books I read this week

These are some of the books I read this week:

   

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake

                                                      by Nancy Willard was very funny.

Bulldozer (have not finished yet)
by Stephen W. Meader   Grandad gave this book because he really liked it when he was a kid and I like
 it too.

these are some picture books I read this week. 

Groundhog At Ever Green Road
by Susan Korman   



Cloudette
by Tom Lichtenheld

I recommend reading any /all of the books listed.

Are we at the Pole?

Below: Enjoying jerky at lunch to simulate the conditions of a polar expedition

So we took advantage of the 

100th anniversary of Robert Falcon Scott reaching the South Pole on January 17, 1912, to do a mini unit on Antarctica beginning on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  Though we covered a number of things, our focus was heavily on the polar expeditions of Roald Amundsen (who reached the geographic pole first- but it was on December 14, 1911, and we were just too busy with the holidays to have caught that!), Scott (who reached the pole, but died, along with the rest of his party, trying to get back to camp) and Ernest Shackleton, my favorite.  I don't believe Shackleton ever actually made it to the pole on any of his 4 trips to Antarctica, though he came within a few miles years before Amundsen attempted it.  Shackleton turned backed that time fearing loss of life.  But the tale of his voyage on the Endurance is a truly remarkable one  that still inspires me.  Pack ice trapped the Endurance  in the early stages of what was to be an expedition to cross the Antarctic continent.  The Endurance eventually sank, yet Shackleton managed against all odds to get all of his crew home safely.

Ernest Shackleton and The Endurance

In addition to penguins, we discussed leopard seals and the whaling industry which facilitated Antarctic exploration.

Penguin races:  Can you keep your egg on your feet
as move across the continent?

This image courtesy
of the Edinburgh  Zoo

Of course if you were studying Antarctica, you'd want to play in snow.  I had been saving some instant snow powder and magic ice blocks, etc. for the right moment.  If I weren't having such a time formatting this blog, I'd show you more.

And though the Inuits live in the the North, not the South, we attempted to build an igloo shelter.  Amundsen owed some of his success to the lessons he learned from the Inuit when he explored the Arctic.  So in the spirit of Amundsen, we brought one more example of Inuit ingenuity (say that three times fast) to the South Pole.

We would have never finished the igloo without Brad.
  I mean that-  despite what it looks like in the
picture.  It was in fact very hard work.

Finally, a frame from tubular newspaper poles.

Big enough

I was most determined to complete an igloo
 so that we would have a use for the excess
 of fake snow in our possession.

Xavier hid his ice balls in the snow,
 determined that this made them
similar to land mines, and also
  doesn't care for the Mama-razzi (no photos!)

Staging a little fun

Captain Nemo

 "Are we at the pole?" I asked the Captain, with a beating heart.

   "I do not know," he replied. "At noon I will take our bearings."

. . . . . If the disappearance of the half-disc of the sun coincided with twelve o'clock on the chronometer, we were at the pole itself.

   "Twelve!" I exclaimed.

   "The South Pole!" replied Captain Nemo, in a grave voice, handing me the glass, which showed the orb cut in exactly equal parts by the horizon.

   I looked at the last rays crowning the peak, and the shadows mounting by degrees up its slopes. At that moment Captain Nemo, resting with his hand on my shoulder, said:

   "I, Captain Nemo, on this 21st day of March, 1868, have reached the South Pole on the ninetieth degree; and I take possession of this part of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents."

   "In whose name, Captain?"

   "In my own, sir!"

   Saying which, Captain Nemo unfurled a black banner, bearing an "N" in gold quartered on its bunting.

(Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea)

The author of our favorite audio books, Jim Weiss at Greathall Productions, offers a contest every month.  December's was to take a photograph with your favorite recording: bonus points for dressing up.  You know from Halloweens past that I enjoy this kind of thing. 

Evan dressed as Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.  The audiobook was "thoughtfully abridged" and we've listened to it twice. It's one of Evan's favorites.  We tried to get a white background to simulate the South Pole.  Perhaps you've heard something about melting polar icecaps?

 Here were our other entries:

Nathaniel Bowditch from
  Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham

Pirate from Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson

  

Strapping young
 Archie Forbes

He was now sixteen, his frame was set and vigorous,  and exercise and constant practice with arms had hardened his muscles. . . .
"Hallo, sirrah!" Sir John exclaimed, reining in his horse, "who are you who pass a knight and a gentleman on the highway without vailing his bonnet in respect?"
"I am a gentleman and the son of knight," Archie said, looking fearlessly up into the face of his questioner.  "I am Archie Forbes, and I vail my bonnet to no man living save those whom I respect and honour."

(G. A. Henty, In Freedom's Cause)

AMERICAN GLADIATORS!!!!!!!!!!!

Evan and I were on the rings at the park and we started to get restless and Dad said Evan looked like a gladiator,of course we asked "what is a gladiator?" He said they were ancient roman wrestlers. That's when he mentioned "American Gladiators'. He said he would try to find a video of "American Gladiators" when we got home, but we started playing "American Gladiators" against each other right then. Here are some shots of us playing "American Gladiators."

Catcher with a glass arm

Catcher with a glass arm is about a catcher named Jody who can not come to throw because he thinks he  will over-throw the ball. I really like this book because Jody and I have a lot in common, the author of the book used a lot of play-by play discriptions that made me feel like I was on the feild, and he used interesting words like Moonie sizzeld a grounder to first.

Christmas Cut-outs

He was so proud,he even let me take a picture.

I do not know why the blog
  rotated this picture.  Nor do I
 know how to rotate it manually- ugh.

Xavier did such a nice job with his school work today, I wanted to share it here.  He has worked with this format before,  It involves coloring 3 shapes, then cutting them out, and pasting them on the matching outline.  Today I challenged him to turn each shape into a Christmas item.  I let him watch as I did so on my own sheet, then he did his (almost) all by himself.  Cole drew some dots to help him trace the heart to make his ornament.  Other than that, it is all his work. 

gymnastics

                                                                                                                         Evan and I were scheduled to perform before the Dickens parade on Friday Dec. 2, but it was raining. I thought we were done with the routine but Miss Cathy wants us to do it at our end of the semester performance. You can watch the video by clicking it. There are little white arrows in the corner that will let you full screen it.