Silver Ball and Silver Screen

WORLD VISION: From the latest "Highlights" magazine the kids received, we got the idea to color coffee filters with blue and green markers to resemble the Earth. It was a fragrant project, as they used Mr. Sketch markers.

Once they ink was applied, we misted the filters. Messy, messy, messy, that was. I was glad the ink wasn't permanent!

After their globes dried, this is how they looked. Pretty!

DAMN DIVISION: The exercise from the math book today was back to long division. That caused CJ some consternation and he completely forgotten how to deal with dividing a one digit number into a 2 or 3 digit number when the first digit of that larger number wasn't big enough to have the numeral divided by it. (Yeah, that's really clear - not. I know. Sorry.) But here, for instance: divide 6 into 543. For whatever reason, he wanted to add the 5 and 4 to make 9, instead of treating them like 54, as he should. And yes, he did have nearly identical examples we went over together which he could have referenced. He got panicky and weepy about it, which isn't cool, and only made it worse, so he had an opportunity, shall we say, cool down.

Once he chilled, we went over it again and he felt really silly that he a) couldn't get it himself and b) that he'd had a meltdown over it. Hopefully by tomorrow it will just be a bad memory.

FANTASY: To get some writing in today, I went to the "Voyages in English" section of Loyola Press' Web site. From there, I clicked on their 'writing prompts' ideas and selected the topic of fantasy fiction. From the list generated, I selected this prompt for the kids: "You wake up one morning feeling a little strange. As you walk into the kitchen for breakfast, you discover you have a superpower."

I told them that yes, this is schoolwork, but it is totally something they could have fun with. Before they started writing, we talked about expectations. Like, I expected they would describe what "feeling a little strange" was like. Also, there should be info about how they discovered what their superpower was, and how their friends and family reacted.

They each spent about 20 minutes to come up with their stories.

Here's CJ's:

I woke up one morning feeling strange. I felt like I had water in my head!, Maybe even blood or lava. As I came to the kitchen for breakfast, I asked for some Reese's Puffs, but then I realized that I had the power to levitate!

I went outside to play with the Frisbee, but thanks to levitation, it brought the Frisbee to a whole new level! After a while, I went to a barn, but then I realized that this levitation had a mind of its own. It lifted the barnyard up then crashed it, it made a NASA rocket go crazy, and much, much more.

I went to the hospital, so I could stop this levitation. I asked the doctor, "CAN YOU GET THIS LEVITATION POWER TO GO AWAY!!!!!!??????" The doctor said, "Okay, but this will require a lot of surgery."After a while, the doctor said "Sorry, but it looks like this is impossible." After that, I went to home for the rest of the day.

I told CJ I wanted to know what happens next, so he might have to continue his story tomorrow.

Here's Annabelle's story:

One day I woke up and felt funny when I was heading for the kitchen to eat breakfast. I felt like I had gills! I looked at the fish tank and sorta wanted to jump right in! I asked myself "Why do I want to jump in there?" so I went to the kitchen and ate my Alpha Bits. And right after that, looked in the mirror. I did have gills! I was so startled I almost fell over!


I decided I wanted to go swimming. I just wanted to test my gills! And so I went to the beach and dove underwater in my swimsuit and flippers. I stayed in there longer than ever before. My gills worked! Now I don't have to worry about losing any air while I'm underwater.

I told Annabelle she needs to continue her story, as well. They were both supposed to include how family and friends reacted to the new superpower.

SUM SENSE: The kids would have a much easier time of things if they had their multiplication tables memorized. To that end, this afternoon I found an online game called Sum Sense, where the kids are given numbers on virtual flashcards and they have to use them to form a true equation. For instance, the numbers might be 2, 9, 8, and 7 and you'd have to drag that down into place in an equation that was _ x _ = _  _ . Naturally, that would be 8 x 9 = 72. It was good practice, and I like that it was timed. CeeJ and Bee could stand to have the heat turned on under them more often.

SCREENING: This evening, after CJ's acting class, we headed to the Seattle Pinball Museum.

A couple of days ago, an email from a producer let us know that her group (Union Street Films) would be screening the short documentary they'd made about pinball ("Still Playing") there. We were interested because Annabelle and/or CJ were potentially going to be in the video, as the crew had filmed them last week at Full Tilt (another arcade). "Still Playing" is for the International Documentary Film Challenge. I checked out the challenge's Web site and watched some of last year's winners. Very interesting, well done shorts.

So right after CJ's acting class (which went "GREAT!" per him), we ripped down to the International District for the screening party. I'd cautioned the kids ahead of time about "the cutting room floor." As an example, I told them that for every 5 pictures I take, I delete 4. Harsh, but true. So they were ready to not see themselves. However, as soon as we walked in the door, one of the film crew greeted us warmly and said she was so glad we were there and she couldn't wait for us to see them in the film. Guess they made the cut. ;)

With great anticipation we crowded into the screening room upstairs at the Pinball Museum. I had to laugh, the film opened with an adult male talking about how his mom wouldn't let him go to arcades because "only the bad kids hung out there." And then ... cut to CJ and Annabelle at the arcade! LOL!

The film was clever, captivating and the footage of the kids was cute. Annabelle was in several shots - my favorite was one where there was a long row of pinball machines and she was standing in front of one in distance, dramatically draping herself over it after some apparent bit of bad luck.

As the documentary ended, CJ asked loudly if he could get a copy. :) He was assured that that would happen down the road. Unfortunately, until after the contest judging (in May), it won't be available for public viewing. Naturally, we'll let you know if/when it's available for the viewing public.