Invincible Ice

A desperate ice storm began last Friday and laid layers through the weekend. On my way home from a sparkling weekend with my boyfriend, I hit a patch of ice on the highway in the fast lane, and around backways. I prayed aloud all the while "God, save me, God save me, God save me" then landed in the snowbank without a scratch to myself or the vehicle. Praise God! (And I did :D)

Despite this scare, I am in love with winter, as I always am. Of course, the best way I know to capture the magic is through memory card...

 

Crystaline Snowflake Science

For the past couple of weeks, the class has been working on making borax crystal snow flakes. We first cut and folded the pipe cleaners into the snowflake shape. To assist the children, I drew out instructions with pictures of what it should look like. Some of the children spent time measuring out their pipe cleaners to be the same length. I taught them how to add on little arms to their basic snowflake shape by comparing it to a head with arms hugging himself across his chest.

We mixed a solution of borax and hot water. About 3 tbs of borax to 1 cup of hot water and mixed it all together. We talked about what a solution is

(dictionary.com definition: the process by which a gas, liquid, or solid is dispersed homogeneously in a gas, liquid, or solid without chemical change) and the children started calling it the solution too! We were learning science terms.

We hung the pipe cleaner snow flakes overnight, emmersed in the solution. The next day, we pulled out the snowflakes covered in crystals. We looked at the crystals and their shapes under our mini-hand-held-microscope. A lot of the children were fascinated by them and wanted a little piece of their own, so we fished some out of the bottom of the container.

 

The next day, I brought in two books to the classroom with some information about crystals and how they form. Some of the children read through the pages. I sat down with one boy to further discuss the pictures. He was unsure what was happening in the mining photo. We read the passage about the picture and tried to work it out together. He noticed they were using a tool and there was a lot of dust. I pointed to the bar that was attached to the tool and asked him what he thought it was. He said "a drill!" We solved the mystery. 

 

I went around the classroom and asked the children what they knew about crystals and what they wanted to know. I wrote down their comments and questions on a piece of paper. This is what happened at the end of last week, so this week, we will be finding the answers. Stay tuned :)

Work Worth Doing

The movie, Bridge to Terabithia entertained and enlightened my Saturday evening. One of the scenes introduces a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. The main character, his best friend and her parents together paint the living room in gold. As they begin, her dad says "You know, The best prize that life has to offer is working hard at work worth doing--Teddy Roosevelt said that, not me." The room, when hit by the evening sun, glows.

The main character goes on to create something beautiful. What an inspiring quote.

In small town Aurora, I grew up watching my dad disappear to the basement most nights after a day of floor installations to work on his craft. He would design and fabricate many primitive tools, including bows, arrows, sheaths, purses and even storage chests. While camping, each year he would take apart the fireplace rock by rock and rework it to professional quality. He lay our cobblestone pathway, built our backyard deck, created a hanging apparatus for our kitchen pots and pans, and did the interior decorating in our house. Always to good taste.

My dad taught me the essence of what that quote means.

Death Valley's Little Brother

Today I went to my most inspiring and cherished cafe: Death Valleys Little Brother.

I pretty much always order a cafe latte. In the summer, it is chilled. In the winter, it is warm. Both are absolutely delicious and make me want to be a coffee drinker.

This afternoon, I was writing a journal too myself.. basically getting some thoughts down and out of my head. Planning a bit. Considering lots. You know, the usual. I wrote four pages.. here are some passages:

So, I am going to write a book......

I have not really written a book/story before, so am not really sure of the tone. Usually I write to sort out my mind's info, or to get down an understanding, or express a strong emotion. I guess it would be kind of like writing an assignment. Maybe I should make myself a rubric for it to give me some structure. There was that snowflake technique that I could borrow. Or I could just write and see what comes out.........

Am I going to make a book to write in? The nice thing about blank pages is that I don't need to worry about making mistakes and have them permanently with the writing. I could just get a file folder or use one that I have and decorate the cover. Maybe more advanced, I could include different topics in different file folders........

Okay, so in summary, the plan is, get a hand-crank-coffee-grinder, or just drink tea.. Save up for a reading chair. Make a corner space for my writing in the living room. Make a schedule I can stick to weekly, including reading, commonplace journalling, and writing time.

And that is what I did today, before going to work.