Arts and Crafts

Although I am vehemently anti-diorama (don't get me started), Trevor's green iguana project did turn out really well, and merited a proud pic.  Iguanas always make me think of Ecuador, so I loved helping him research this one.

I also have to share a new art project I tried with the class, that I am super happy with (not my original idea- borrowed from the internet).  We learned about Marc Chagall, and his love of letting things float, and blending reality and dreams.  We used pastels on brown paper, and I had the kids turn their paper after drawing each object.  Love.

Moon shadow, moon shadow

We had an amazing view of the annular solar eclipse here.  I had planned on making pinhole cameras to be very teachery and sciency about the experience, but I didn't get around to it.  Luckily, our trees did the job for us.  The back wall of the house had thousands of little eclipses all over it, and I was really quite blown away by the coolness of it.  And then I had to spend the evening listening to Cat Stevens.

Commuting

I will never, ever take for granted the fact that my commute is a 4-minute walk.  I love walking in general, but walking to and from work just seems extra special, because hardly anyone I know has the luxury of doing it.  My commuting buddies are pretty cute, too.