Friday, July 14, 2006

Handwriting


Handwriting
Originally uploaded by jjfbaltzell.
I was helping Benjamen write his name and Nicholas decided he wanted to try his hand at writing his name. He wrote his first name and then asked me to write his middle name so that he could try it out. He just turned 4 a few weeks ago.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Pie Chart


Pie Chart
Originally uploaded by jjfbaltzell.
We did a survey of friends' favorite types of pie and made a pie chart. We used protractors, compasses, multiplication, and division, decimals and fractions, and we converted percentages to degrees. There were misreadings and recalculations, but in the end, we emerged victorious. Blueberry was the favorite, and we're baking one this weekend as a reward for all our hard thinking.

Eastern Flycatcher baby (6/21)

We were following the progress of another nest of birds in June, flycatchers, this time, and they flew away over the 4th of July weekend.

Photoset here.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

So Freakin' Cool

Click!

Witch's Brew


Witch's Brew
Originally uploaded by jjfbaltzell.
We're reading Macbeth and made our own version of the witch's brew, using candies and juice. Jonathan made the labels for all of our ingredients and has the spell almost memorized from reading it over to make them.

Photo set here.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006