Paper Hats

On September 9, at the Australian Breastfeeding Association Goldfields Regional Meeting I have planned a deBono Thinking Hats session to contemplate the issue of the cost of 2007 conference and training.  I thought it might be fun to have coloured hats to wear while we think in each colour, so I went looking for paper hat instructions.

Using a large coloured sheet might get a little pricey - but perhaps the boys could paint some made from newspaper.  CreativeKidsAtHome had suggestions to achieve the different shapes I'd like to use.  Enchanted Learning offer an origami samurai hat.  Then there is one way to make four different hats.  Then there is the white chef's hat or, from about.com a green leprechaun hat or black top hat.

A green garden hat (from Playschool).

No so usable for me, but fascinating:  While the Smithsonian introduced the Mad Hatter, they don't have images online, so it is Mr Paper I thank for my first image of Moses' beautiful headware sculptures. I'm equally grateful to the student artists, their teacher and Dwight-Englewood School for displaying the students' Mad Hatter inspired creations.

Blue whale Photo, Balaenoptera musculus :: Image #05824 :: Phillip Colla Natural History Photography

Now there is something you don't expect to learn every day.

Blue whale faeces (Photo, Balaenoptera musculus :: Image #05824 :: Phillip Colla Natural History Photography)

It was St. Joseph County Public Library's library for life blog (specifically Ewww, Gross!) that piqued my curiosity.

A study of small fluffy creatures and library usage

While my boys are not small fluffy creatures, it is never too soon to learn about appropriate library usage - perhaps this lesson from Peeps will prove valuable .

Weather site for Fish

Fish asked yesterday what makes tornados - maybe Web Weather for Kids can tell him.

Dewey Decimal Classification

I'm not sure how relevant the DDC will be to Cricket or Fish. Possibly they'll only need a basic appreciation of the system in order to use libraries. I'd like to learn enough to classify materials myself. There is an animated tour of the DDC at the Online Computer Library Centre. I wonder whether the notion or practice of classifying websites to DDC is at all useful.

Cows with Guns AND StarGate

I'd love to look at it: http://stargate-sg1.hu/amanda/videos.php

Power out

Last night the power went out right when we were about to have tea.

I grabbed the torch and Mum and Fish lit candles.

At the time that the power went out I had just cooked tea and has watching M*A*S*H.

Fish was playing Warcraft on the pc.

Mum was washing a pot.

The power was out for 20 min.

A friend said the police did it, to help resolve a hostage situation.

Mythos

Today I looked at Mythos, a game that a mate sent me.
Its kind of confusing but I think it will be a good game.

So far I've found out how to build things and train people.

I still need to learn how to attack.

WOW quiz

I got 30 correct out of 50 questions in the WOW epic quiz.

Today I'm looking for Cows with guns to show a friend.

Considering categories

I'm delighted to discover that a form of categories *is* possible in blogger.

I'll wait till I'm not so tired, and not so overcommitted to give it a go.

But when I do I'll have another look at delicious2blogger
or before that How to do categories for blogger

Ballaarat Observatory

Today we went to the Ballarat Observatory for National Science Week.
We did a scavenger hunt.
The Jelbart building was built in 1918 - I guess, from the date over the door.
The longitude on the sundial was east 143º51'.
On the leadlight window on the front of the baker building there was a magpie and a kookaburrawith a snake in its mouth.
The federation telescope was opened in 2001.
The gears used to open the roof on the baker building were made by tennant&co in Edinburgh.
One of the leadlight windows on the baker building has a eye in the middle of it.
The observatory was built in 1884.
The Jelbart building has leadlight windows facing each direction, the window to North contained an N, to west W and to east E. The south window does not have a S.

Books for boys?

Because I have to note it somewhere...

I might want to find a copy of Great books for boys by Kathleen Odean. RandomHouse have generously extracted seventeen suggestions:

So when I'm not supposed to be working I might search at my local library for:

Lobel, Arnold. Days with Frog and Toad. 1979. Harper. Ages 3-8.

Every child should get to know Frog and Toad. Five short chapters, beautifully illustrated in greens and browns, tell funny, touching incidents about these two friends. One in a series of four outstanding books.

Jukes, Mavis. Like Jake and Me. 1984. Knopf. Ages 5-10. Alex admires his strong, cowboy-like stepfather Jake, and wishes he could be more like him. To the boy's surprise, he finds out that Jake is afraid of something that Alex himself isn't afraid of: spiders. Beautifully written and illustrated with warmth and humor.

Scieszka, Jon. Knights of the Kitchen Table. 1991. Viking. Ages 7-ll.

This lively book combines adventure, magic, slapstick humor, and droll illustrations to appeal to even the most reluctant readers. Three boys use a magical book to travel back in time and confront a knight, a giant and a dragon. Readers will laugh their way through this and the other books in the "Time Warp Trio" series.

Soto, Gary. The Pool Party. 1993. Delacorte. Ages 8-12.

Ten-year-old Rudy Herrera, whose tight-knit family lives in Fresno, California, knows how to have a good time, whether he is helping with the family's yard work business or hanging out with his best friend Alex. Laced with Spanish phrases, this is a warm, funny book about an engaging boy. -2-

Peet, Bill. Bill Peet: An Autobiography. 1989. Houghton. Ages 8-12.

Children's book illustrator Bill Peet has created an award-winning autobiography by combining a conversational text with energetic, often comical, illustrations. In describing his work as a Disney animator, the pictures include many characters from popular films. With pictures on every page, this is an unusually appealing biography.

Shannon, George. Stories to Solve. 1985. Greenwillow, Beechtree. Ages 9-12.

Few children can resist the lure of the mini-mysteries in this entertaining folklore book. Each of the fourteen short stories gives the reader a puzzle to solve, then provides the answer on the following page. Readers can stretch their minds, then pose the puzzles to their friends. Great fun.

Alexander, Lloyd. The Book of Three. 1964. Holt, Dell. Ages 9-12.

In this modern classic, an assistant pig-keeper named Taran longs to be a hero. He leaves his home with a kind enchanter to go on a great adventure where he fights battles, makes unlikely friends, and changes his views on heroism. The first in a wonderful fantasy series.

Brandenberg, Jim. To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves. 1993. Walker. Ages 9-13.

Spectacular photographs of an Arctic wolf pack give this memorable book wide appeal. Brandenberg's highly readable text tells the story of his months camping in the Arctic to photograph the wolves. A fascinating nature book.

Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission. 1979. Dell. Ages 12-14.

Jack Raab, who is fifteen years old and Jewish, lies about his age to join the Army during the Second World War. He ends up in the air corps, flying dangerous missions over Europe. Sympathetic characters, vivid descriptions, and an action-filled plot make this a popular novel with boys.

Crutcher, Chris. Ironman. 1995. Greenwillow, Dell. Ages 13-14.

In this powerful story, high school senior Bo Brewster channels part of his anger at his unreasonable father into practicing for a triathlon. Forced to take an Anger Management class, Bo finds a caring teacher, a possible romance, and some strange new friends who help him through hard times.

Although those particular selections seems a little more what we'd like boys to read than what would particularly draw them in?

I also wonder if they have Connecting Boys With Books: What Libraries Can Do?

WW2

TodayI'm looking for WW2 things in the year 1944 to show Fish, this is a howitzer.
These are some photos of the D'day landings.
This is the U.S. troops liberating Cherbourg.
This is the US troops entering St Lô.
It says here (Oct 14, 1944) that Rommel committed suicide - I gusee that is the short story- I( think I saw a show on tv saying he was forced to kill himself.
On sept 1944 Operation Market Garden began.
In dec 1944 the allies were sent to the Ardennes ( or Battle of the Bulge)

librarys

Today we went to the library so Mum could finish her assignment.
Fish played with the toys then when he was looking at a book, he found that he could read some of the words. We're all proud.
I explored some shelves - taking a look at Star Trek Star Fleet Academy stories, when Picard was a cadet. One of the back covers told me that Picard had failed in his first attempt to enter Star Fleet Academy. The first book in the series wasn't there, I'll check on the catalogue later. I put the Star Wars series books in numerical order.

I have been to 9 libaries:

• Wodonga (which even Mum doesn't remember),
• Wangaratta - a sunny place for kids to play, lots of kids books and junior fiction, and that great big snake and was just across the road from Lunch on the Run - my favourite lunch spot.
  
• Stawell - also had a warm space for kids to play and housed the Dragon's Den toy library (only open some times). Not so many kids books or junior fiction.
  
• Ballarat - A large collection of junior fiction and children's books. Fish likes the fun play space with its sitting/playing foam blocks. It is the only one that seems to have the books I like.
  
• Sebastopol branch - a small room for the kids collection and a little play area (it is a *small* branch)
  
• Wendouree branch - a small kids comfort area.
  
• University of Ballarat SMB campus - a shelf or two of children's books that Fish & I don't explore because we harrass mum to finish her photocopying so we can leave.
  
• State Library of Victoria - I thought it was boring because GUF showed us the chess collection, and mum dallied in the Cowan gallery. I want to go back to see the Experimedia centre that mum is telling me about.
• Mill Park - does have some of my Star Wars books, but I've been waiting ages for the Fifth book in the Star Wars Jedi Apprentice series, which has gone missing at Ballarat and they do not appear to intend to replace. I think not replacing it is unfair to people who want to enjoy the whole series, nor wise for the best use of the collection because who is going to read the rest of the series, if they can't read the fifth?
  

Then we came home and I stir fried beef for tea. Mum says yum and thanks.
Fish and I are taking turns on the computer. He played Warcraft and I played Rise of Nations.