ate candy in one of the justice’s offices. We looked down the secret spiral staircase. We shot baskets in the upstairs gym. We sat in the courtroom. We ran around the library–only because no one else was there. And Maddy, Owen, and Cora would have drained a hard-working justice’s water cooler had we let them.

Really, my children are waaaay too young to understand the importance of our visit today, but my husband and I sure did, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity.

One thing that helped my kids to begin to wrap their little heads around the importance of this building, however, is a fantastic book–Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse–given to them by their aunt and uncle. And I would recommend that anyone who’s planning a trip to Washington, DC consider grabbing a few of these books to help their kiddos learn about what they’ll see while they’re here.

Maddy and Cora peek out over the books in the library.

  • Marshall, the Courthouse Mouse: Written by Peter W. Barnes and Cheryl Shaw Barnes, this book follows Chief Justice Marshall and his fellow justices on the Supreme Court of the United Mice of America. Chief Marshall has to lead his fellow justices in deciding whether or not to uphold a law about the freedom mice have to choose what type of cheese they want to eat on a given day.

The rhyming, poetic text is written at a level that even younger readers can understand, despite the seemingly heavy topic. It’s light, it’s fun, and Maddy and Owen love this book because the story is interesting and the pictures are simply–incredible. They’re detailed and are more true-to-life than I imagined, okay–minus the fact that the characters are all mice. The buildings, the architecture, the rooms–were really well done.

Today, our incredibly smart tour guide had the foresight to bring the book with us so that the kids could compare the room they were standing in to the room the mice were in in the book. I’m sure they’ll never look at the book the same after today. How could they?

More fun in the library. . .

The authors of this book have written several others that children can use to learn about history and the government. We have House Mouse, Senate Mouse, and it really is a refreshing way of teaching children how a bill becomes a law and the roles of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Oddly enough, many, many years ago when I was on Nantucket, I bought Nat, Nat the Nantucket Cat–just because I loved children’s books even then and because it was such a beautiful book. It was one of the authors’ first books, and from that point on, this husband and wife team founded VPS Books, whose mission is to “teach children about history, civics, special places and architectural heritage through fun, entertaining and quality picture books.” I love it.

And that’s our bit of learning for the day–unusual, exciting, and more cool than my kiddos will realize for a long, long time.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the tour, my super sister-in-law!
Thanks for subscribing to teachmama! Have a good one!

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post:new for us friday–mango mania
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UMD Womenโ€™s Basketball ROCKS!! โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿ€

We absolutely love watching you play, @terpswbb !

We love watching you perform, @marylandcheer !

And @mightysoundofmd we love your music and your hilarious signs! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜ณ

See you in Greenville! 

#terpsbasketball #terpswbb #umd #familyfun #marylandcheer #umdfamily
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Are you ready? 

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Super easyโ€”and makes kids work a little for their golden chocolates! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Grab them here: https://shop.teachmama.com/product/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-4-pack/

<< Tag a pal who needs to know about this and would LOVE to use it with kids or students! >>

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and then there were six
๐Ÿฑ๐Ÿฆ๐ŸฆŠ๐Ÿฆ„๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฐ

thank you @thewoobles for giving my mind, heart, and hands something fun to do during a really challenging few months. 

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With great sadness, I'm writing to share that my brother-in-law, Jeff Mascott passed away from pancreatic cancer earlier this week--at home, surrounded by family and friends. 

The family is very grateful for the community's immeasurable help, encouragement, and prayers over the past several months since Jeff's diagnosis. 

Jeff's obituary will run this weekend in the Post: 
https://www.collinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jeff-Mascott?obId=27420280&fbclid=IwAR2YTRooCyaLTikfjLeqF4gM-GaB1amZI2OmVl1VtKLUOjWj3Wo4URD8lC8#/obituaryInfo
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Thankful for great, longtime friends ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

#itshardtobeahuman #thankfulheart #wlhs4evah #teacherbffs
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Almost 30 years of friendship!! I love these smart, beautiful, strong and creative women who walked with me through my early days of teaching. 

๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

Thank you, Wilde Lake High School, for bringing us together way back when. 

๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ’›

Missed you, jigofjoy ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ’š

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Makes my heart ๐Ÿฅฐ!! 

Some kids come by every day and give one to a new person. Others take a bunch for the week. One 2nd grade girl comes by evey morning to tell me who she gave hers to the day before. 

Every little bit helps, friend. And every interaction matters!

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Best crew for one of the best @terpswbb games weโ€™ve seen all season! 

And of course super job by @marylandcheer and @mightysoundofmd too! 

#terpswbb #terpsbasketball #familyfun #marylandcheer

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