Presents

Mr. Finn went in the afternoon to send some school mail and came back with this! A present from the lovely ladies at the Penobscot Marine Museum. Imagine this: Susan and Cheryl come out and do a marvelous presentation and activity about sailor's valentines and then they send US a present thanking us. Now that is the kind of set up I can get used to!!
Look what we got! Two fantastic books. This top one is about a famous sea captain named Donald Baxter MacMillan who explored the Arctic.
Seth was impressed.
The second is a beautifully illustrated children's book called Ice Harbor Mittens. I ended up reading that one to the kids as they worked. It's such a terrific story, but I don't want to give anything away, so go check it out!

Writing and Silliness

We were a few kids short on Monday for writing class. It's this amazing ability children have to sense weakness in their teachers. Soon I'm handing out snacks and then they asked for the tingler.
This is the tingler. I know, weird, creepy name, but cool device. I think this was Seth's first experience. He could not stop cackling like a crazy man. Which made the rest of us laugh uproariously.
Cadin psyched himself up for it, and still couldn't stop giggling. Brody was having a blast putting it on everyone's heads. That way I could take pictures.
We did manage to get some writing done in between tingler sessions, but I can tell you which of the two activities were more memorable. And it doesn't begin with w.

That's a beautiful mountain.

Temp 15
Wind 4 MPH
Wind chill 9
.15 melted snow
Posted by Brody

Hockey Day with Swan's

Look what the Sunbeam brought THIS time! A whole troop of kids and adults from Swan's Island! Yay. Here's Marilyn coming off with her sweet pink skates. It was so good to see everyone!
This made me laugh. Only in a fishing community do you use fish totes for your skates. Awesome.
It was THE most gorgeous day! We had early reports of rain and snow, but it held off for huge amounts of sunny deliciousness. One little boy came to me with a big smile telling me it was his very first time skating...what a great first experience!
In between rousing games of hockey, there was a lot of free skating. Does this remind you of the old roller rink or what?
Tyler was in all his glory as we outfitted him in shin and elbow pads. Future NHL.
After a couple hours of outdoor fun, some kids came inside to watch a movie and/or play around with Lego Robotics stuff.
We're getting ready for a Lego Track Meet that's going to be held on MDI in the spring. Unlike Lego Robotics, there's no age limit, which thrilled Johnny and Bradley. Even Tyler's getting his hands in there.

What a great day. It was so wonderful to have 28 folks from our closest island neighbor come over and share in winter fun! Next weekend: Swan's for basketball in their gym! Sweet!

Ceramics Video

Exploring the Earth's Origins

Since we're missing 6 kids this afternoon, we did a rare 'movie'. Of course it happens to be a NOVA special on how the Earth was made, which is what we're learning about in science, but it was a movie no less. This is a fascinating, extremely informative video which Mr. Finn and I loved watching as much as the kids. Check it out as it's Play Instantly on Netflix.

Lids and Handles

Jessica came in for our weekly ceramics lesson and this time she had a specific task: Make whatever you wish, but it has to have a lid and a handle.
Then she showed us this. She wanted to demonstrate the myriad of handles that were open to them with coils, slabs and pulls.
And, in all her spare time as our island fellow, she also made tons of different examples of lids for the kids to examine and get ideas.

THEN, as if that wasn't enough...she made this. Ummm. Seriously? She was like, "Yeah, it's not like I'm going to fire it or anything...it's a junk pot." Really. I can't even believe this thing.
Look at it! Have you ever seen a teapot like this? Nope.
Luckily, Jess thinks she's getting the better part of our barter deal. As I am a massage therapist, we trade. She gets massages, I get things like this. Sweet deal.