Balance and Books

STEADY AS HE/SHE GOES: Christmas break is but a happy memory, and today the kids were heading back to science class. Happily, I remembered to check their folders to see if they had homework. They did!

Fortunately, it was quite simple and all about balance, which is the unit the class is in the midst of.

The kids were predict whether walking a curb with arms down or outstretched would be easier. They both predicted outstretched, and their experiment afterward confirmed it. Next, they were to predict whether standing on one foot with one's eyes opened or closed would be easier. They both thought "open" was easier, and their follow up test proved that to be the case.

Lastly, they were challenged to walk balancing something on their heads. We chose a baseball scorebook. Annabelle went first. It took her a few tries before she was able to talk about an 8 foot line. CJ was up next. It slid right off his head initially, which prompted him to try to cheat (see below).

OUT OF THIS WORLD: Our first order of business this morning was unzipping another bag o' books from Seattle Public Libraries The kids were excited as I carried the bag to the couch. The mystery of not knowing what literary adventures awaited inside.

"It says 'Outer Space!' " Annabelle squealed with delight upon spying a tag on the bag.We read them in no particular order - I just reached in and pulled out a book. First up was "There's Nothing to do on Mars," by Chris Gall. It's about a young boy and his parents, who are colonists on Mars. The boy roams the planet trying to find something interesting. Along the way he finds old toys (one of NASA's Mars rovers) and even parties with Martians (who are stinky, because they can never bathe, because there's a lack of water). Davey and his robot dog manage to scare of some action that changes the landscape of Mars forever. We loved the book - the illustrations are wonderfully detailed and colorful.

Next we found "How to Catch a Star" by Oliver Jeffers. It was about a lonely young boy who wanted a star for a best friend. Catching one was harder than he thought it would be. Rather than a rollicking adventure (like the first book) this book is "quiet." It would make a great bedtime story.

"Earth to Stella" is a journey along with a girl getting ready for bed. As she prepares, she has fanciful visions of herself rocketing through space, exploring planets and meeting aliens. The title comes from her dad's voice, as he often interrupts to keep her on track in the real world.

Next, we were surprised by "Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars," is a collection of space poems and paintings by Douglas Florian. It was a nice addition to the mix because the poems were non fiction, and the artwork was interesting, as Florian mixed media (painting, prints and collage, to name a few).

Lastly, we read "Astronaut Handbook," which is an engaging, early primer for young children who are thinking about becoming an astronaut.

All of the books were wonderful; we're really liking the books-by-the-bag from the library!

GOING MOBILE: Soon it was time for science.

Today, the kids got to get their Calder on - more specifically, experiment creating hanging mobiles. As the (Alexander) Calder Foundation will tell you, "He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony."

It was a cool exercise, combining creativity, physics and requiring patience. :) Making mobiles is hard - those darn parts move when you touch them! In all, they each made three mobiles, each a bit more complex than the last. CJ got frustrated a couple of times, but found a way to make it work.

CANDYLAND: I decided to mix things up a bit today by trying to find a new grocery store in Shoreline, since we're up there once a week. I would LOVE it if there was a Winco in our parts, but, alas, there's nothing even close size and price wise, really. However, today we did discover an enormous, new looking TOP Foods. I think we've found our new favorite grocery store.

Why, you ask? The prices aren't jaw dropping, by any means, but things were just a little bit cheaper there than we're used to paying at Albertsons and Fred Meyer. And I'd forgotten how nice it is to shop a suburban grocery store, with its aisles wide enough to drive an SUV down and a relatively small amount of other shoppers.

But the best part of our discovery today? By far it was TOP's bulk candy section. I've never seen anything like it at any other store (grocery or otherwise). This photo shows significantly less than half of it. It just went on and on with every kind of candy you can think of, including rock candy and margarita flavored jellybeans! Boy, will this resource come in handy on some of our crafty cooking projects.

MORE AND MORE: This is an increasingly familiar scene around our place at all hours of the day and night - CJ and Annabelle, reading independently just for the fun/personal enrichment of it. Bravo!