Summer Plans

Very shortly a new summer of travel will commence for me!  I am one lucky girl.  My next blog post will be from a place where internet speed will be fast enough for me to make my own post instead of having my father do the posting.  I am excited to be heading to San Francisco and look forward to spending time with my wonderful family.

Here in Chad we have had our rapid first week without school.  It is amazing to think how quickly the time passed.  We have been working on a variety of projects, went out to the base to see the happenings of the Service d'été, and even spent some time playing with local kids at the soccer field near our house.  It really has been fun just relaxing and working on projects that have been long dreamed of but not complete.  There are many projects to complete before I depart, but as long as sickness continues to stay away I have no fear that they will get completed.

Lunch!

Service d'été class



Now!  Crazy what a little rain does!

Remember when ... February?



Winds of change

The winds are blowing a new time for us here in Chad.  It is really amazing how the winds pick up (speeds that knock trees over) and with them come cool breezes and rain.  It will be perfectly sunny and then suddenly the dark clouds start rolling in and just before the rain hits the temperature drops around 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is sad to admit that when the temperatures are in the lower 80's we are all feeling a bit chilled.  Also the winds can't help but remind me, thanks to my mother, of Something Wicked This Way Comes all except for the creepy carnival that gives people their deepest desires…..Anyway, there is nothing quite like a good rain on a tin roof.


It is hard to believe that June is here and that school is ending for lots of people, including us.  This week's project was to choose a book we read and do something creative about it.  Josh created a game, similar to chess, based on a book called Justin Morgan Had a Horse.  This book was about the first Morgan horse (now a more common breed).  It was set during the time after the birth of the US.  So when there were all those revolutions going on in Europe, and France and England constantly warring with each other and the US., Josh's game burst forth with the idea of attacking the other player's army and collecting all their horses and turning them into dog food (complete with a can to put your food in).  Zachary on the other hand did his project on And Then What Happened Paul Revere? A book about, you guessed it, Paul Revere.  He built a model of Paul's fateful trip across the river where the horse, which would take him on his famous ride, would be waiting.  The model is complete with cannons on the Summerset and cloth wrapped on Paul's oars so they wouldn't make a sound in the water.  I on the other hand chose to do my project on The Candymakers.  I wrote letters and emails from the main characters to one another.  Simple, yet fun to think about what might happen after the end of the story.

Our school year is nearly complete, and so it is time for me to start making lists and checking them twice to make sure I get done all I hoped to do prior to my departure in 3 weeks.

Thinking of summer reunions!

It is hard to believe that June is here!  In just 1 month I will be arriving in California to celebrate with my family.  I am so excited for all of us to be together again.  I must admit, I have indeed started my packing lists for my return to the states.  It might seem a bit early but trying to coordinate things always takes more time.

Our school year is drawing to a close and thus it is project time.  The boys and I are trying to do a science experiment related to growing radishes.  We are testing different growing conditions and observing the way plants change to get what they need for survival.  The problem we are facing is that the experiment was clearly not created for Chad.  Our radishes will sprout really fast, but by the time we get to the activity they are dead.  Radishes prefer temperatures below 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  Believe it or not, we have had a few days below 90 (thanks to rainy season), but these days also had high humidity.  It is a little like summer in Ohio.  Our project for this week was writing poetry.  All year we have been studying different forms as well as some famous authors.  So I decided it was time that these kids tried out the different forms.  We tried our hands at nursery rhymes, nonsense verse, limerick, haiku, narrative verse, lyric verse, shape poems, epitaphs, riddles, acrostics, and free verse.  We also studied more specific forms of narrative (like ballad) and lyric (sonnet, villanelle).  It was pretty fun hearing what the kids came up with.  We still haven't had our poetry reading, but I think tomorrow will be the day.  I will let my publisher pick some of the best to be shared here on the blog, since there is a whole book full to choose from. 

Besides doing poetry we are busy with many other projects in these last 2 weeks of school.  It is an exciting time as we approach the end, and I think we are all looking forward to our break (although Marianna did say on our last day off, "Can I do school today?")  I think we will set up some supplies for the girls to play school this summer…..

I hope that spring finds you all well, and I hope that this poetry inspires you to try something new!

Nobody (by Katie)

I’m invisible so I am nobody,

But people see me when I am muddy.

It’s dangerous when people can’t see me.

They might hurt my knee!

Why Do Cows Say Moo (by Marianna)

Why do cows say moo?

Because they’re all named Sue.

Maybe the grass has glue!

And that’s all they do is mooooooo mooooooo mooooooooo!!!!!!

The Mighty Whale (by Zack)

Listen my children to this chilling tale,

About Herod the killer whale.

On every moon lit night,

Sailors see a flash of white.

It sent many into a fright.

 

When Herod rose from the water to his full height,

It made many sailors fear the fight.

Their ships are full of fish,

And this is what is Herod’s wish

He wanted the pile on his dish,

 
In order for Herod to eat,

He sank each ship he did meet.

He would take a bite from the bottom of the boat,

Until the structure would no longer float.

 
A mighty warship emerged from the fog.

So Herod picked up a giant walnut log.

The war ship planned to sink the mighty whale,

The captain shouted, ”Let down the sail.”

 
Herod the whale used his tail

He broke the ship to pieces and split the sail.

With no fish on board to fill a pan

Herod ate each and every man.

To this day

Herod the whale is a –okay.

Mars trucks (by Josh)

The aliens of mars,

Needed some trucks.

They had cars,

To carry their ducks.

But they needed things to carry their candy bars.

 
So they set off,

With a grim laugh.

They ran into a great piece of chaff,

On reaching the planet of calf.

 

The mother cows gave a bellow.

The aliens turned yellow,

Of great fright,

Summer Home (by Elin)

Sun turning all green

The smell of cut grass and mint

Water beckoning