Tuesday Doings

CHESS CHALLENGE:  For today's math learnin', we took on a fun challenge out of "The Amazing Mathematical Amusement Arcade." 

The task: Place all 16 pawns on a chessboard, without having any row, column or diagonal have more than two pawns. (In other words, no three or more pawns in a row, column or diagonal.)

The kids tried to work on it together for about 4 seconds, but that disintegrated quickly. So, they took turns. 

I broke out a ruler to help them visualize their lines.

They each toiled on it for awhile. Annabelle finally struck upon the idea of symmetry, which was a key to the solution. I won't post the answer here, so as not to be a spoiler.

Of course, with the chessboard out, Annabelle wanted to play, and so we did. 

I can't tell you how much harder chess is when you can't tell or remember which piece is which. 

A DOG'S TALE: Yesterday marked the 57th anniversary of the first Earthling to orbit space. No, it wasn't a human. It was a mongrel named Laika (or 'barker'). She was a stray street animal, picked up from the streets of Moscow and turned into a Cosmodog for the Sputnik 2 mission.

A space-loving Facebook friend of my posted a link to a short animation about Laika. Dubbed a 're-imagining,' about Laika's mission, it's HIGHLY recommended viewing, managing to be both heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. Have a hanky handy while watching. Poor Annabelle needed a couple of moments to compose herself afterward. She wasn't the only one. 

The award-winning work by Avgousta Zourelidi is ©National Film and Television School 2010. 
LAIKA from Avgousta Zourelidi on Vimeo.
Laika made the ultimate sacrifice, so that humans could take their next step toward spaceflight. 

She was a good dog. 

ANIMAL ART: For some arts and language arts enrichment today, the kids read the September/October issue of Scholastic Art, a great magazine by the Scholastic folks. There were a number of intriguing stories about animals in art (everything from cave paintings to modern, abstract works). One of the creations featured was Damien Hirst's "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," which involves a real live dead shark in a formaldehyde solution. The article noted it is "one of contemporary art's most celebrated and controversial works." 

That prompted us to discuss whether or not it is art or a "readymade" as some have suggested. I brought up taxidermy, and told the kids that some taxidermists are really gifted at their craft, or artists, while others are just hacks. 

Imagine our surprise tonight when we were at the University of Washington's huge bookstore on their main campus and right there on shelves front and center were these two titles!

While there, we picked up Col. Chris Hadfield's latest book, as well as a ticket guaranteeing we'll get to meet him (again!) on Saturday, when he's in the store for a short talk and book signing event. The kids also found the brand new "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book. "The Long Haul." CJ already finished it! 
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PLAYTIME: This afternoon was a departure from our normal park routine. We met up with some new-to-us people who also engage in alternative educational paths at a local park for a Nerf war!

We only had one problem: Neither CJ nor Annabelle owned a Nerf gun before this afternoon. We remedied that by going to Fred Meyer, where we were quickly overwhelmed by the number of choices and their various features. When did Nerfing become so complicated? 

CJ settled on the Rough Cut 2x4, while Bee went for the Rebelle "Messenger" from the 'Secrets and Spies' series (I told you it was complicated). 

Fortunately, we were smart enough to figure out how to use said guns, and once the other kids showed up, CJ and Annabelle were ready to battle (though Annabelle was regretting her shoe choice. Wearing Twinkle Toes with super bright LEDs which strobe at every step is not conducive to being stealthy). 

A-SORTED:  We're trying to do some fall cleaning around here, focusing on closets and cupboards first. This weekend, we took on pounds and pounds of crayons, sorting them by color.

It was fun looking at all their different names (I've always dreamed of having the job as the person who gets to name the colors).