African Paintings

On Wednesday and Thursday we went to Mrs. Baker's art room with Mr. Willis' class to start our African paintings. We originally thought we would do a traditional Kenyan batik, but Mrs. Baker told us that the melting wax can cause problems (such as smoke detectors going off...) so we found a great website which taught us how to do a fake batik. First the kids outlined their African animals, people, or landscapes on their paper with white crayon. The next step, shown in these photos, is of the kids painting their first layer of paint on to their papers. Next we will paint a second layer over the first, and then finally we will "batik" the paintings by covering them with India ink and then rinse the ink off. Stay tuned!

Kenyan Safari

We have been viewing slides and pictures from the trip that I took to Kenya when I was in college. What a coincidence that Mr. Willis did the same trip when he was in college! We have viewed many plants, animals, people, and landscapes that are found in Kenya. Yesterday you chose what you would like to study further. Today I would like you to post a comment telling me what you chose to study and why you chose it. After you do that I want you to go to paint and do a drawing of your research topic. Be sure to save!

Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the Inauguration

Today we viewed the video, "Yes We Can" with Mr. Willis' class. After our discussion I would like you to respond to the following prompts:

• Comment on the connection between the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, whcih was on Monday, and Barack Obama becoming our 44th President on Tuesday.

• What does President Obama mean when he quotes the Declaration of Independence saying, "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."

• What does "Yes We Can" mean to you?

Be thoughtful, and be sure to edit your comment with your partner before posting.

This photo is a picture of people sliding quarters at quarters for our science workshop. Two of the quarters fell off of the stack and onto the table. Every time we slid the quarters at the quarters we wrote down what happen. We wrote down how many quarters fell off the stack. Usually one or two of the quarters fell off the stack. Most of the time, it was the bottom quarter that fell off. My partner was Liam Drake; we both got to slide the quarters at the stack to see how many we could get to fall off. Then the other person had to pick the stack up.
By Nevin Hood and Liam Drake