What are you doing with your summer vacation? Mr. Lopatka is keeping pretty busy!

My first 2 days of the summer vacation were spent at the Field Museum of Natrual History, where he is working with a team of teachers on a Nature's Pantry Web page. One of the featured foods provides a colorful background for this page. Can you guess what it is?

Our team of teachers were given a tour of the 3rd floor collections. Museum staff member shows Steve and Ariel the bones of a Dolphin.

Joyce checks out the jaws of a dinosaur.

Ariel is shown a beetle collection by a museum staff member.

On the third day of my vacation, I put on my ice skates and took some pictures for the Cammi Granato Gold Medal Hockey camp web page. In this picture, I'm seated next to the captain of the USA Hockey Gold Medal team, Cammi Granato and Goalie Sara DeCosta.

My Grandson, Jeff, shows off a Cammi Granato Gold Medal hat and shirt. I had the pleasure of coaching Cammi in 1985 and 86 when she played on my son's Bantam state champion team.

I will be teaching web page design and Internet activities at Midell during the last week in July and the first week in August. I will finish up the summer by presenting a course on Office 97 to staff members of the Office of Gifted and Talented at Randolph School from August 9th -13th. You can see me in action at area libraries as I present programs on Astronomy and Space travel. The Chicago Astronomical Society has asked me to be the guest speaker at their July 16th meeting at the Adler Planetarium. I'll be presenting "Astronomy on the Internet".

Click here to see my Library schedule Randolph School Garden Page Lopatka's Astro Links