Friday, March 27, 2009

Our Plants

Over the past couple months we have been growing multiple plants. We went to a bulb clinic to learn how to plant bulbs. We planted hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and some pansies to put on top. The daffodils have already grown and the tulips are starting to bloom. The hyacinths started growing right under the daffodils and pansies so we couldn't see them!

Here are some pictures of our bulbs then and now:




Before the bulbs we were growing some grass and sunflowers. The sunflower got eaten and the grass got really big. We took out the grass to start another project, but the roots had taken over the entire planter. We bought some new soil and planted some watermelons, basil, parsley, and cilantro. We did it only a couple days ago, so they haven't sprouted yet.This is a picture of the planter right now, all the other seeds are underground.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Poetry Night

This week we did a poetry night on Friday. Joey and Wilson created a "Syrendell Cafe" with a couple chairs and some snacks. We each had a job to do before we actually read any poems. Joey was the waitress, Wilson was the server, and I was the chef. We made some hot chocolate, chai tea, cucumber water and coffee for drinks, and some French beignets, or French doughnuts.

After everyone was done eating and everything, we each read our own poem. We either chose one that we had already made or created one for poetry night. Joey made up her own poem called "Butterfly" which is a letter poem. I did one called "Opposite Sides of the World" and it is a diamante poem that we had made previously. Wilson did a song about spring to the tune of Frere Jacques. Mommy did a free verse poem called "Blissful Path" which she wrote for poetry night. Lastly, Daddy did a poem called "Monsters have Mommies too" that he wrote for poetry night. Here are some pictures: The one on the bottom is of the Syrendell Cafe, and the area where whoever was reading/singing a poem would be standing right where you can't see in the picture. The one on the middle is of the menu, and the one on the top is the sign that Joey made for the cafe.

Friday, March 13, 2009

My Middle Ages "S.S." book.



The last post that I did about my Middle Ages book ended with Australia/New Zealand, the bottom of the world. The one after Australia was about the Medieval Franks, and the most recent one is Medieval England. The next one that I'm going to do is about the Crusades to recapture Jerusalem.



My current favorite is "The Norsemen" which is about the Vikings. It is my favorite because the border that I drew around the page features Scandinavian runes.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Glass Fusing



Today we went to a glass fusing class to make some glass pendants/magnets. The teacher's name was Diane Wood. We learned about the history of glass fusing and looked at examples.
We each got a base piece of glass, some smaller dichroic (two color) glass bars, and some clear bars to put over it to make it smooth.

First, we made our design with the dichroic bars, then we clipped off the edges to make it fit the base piece. Then we put the clear bars on top of it to make it smooth and so that it has depth. Then, we glued all of the pieces together with tiny bits of glue so that nothing would fall apart.

After everyone was done, we gave everything to the teacher to take home. She will fuse our glass in a kiln. We are going to pick them up in a few days.


Sunday, March 1, 2009

UC Davis trip.

This week, we went to UC Davis for my aunt's birthday. First, we went for a walk through the Arboretum. While we were walking, we sketched some plants in our Botany Books. We had dinner at the UC Davis Tercero Dining Commons.
Our Aunt Jessica works at a place called Sprinkles. Sprinkles is a nice cupcake store where you can buy high-end cupcakes. She brought us some for my Aunt Stephanie's birthday.

Here is a picture of the cupcakes:

Both of our aunts got us Trivial Pursuit, which is a mind game.
We learned about Medieval Africa this week. We made an African mask and learned about some stories and kingdoms that existed during that time.
Here is a picture of the mask and us making the mask: