School projects...
Feb. 21st, 2006 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishAngus and I spent most of yesterday planning and getting supplies for a diorama on rattlesnakes (he picked the animal himself) that's due this week. I have been trying to get him to sit down and work on it since he got the assignment. This is part of project that's supposed to involve a written report and an oral report; John told me he's supposed have been working on the written report at school but darned if I can pry out of Angus what, if anything, he's done so far. So we've looked up several books and Internet articles and consulted the Encarta Encyclopedia about them, and now I know quite a bit about what rattlesnakes are in California - the speckled and red diamond rattlers are actually rather pretty, and I've seen sidewinders when I've been camping.
We went to Michael's to get crafty things such as paint, some dry plant material (and a little fake prickly pear) and stuff to make a snake out of, then to the pet store nearby for some gravel and a little hollow log for the snake to climb on. I had an idea about making the snake out of a stuffed nylon stocking, but then we found some sort of modeling clay by Crayola that's almost like foam - it rolls and shapes like regular modeling clay and comes in lots of colors, but is very lightweight. There was a package in earth tones that was perfect and it turned out to be half price (darn, I should have gotten two). Then a stop at Barnes & Marmoset so I could pick up a couple of my book group books (and wouldn't you know, they had last month's book, which I couldn't find anywhere before the meeting; given the reviews I read on Amazon for that one, I wonder if a person in my group returned it?), and a dictionary.
Along the way, we had several near meltdowns, which seem to occur anytime Angus's preconceived notions are challenged (or he isn't getting what he wants, just like any other kid). I did give in and get a SpongeBob activity book he asked for, but he's not to play with it until all the projects are done. When looking at the artificial cactus, there was one that looked like one of those mutant potted cactus you see at nurseries and garden centers, with a green column on the bottom and a bright orange or pink barrel shape grafted onto the top. I told him they don't look like that in nature, and he demanded "Why?! That's not fair!" He also got upset at several other things: a display of Bionicle books which I said no to, because he already got the SpongeBob thing and we haven't finished the one we're reading yet; the fact that one lung of most snakes is vestigial or completely missing (No! Put it back! Make it work!); and that rattlesnakes give birth to live young and don't lay eggs - partly due to the fact that he had made some eggs to put in the diorama, although I think he originally said the snake was going to eat them.
Anyway, we tried both versions of snake assembly, and decided the stocking version was going to be too big for the shoebox (although Angus still wants to finish it and make a plushie) and the "clay" version was looking better anyway. Angus did the snake mostly by himself and I made some rattles for it by tying a stack of brownish buttons together (appropriate since each section in a rattlesnakes tail is called a "button") and stuck them in the end of the tail with a toothpick. I copied one of the habitat pictures to make a background, which we glued in, and we smeared glue all over the bottom and then sprinkled brown gravel all over it to make the desert floor. Angus told me where the cactus and the log went and I hot-glued them in (hope this isn't helping too much but I've burned myself pretty bad on a glue gun) and anchored them with some river stones. When the snake is dry by this afternoon, Angus can paint it and then we'll put the dry plant material in. Gareth this looks like fun and can't wait to make one himself - and hopefully, we'll have a lot of stuff left over for when he needs to do it, because Holy Crap! this stuff was expensive!
And he still needs to practice his oral report. Sigh. Without sticking his person opinions in (I'm going to make them all lay eggs!).
Gareth had to give an oral report on a solid last week. He picked his stuffed Whaley (an orca) and had to describe all kind of properties for it. We even stuck Whaley in the bathtub to see whether he floated or not (he started out floating and gradually sank as he absorbed water, but not completely-I'm not sure if first graders are familiar with the term neutrally buoyant ). He got a good grade on it, too, just like the Family Traditions one he had to do last month. He did that one our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch - we started doing that the night before he was born. ;)
We went to Michael's to get crafty things such as paint, some dry plant material (and a little fake prickly pear) and stuff to make a snake out of, then to the pet store nearby for some gravel and a little hollow log for the snake to climb on. I had an idea about making the snake out of a stuffed nylon stocking, but then we found some sort of modeling clay by Crayola that's almost like foam - it rolls and shapes like regular modeling clay and comes in lots of colors, but is very lightweight. There was a package in earth tones that was perfect and it turned out to be half price (darn, I should have gotten two). Then a stop at Barnes & Marmoset so I could pick up a couple of my book group books (and wouldn't you know, they had last month's book, which I couldn't find anywhere before the meeting; given the reviews I read on Amazon for that one, I wonder if a person in my group returned it?), and a dictionary.
Along the way, we had several near meltdowns, which seem to occur anytime Angus's preconceived notions are challenged (or he isn't getting what he wants, just like any other kid). I did give in and get a SpongeBob activity book he asked for, but he's not to play with it until all the projects are done. When looking at the artificial cactus, there was one that looked like one of those mutant potted cactus you see at nurseries and garden centers, with a green column on the bottom and a bright orange or pink barrel shape grafted onto the top. I told him they don't look like that in nature, and he demanded "Why?! That's not fair!" He also got upset at several other things: a display of Bionicle books which I said no to, because he already got the SpongeBob thing and we haven't finished the one we're reading yet; the fact that one lung of most snakes is vestigial or completely missing (No! Put it back! Make it work!); and that rattlesnakes give birth to live young and don't lay eggs - partly due to the fact that he had made some eggs to put in the diorama, although I think he originally said the snake was going to eat them.
Anyway, we tried both versions of snake assembly, and decided the stocking version was going to be too big for the shoebox (although Angus still wants to finish it and make a plushie) and the "clay" version was looking better anyway. Angus did the snake mostly by himself and I made some rattles for it by tying a stack of brownish buttons together (appropriate since each section in a rattlesnakes tail is called a "button") and stuck them in the end of the tail with a toothpick. I copied one of the habitat pictures to make a background, which we glued in, and we smeared glue all over the bottom and then sprinkled brown gravel all over it to make the desert floor. Angus told me where the cactus and the log went and I hot-glued them in (hope this isn't helping too much but I've burned myself pretty bad on a glue gun) and anchored them with some river stones. When the snake is dry by this afternoon, Angus can paint it and then we'll put the dry plant material in. Gareth this looks like fun and can't wait to make one himself - and hopefully, we'll have a lot of stuff left over for when he needs to do it, because Holy Crap! this stuff was expensive!
And he still needs to practice his oral report. Sigh. Without sticking his person opinions in (I'm going to make them all lay eggs!).
Gareth had to give an oral report on a solid last week. He picked his stuffed Whaley (an orca) and had to describe all kind of properties for it. We even stuck Whaley in the bathtub to see whether he floated or not (he started out floating and gradually sank as he absorbed water, but not completely-I'm not sure if first graders are familiar with the term neutrally buoyant ). He got a good grade on it, too, just like the Family Traditions one he had to do last month. He did that one our annual visit to the Pumpkin Patch - we started doing that the night before he was born. ;)
