Thursday, March 18, 2010

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Story of the Mean King

I try here to capture something of the picture book that Ellie made today and the way she tells the story it conveys, though each telling is somewhat different, so this is just one snapshot of a developing tradition.

The story of the mean old king. You can see him shooting an arrow at a bird to hurt it because he was so mean.

Once upon a time there was a mean king. he was so mean that he had a sister whose dress was black and was so old that it had a hole in it.

There was a lady who lived in the castle and she didn't know what to do with the king. But she had an idea.

She made a card for the king. Then she went for a walk and she had the king's card in her pocket. She was very afraid because she didn't know what the king would do to her.

When she got to the mean old king, she gave the card to him, and it made him happy.

After that, they loved doing things together like making pizza, and the king liked making cards for the lady, too.

The lady and the king liked each other very much and decided to spend the rest of their lives together. They loved each other and got married.

THE END

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Father-Daughter Art

Ellie and I had lots of fun making a crayon and tape craft this afternoon -- one each for her and Isla.




Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sink or Float


Ellie needed to know whether broccoli sinks or floats, so it was time to introduce the scientific method, complete with formulating a hypothesis, running experiments, and doing analysis. Upon discovering that it sinks, we wondered if cooked and raw broccoli acted differently. Sure enough!



Meanwhile, Crystal has decided to see how small she can knit as she made a lovely, tiny doll to adorn the walnut shells that Izaak collected for us on his way to the office.



We've also discovered that Isla can open her mouth very wide!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Dancing

She's got the moves!

Monday, November 09, 2009

Pumpkin Pot

What better pot to cook pumpkins soup in than the pumpkin? Crystal and the girls sure know how to turn a regular ol' Saturday into a unique experience...and a tasty one, too!








Monday, August 24, 2009

Language Acquisition

Ellie is really enjoying German kindergarten. It's more akin to preschool than what Americans think of as kindergarten -- mostly free-play time as a socialization environment for 3-6 year olds. But more than that, it's a place where Ellie can learn how to navigate this German-speaking world we now inhabit.



I knew language acquisition worked differently for little girls than for me, with my hours of intensive language study, but I didn't really understand the magnitude of the difference.

Ellie came home today saying that the children sat in a circle at kindergarten and passed around a stuffed animal, with each child saying something about it before passing it along. Ellie reported, "When it came to me, I said something in German!" "What did you say?" her parents excitedly inquired. "Well, I don't know...it was in German." Ah so.




Getting to Kindergarten in Style



The Up-And-Coming German Student