All About Elvis

THAT'S ALRIGHT MAMA: Today MPA was all about celebrating a birthday - the birthday of a man gone long before CJ and Annabelle were born, but one whose mark on America is indelible.

"Before Elvis, there was nothing." - John Lennon

"Elvis changed everything." - Bono

"Elvis is my religion." - Bruce Springsteen

Without telling the kids what I was up to, I just cued up "Jailhouse Rock" on YouTube and blasted it through my computer's booming sound system. The kids wasted no time in spontaneously grabbing guitars and the trampoline and getting their groove on.

Not a bad way to start the school day. :)

Next up was "That's Alright Mama." I told the kids Elvis cut the track on July 5, 1954. Born on Jan. 9, 1935, Elvis was only 19 years old when it was recorded. The song was on the radio two days later and the rest, as they say, is history.

We took a break in the dance party to learn a bit more about the man behind the music.

First we hopped to BrainPop's biopic of The King. It was cute, informative and pulled no punches (explaining that in the end Elvis was reclusive and a drug addict). The kids took a quick quiz about the video's contents, and completed a word search puzzle involving Elvis-related terms.
Next, I gave them an Edhelper.com story, "The King." It had two characters (a pair of spiders living in Graceland) and a lot of dialogue, so I had them read it as a play. They really enjoyed that. At the end of that story, there was a comprehension quiz, which they aced, and a couple of questions.

One of the questions was "Elvis got his first guitar when he was 11 years old. Would you like to play guitar? Why or why not?" CJ wrote, "Yes I would and I have one!" Annabelle wrote, "Yes. I would if I had one, which I do!"

Another question was, "Would you like to become a famous singer? Why or why not?"

Annabelle wrote, "Yes. I would if I ever get good with my instruments." CJ wrote, "No thank you. I can't come up with songs."

Imagine CJ's surprise when I told him that Elvis never wrote a single song. :)

TOUR TIME: Next up, we visit took a couple of video tours of Graceland. We started with the "Visit Graceland" video to be found on the front page of Elvis.com. When the camera panned through the room with Elvis' jumpsuit collection, Annabelle blurted out, "I want to go there! I want to go there! I want to go there!"

I told her that makes two of us. :)

We also enjoyed the "Graceland for kids" video on the kids portion of Elvis.com. There, we also found a children's activity book (PDF), in which Annabelle found a couple of coloring pages. She also did some of her own artwork later in the day. Love the hair. :) At the suggestion of a lesson plan found on Elvis.com (PDF here), we talked a bit about goals and confidence and what the two have in common.

I played this video of Elvis singing "Confidence" from "Clam Bake."


The kids really liked it (and asked to watch it again). I think part of the appeal was that Elvis was interacting with kids in the video.

After viewing it, I asked the kids what they thought 'confidence' means.

"You have to have confidence because if you're in that kind of slide, there's no way out except sliding out," CJ said (referring to the girl in the video).

According to Annabelle, confidence means, "You have to believe in yourself!"

FIT FOR A KING: After a morning of learning, the kids were ready for a snack. But we wouldn't be having any ordinary snack, no siree. I told the kids they were going to make one of Elvis' favorites - a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Don't let some knock off recipes fool you - Elvis didn't like the bananas sliced. They were to be smashed in with the peanut butter, so that's what we did. Then we spread it on bread and grilled it in butter, of course.

I cut it into quarters and served it to the kids. The reviews weren't stellar. "I think it's OK," Annabelle said with a curled lip.

CJ was more blunt. "I wish this never existed," he confessed.
ONE FOR THE MONEY: Even our math was Elvis themed today. Our lesson was inspired by a PDF math lesson I found on Elvis.com featuring story problems starring Elvis. For instance, one problem was, "Elvis worked at Crown Electric. He drove a delivery truck For $1.00 per hour. If he worked for eight hours for each day for five days, how much would his paycheck be for the week?"

I reminded the kids that math story problems were like mini mysteries. Listen to the story and you get the clues you need to solve the problem. Annabelle got it immediately. She said, "He makes $8 a day, times 5 ..." and knew the answer was within reach.

Another one I threw at them was, if it's 2011 and Elvis died in 1977, how many years has he been gone? Next to her calculation of 34 years, Annabelle extemporaneously wrote, "long time ago."

And I asked them, "If Mommy is 45 now, and Elvis died in 1977, how old was Mommy when Elvis died?"

"You were a 'tween," CJ said, after figuring out the answer was 11.

LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY: I was OK with all this Elvis until I made the terrible mistake of clicking on a YouTube video that included news coverage of Aug. 16, 1977, the day he died. I managed OK through that, but when footage of his funeral procession started, that was too much for me.

But as hard as it was to watch, it was impossible to look away. ...

Hooked on Science

TAKE A DIVE: I feel very fortunate - we have so many nifty science-y things around the house, it was hard for me to decide which one to try today.

I ended up opting for a 99 cent Value Village score. A couple of weeks ago I found a Cartesian diver kit that had been untouched by its original owner. Their loss, our gain! And don't you just have to love a box that says "BE AMAZING!" on it?

Our first step in today's experiment was taking stock to make sure we had all of the elements - two "pipettes" (a plastic bulb with a plastic tube attached), two wires, two brass hex nuts. Check!
We had to affix the hex nuts to the bottoms of the pipettes, and cut off most of the tubes, which we did with no trouble. Annabelle helped wrap the blue wire around one nut and fashioned a hook shape. CJ helped wrap the red wire around the other hex hut and fashion a loop.

Per directions, we filled a recycled water bottle to the brim (that part was important), and squeezed the pipette with the hook-wired affixed to fill the bulb about half way - to the point where it would bob but not sink. We filled the bulb on the loop-wired pipette a little more, so that it would automatically sink to the bottom of the bottle no matter what. Our bobbing hook and sinking loop pipettes were placed then the bottle and then the fun began.

The kids took turns trying to hook the red loop with the blue wire. First they had to squeeze ... And then, at just the right time, let go!
It took them each a few tries to get the hang of it, but before long they were controlling their diver pretty well.

"What's a 'Cartesian'?" CJ asked at one point. Good question, CJ, glad you asked!

The literature that came with the kit did a nice job of explaining that a Cartesian Diver is an experiment that was first done hundreds of years ago. It's named from Rene Descartes (1596-1650) of France, who was a philosopher, mathematician and scientist. Descartes purportedly made his divers out of glass medicine droppers.

So why do the divers diver? Well, when they were squeezing the bottle, CJ and Annabelle were forcing the trapped air in the pipette to compress into a smaller space, making the diver's weight increase. Conversely, when they let go, the compressed air in the pipette expands, forcing water out of the diver and allowing it to float back to the surface.

The kids have played with the diver on and off all day. We certainly got our 99 cents worth!

SOAKING IN: After he finished math this morning, CJ asked, "Do you remember a song called 'Four Seasons'?"

I asked if he meant the one by Vivaldi, and he said yes. He started singing part of it da-dah da-da-da da da-da! and wanted to know which season it was from. I guessed "Spring," and we hopped to YouTube to confirm it. Bingo!

He and Annabelle then asked if they could listen to all four seasons. You know I said yes. :)

We talked about how Winter might be the best know of Vivaldi's "seasons" and guessed that perhaps because it's the most dramatic. Fall and Spring are both often used on soundtracks and for, commercials, too. After listening to them all, we decided summer is probably the least famous. We wonder if that's because it's the least dramatic (to our ears). But it's not that Summer is uninteresting - especially if you're listening to it while watching sand animation artist Ferenc Cakó at work.

ON POINT: The kids continued to rack up Accelerated Reader points today. They took quizzes on the five books we read yesterday.

Not like I'd want them taking standardized tests everyday, but I do see value in this exercise. First, it demonstrates that they retained and understood what they read, and second, it desensitizes (for lack of a better word) them to standardized tests. There are going to be tests they have to take in the future, and knowing how to take quizzes and tests is an important skill for them to have.

LAST CLASS: Annabelle's last soccer class was this afternoon. She and her one and only classmate got to choose their favorite games from class to play. They had a great time - her friend even running out of his shoes at one point (Annabelle kindly helped him put them back on).

At the end of class they got little certificates of completion. We wish we could sign her up for another session, but they are moving the class to Mondays, right at the same time as her ballet class. As an alternative, we're mulling over signing her up for an indoor soccer session at a local arena. Stay tuned ...

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!

Mostly Music

TUNING UP: The kids had quite a lot of music homework this morning. First, they had to draw a picture of a scene they remembered from a Native American "Raven trickster" story told to them by Miss Nancy the week before Christmas. (Mercifully, they had no trouble recalling the story and coming up with something.)
Next, they had some new note pattern cards. They had to look at those patterns and find them in a song they're learning ("When the Train Comes Along"). Then, they copied those note cards onto lined paper and transcribed the entire song to to staff paper.

DVD-DISCOVERY: While rooting 'round looking for a video game, the kids came across a DVD from their childhood (I know, I know, they're still children ...) which they haven't seen in years. It was a collection of music videos by Laurie Berkner . They were both very eager to watch it, so I pushed of some things that could wait and let them do just that.

They sang and danced and jumped (on the trampoline) for about 40 fun minutes of time well spent.

ROARING '20s: Around midday I got an email from a friend who knows I enjoy doing research. She was hoping to find info on some Guy Lombardo recordings from the 1920s, as her uncle was a part of his band then.

I told her the first place I would start would be YouTube, where music lovers post all sorts of stuff - including, as it turns out, Lombardo recordings from the 1920s. I had Lombardo's "Coquette" from 1928 streaming through the speakers when Annabelle said, "I like that music. It sounds like it would be in 'Steamboat Willie.' "

I told her I thought she was right - and we were surprised to find out that Steamboat Willie was also from 1928. How 'bout that?

We spent some time listening to a few other old time-y songs of the same decade, including the catchy "Hi Diddle Diddle" recorded by the Charley Straight Orchestra in 1926.

Gosh it's so great to have YouTube giving us access to all this good ol' stuff!
CALENDAR CREATURE: This morning we got a link to the very cool Curiosity Calendar of the Month Web site (thanks, Undine!) Via the site, you can download a super cute PDF that allows you to craft a desktop calendar. (Cool - a craft project and a calendar all in one!)

The kids just loved the adorable Yeti that is this month's project.
The Curiosity Calendar is brought to us by the Curiosity Group, a Portland, Ore.-based marketing agency.


The PDF we printed out was two pages - the first page included instructions and a cute poem the kids loved. They kept reciting it all night long:

The once was a cat-loving Yeti
Whose favorite dish was spaghetti
'Til he went to Nantucket
And looked in a bucket
And saw ice cream topped with confetti.

I loved the poem because it gave me a chance to talk to them about Limericks! :)


The yeti involved a LOT of precision cutting. CJ wanted to call it quits several times, but you know I wasn't about to let that happen.


He soldiered through and both kids were thrilled with their resulting desktop decorations. BACK TO THE MAT: After missing last week, we were back to yoga this afternoon. The kids' regular teacher was back from her Christmas holiday, and they were happy to see her. There was a new student in class today - another boy. I think it's the first time he hasn't been the only dude in the class. ...

Hello, 2011!

POD PEOPLE: The kids got in some PJ play time this morning with their dolphin collection.

BAG O' BOOKS: We got right back into the swing of schooliness this morning when I busted out a bag of books I'd scored a couple weeks back from the Rainier branch of the Seattle Public Library. While killing time there during a kids' yoga class, I found several bags sitting on a shelf in the children's section. Each bag had a theme and it included several books on that topic. The one we opened up today was about bravery. We found five picture books inside.

"Swimmy," by Leo Lionni, was the story of a little black fish who convinces other small fish to swim in formation of a giant fish, so they look powerful and can sight see round the ocean. The book was short on words and long on pretty watercolors.

"Hoptoad," by Jane Yolen, was about a brave (or is that stupid?) toad that hops out onto a road in front of a truck. Truth be told, while reading the book, I couldn't help but think of the news story I read this weekend about the brave, er, stupid man who decided to play a real life game of the arcade classic Frogger. Fortunately, for Hoptoad, the family in the truck screeched to a halt just in time and helped him across the road. Unfortunately, it was damn near "GAME OVER" for the real live dude playing Frogger. http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/29/1892464/cops-man-playing-real-life-frogger.html#storylink=mirelated

"Snip Snap! What's That" was a fun read about three siblings and how they deal with an alligator that comes a calling.

"Big Chickens" was a fun story about four rather hapless feathered friends who basically clutz their way into becoming brave.

And finally, "Not so Tall for Six" was the oddest book of the lot. There was a fair amount of Southern or Wild West-y words and images used, as well as an abundance of insect imagery. An interesting mix, for sure.

Also in the bag was a musical CD of kind of bluegrassy folk music "for kids and kin". Frankly, after reading the tracks' names and listening to a couple of tunes, I wasn't sure how the music was supposed to match the 'bravery' theme. That, and I wasn't too keen on the music even if it had matched the theme. The CD quickly went back in the bag.

There was also a book for grown ups: "A Running Start How to Play. Physical Activity and Free Time Create a Successful Child." I skimmed the book - it looks like an excellent resource for parents who haven't read up on the topic already.

All in all the bag was a boon. I'll be checking out more book bags in the future.

PUTTING IT TO THE TEST: Not content with just enjoying the books (ha ha), I decided it was high time to try out the Accelerated Reading program the kids recently signed up for via their Home Education Exchange (HEE).

By reading books and then taking comprehension quizzes, the kids can earn points. With those points they can get prizes at HEE. We were able to find (5-question) quizzes on three of the books the kids read this a.m. They aced them, earning a whopping .5 points per title. It's a start!

THE SCIENCE GUY: Today's science lesson came courtesy of Bill Nye, The Science Guy. We watched a DVD about rivers and streams - how they're formed, how they fill and drain, what happens when you mess with them or the land around them - all good stuff. Gotta love Bill - he makes science so engaging.

DIDN'T GET THE MEMO: About 3 today we started getting ready for ballet. Bee got her leotard and tights on, while Christian, CJ and I layered up for a cold weather run/ride.

We parked at the Community Center and Bee and I went it just a minute before her class was to start. Imagine our surprise to find a darkened ballet studio. Hmm. Clearly, ballet was not happening here today. ... I figured the class must have been canceled due to illness or emergency, but we didn't get a call, likely because our new phone numbers aren't on file with the parks and rec department. I need to go online and fix that ...

We decided that Bee would join us on a bike ride, but of course we had to go back home to get her bike and warmer clothing. And then back over the hill we drove to the Magnolia flatlands, where we'd be running/riding. (We haven't run since before Christmas and my hip is The Worst Ever, so we weren't going to take on hills.)

We made a big rectangle - probably the Longest Mile (or so) Ever for me. The combination of too much time off running, three days of high fever and the left hip of an arthritic, 18 year old black Laborador was not pretty. But we made it.
Afterward, the kids and Christian played at Catherine Blaine's playground while I limped around Albertsons.
N.Y.E. NIGHTMARE: On New Year's Day CJ asked me, "What's the limit on the number of 'favorites' you can have on YouTube?"

I told him as far as I knew, there was no limit, but that I wasn't sure. And I asked him why he was wondering. He told me, "I had a nightmare that my favorites were cut out because I had too many of them. Let's check my account and find out. If they were really cut out I will be like. 'OMG, it was real.' "

Fortunately for CJ, it was just a nightmare.

CALCULATION NATION: Thanks to an email lead (from Clickschooling), we discovered Calculation Nation today. WoW!

Calculation Nation® is a great Web site where students can play math challenge games against students around the globe (or, you can play independently, against the computer).

Calculation Nation® is part of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics "Illuminations" project, which offers Standards-based resources that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics for all students. (Illuminations is also part of Thinkfinity.org, an awesome educational Web site funded by the Verizon Foundation to provide free educational resources to parents, teachers, and students.)

A lot of the games on the site a just a bit above CeeJ and Bee's mathematical prowess at the moment (factoring, algebra, prime numbers, squared numbers, figuring perimeters), but there are some they can at least start to use (fractions, angles). Today we played a little bit of "Dig It," in which we had to create and locate fractions on a number line to tell your shovel where to dig for hidden gems.

KERPLUNK: Throughout the day, Annabelle toted our Xylofun book around the house and plunked out tunes for us. HE SAID: Last night CJ was playing "Super Mario Crossover," a wonderfully creative fan hack game that takes the original Super Mario Bros. platform and allows players to insert other Nintendo Entertainment System characters into the game. Players can also choose the degree of difficulty (super easy to extreme).

CJ set the parameters to a new game and turned to Christian and said, "I want you to be my beta tester for this." ROFL!

I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS: The wackiest alphabet "book" you likely have ever seen. "A-Z of Awesomeness" is the work of artist Neill Cameron. In 2009 he took one suggestion per day from followers of his blog, Facebook or Twitter and produce a drawing for each letter of the alphabet.

CJ and Annabelle found his experiment's result most amusing - especially CJ, and especially the letters D, H and P.