Seeds of Learning

2009-01-28T17:39:00.001-08:00

On American Imperialism

2009-01-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

On American Imperialism
By Adora Svitak

Recently, I’ve been thinking about colonizing several small Pacific islands. They should preferably come with cheap labor, hot sunny beaches, and flourishing fruit crops. If small Pacific islands are out of supply, I might think about grabbing some territory from Mexico. According to history, it shouldn’t be too hard—after all, the United States did it.

The U.S.’s only problem with these formerly Mexican territories is illegal immigration. Personally, I wouldn’t want to cross over from Mexico. Firstly, there’s the desert, then there’s a giant fence (although that’s not the hardest part), and border patrol agents. But, of course, people do all kinds of crazy things for a better life. What strikes me as odd is that New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Texas all used to be parts of Mexico. So what’s our big problem with “illegal” immigrants just occupying land that we took from them anyway?

The United States is all about freedom, liberty, etc. This seems reasonable. However, it seems like we’ve done a pretty bad job of showing our sentiments to the rest of the free world.

For example, we basically stole Texas from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The United States revolted against Britain because we thought they had unfair control of our land. It seems a little hypocritical to me that we then went and stole someone else’s territory.

But it gets worse (or better, depending on how you look at it). After the Spanish-American War, we managed to colonize the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. I have to ask: isn’t this starting to look a little too British?

I guess that we just really liked taking over small defenseless islands or something, because in 1893 resident American businessmen overthrew the monarchy of the Kingdom of Hawaii and annexed Hawaii to the U.S.
Oh, not only do we like acting the colonizer, we like meddling in other countries’ affairs too. Iran was a country rich and wealthy—with oil, that is. Who could resist? So the American oil companies moved in and started drilling oil. Then the Prime Minister, who had the good sense to think that Iranian oil should go to the Iranian people, nationalized the oil reserves. What do we do when a legitimate government officer does something we don’t agree with? Depose him or her, of course. The prime minister was arrested; we gave the ruthless Shah more power, and his secret police went around killing anyone who disagreed with him. Sounds like the American idea of freedom and liberty, right?

Another example of American meddling comes from the Vietnam War. We were so worried about Communism spreading and the “domino effect” that we invaded Vietnam needlessly. Probably the only good thing that came out of that war was the end of the military draft.

Maybe instead of stealing land from other people, we should try to improve what we already have. The United States could use some improving.

Three Poems

2008-06-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Three Poems
Svitak, Adora

Sharpshooter's spectacles
Proud brass buttons
Shortages and heavy-caliber rifles.

Gray, gray linen shirt
And a Springfield Rifle tall;
Decorative buck tails are trifles.

Light cavalry saber that glints in the sun.
Who knows what it could have done.

It's funny but kids like the big guns best.
They play on the wood axle shields
And turn the iron-banded whells.

Pow! Pow! go the guns
And the ironclads last;
A voltigeur's fight, and the Civil War's past.

-----

I believe that that poem needs some explanation. If you're wondering about all the weird Civil War specific weaponry I included in it, it was because the class activity was to use specific language from reference books to write a poem. My book was about the Civil War.

-----

In the depths of Rajasthan
In the shadows of Ranthambore
On the turf of the Gobblededook,
A raven croaked and sped off to the shore.

My mother told me to stay away
From the Gobblededook and his ire
But that had always been my dream--
And such dreams never tire.

At the door of the Gobblededook
A door an evil black like coal,
I trembled and I knocked and then--
The Gobblededook ate me whole!

-----

If you're wondering about the "Rathambore" and "Rajasthan", Rajasthan is a state of India and Rathambore is a tiger preserve in Rajasthan that I read about in Time magazine. We were supposed to choose words that we liked from an article that we liked and use them in a poem.

-----

To be eleven, oh so grand,
And high-and-mighty, vorpal;
To lord it over wee bugflies
And have no lack of torpor;

Stare at grass and daffodils
And bees that rumble-bumble;
The snakes that crawl, and stove the kettle
For squat birches that do sing

Shall welcome thou, and didst
Eleven is too, certainly
of certainty,
Peas Porridge Hot will solve it all,
Now listen to your mother's call.

-----

This was actually the first poem that I wrote of these three. In this class activity, we listened to the poem "Jabberwocky" and came up with words that we liked the sound of. Some of my words, as you may have guessed, were "Peas Porridge Hot", bugflies, and kettle. (Bugflies, by the way, is not a real word).

Katie's writing inspired by a picture

2008-06-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Bauml, Katie

Writing inspired by a picture

It was a warm, sunny evening in Okinawa, Japan. The sun was high in the sky. In the nice reddish glow you could make out a tall red and pink temple. Inside the temple you could hear many people talking and eating cucumber sushi and Ori. Lower to the ground was a white house with red trim and a purple roof. It was a bath house, an addition to the temple. All around the temple were short, round Japanese maples. During the day time they would have been the color of blood but at this time of the evening some were light pink with a trim of blinding white and others were deep purple with a light pink trim. Behind the bath house you could see a mountain which looked like a very obese purple pencil with white lead. The sky was a multi-color rainbow. At the horizon it was yellow, almost white, but only a few feet higher the sky turned into a light pink which looked like the leaves on cherry trees in spring. Then farther up the sky was a sea of bright red which looked as though time had stopped and if time had not been stopped the sky would have engulfed the sun. The red blended with the pink, so some was pink, some was red, and in between there was a fuchsia color.

9 Alternate Hooks to Start Snow White

2008-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

1. Blood bloomed in the snow.
2. Snow white was as pretty and empty as the glass box that would one day be her home.
3. Where does beauty end and ugliness begin?
4. Who was the fairest of them all? You and I know the answer, but hind site is 20/20. In the queen's day, when Snowwhite was just a child, the question was the beginning of a favorite debate.
5. Arbarizan was the kind of land where time seemed to move slowly or not at all.
6. The crack of icy branches made Snowwhite's heart leap. Her sweat smelled like fear as she stood frozen in the winter woods.
7. Sallow, morose, and astonishingly bitter, Snowwhite was an unattractive child.
8. Shakespeare said that all the world's a stage. The stepmother agreed.
9. Snowwhite could not distinguish between her footsteps on the frozen ground and the beating of her own heart.

Point of View of a Teacher in Rome

2008-05-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

Point of View of a Teacher in Rome
Svitak, Adora

I disliked the children who slumped in their chairs and paid as much attention to me as a dead man would to flies. They showed no interest in learning and I wished that I could smack them on the head with their own impertinence. But no; their parents were rich, and I would be reprimanded severely and never allowed inside again.

A child's lack of interest made me bored as well. At least I taught them outside in their gardens by the peristyle, where I could hear the sounds of Rome, hear our city speak. One particular child, Augustus, was quite a bother. He acted as though he were both blind and deaf, for he did not even try to observe the things going around him. I was more than happy to take a break to smell the colorful flowers in the garden and to converse with a lady fishmonger, Octavia, who I knew well. Octavia had come into the courtyard looking for some dropped possessions; Octavia was always losing things. I helped her to look for them. I knelt down on my knees and poked around in the rose and laurel bushes, trying to talk to Octavia as I looked. Perhaps fishmongers were among the ones "least worthy of approval" but they received fairer pay than I and I was dying for intelligent conversation.

Unfortunately Octavia was lethargic that day. She had pursed lips and spoke with as few words as seemed possible. I asked her a question; she said "yes" or "no" or "I don't know." I finally found Octavia’s “possessions”—a dirty toga, a few coins, and a pair of spare sandals—inside a bag close to the stone walls that surrounded the courtyard. I had always been a little wary of the walls; the stones were never properly chinked, made in a hurry for Augustus’s family. I threw the bag to Octavia, who caught it promptly.

“What’s that noise?” Augustus's mother, Pompeiia, a cheery and outspoken lady, called from the window. “Oh, good to see you both. I’ll be coming down with some wine and bread for Augustus.” Soon Pompeiia was in the courtyard. She gave the bread and wine to Augustus, then addressed us.

"It is wonderful to see you,” Pompeiia said brightly. “My husband and I are having a conflict of interest, so if you would just give the fish to the cook instead of bringing it to him for approval first, I'd appreciate it."

"If you don't mind me asking, what kind of conflict of interest?" Octavia asked sharply. "Oh, well, he is talking, in such a silly way, about taking Augustus on his ship soon, so naturally I broke a vase over his head," Pompeiia said lightly. "Would you like any quail?"

I could barely hold in my laughter, of course. Pompeiia shrugged, as though breaking a vase over one's husband's head were something that a Roman woman did every day. Augustus sat in his chair looking petrified and did not appear to have heard. Pompeiia shook him roughly.

"Wake up, you louse!" she shouted in annoyance. Pompeiia was incredibly mercurial and could change from cheerful to annoyed any minute.

We heard humming from under one of the laurel bushes and we jumped. Soon a lady emerged and began viciously breaking off laurel branches, until she noticed us. It was Pompeiia’s unmarried half-sister, Tiberia. "Pompeiia, I thought you were going to the baths," Tiberia said in surprise, looking embarrassed.”

"Goodness, Tiberia, I would have thought that you knew that was a joke. The baths are closed today. Hasn't your mind gained some experience?" Pompeiia said snidely.

"You horrid beast pig!" Tiberia shouted. Both Tiberia and Pompeiia tended to call each other names. "How dare you insult me?"

"And you, Tiberia!" Pompeiia said, and turned her back on Tiberia pointedly. Augustus sniggered. Everyone turned to look at him, and he turned bright red. I sighed and imagined that I could break a vase over Augustus's head just as the badly chinked stone walls of the villa began to collapse around us.

Compare-Contrast: Dragon vs. Magic Carpet

2008-05-12T12:29:00.001-07:00

With an ear-splitting roar and a scorching burst of fire, your vehicle lunges through the air, heading straight for an office building. With a sparkling explosion of glass, you careen through the sixth story window and slide into your office, kicking up whirlwinds of paperwork and landing right at your boss’s feet. If this sounds a little too theatrical for your tastes, you might want to consider a more laid back form of transportation such as, say, a magic carpet. Although there are similarities shared by both the magic carpet and the dragon, there are several factors that make these modes of transportation dramatically different.

The environmentally friendly magic carpet offers comfort and low resistance efficiency. Unfortunately, safety isn’t one of the magic carpet’s strong qualities. The magic carpet is not very safe. As Axminister magazine points out, the magic carpet had low safety ratings due to its flimsy Chinese-made material that flips over and tears easily. There are no seatbelts on your standard magic carpet. As one traumatized woman pointed out, “It’s [the magic carpet] flat, there’s…nothing to hang on to when you fall.”

Whatever the magic carpet lacks in safety, it makes up in comfort. Your average magic carpet is silky soft, which virtually eliminates travel sores when riding on it. The standard magic carpet is also typically flat, which allows you to sprawl out. This is useful for red-eye flights on the magic carpet.

It’s not just comfort that makes the magic carpet valuable. Your average magic carpet is very efficient. The standard magic carpet can go up to 150 mph. In this day and age, the environment is one of our top issues. Unlike many other modes of transportation, the magic carpet does not need fuel and it is emissions-neutral. Not to mention the money you’ll save on gas. But money isn’t one of our most important issues—in a recent poll, more people said that they’d like more time than those who wanted more money. The magic carpet can accommodate those wishes—you hardly need any prep time at all to get the magic carpet up and running. All you have to do is jump on… and voila! Plus, the magic carpet doesn’t take up much space at all. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, all you have to do is roll up the magic carpet and stuff it in your backpack.

Sitting up on your magic carpet, you fly through the open door and land lightly. A few people remark, “Nice magic carpet,” but most people barely glance and hurry to get to the elevator. The magic carpet is a fairly laidback way to travel. All magic carpets have intricate Islamic-style geometric patterns but, as popular TV pundit Ali Baba remarked, “they’re pretty, but not too dramatic.” Because of that, riding on a magic carpet isn’t likely to make a huge splash. They’re not too easily seen in the air, and when you fly low, it looks like you’re just sitting down somewhere. They have light colors, so they won’t exactly grab people’s attention.

For those of you who’d like something a little more exciting, you’re probably leaning toward the dragon already. But unfortunately the dragon is unsafe. Many dragons tend to have a psychological need to prove themselves, and often show off by doing dangerous stunts in the air like flips, dives, and spins. Sometimes, dragons also close their eyes while doing stunts, presenting a great danger to the rider. If you aren’t severely injured when a dragon does a stunt, the dragon may finish you off with its giant and powerful tail, which stretches fully backwards and can easily whip you off the dragon’s back. Dragons also belch fire. If you are sitting near the dragon’s head or the dragon is trying to face you, your clothes may be ignited. This is especially bad in the air, because the winds may spread the fire and you might not be able to put the fire out. Dragons often feel hostile toward their owners and may try to eat you while in the air. They are excellent hunters and can easily do this by knocking you off their back and then catching you in their mouth.

Unlike the magic carpet, the dragon is not very comfortable. It has rough scales like sandpaper that may rub against your skin. Dragons consistently grow horns throughout their life all over their body, so you might find a horn digging into your leg during a flight on a dragon. During the flight, you have to sit astride with your legs wrapped around the dragon’s wide body, which can easily give you leg cramps. As Alisha Morton said, “I’d rather take an international magic carpet than a commuter dragon. Those dragons are too darn uncomfortable for any flight!”

Just when you may be thinking that a dragon cannot get any worse, you realize something—the dragon is not nearly as efficient as the magic carpet. After all, you need to feed the dragon huge amounts of food, and dragons prefer eating whole animals as opposed to human portions. After eating such huge meals, it’s no surprise that dragons produce copious amounts of dung and urine. Unfortunately, you’ll be the one to clean that up. To ride a dragon, you must first set up your riding equipment—like your saddle, bridle, reins, spurs, and whip. Even the most expert of dragon riders usually take more than twenty minutes preparing riding equipment—and what if your dragon is being especially rebellious while you’re trying to prepare it for riding? Dragons are typically pretty rebellious. Even with your reins, it’s immensely difficult to control where dragons go, so they usually go wherever they please. When riding on a dragon to go to a beach four miles away, one family found themselves deserted in a bog in another state and had to wait two hours for their dragon to come back.
Dragons are illegal in Italy, Portugal, Tanzania, Kazakhstan, and Guatemala. If you intend to bend the law a bit, or even if you just want to stable your dragon legally, there’s still the issue of storing your dragon. They’re amazingly difficult to store—they make lots of noise, take up lots of room, and are hard to herd into enclosed areas.

Still, if you have a daredevil personality and you don’t mind hard work, the dragon might be the right vehicle for you. As we saw before, the dragon is an impressive mode of travel. They belch fire, announcing your presence to everyone around. They are huge and impressive looking, with their brightly colored scales and large, strong feet. They are very showy, doing stunts whenever they can. As very volatile creatures, the dragon will give you a rebellious, gallant, and daredevil image.

Magic carpets are probably better suited to families or children, whereas the dragon is great to make a point and show off—teenagers will probably find that useful. Whether you decide to ride the magic carpet or the dragon, we wish you happy flying.

2008-04-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

Svitak, Adora

[I wrote this from the point of view of the 'girl who would not talk' from Maxine Hong Kingston's story The Girl Who Would Not Talk.]

For lunch, my mother always packed me some dried fish with whole wheat bread and maybe a small apple. Everyone else’s mothers packed them juices and white bread and turkey and cheese. I did not want to look silly eating smelly dried fish in front of everybody else, so I ate at my own table with my sister. The table was blue and square, on a side of the cafeteria. The cafeteria was small and our school was large, so we were lucky to have our own table. No one bothered to sit down with me except for my sister. Everyone else went to the center of the cafeteria, where the conversation was.
It was good to have my own table with my sister, except for two things. My table was too far away for me to be able to look out the windows and too close to the other children, so I could smell their wonderful food and hear what they said about me.
“I think that she should go to the deaf-dumb school.”
“We have a deaf-dumb school?”
“Yeah. It’s called the municipal something-or-the-other deaf-dumb school. Do you think she can hear us?”
“Naw. She’s sitting too far away.” There were some nods of agreement and they munched on their soft white bread in synchrony.
“She isn’t dumb, though. She reads when she’s supposed to. I can’t hear her too well, though.” I did not like their words, but words were only words, and their words bounced off my ears. My sister grinded her teeth and looked as though she would have liked to pummel them. I smiled a secret smile. No one else, even my sister, would understand why I smiled. My father would probably brush the situation off; my sister would get angry; my mother would worry. I would smile. It was fun to hear the kids speculate on whether I was dumb. They had nothing better to do, I supposed, except talk about me and munch on their white bread. I peeled red paint off the wall and chewed on dried fish as I listened to them talk. The way they spoke made time pass more slowly, made it drip out like honey, only laced with bitter vinegar.

Vocabulary Dialogue

2008-04-15T16:05:00.001-07:00

Posted by Adri

These are the words the characters are representing: decorum, tirade, vex, torpor.

Four characters are seated at The Peripheral Olive, an expensive candlelit restaurant. Their prim Aunt Esther is footing the bill, so she chose the restaurant. The dad, Steven Winoma, is dressed in a ratty tweed jacket and a pair of corduroy pants that have seen better days. Melody, a moody teenager who typically gets only three hours of sleep, is looking drowsy. Febronia, the baby of the family, is a petted, snotty ten-year-old brat. She is in a mini black dress that only enhances her snotty features.

After five minutes of waiting at the table in uncomfortable silence, a waiter in a white tailcoat comes to the table.

"And have you made your ordering decisions?" he asked smoothly. "Allow me to recommend the Creme du Swordfish."

"Excuse me, young man, but can you tell me where you source your vegetables from? I'll not eat anything that is grown outside of a ten mile radius," Steven said proudly.

"Yo man, why you look so dorky, like? You know, gangsta is the style right now, not 18th century," Febronia demanded. "Now listen, I made a special order for my OJ two minutes ago from that geek over there. Where's my frickin' OJ, huh?"

"Febronia! Do please speak in a less vulgar manner!" Aunt Esther said, much appalled.

"Oh, poo poo you," Febronia said dismissively.

Twenty minutes after Aunt Esther had finally managed to place all their orders, the food arrived. Any normal family would have loved the wonderful steaming smell of fresh vegetables, calzones, and soup, but no one looked particularly appreciative.

Melody slumped forward into her vegetable dish with a loud snore. Aunt Esther looked horribly mortified. Febronia dumped her orange juice onto Melody's head, then mooned the waiter as he came back with a drink for Aunt Esther.

"This behavior is unacceptable," the manager said sternly, coming up behind the waiter, who looked aghast. "Please exit the restaurant."

"Capitalist dogs!" Steven shouted. "Once again we are taking the brunt end of an inhumane police state! Our first amendment rights give us freedom of assembly! I'm taking this to the higher courts, you bleached minions of darkness! Mark my words, the Supreme Court will be in touch!"

"Oh Steven, could you hush! The children are watching," Aunt Esther said reprovingly. "Melody, are you awake?"

Melody's only answer was a loud snore.

History Assignment

2008-04-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

History Assignment

Svitak, Adora

I know that the words "history assignment" are rather drab at least. For homework, I have been commanded by the most grand exalted Beastie to write about something I've learned about in history recently.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to write about not "something" but rather "someone." Any guesses? I particularly admire the Greek Herodotus ("The Father of History"), so that's who I will be writing about.

Herodotus was born in about 484 B.C. in Helicarnassus, a Greek colony. He traveled to many different places, like the Asia Minor and Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. At about 447 B.C. he moved to Athens. He interviewed people to learn about their way of living and their history, and compiled all his findings in his book Histories.

Not all of Histories was exactly pure history, however. Herodotus made up stories to keep his readers' attention. Who knows? Maybe the "Father of History" could more accurately be called the "Father of Tabloids, Yellow Journalism, and Exaggeration and Embellishment." I'm pretty sure that if Herodotus were a historian today, he'd get fired immediately for making stories up. Personally, I sort of like Herodotus for the tales he created. He probably made them to keep people interested, after all. Pretty good publicity skills, huh?

Herodotus wrote a nine-part history that covered the Persian, or Greco-Persian, Wars, which were a series of struggles between Persia and Greece. Recently I did a presentation on "10 Events that shaped Ancient Greece" and most of those events were battles. Honestly, I had a difficult time finding events that weren't--when the Greeks weren't squabbling among themselves, it seems like they always got into wars with superpowers around them.

Herodotus also bothered to cover daily life. Daily life might be boring to us, but the way we live our life will probably be drastically different from the way humans from two centuries into the future will live their lives. I don't know if Herodotus had our interests in mind when he covered people's daily life in his studies, but we should definitely record the way we live our lives for the benefit of future intelligent organisms.

Writing from the point of view of a tooth

2008-04-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

"Writing from the point of view of a tooth"
Svitak, Adora

For class, we had an activity to write from the point of view of a tooth. Here's my piece:

I wiggled back and forth.

"Is that a wiggly tooth, Louise?" I heard someone's shrill, echoing voice from outside my dark wet cavernous home.

"Yeah, mom. Dentist said it should come out in a coupla weeks." Now the voice echoed inside my home. I was bounced up and down as the walls opened and closed.

My position in my home was not the best compared to my fellow teeth. When the walls opened, they were always the ones who could see out. But me? I had the sad fate of being located near the wizards (highly respected teeth) but not quite a wizard myself, so when I was pulled, or fell out, no one would mourn me.

10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-States

2008-04-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-states

Svitak, Adora

Yesterday afternoon I gave a presentation on 10 Events that Shaped the Greek City-States. I am a wretched procrastinator and I had been working on the PowerPoint just that morning. The whole project was an assignment from Beastie.

I came down to class after my daily nap and remembered another part of my assignment--the "creative element." I had decided that my "creative element" would be edible, some food that the ancient Greeks might have eaten. So I hurried upstairs, opened a can of olives, threw some bread onto a plate, and made a second trip to bring down cups of yogurt. As far as I know, the rest of the class enjoyed the "creative element." Considering that they left no olives behind for me, I'm pretty sure of it.

So that the rest of the class would be able to see the presentation, I hooked up my computer to a projector and projected it onto the whiteboard. Katie was only too eager to help erase the board. I believe she may have thought it would have increased her chances of getting food.We tugged one of the tables out for the projector. At the moment, our classroom looks like a disaster scene because of that move, with the three tables all "lined" up in a weird zigzag and not much room for moving around, either. At the time, the idea of moving the tables struck me as an innovative idea, and the table would be a good place to put the projector.

I started my presentation by introducing Ancient Greece. Unfortunately, I got a little sidetracked when it came to the Ancient Greek gods. Greek mythology is one of my favorite subjects, but when I noted that Hera (Zeus's wife) was also his sister, the class asked me some questions that made it necessary to relate the whole Olympian family tree. I was not distracted for long, however, and we soon got back on topic--10 Events that shaped the Greek city-states.

My presentation described each event and showed how the event affected the Ancient Greek city-states. It also included a brief introduction to Ancient Greece. I enjoyed introducing Ancient Greece to everybody but I wasn't too crazy about the events that I talked about. During the presentation, I slightly regretted opening the whole can of olives--they were depleting rapidly, and I wasn't entirely sure if everybody was paying attention with all the food in front of them.

In general, I considered the presentation a success. There were no technological problems, I had actually managed to find all ten events (a feat I wasn't always sure I would accomplish), and I didn't use too much organic "Greek Gods" yogurt for the creative element. However, I did notice that I forgot to list my sources.

Today's Vocabulary

2008-03-11T17:25:00.001-07:00

Opine

to express an opinion

"The talk show host audience member opined that the guest under discussion was a pathetic excuse for a human being."

Opprobrious

disgraceful; contemptuous

"Despite his opprobrious addiction to gambling, the congressman was reelected."

Quadruped

animal having four feet

"Adrianna wanted to get a pet bird, but I begged for a quadruped."

Renegade

1. someone who chooses to live outside of laws or conventions

2. traitor

"The revolutionary Americans were renegades and chose to rebel against British law."

Rejoinder

response

"To everything Beastie said, Adora had a clever and impertinent rejoinder."

Vocabulary Sentences

Svitak, Adora

The duchess opined that she strongly disliked the leaden snuffbox her husband had given her.

"My dear, your plots to poison me are opprobrious," she trilled. "And besides, lead causes slowness in brain development, not immediate death."

"But I'm not trying to poison you," the duke protested. "I thought you would like the picture on the top."

"It's blurry and blotted," the duchess said in a dismissive voice. "I could just barely tell that the creature in the picture, whatever it is, had four feet."

"I thought that it was a very skillfully painted quadruped," the duke said in an offended voice. "And I for one think it was very good for a cat."

"Well you are a renegade and you choose not to listen to anything the prominent art critics say," the duchess said contemptuously.

"Huh?" asked the Duke, who had not been listening.

"Oh, what an intelligent rejoinder," the duchess said sarcastically. "Why don't you just go and stick your head in a chamber pot."

Today's Vocabulary

2008-03-07T15:37:00.001-08:00

Vituperate

to abuse verbally

Superannuated

too old, obsolete, outdated

Prestidigation

Sleight of hand

Phalanx

Massed group of soldiers/people

Multifarious

diverse

Imagined scene from the life of Thomas Jefferson

2008-02-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Svitak, Adora
Imagined Scene from the life of Thomas Jefferson

“My dear, please pass the salt,” Mr. Jefferson said passively to his daughter Patsy, looking ponderously upon his ham and eggs. “First thing you come home and Cook makes ham without any salt! What will this house come to?” Sighing deeply, Jefferson took the salt from his daughter’s hand and dumped a great deal onto his ham.
“I thought Cook would be on vacation!” Patsy said with evident surprise.
“She’s on vacation as much as a Barbary corsair is going to kiss my feet,” Jefferson said. “Meaning, of course, that she’s most decidedly not.”
“I heard about that. Don’t those men have such funny names?” Patsy laughed.
“Patsy my dear, those “men with such funny names” have been attacking our ships and doing what they please,” Mr. Jefferson said sternly, wagging his finger. “I don’t have a taste for eggs today. Let’s take a walk around Monticello.” Patsy nodded and put on her pinafore. As they walked out, Jefferson tripped on a bust of his own head he had ordered and fell forward onto Patsy’s arm.
“Damn,” he swore under his breath, and tried to regain a proper composure.
“Your own head shall be your fate, Father,” Patsy said, laughing as she leaned back on a white marble column. Jefferson smiled grimly and they strode onto the lawn. Patsy surveyed the plantation with a smile. She could see the slaves picking beans and tobacco. Belle the cow came lumbering out to greet them with her wobbly-legged calf.
“Oh Father! You didn’t tell me Belle had a calf!” Patsy said excitedly, kneeling down to feel the calf’s sandy tongue and getting grass stains on her frock. “It would have been a nice distraction.”
“Exactly,” Jefferson said. “It would have been quite a distraction. You must concentrate on your studies for now, my girl, and when you’re older then I’m sure you’ll be married to some rich young man with a plantation of your own.” Patsy sighed and ran off to see the chickens.
“Wait, Patsy!” Jefferson shouted. His leg was still sore from tripping over the bust and he found it hard to keep up with his nimble daughter.

Indus River Valley

2008-01-30T18:31:00.001-08:00

The Indus River Valley, located in modern-day Pakistan, is bigger than Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia squashed together.

Unfortunately, archaeologists have to use a lot of guesswork when studying the Indus River Valley. Why?

Nobody has yet decoded the language of the Ancient Indus civilization. So we don't know about their gods or whether they had any. Their language appears pictographic but we don't know what words they represent. Most sentences/words seem pretty short.

Also, there seems to be no temples in the ruins of the Indus River Valley. This could mean that they made the temples out of wood, may have worshipped outside, or maybe did not believe in gods.

We do know that the Indus River Valley people could make metal, lead, and tin, domesticated camels, pigs, traded with the Sumerians, and wore colorful cotton robes.

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the women of this civilization wore lipstick; they lived in houses of one to two stories high with private bathrooms, sewer systems, carts with wooden wheels; and had primitive dentists.

We're also pretty sure that they had engineers with mathematical skills who planned out their cities. We know that they have mathematical skills from their system of weights and measures.

They had figurines of dancing girls, monkeys, bears, and cows. Swastikas have also been found in designs.

During the British occupation of India, the British tore down an entire ancient city just so that they could use the rubble for building railroad tracks.

Nobody knows what really happened to this civilization. There are many theories, but there is a lot of controversy over which of these theories are correct.

Today's Vocabulary

2008-01-29T17:26:00.001-08:00

Winsome-- charming

"The girl gave the poodle king a winsome smile, hoping that this would prevent him from decapitating her."

Voluble-- speaking a lot, talkative

"Trevor was quite voluble, he would never shut up."

Sportive-- playful

"The lion roared in pain as the sportive cub bit him on the tail."

Solipsism-- belief that oneself is the only reality

"Arthur's solipsism meant that he treated others as though they didn't exist, which tended to annoy them."

Sentences

The five-year-old gave a winsome curtsy immediately after her speech, prompting many of the audience to say, "Oh, isn't that cute!"

Beastie was incredibly voluble and chattered on and on about monkeys, sewage disposal, Britney Spears, her role model Bobby Jack, and Katie's hair, even after class was done.

The sportive president installed working showerheads above the heads of his unsuspecting cabinet so that he could spray water all over in the name of fun.

Masag's solipsism made him ignore other people, even when his brother shouted that Masag's tent was on fire.

Today's Vocabulary

2008-01-25T17:30:00.001-08:00

Today's Vocabulary

Svitak, Adora

We're going to be continuing the serial we presented on January 11th. Below are today's vocabulary words.

..............................................

Ignominious-- disgraceful and dishonorable

"I was quite horrified to discover that my ignominious Uncle Herbert had been invited to dinner."

Impecunious-- poor, having no money

"After the stock market crashed, many former millionaires found themselves impecunious."

Palisade-- a fence made up of stakes

"The tall iron palisade loomed menacingly around the poodle king's palace."

Quagmire-- 1. [literal definition] marsh

2. difficult situation

"Adrianna put off her homework for a week and found herself in a quagmire."

Recalcitrant-- Resisting authority or control.

"I tried to make Beastie go to bed at time but she was recalcitrant and through a loaf of bread at my head."

.............................................

Below is the continued serial. Go to http://seedsoflearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/today-vocabulary.html to find the previous installment.

................................................

Cornelia poured a jar of smelling salts upon the unfortunate Duchess's face. Hearing the great clatter Cornelia made in this process, the footmen and ladies-in-waiting and the Duke himself all came to see what was the matter.

"You're upon the floor with your legs showing, my dear! How ignominious!" the Duke boomed. "Rise at once!" He then turned to Cornelia, who was standing defiantly by the Duchess. "Who are you?"

"She is just an impecunious little girl," the Duchess said, waking from her swoon. "Her father is only a peddler and does not make much money. But she wants to smelt our ore!"

"What? That's our main source of finance! Take her away, quick!" the Duke said, gesticulating wildly. "You footmen! Take the girl away."

The footmen grabbed Cornelia by the arms and began dragging her off, but Cornelia was recalcitrant and began kicking and biting viciously. The footmen agreed to throw her over the palisade. Just as Cornelia went flying over to the other side, her skirt caught on a sharpened stake. Without hesitation, Cornelia made a great leap and tackled one of the footmen.

"Give me eighty coins or else!" Cornelia threatened, holding onto the footman by his ankles.

"The Juvenile Detention Superintendent has come to inspect the odd behavior of the girl named Cornelia!" an approaching herald said importantly.

"You are in no position to make unreasonable demands, young lady!" came Cornelia's father's voice.

Cornelia shivered. Now she was in quite a quagmire.

Test Tips: Trigger Words

2008-01-23T20:28:00.001-08:00

Trigger words leave you a clue to help you fill in the word that comes after. For example,

"You're beautiful, but you're _______"

When you see a word like "but," you know that the second half of the sentence will contradict the first.

"You're beautiful, and you're ________"

A word like "and" lets you know that the second half will agree with the first.

When you see a trigger word in a test, make a note of it. Decide whether it will contradict or agree with the first part. For instance, a word like "but" will contradict. A word like "and" will agree.

................................................

Trigger Words:

Although, despite, rather, however, yet, even though, on the contrary, in contrast, not only, and, in fact, indeed even

Examples:

"Although he was very intelligent, he slept through most of his exams."

"She persevered despite warnings from her parents."

"It was not a fancy place; rather, it was a bit rundown."

Carthisinidge thought his birthday cake was horrible; however, the guests loved it.

She had received a 100 on her exam, yet Anna continued to weep.

Even though he had never read a book, he claimed to be a bookworm.

The minister of traffic thought the plans would work wonderfully; on the contrary, they were horrific.

The princess was sallow and moody; in contrast, her sister was fair and pleasant.

Sir Ethapewrnose was not only brilliant, he was kind.

The lady was perky and peppy.

The lake appeared tranquil; in fact, the only noise to be heard on its banks were the lightly swishing waters.

P'awetra appeared upset, indeed even depressed.

Early Capricacia (My Imaginary Country)

2008-01-18T22:20:00.001-08:00

Early Capricacia was extremely mountainous, with mountains dividing the country. In early times, hunter-gatherers assembled in bands to hunt the Capricacian yak, a valuable animal both for its hide and for the meat. They typically attacked the yak by surprise with bare hands, but as the hunter-gatherers advanced they began using tools made of flint. Hunting on the treacherous mountain paths, where the yak wandered, was very dangerous, so women would usually scout ahead to see whether trails were safe or not.

From wooden carvings made by early hunter-gatherers, we can assume that the death rate while hunting was fairly high. Many carvings show figures falling off mountains or being trampled by yaks. As time went on, the yak population decreased. There are multiple theories to explain this; the most likely are that interbreeding caused a strain of yak virus, or the population decreased because of overhunting. Some historians believe both.

Capricacian jackals, fierce predators of the yak, began pursuing the yak over the mountains. Some hunter-gatherers followed the yak and continued a nomadic trek across the borders of Capricacia, but the majority stayed in the foothills and stayed in crude huts of some sort. When these residences were destroyed, most likely from a wildfire, the Capricacians built more permanent residences from rock and mud.

Over time, descendants of the hunter-gatherers who had followed the yak returned. They attacked the “civilized” Capricacians. Realizing the need for defenses, the Capricacians surrounded themselves with giant heaps of manure and sharpened wooden stakes to discourage the enemy from entering. Their war was soon won, and the Capricacians turned to agriculture and livestock.

The Capricacian yak, which had mated with the Ankarran goat, returned over the mountains. The Capricacians began domesticating the yaks, and soon after designed the first chariots. The Capricacians used the yak for milk, meat, and clothing. The tail was used in necklaces and bracelets. Its bones were used for needles.

The Capricacians began making decorative ceramics using mud. One vase, preserved extraordinarily well, is covered in decorative flourishes. The Capricacians also began rudimentary mining, digging shallow holes and finding diamonds, topaz, and gold. They used these resources in jewelry.

Scene from Ancient Egypt

2008-01-18T22:16:00.001-08:00

Scene from Ancient Egypt

Svitak, Adora

It was a cool day. The breezes from outside blew into the kitchen as fig leaves rustled outside. Ankhar bent down and rubbed dough between his fingers. Ankhar was the baker's assistant's son, and his father truly did all the work. At least this was what Ankhar thought.

"Get on with that!" his father said gruffly to Ankhar and Ankhar's friend, Nef. "The time you two spend talking could be spent in better things." Ankhar sighed and jumped on the dough vehemently. His father nodded in approval.

"Your father isn't looking now," Nef said once Ankhar's father had gone. "Do you want to go and see Nefthis?"

Nefthis was Nef's sister. She was a servant to the Pharaoh Ramesse's Hittite wife and always had some funny story to tell Ankhar. I wish I could be her, Ankhar thought enviously. All I am is a lowly baker's assistant's son.

Ankhar came back to reality and nodded to Nef. The two jumped out of the dough tub with slow deliberateness and crept along the hallway clinging to the walls. It still smelled of flower buds from last night's feast.

"Off! Get off!" They heard shouts down from the hallway. "Nasty thief!"

Nef looked pale, but Ankhar recklessly rushed ahead. Four men were trying to wrestle a torn pouch of lapis lazuli from one of the scribes, and barely noticed Ankhar. Shards of glass lay on the floor. Ankhar smelled beer and camel dung and figs.

"What are you doing?" Ankhar exploded, tripping up on the scribe's arm as he skidded to a halt.

"None of your business," one of the men said roughly, and put his hand over Ankhar's mouth. Ankhar tore away and raced down the hallway as fast as he could until he slammed into Nefthis.

His mind was a jumble of thoughts. He realized that Nefthis was wearing a ceremonial dress and a headdress and that he had knocked a vase of water out of her hand. That meant she was preparing to accompany Ramesse's wife to the temple with holy water--and, as he noticed his father marching down the hallway, that he was in big trouble.

Today's Latin Roots

2008-01-17T19:29:00.001-08:00

Pot -- 1. drink

2. powerful

(1. potion, potable 2. potentate, potential, potent, omnipotent, omnipotence)

Reg -- King

(Regal, regent)

Vol -- Wish

(voluntary, malevolent, benevolent, volition)

OUR OWN WORDS MADE WITH LATIN ROOTS

Senregphobia-- Fear of old king

Potvol-- Drink wish (sort of like eating your words)

Potregphobia-- Fear of powerful king

Potpyrophobia-- Fear of powerful fire

Potvolposphobia-- Fear of powerful fox

Potnecrophobia-- Fear of powerful dead

Today's Vocabulary

2008-01-16T18:32:00.001-08:00

LATIN ROOTS

Vor--eat

(devour, carnivore, omnivorous)

Sol-- Sun

(solar, parasol, solstice)

Sol-- Alone

(solitude, soliloquy, solo)

Spir-- to breathe

(respiration, respire)

Sen-- old

(senior, senile)

Morph-- shape

(metamorphosis, anthropomorphic)

WORDS OF MY OWN MADE FROM LATIN ROOTS

Soltropos-- Turning of the sun

Vorcaput-- Eating head

Vorvolpos-- Eating fox

Vornecro-- Eating dead

Vorzoon-- Eating animals

Vorzoonphobia-- fear of eating animals

Solphilia-- Loving alone

Vorpyros-- Eating fire

Sensol-- Old sun

Solsol-- Alone sun

Spirpyros-- Breathe fire

Spirsenphilia-- Breathe old love

Senmorphphobia-- fear of old shape

Solphobia-- fear of sun

cool blog post

2008-01-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

Check out this neat post from Jennifer's blog.

activity

2008-01-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

Activity 1:

You have an evil twin. It comes in handy sometimes... After all, you can get more stuff done when you assign some tasks to your twin. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out as planned. You told your twin to write a thank-you note to your grandma, and, now, looking at it, you’re not sure your grandma’s going to understand a word of it.

Your mission: translate the following e-mail into grandma friendly terms and send it back to your teacher for review. It’s okay if you change some words or change word order.

Sup G-ma?

Thnx for the cell. It’s frickin’ sweet! Srsly! Now I can make my BFF, Kate, totally jealous. JK! OBTW, I tried to call you to thnk u B4, but the line was busy. Guess you were OTP. IDK when we will make it out to visit B/C mom tells me nothing! LOL! Don’t worry, we’ll be there B4YKI.

TTYL

Today's Vocabulary

2008-01-11T19:51:00.001-08:00

Pert -- Bold and lively

"pert beauty contestant"

Paucity -- Scarcity, lack

"a paucity of intelligence"

Rococo -- very highly ornamented

"a rococo palace"

Smelt -- to melt metal in order to refine it.

"smelting ore"

Vocabulary Serial

We'll be releasing the following story in installments as we learn new vocabulary words. Check out http://seedsoflearning.blogspot.com to see the latest updates.

______________________________

A pert little girl with a mind of her own, Cornelia marched into the House Rothingford despite her father's warnings.

"What in the world are you doing here, my dear?" the duchess of Rothingford asked from behind a pillar. Cornelia knew the Duchess from chapel and answered quickly,

"Just doing some errands for my mother, Lady." The Duchess looked skeptically at Cornelia, but Cornelia did not pay attention. She was too busy staring at the rococo columns of marble and moldings of Cupid along the wall.

"What a paucity of manners," the Duchess said to herself as Cornelia drew her fingers in wonder across a statue. "I wonder if that little girl has ever learned proper etiquette." Out loud, the Duchess said, "So what errand brings you here, Cornelia?"

"I must get some iron ore to smelt," Cornelia said hastily. The Duchess gasped and put her hand to her heart, looking absolutely terrified.

"Oh, please don't touch the ore! Take the statue! Take the pillars! But leave us our ore," the Duchess said, pale white. And Cornelia, afraid that the Duchess would faint, fetched some smelling salts at once.

Activities

2008-01-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

1. Write a new blog post. Describe a recent event or topic that reminds you of a memory.

For example:

Yesterday after school, we drove out to the U-pick orchard to pick apples. My mom likes to get u-pick apples for making apple butter because they are cheaper. I don’t mind going with her—I know it’s for a good cause—apple butter (which is really, really good) and the orchards smell sweet at this time of year. Actually, the smell reminds me a lot of being a little kid when we lived on my Grandpa’s farm, which may be why I like it. Sometimes I miss living in the country.

Constitution for My Imaginary Country

2008-01-10T20:31:00.001-08:00

Constitution for My Imaginary Country

Svitak, Adora

Today in class we're creating constitutions for our imaginary country. As you should know by now (hem hem), my imaginary country is called Voledads. Here's the preamble to Voledad's Constitution.

Preamble

To meet the challenges of life as we know it and to create a more organized nation, we the citizens of Voledads declare laws for the benefit of the people. To present a better structure, we do establish laws regarding the common health and education; global trade and foreign relations; defense and the keeping of peace; justice and human rights, to better the lives of every Voledadian person to the very limits of our powers.

today's activity

2008-01-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Write to Learn: Constitution

Adora's Activity: The Constitution of....

In Adora's Words: Did you ever feel like laying down the law? Well, now is your chance! Today we're going to create constitutions for our imaginary countries. First, let's review some constitutional basics.

Vocabulary:
constitution-a system of governance that establishes the rules and principals by which a nation, state, corporation, or society is governed.

In other words, the constitution is a sort of map for organizing a government. It states the purpose of a government, explains how the government will be organized, allots certain powers to each branch of the government, and defines the rights and liberties of the citizens.

Activity: Today we will be creating the main body of our country's constitution. We will write our constitution's preamble, or introduction, and write the articles, or the part of the constitution that explains how the government will be organized, and how power will be allotted. Because we are basing our organizational structure on the U.S. Constitution, first take a look at the summary of the articles of the U.S. Constitution.

new blog

2008-01-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed reading Kit-kat's blog post about her imaginary country's creation myth on her blog at http://idkschool.blogspot.com/. Her creation myth is inventive while at the same time reflecting some of the themes we discovered in our study of creation myths from various cultures around the world.

Early Capricacian Creation Myths & Pantheon of Gods

2008-01-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

The following is a creation myth and a pantheon of gods from the imaginary country Capricacia.

When all the world was young, it was round and soft, and all the planets stood still in the sky. Many thousands of years later, the world froze in the coldness and became brittle. One day, a great noise shook the planets from their positions, a noise so loud that it would keep all the planets moving for trillions of years to come. This noise came from the cracking of the surface of the world. One day later, a star, Cpelckan, shot out of the top of the earth, leaving behind a trail of fire and ice, so that the center of the world was hot, and the North and South poles were cold. The star shot out with such force that the ice at the top of the world, Npthshar, gave birth to organisms of all kinds. Thus the world began.

A Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses

Cpelckan-- After shooting out from the earth, Cpelckan turned into a man, taught the first humans of the earth how to make fire and clothing, then when his mortal self died, he dove to the bottom of the ocean and there began a kingdom of the dead from where he ruled the world.

Npthshar-- The ice. Gave birth to the first organisms and, in human form, came with Cpelckan to the bottom of the ocean as Queen of the Dead.

Lariadf-- The fire. God of war and destruction.

Calandra-- Daughter of Cpelckan and Npthshar, and most beautiful human in the world, who taught the humans how to craft jewelry.

Mcaek-- Son of Npthshar and Lariadf, a very aggressive person, who taught the humans how to make armor.

Capetr-- An idle god, son of Npthshar and a wooly mammoth, very fat, and patron of drunkards.

Qak-- God of complaints, who receives complaints from humans and passes them onto Kjla for judgement.

Kjla-- Goddess of judgment and law. Punishes law-breakers, and beat Capetr with a rod of ice for twenty hours for stealing a vase from Npthshar.

Today's Vocabulary

2008-01-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Posted by Adora Svitak

Vocabulary Definitions

titan a person of colossal stature or achievement

"Mark Twain is a titan of American literature."

zealot someone passionately devoted to a cause

"Adrianna was a zealot about animal rights."

voracious having a great appetite

"The behemoth was voracious and ate Adora and her entire family."

salubrious healthful (good for your health)

"Rundown and sickly, Rita hoped the mountain air would have a salubrious effect on her health."

pugnacious quarrelsome, eager and ready to fight

"The serene eighty year old used to be a pugnacious troublemaker in her youth, but she is softer now."

Vocabulary Exercise - salubrious vs. pugnacious

Mr. Puck Bradley walked down the street with a pipe jammed up his nose and his pants on in the entirely wrong way.

"Bradley, good man! What in the name of all things on earth are you doing in that backwards fashion?" the bartender asked as Bradley stumbled into the tavern.

"What are you talking about? You're only an ol' bartender. How could you know about my highly respected fashion decisions?" Mr. Puck Bradley demanded. "In fact, I don't know how you could even think about it! What's the world comin' to? Somebody ought to get knocked down, tell him right."

"Have some salad to clear your mind," the bartender said, offering Bradley a plate heaped full of lettuce and chard. "You need something or the other. I thought you were nearly dead last night when you had so much whisky."

"Whisky! Ha, that don't do a single thing to this ol' body!" Mr. Bradley said proudly. "Matter of fact, I don't know how you could think it!" And with this, he dealt the bartender a mighty punch to the nose.

"To clear your soul of sins, refrain from violence," the bartender said primly.

"Violence! That ain't any violence," Mr. Bradley said, taking a great swig from a fine glass bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. "Ech! This stuff is awful." He hurled the whole bottle against the window, where it took a sizable piece out of the pane and broke into shards on the sidewalk outside. "Hey, you bottle! I ain't takin' any insolence from you!" He began catcalling at the bottle in a most odd manner, and pedestrians began to stare.

"Nor any insolence from you!" Bradley roared, and blindly dealt blows to whoever was within immediate reach of the window.

"Please eat some salad," the bartender pled again, attempting to drag Bradley away from the window. "Breathe deeply." Ignoring the bartender, Bradley tried to grab ahold of the lightbulb and instead fell onto a hardbacked chair.

"Sit straight, don't slump. It's bad for your spine," the bartender cautioned. Bradley snorted like a bull and lifted up the whole chair and hurled it towards the bartender. It missed, instead flying into the wine cupboard and shattering a whole row of bottles.

general/specific

2008-01-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

In this activity, we wrote paragraphs using only general words, and then switched off and rewrote each other's paragraphs using specific words. Jennifer rewrote mine.

The lady went through the garden, making movement as people took photos. People tried to stop her path. But no matter their efforts, the lady continued on--that was, until she was stopped by a thing, and fell. The people tried to get her, but she went under them before they could move and began to chew some plants.

Word Identification Strategies- posted by Beastie

2008-01-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

Activity: Read for 20 minutes about your topic of expertise. Write down any words you don’t understand, and look them up. Write a blog entry about something new you learned during your reading. In addition, write about the new words that you discovered, and explain their meaning in your own words. Publish your post. As soon as you are finished, take some time to read a classmates’ post.

"Kimi ga yo" Japan's National Anthem,

2008-01-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

Kimi ga yo is the Japanese national anthem. Its words are based on Waka, a poem written in the Heian period. It was sung as a melody and written in the Meiji era. The current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed eleven years earlier. The people liked the current one better because it sounded nicer and it had a meaning that the people liked. To most people "Kimi ga yo" is translated to "may your reign last forever." To some people Japan has a lot of nice and cool things, but do you realize that Japan also has the shortest anthem in current use? The orginal lyrics are not a lot different from the hiragana but it is much different from the English and romaji.
Romaji - Kimi ga yo waChiyo niYachiyo niSazare ishi noIwao to nariteKoke no musu made

English - May your reignContinue for a thousand,eight thousand generations,Until the pebblesGrow into bouldersLush with moss.

Hiragana きみがよはちよにやちよにさざれいしのいわおとなりてこけのむすまで

Official lyrics 君が代は千代に八千代に細石の巌となりて苔の生すまで

Vocabulary List of Words I (Previously) Did Not Know

2008-01-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

lime·stone –noun
a sedimentary rock consisting predominantly of calcium carbonate, varieties of which are formed from the skeletons of marine microorganisms and coral: used as a building stone and in the manufacture of lime.

pre·fec·ture
–noun
the office, jurisdiction, territory, or official residence of a prefect.

boast1 - to speak with exaggeration and excessive pride, esp. about oneself.

lin·guist - A person who speaks several languages fluently.

syn·the·sis - the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity

posted by Katie

Google Groups

2007-12-27T16:40:00.000-08:00

Google Groups
Svitak, Adora

I've been playing around on Google and I've discovered a new feature called Google Groups. This allows you to create your own group online, like "Mary's Book Group" or "Everything Tech," post messages and pages, customize the look of your online group, etc. You also get your own group email. Our group for Seeds of Learning is called Literature and Fine Arts. Visit it at http://groups.google.com/group/literature-and-fine-arts?hl=en .

Characters Based on Vocab Words by the class

2007-12-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

Scenario: All three characters are in the classroom. Edith Smith, the teacher, sits straightbacked in her hardbacked chair at the front of the classroom. Saya Nakamuro is stuffing her mouth with Kit-Kats and sushi rolls while leading an animated discussion with her deskmate, Wichita Rathbone, a tall, gaunt, Goth girl.

Edith Smith says in a monotonous voice: Class, proceed.

The chatter in the classroom dies down--all except for Desk 8, where Saya is chattering about anime to Wichita, who sits silently with a grim expression.

"Saya, Saya, your prattle is worsening my migraine. Desist, you pungent cretin," Wichita says.

"Clause 491 of the School Board's Forbidden Activities in the Classroom expressly forbids the consumption of any edible articles within classroom walls," Edith Smith drones.

Saya keeps eating.

"You're getting crumbs on my cloak, you pestilent rat." Wichita angrily twists away from Saya, who is chattering on about her plans for the evening.

"...I'm going to be getting thirty-two new manga books, twelve boxes of California rolls, seventeen boxes of Kit-Kats, and we're going to be expanding the dining room table so that all my friends can fit..." Saya plunges on.

"Do you ever close that fly trap?" Wichita Rathbone mutters.

"Clause 12 of the Forbidden Activities in Class, draft one by the School Board, expressly states that disturbing, distracting, or otherwise non-pertaining to class primary subjects must stop within no less than two seconds of acknowledgement by the teacher, superintendent, or otherwise authoritative figure in the classroom," Edith Smith intones.

Not a single person in the class hears her over the shrill sound of the school bell.

Web Copy About Monkeys from Two Perspectives by Katie

2007-12-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

advertising-
In the world there are many animals for sale to be pets, but the best kind of animal to get is a Monkey. Our monkeys come in many different colors and sizes--their fur is nice and fluffy and cuddly. They are better than the immature monkeys that are offered by less professional organizations. Our monkeys are in a class of their own. They are all the people talk about. They will be potty trained before you buy them and they will be taught to cook, play with children, play any instrument, read, write, draw, feed themselves. They also will be taught to talk in any language that humans can speak and understand. Does this sound like the perfect pet for you and your family? Then go down to the store and pick one up now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Informative:
Many Monkeys are brown with black eyes. There are many different kinds of monkeys all over the world; they are mammals. They have their own language, and they live in the trees. They live in forest and jungles, and they run and play in trees. Oh, did you know that a monkey eats and sleeps in a tree? They make great pets if they are trained.

Two Perspectives on the first footage of the Gerboa, a rare rodent

2007-12-12T16:53:00.001-08:00

Gerboa:
The world has so many things that sound so nice, but the one thing we hate to hear is the screech of a cat's meow. We are growing weak and there are growing few of us, but we have just found that there is now one more thing we must fend for our selves from; That is a cat, with its tall ears, their claws as sharp as a blade of a sword, their stealthy movements, and their tails that we can be trapped in and killed, then eaten for that cat's dinner before he was killed as well. We fear humans for their big hand that pick us up and stroke our fur; their hands are rough and big when they touch our fur. They smell nothing like us; all we can smell when they are around is canned foods and other animals so much bigger than us. If the humans didn't care about us, those brobdingnagian animals could eat us in one hole. So thanks to those who care and please try to make other people care so we don't get eaten in a mouthful.

Kid:
The first time I had ever been to the pet store, I saw the pet that I would ask my mom to get me; it was the Gerboa. I love that it had a long tail and that its ears were 1/3 the size of there its head; when my mom looked at the Gerboa, she shook her head in a disapproving way, she said "No no no no no no no no, I will never let that freaky animal in my house". She took my hand and made me look at the dogs. When we done looking I asked for the Gerboa, she shook her head, and we left. Now it has been 20 years, since that day and the Gerboas are growing thin and weak. I still go and see if I could get one, but they stopped selling them because they were going extinct, so I want everyone in the world to care and do something nice to save those small big eared little animals.

posted by Katie

2007-12-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

Sample Online Activity Sheet:
Question: What are the origins of the modern house cat?

1. Your mission is not to answer this question. Your mission is to decide, as quickly as possible, which of the following Web sites is most likely to contain information that will help you answer the question.
2. Look at the links. Which two sites do you think are most likely to contain the information you are looking for?
a)
b)
3. Log on to the Web and visit each of the sites below. Try not to spend more than a few minutes at each site.
4. If you think the site might contain an answer to the question, check yes in the box next to the site.
5. If you think the site will not contain an answer to your question, check no in the box next to the site.
Links-

Cats (musical) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cats is an award-winning musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and other poems by T. S. Eliot. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_(musical) - 88k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Cats, Kittens - TerrificCats.com
Cats, Kittens - TerrificCats is a website you can find information on cat breeds, cat breeders, cat names and more.www.terrific-cats.com/ - 29k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Cats
This is a collection of pictures of cats found on random places on the internet. If you know of some reason they should not be here, or have pictures of ...www.acc.umu.se/~zqad/cats/ - 88k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Kittens for Sale Cats for Sale Cat Breeders
Pets 4 You provides information on all pets including kittens for sale, dogs for sale, dog breeders, kittens for sale, cat breeders, horses, reptiles, ...www.pets4you.com/cats.html - 82k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Orisinal.com - Cats
Ferry Halim - Orisinal arts collection. Simply relaxing experience for the soul. Soothing music and graphics, beautiful atmosphere.www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/cats.htm - 3k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Cat Fanciers Web Site
The Internet forum for the cat fancy since 1993. Comprehensive site with lots of original content. Articles and links on cat breeds, cat shows, cat care, ...www.fanciers.com/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

National Geographic: Cats
Join the Project Cat design team as they hone the blueprints for the 'perfect predator' a mammal that can thrive in almost any habitat on earth.www.nationalgeographic.com/cats/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

C.A.T.S.
Provides public transportation services to the Charlotte Metro Area, including service to Gastonia and Rock Hill. Mission statement, information on services ...
www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/

- 38k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
News results for cats

NBC5i.com
Sachse Residents Worry About Big Cat Sightings - Dec 10, 2007
SACHSE, Texas - Residents of a north Texas neighborhood said they are concerned a big cat has been visiting their area. Several neighborhood animals have ...
MSNBC - 7 related articles »

Confidential Files on Charles Stahler

2007-12-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

Confidential Files on Charles Stahler
Svitak, Adora

Our mission was to find information on Mr. Charles Stahler. Here we present our research findings.

Mr. Stahler is codirector of the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG), which "provides information about and advocates vegetarian and vegan lifestyles." VRG publishes the Vegetarian Journal, a magazine which features, among other things, vegetarian and vegan recipes.

Mr. Stahler has co-written Meatless Meals for Working People with Debra Wasserman (according to Google Checkout, www.checkout.google.com ). Google Checkout has been extremely helpful on finding books by Mr. Stahler, as it carries links to websites like Barnes and Noble, http://www.alibris.com/, and http://www.al1books.com/ , which provide further information. Mr. Stahler has also written Vegetarianism for the Working Person and No Cholesterol Passover Meals, all of which are published by the Vegetarian Resource Group. These books are also co-written with Debra Wasserman.

We were unable to find Charles Stahler or the VRG on Wikipedia, the renowned online encyclopedia. Does this mean that Mr. Stahler and the Vegetarian Resource Group are too minor to catch Wikipedia's notice?

As for Mr. Stahler's personal background, he is married to Debra Wasserman, who, as you may have noticed, is a frequent collaborator with him on publications. Mr. Stahler has children and resides in Baltimore.

We advise our readers to keep low unless they want themselves profiled.

You could be next.

Note on investigating an author

2007-12-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I read a web article by Charles Stahler; I was to look him up and see what his background was, what other things he had written, and about his life. I had found many good strategies to find things out about him. I looked on wikipedia and found that there was no page on him, so what I did was went on Google and looked up things written by Charles Stahler. It took many sites to find what I wanted, but I found what I was looking for. I looked at many sites but I found that www.vegparadise.com , www.a1books.com , www.grist.org , www.alibris.com , and www.bn.com (barns and noble ) were the most useful. These sites gave me the best information the quickest, and they had it in a way that was really easy for me to understand. I found that Charles Stahler is codirector of vegetarian group (vrg), he writes with his wife Debra Wasserman. He is a father and he wrote the books Meatless maeals for Working People, and No Cholesterol Passover Recipies. Interested in more about Charles Stahler? Then go to www.vrg.org .
-posted by Katie

Good Learning Resource

2007-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Good Learning Resource
Svitak, Adora

Through the King County Library System's list of recommended sites, I've discovered www.bookrags.com, which has summaries, book guides, author info, etc. on (I think) every book on the planet. If you're writing a book report/review, etc., Book Rags provides a lot of great info.

Child Labor

2007-12-10T16:08:00.001-08:00

I just came across Adrianna's excellent Write to Learn paragraph from our unit on child labor:

"I climb the steep blackened chimney, holding in my coughs and splutters. I am short of breath, so I inhale. I inhale black dust and charcoal, and my hollow coughs echo around the narrow tunnel. Tears sting my eyes, but I musn't cry. I have to work. I scrape the chimney sides that are black with dust. It's dark and lonesome, and hard to breath. All sorts of dust fills my lungs. I cry as I sweep the chimney."

I'd like to compliment Adrianna on her vivid use of imagery. Her empathy really shines through.

Investigating a Web Author

2007-12-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Let's play private eye and do a little investigative work on some Web authors.
First, read the following articles. Second, research the authors' backgrounds on the Web.
What are their credentials? What else have they written? What is their educational background?

http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue4/vj2006issue4poll.htm

http://newcats.blogspot.com/

When choosing a topic for topic based blogging, there's something to be said for the extremely specific...

2007-11-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

mustaches of the nineteenth century

Vietnamese Education posted by Adora Svitak

2007-10-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

The basic structure of Vietnamese education is similar to American education: pre-primary, primary, intermediate, secondary, and higher education.

As a poor country, Vietnam's public schools are dramatically under funded. The average public school teacher receives about sixty to one hundred United States dollars a month.

Sadly, the dropout rate increases after fifth grade. School is expensive--the government is not able to provide mucch money for students' supplies, and parents have to provide funds for their childrens' education.

Despite the drawbacks in Vietnam's public school system, Vietnam's average literacy rate is over ninety percent.

Activity for Tuesday-Weds.

2007-10-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Activity

Now that you have chosen an expert to investigate, it’s time to get started. Answer the following questions during the course of your investigation.

1. Where did you discover your expert?

2. What is your experts name?

3. What distinguishes your expert from other experts on your topic?

4. When did your expert first become interested in your topic?

5. Why did your expert first become interested in your topic?

6. How did your expert become an expert?

7. Describe a process that your expert uses to gain more information on your topic.

8. Has your experts published any published any books on your topic or appeared in any other media presentations on your topic?

9. How has your expert influenced your understanding of your topic?

When you have answered these questions, write a blog entry based on your answers. You can add other information, and be sure to include any thoughts or feelings you have that relate to each question. So, for example, if you answered question #6 with something like, “Delia Solquis attended school for eighteen years to become an expert in photography!”, in your blog entry you should include your answer to question #6 and then add your own thoughts on it, such as, “I already feel like I’ve been in school for ever, and I’ve only been here for six years. No wonder Delia’s blog sounds so smart.”

When you are finished writing your blog entry, use your self editing checklist and publish.

A Note on My Imaginary Country's Slang

2007-10-23T11:15:00.001-07:00

This note on Voledadian slang is provided by your correspondent in Voledads, Adora Svitak.

While Voledads prefers to consider itself elite, the "bumpkins" of society do use a certain amount of slang. Because of Voledads' elitist standards for proper Dadish (the language of Voledads, similar to British English in pronunciation and American English in spelling, but with some added words and convoluted spellings), you will not find these words in dictionaries. Some examples include:

Pigseye (peeg-saay): Pigseye means a fire. In the countryside, peat (also known as peeg or pig) is the main fuel for fires, and seye is a superstitious term used to describe a warm tingling as though by magic. As one farmer described, "fire is like magic when it warms yer bones after a day in the field," perhaps giving rise to the slang phrase pigseye.

Arcking (Arrr-king): Heavy coughing, most likely from the sound of severe coughing.

Rolt: Brought. Probably some form of the word "rolled."

Backnocker: A beggar. Those begging for food often came to the back doors of restaurants and other establishments to get leftover food scraps, and thus the word "Backnocker." Backnocker can also be used to describe a freeloader or a shiftless person.

Nodder: A sycophant, toady, minion--a person who agrees with everything their master, etc., says. Nodder originated as a propaganda term in anti-government groups, which led the oligarchy to censor its appearance in books. It remains, however, a pop term for the teenage generation, and "nodder" is forever memorialized in the pantheon of high school insults.

Three Narratives From My Imaginary Country, excerpted in "A History of Voledads," the most widely-read schoolbook in Voledads.

2007-10-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Three Narratives from Voledads

Svitak, Adora

Before you Read:

An excerpt from Me: or, a True Tale of Voledads’ Little Princess, by Maisie Clayton (Stage and Screen, pg. 144)

Key Terms
Retain
Roaad’s Point
Bustling
Pageant
Flannels
Chenille
Debutante
Sanitarium
Formidable
Faux
Reticule

It was a cold morning when I was born, the midwife said, and indeed the first thing I remembered in my life was a cold sort of chill, if I could remember much; for I was probably only three years when I began retaining information conveniently.
We were common folk. My father owned a small parcel of land ten miles from Roaad’s Point. Every month our father and my two older brothers would go to Roaad’s Point and barter things at market: sheep, pigs, goats, and geese, jugs of the creamy milk of Bellatine the cow, and my mother’s fine woolen garments. My mother was the best dressmaker about. If us girls—my elder sister Therese and my two little sisters Louise and Lora—were good and did all that our mother bid us, we could come along as well in our father’s rattling wagon, bundled up tightly in our veils and flannels for the cold part of the year.
The market was a bustling place full of novelties that we country girls found the most amazing. I remember that upon seeing a printing press, I, for a great length, begged my father to buy me one. He, of course, had better things to do than listen to my silly pleas, and so disposed of me conveniently by bringing me to the market pageant. It was at the market pageant that I first saw the greatest inspirations in my acting career.
I was dazzled by the damsels in distress, blinded by knights in shining armor, and drunken with the rum of rasping pirates. At the time ladies on the stage were considered “fast.” This meant, as far as I knew, that we girls were supposed to keep a good distance away from them and not get any bad ideas. But rather than avoid them and hurry away like my prudent sisters, I stayed and watched respectfully as my idol, the olive-skinned, black-haired Mia Gardenioff, swept off the stage in her signature yellow chenille. It would be long before I got my chenille. But then again, it would be long before I would get on the stage.
When I became a young debutante I received a green chenille with matching chiffon about the waist—but enough of the clothes, for my coming-out was more important. I was said to be the “belle of the ball,” but can I tell you! Eighteen-year-old girls are more apt to think themselves scrawny, ungainly, and hopelessly ugly. As such an eighteen-year-old, I was very much surprised when I overheard a remark about my being a good candidate for a role in the new play, Bella Sanitarium. It was said to be quite a comedy, but one of the understudies had broken a leg—in the literal sense, that is—and the original player of the role had backed out citing religious reasons.
Sanitarium was touring through Tiola, and as it happened, my formidable Aunt Aurelia wanted me to visit her in Tiola, I wanted to go abroad like the rest of my “set,” and it was our family’s tradition for the girls to finish at the Mount Bauxite Women’s College in Tiola. The director of Sanitarium contacted me by letter later in the year, inviting me to sign on to the playacting set. I agreed at once, packed my belongings and schoolbooks in my worn little faux-leather satchel, tucked my tickets for the Mount Bauxite train and the Elvern-to-Tiola steamboat into my reticule, and set off. --------------------

An excerpt from the 1919 Labor Reports:

Being the eleventh boy in a poor family that got to make money somehow doesn’t do much for your education except physical. All of us got to work when we can, what we can, and how we can. In our fashion we mined coal and my sisters did what they could to help our ma with the washing and sewing for the rich folks. My ma, she washed so hard that her hands got reddish like. None of us kids knew what rightly to do about it, cause we were just kids.
My ma was from a high sorts of family at first, and got proper schooling, and taught us how to write and add sums when she could if she wasn’t too busy with the washing. Her da was a merchant but lost his ships at sea, and so his rank doesn’t have much influence on us now. My brothers worked in the mine with our da and the youngsters got our water and tools and food.
Being a coal miner requires exercise. At the end of the day our knees are all sore from going down the tunnel, stop and go. Our shoulders and arms are sore from hacking away at the coal, our necks are sore from craning them to try to see above our heads (there be some nasty accidents in the mines from above), and our feet are sore from being pinched in our boots. We can’t afford to buy new ones so our toes stick out and, well, too bad if anything falls on them. Our whole bodies are sore from pulling up the carts of coal. The mine owners wouldn’t buy a mouse to pull those things. They harness us to the carts with yokes like oxen, whip us like we’re horses, and say they’re going to throw us out if we complain about pulling the cart in the dark when the rain is dripping and you’re really supposed to have a rest. Does a miner really ever have a rest? I don’t think that the number of rests I’ve gotten would be enough time to say “Mine’s crashing in!” That’s quite fast. I know from the number of times I’ve heard the unfortunate man shout it over from the tunnel twenty feet over. The mine owners don’t honestly care. They cover up and threaten to make mincemeat of us if we tell the constable that a tunnel crashed in and that they didn’t open their fat purses to pay for some men to go and find the poor soul. Oh well, we get our pay and that’s enough to feed the girls at home. That’s some comfort, even though my blisters are hurting like anything. What I would really like right now would be some toffee, but all I’m getting is bitter coffee with coal shavings in it. Fact that I made a rhyme—toffee and coffee, that is—doesn’t do much to lift my spirits, cause I’ll be working overtime.------------------

My name is Sylvius Junius Jacquelle van Bartholemeo-Nottlewood [Note to the reader: Nottlewood was Sylvius’s wife’s father’s surname, van Bartholemeo her mother’s. Junius was Sylvius’s father’s surname, and thus the most prominent, while Jacquelle was his mother’s surname. Voledadian monarchial names were very complicated, if not excessively so], and I am the fifth Sylvius Junius of Junius House, in Voledads. My life has been an uneventful fusion of fame, diet, and drink. I am particularly fond of the cognac of my mother’s countrymen, the Carmellans.
This day in 1520 I came upon a strange desire to record some of the happenings these years, as I know that even young kings so fair-of-face as me may be cut down by a stray arrow or sickened by plagues or killed in battle. Therefore I wish to leave some imprint on the world beyond my laws, which could be overturned as easily by the next king, oligarchy, or whatever the easily impressionable people of Voledads fancy for themselves, as a feather could be blown away.
I was born noonday in the month of August. The astrologists had predicted a girl and thus it was that, my mother having great faith in astrology, I was not found to be a boy until I was brought to christening and my voluminous silken robes were unwrapped. It is inauspicious to look at a baby before he or she is fully wrapped, and so it was only at my naming, when I was doused in holy Trinansitic water, that the court discovered my gender. Or a story something along these lines.
Before the time of my birth, the house of my father, Junius, was at war with the Jacquelles. While typically Voledadian and Carmellan families have feuds between each other, the two houses’ constant social battle ballooned out so alarmingly that both houses were quite weak when the Nottlewoods attacked. The Junius and Jacquelle houses found it necessary to ally themselves through the marriage of my father (a Junius) to my mother (a Jacquelle), and fought against the Nottlewoods. When I reached sixteen years, this fight began to die down, and I was betrothed to the valiant Canerle van Bartholomeo-Nottlewood to end the feud more conveniently. This Canerle, my wife now, is a virago of sorts, and once threw the Minister of Finance out the window by his ear. Thankfully it was the first floor, but the good Minister landed in a thorn bush and needed a great deal of fixing up. There is no one in the kingdom who can tell Canerle what to do. My father, the eminent former king, tried to hint that Canerle’s ways were too forward, but Canerle tossed her hair and rode off to her country estate. Nevertheless, Canerle rallies, disciplines, and fights alongside the soldiers, so she has garnered the title of Lance Majoress (a word of my own making) for herself. Canerle will continue the historical area of this narrative in the event of my death. I hope that she will not turn my noble writings into a smear campaign against me. It seems like something Canerle would do, considering that I just cut her budget for weaponry. --------------

Props

2007-10-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite posts lately is
this simple update from Katie's blog. It's not long, but it's neatly written, and I like how Katie ties her topic to her own personal experiences, and a personal memory. That's what blogging is all about.

Painting the Town Red Redux

2007-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

We turned up some interesting phrases during yesterday's activity, wherein we created phrases and phrase origins for our imaginary countries. Some of my favorites include: Adrianna's slug hair phrase and the interesting historical origins of Adora's phrase one hobbling crook is better than ninety-two strong monks.
I thought Adrianna's idea of posting a Czech menu as part of her 'Becoming an Expert' project was pretty cool, so I assigned this homework topic: create a menu for a restaurant in your imaginary country. As preliminary research, students will study the evolution of cuisine in real countries around the world. I'm looking forward to inspecting the results.

Painting the Town Red- posted by your teacher, Beastie

2007-10-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to the Big Apple? What about the Big Easy? Have you painted the town red lately? Are you in the pink? Are you out of sorts? Are you more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Do you take everything I say with a grain of salt?
Do a lot of phrases we use regularly not make much sense to you when you really think about them? Today, we're going to look at the origins of some common phrases, and then create phrases and accompanying origins for our imaginary countries.
1. check this out
2. Open a blog entry and write a list of phrases that are used in your country, accompanied by theories on their possible origins.
3. Use the phrase a day website for guidance on style and tone.

Activity

2007-10-10T15:31:00.001-07:00

Now that you are well on your way to becoming an expert on your subject, it’s your job to keep your readers updated.

Activity: Take some time today to read about your subject in one of your books, or via your Google alert feed. Share your information with your readers. To get started, read my example on the following page, then follow the steps below.

First, answer the following questions:
1. What new thing have you learned regarding your topic?
2. Where did you learn it? (if website, include link)
3. What does it make you think of?
4. How does it make you feel?
5. What new questions does it raise?

• Now, open a blog post, title it ‘Update’ and transcribe your answers into your post in complete sentences.
• When you are done writing, use your self-editing checklist and publish.
• If you have time, visit your classmates’ blogs and read their posts.
• If you have any questions about their posts, you can leave them in the comments section.

Update

2007-10-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

Our history from a pet's eye view project turned out some pretty cool results. Check out

Katie's beautifully written blog post on her blog, Minakochouko, and read Adora's post below. Nice work. I love the wistful tone of Katie's post, and of course Adora knows that I'm partial to anything that touches upon one of my favorite subjects, the illustrious General Hamilton. Even if it's not particularly flattering....Hem. Hem.

A Pet's Eye View of History

2007-10-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

A Pet’s Eye View of History
Svitak, Adora

I am the renowned tomcat, Hamilton of Mt. Vernon. I have, since the day of my celebrated birth, been companion to Martha Washington of Mt. Vernon. This being a common 1762 day spent laid upon the carpet with lethargy most uncommon to my namesake, curse him, I have chosen to talk to my lowly readers to pass time.

I live in a great house for humans, with tall windows stretching from the ceiling to the floor and curlicues of ivy wrapping around the Venetian-railed verandah, and balconies with potted plants on the second floor, but nothing for a tomcat like me.

Mrs. Washington is the typical society matron doing all sorts of goodly works and such, and takes great comfort in eating. She is more of a mother than a wife to the eminent Mr. Washington, who is absent most of the time, takes good care of the animals in her care, and usually lies back on the davenport.

They say that Mrs. Washington is a most impressive figure. Perhaps they mean her girth, for else I would say that she is the average president’s wife and do-gooder. Of course, I cannot judge too well, having not seen any other presidents in the fledgling nation, but she is no different from any other women to me.

A curse upon my name and my namesake. Hamilton! How did humans get to name us felines, I daresay? I profess to be an anti-federalist, myself, and have clawed a Federalist Paper on occasion. The simple Mrs. Washington, however, took my destructive intent to be adoring fondling, and christened me Hamilton with great ado. This Hamilton is a hotheaded fop with about as much genius as deserts have floods. Upon arriving to pay a visit to Mrs. Washington, he shooed me out of the way like a common alley-cat and paid less attention to me than a flea! Would that I had a different name.

"Forms of Government" from The Phrontistery

2007-10-04T15:45:00.001-07:00

Duarchy government by two people
Hagiarchy government by saints/holy persons
Plutocracy government by the wealthy

DUARCHY

In 1438, members of the ruling oligarchy in Voledads were assassinated in a popular attempt to get a king or queen back on the throne. The Voledadian people got more than they bargained for—the two grandchildren of the last king assumed power and ruled on a dual throne. The Grand Duke Dananan and his sister, the Grand Duchess Georgietta, appeared together at all social events. Instead of saying “I and my royal sister/brother” when talking to people, the duarchy introduced “we” as the formal term to encompass two people. “We” took hold, however, and spread to documents and speech internationally.

HAGIARCHY

In 1482, not long after the reign of the Grand Duke Dananan and the Grand Duchess Georgietta, a hagiarchy came to rule Voledads. Duke Dananan and his sister had always been deeply devout throughout their lives, and so it was no surprise that Archbishops were always named Regents in their absence. As it happened, Georgietta died unexpectedly after a fall on the stairs, and Dananan, so overcome with grief, retreated to his country estate and left the country to the Archbishop of Elvern. After Dananan’s death by smallpox, the Archbishop took control, more firmly tying church and state together than ever before. The Archbishop, known as “The Pursuer,” persecuted atheists, agnostics, and non-Trinansitic (the main religion at the time) people in Voledads.

PLUTOCRACY

The start of Voledads’ industrial revolution began in 1899 at the turn of the century. Around this time large monopolies were the norm in Voledads, and the oligarchy was soon infiltrated by big business owners of all kinds. While ruling under the banner of “freedom and free enterprise,” the plutocracy also introduced many self-beneficial laws, including the controversial “Yarn-threader’s Law,” which decreed that those involved in threading in factories could not hold employers responsible for factory-retained injuries. On the plus side, however, the plutocracy introduced a higher standard of education; because of the near inexistence of private schools in Voledads, business owners wanted their children to get the best education possible in public schools. The plutocracy also beautified Voledads’ public buildings with marble floors, potted plants, etc., with money from their own business investments.

Nice work-posted by Beastie

2007-10-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed reading the posts from yesterday's assignment, in which we created a profile for one of the founders of our imaginary countries. Adrianna's names were especially good (I will never forget Gorgoslav), Katie's profile was very creative and carefully written (good job on the spelling and punctuation!), and I thought
Pestito Adora's death sequence was quite hilarious. Nice insights into van Sprawitz's college years as well, Pestito.

Vocabulary

2007-10-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Choose four words from this list to use in sentences. Be prepared to define your words for the class.

beastiocracy

2007-10-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Visit this site and choose three forms of government. Write a creative paragraph describing each of your chosen forms of government.

Time Capsule Constitution Revised

2007-10-02T15:22:00.001-07:00

Time Capsule Update
Svitak, Adora

For our class assigment we are going to be learning about the Constitution. As a preliminary assigment, we're going to be summarizing everything we know about constitutions and our Constitution. I know some of the history behind the Constitution's beginnings from our previous lessons. One impressive guest at the Constitutional Convention was Benjamin Franklin (much weather-beaten at this time). His diplomatic counterpart, John Adams, was away at the time. Amendments to the Constitution have been made over time, to allow things such as voting rights for women and African-Americans. The Constitution continues to be an influential ruling force in the way we act today. "Unconstitutional" is a common news term, meaning that something does not follow the Constitution, and is used especially frequently in political debates. I think (making my best guess, not something that we learned in class) that there are constitutions, or similarly formed documents, in other democratically governed countries but not all countries of the world. I would guess that our Constitution is modeled after British documents stating laws, since most of our founding fathers came from Britain, but I can't name a specific British document. Admittedly, I know little about the Constitution. This gives us all the more reason to launch ahead with our Constitution project.

Time Capsule Constitution Revised

2007-10-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

cool blog

2007-10-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

I'd like to encourage all Seeds of Learning students to periodically write posts about sites of interest, and new blogs they have discovered. In order to practice what I preach, I'd like to recommend a soviet poster a day. The blogger's choice of a visual topic hooks readers in, making the potentially heavy subject matter seem less dry. While the blogger's writing style is a little clunky at times, it is obvious that he or she knows a lot about the subject matter, and some of his/her observations are very insightful. Plus, the reader gets the opportunity to peruse some really interesting images that aren't readily available in the United States.

Comments on the "Becoming An Expert" Project

2007-10-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

As a class assigment, we've all been learning more about topics that we're interested in with the "Becoming An Expert" project. We've been posting blogs about information that we've learned from a variety of mediums like the World Wide Web and nonfiction books. My topic is Chinese history.

So far the Becoming an Expert project has been very interesting. I’ve been able to discover more about not only China but the way that its history influences us today. I’ve also been able to share the information I discover with my readers by publishing updates on my topic to my blog, and I’ve sharpened my research skills in finding info about my topic.

I’ve noticed, however, that having a general topic like China makes it difficult to write my material in a structured or chronologically correct way. I think that suggesting having a specific topic—Ancient China, for instance—would make for more in-depth information on one topic instead of being able to cover only a few things in China’s enormous history.

Overall I am enjoying the Becoming an Expert project a great deal. I believe that kids will like the Becoming an Expert project because you are able to choose a topic that you are interested in and want to know more about, and the variety of resources you can use to gather information. I think that the Becoming an Expert project is easy to utilize, fun to do, and a great learning journey.

Time Capsule: The Constitution

2007-10-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Time Capsule Update
Svitak, Adora

For our class assigment we are going to be learning about the Constitution. As a preliminary assigment, we're going to be summarizing everything we know about constitutions and our Constitution.

I know some of the history behind the Constitution's beginnings from our previous lessons. One impressive guest at the Constitutional Convention was Benjamin Franklin (much weather-beaten at this time). His diplomatic counterpart, John Adams, was away at the time.

Amendments to the Constitution have been made over time, to allow things such as voting rights for women and African-Americans.

The Constitution continues to be an influential ruling force in the way we act today. "Unconstitutional" is a common news term, meaning that something does not follow the Constitution, and is used especially frequently in political debates.

Admittedly, I know little about the Constitution. This gives us all the more reason to launch ahead with our Constitution project.

Expert Project

2007-09-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

So far I am very impressed with the results of our 'Becoming an Expert' project. For an example, check out Adora's blog. Good job citing your references, Adora. I also really love your humorous asides.

Poetry is a pastime-posted by Adora and Felisa

2007-09-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Poetry is...
a pastime.
Poetry is...
a summing up.
Poetry is...
a medium to vent our emotions.
Poetry is...
a potential political or religous weapon.
Poetry is...
a caricature of life.
Poetry is...
life condensed.
Poetry is...
canned life.
Poetry is...
a doorway.
Poetry is...
a paradox.
Poetry is...
a collage.
Poetry is a pantheon.
Poetry is...
monkeys crying sorrowfully above.

Link

2007-09-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

link name
Watch Adora on Adora TV

2007-09-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

wikipedia.org

Today's Activity

2007-09-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Activity: Update

Now that you are well on your way to becoming an expert on your subject, it’s your job to keep your readers updated. Take some time today to read about your subject in one of your books, or via your Google alert feed. Share your information with your readers.

First, answer the following questions:

What new thing have you learned regarding your topic?
Where did you learn it? (if website, include link)
What does it make you think of?
How does it make you feel?
What new questions does it raise?

Now, open a blog post, title it ‘Update’ and transcribe your answers into your post in complete sentences.

When you are done writing, use your self-editing checklist and publish. If you have time, visit your classmates’ blogs and read their posts. If you have any questions about their posts, you can leave them in the comments section.

Time Capsule

2007-09-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the Czech Republic? Or are you thinking "What the heck? Where in the world is the Czech Republic?" I've got the answers to both of those questions, and quite a bit more. The Czech Republic is located in Europe, South of Germany and Poland. It used to be connected to Slovakia (which is right next to the Czech Republic), so the Czech Republic used to be called Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic's people speak Czech (of course). The Czech Republic holds many ancient castles and buildings; it is a country filled with history. Most people in the Czech republic play violin. The Czech Republic is a country filled with culture. I chose this topic because I believe that the Czech Republic is a very interesting country. I also chose to write about the Czech Republic for my topic because some of my ancestors came from the Czech Republic, and I thought it would be nice to know more about the Czech Republic.

My questions about the Czech Republic: What kind of architecture is predominant in the Czech Republic? What are some historical sites in the Czech republic? What words are hardest for Czech children to learn? What artists have come from the Czech Republic? What kind of food is in the Czech Republic? What inventions have Czech people made?

Menu
Soups
zelná polévka (sauerkraut soup)
bramborová polévka (potato soup)
česneková polévka (garlic soup)
koprová polévka or koprovka (dill soup, made from sour milk)

Side Dishes
vařené brambory (boiled potatoes)
houskové knedlíky (bread dumplings)

Desserts
borůvkové knedlíky (blueberry dumplings)

Blog Evaluation

2007-09-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read a blog with borders that looked like sweaterneck designs? If so, I sympathize. The blog www.instapundit.com, a political blog, is not only fringed by these drab borders, but flashy ads matching its sensationalist tone. I was not impressed by www.instapundit.com, and I realized the importance of choosing designs and advertisements with taste.

One blog that I found particularly interesting was www.worldhistoryblog.com, about, evidently, world history. Their sky background is nicely staying in the background and not drawing attention away from the subject. The unobtrusive sky colors of blue and white also compliment the blogger's speculative tone. I liked the subject matter but I was disappointed that many posts were articles he recommended that were written by other people, instead of his own work. This blog helped me learn that displaying your own work makes your blog more unique, and that images are essential to helping readers get a good grasp on the subject matter.

Www.classic-literature.blogspot.com, a blog about classic literature, has a lack of images and is set against a plain dark blue background that emphasizes the blogger's serious tone. I felt that the blogger did not address us and I was somewhat pushed away. I thought that the blog, while focusing on interesting subject matter, was slightly boring. I knew after reading this blog that addressing your readers or their key interests directly helps "pull people in."

Blog Eval

2007-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Blogging is about more than just creating an online journal; blogging is about communicating with other bloggers, and learning new things from the feedback you receive in your comments section. Exploring other blogs is a part of being a successful blogger. We can learn from other blogs. Which blogs do you like? Which blogs do you dislike? Why?

Activity:

Vocabulary:

Tone- the characteristic style of a piece of writing, the way somebody says something

Examples: optimistic, pessimistic, light-hearted, gloomy, casual, formal, academic, gossipy, sarcastic, warm, serious, facetious, dramatic, dry, outraged, enthusiastic,

1. Visit a blog that specializes in a specific topic.

2. Explore the blog for a few minutes. If you like it, stay a little longer.

3. Answer the questions below.

4. When you are done, continue exploring the blogs on your blog list. In your notebooks, answer the blog eval questions for each blog.

Blog Eval Sheet-

1. Name of blog:-----------------------------------------------

2. Is the blog visually appealing? ---------------------------

3. Are there many images? ----------------------------------

4. Do you like the way the blog looks?--------------------

Describe the way the blog looks:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. What is the blog’s primary topic? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. What kind of tone does the blogger use? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Labor Lecture

2007-06-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

My hands are cracked and dry...
sweat cascades down my face like tears,
my eyes hanging low, drooping with tiredness,
and pain echoes across my eyes,
so sore and sleepy...
I have been staring, concentrating for so long
on the task not yet completed...
But completed so many times before,
completed again, and again,
the same thing
over, and over again.
Something scratches my hand
like sharp pebble,
I take no notice...
it is only a scratch. My hands are
already
cracked, dry,
wasted.
They've no use
but for work.
The same thing,
over and over again.
The hot, stuffy air brushes
my face. I inhale stiffly...
the air smells of stale sweat and pain and sadness.
I keep working....Just a few more hours.
Over, and over again.

frassy tomboy's opposite

2007-06-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

Grgrum was a heartless giant who lived in a damp, hollow tree. He lived in Cdonslka, a place where it always rained. The rain never stopped, not even for a brief moment. It had been raining since the beginning of time. Grgrum was a giant fellow with grey, lumpy arms, and a giant, lumbering body. He always wore a crooked sneer. Maloderous drool ran down the sides of his face. Every time he spoke, speckles of spit would come flying from his mouth. Grgrum never took showers...In his whole lifetime, he had never changed his clothes once. His clothes were ragged with age, and stiff with stink. He wore blue breeches that were caked with mud and food-stains. Grgrum knew nothing, except how to kill living beings. He could not perform simple math problems, he could not tell you what the word "eye" meant. He was completely ignorant of the world around him.
Grgrum was tone deaf, and despised music. He considered the word "melody" a swear word. He hated all forms of art, especially cubism and portraits of people. Grgrum was a hateful being. He believed that animals were stupid and deserved to be killed. So Grgrum was a carnivore all his life. He was an un-humane, uncaring carnivore, ignoring all the screams of the pigs he brutally murdered.
Grgrum hardly ever talked. He usually just grunted and grumbled, with the occasional roar. He walked slowly, and was very lazy. He didn't wake up until noon, each day. He was unbelievably obese, and undeniably stinky.

The Red Pony Final Draft by Adora

2007-06-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

The Red Pony, by John Steinbeck, is a story about growing up and learning lessons. Jody, the protagonist, is a ten-year-old boy growing up in the Salinas Valley, with an infinite number of chores to do. Obscure in school and sternly treated at home, Jody is delighted and proud when his stony father gives him a red pony named Gabilan.

A major reason Jody cares for the pony is pride. Although he makes sacrifices for the pony's health, the seemingly noble lad harbors ulterior motives. Jody boasts about the pony to earn himself prestige. He worries that, upon riding the pony, he'll injure himself. Jody does not consider Gabilan's safety and he forgets about the pony after its death.

Jody immediately makes plans to showcase the pony. Jody brings a gaggle of classmates to gape at the pony without considering that Gabilan might be nervous in the extroverted atmosphere. Jody brags about Gabilan to the other boys. He displays the beloved saddle of red Moroccan leather, his pride bolstered by its beauty and showiness, although the saddle is impractical for riding.

Jody is more worried about himself than the pony. When learning that he will have the chance to ride Gabilan, he is terrified “that in the flurry of bucking Gabilan might slip and fall on him and break his [Jody's] leg or his hip. He had seen that happen to men before, how they writhed on the ground like squashed bugs.” Jody is also worried about shaming himself while riding Gabilan—“He didn't like to think what would happen if he grabbed the horn. Maybe his father and Billy Buck would never speak to him again, they would be so ashamed. The news would get about and his mother would be ashamed too. And the schoolyard--it was awful to contemplate.” Heck, have you considered Gabilan?

After a spell of sadness following Gabilan's death, Jody appears to forget completely about the red pony and focuses his attention on caring for Nellie, his father's horse. Jody is proud just thinking about this—“his shoulders swayed a little with maturity and pride.” I conclude to say that Jody enjoys Gabilan's company because it gives him Herculean glory in the schoolyard; his boasts about Gabilan display his want for attention. He considers the pony the perfect tool to execute his plans for prestige. Jody remains, in my opinion, a pride-motivated protagonist and a key figure in one of the most acclaimed works of 20th Century literature.

2007-06-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Today we're doing activities where we write paragraphs using vocabulary words. Mine is "catharsis."

He was an Executive of formidable disposition; he was subjected to twenty-eight conferences a week, including weekends, meeting with obsequious courtiers of the business life. It was a foggy day, thunder booming outside the skyscraper, when a disturbance was caused on the twenty-fourth floor. Rialto had to be fired, the Executive thought. This was undeniable. The same Executive, however, was later reduced to a shuddering mortal upon the church's confessional floor. It was his catharsis; he poured out the pitiful story of his hurried life and washed out the worries until he was wrung out, like a rag, at which point he dragged his feet away from the church, a wretched man, the Executive no longer.

Essay on The Red Pony by John Steinbeck- posted by Adrianna

2007-06-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

The Red Pony, by John Steinbeck, is a fictional story documenting the life of a young boy, Jody, and his pony. Jody is a ten-year old boy who receives a beautiful red pony named Gabilan. Jody works hard caring for Gabilan. But one day, Gabilan falls seriously ill from being out in the rain for too long. Jody is terribly sadenned. Gabilan starts to get better, and he is nearly well and healthy again. But one night the wind is strong and blows the barn door wide open, and Gabilan escapes. Gabilan ascends a large, steep hill. In the morning, when Jody awakes, he notices that the barn door is ajar, and Gabilan is gone. Jody's heart beats with "panic and rage", as he races up the hill, following Gabilan's tracks. Jody sees a ring of buzzards circling lower and lower, surrounding dying Gabilan. Gabilan dies of cold and sickness before the buzzards touch him. Jody is tremendously sad.

I believe that a very large portion of the reason Jody cares for and loves Gabilan is because of pride. Jody loves Gabilan, but a lot of that love goes to Gabilan's beauty, not Gabilan himself. I think that if Gabilan were a mangy, dirty, elderly horse, Jody wouldn't care for or love Gabilan at all. In The Red Pony, there are scenes where Jody throws stones at various animals, such as his dog, and a bird. In fact, he kills the bird when he throws a stone at it. He kills the bird for no apparent reason. He slices off his head, and cuts his body to bits. He also throws a stone at his own dog. His dog, whom he calls "Doubletree Mutt", is a mangy, dirty mutt. I'm almost certain Jody wouldn't have thrown a stone at his dog if his dog were a glistening golden show dog. On another occasion, Jody set-up a mouse trap made solely for Doubletree Mutt. Doubletree Mutt stuck his nose in the trap to get the bait, and ended up with a bloody nose.

When Jody receives Gabilan, Jody brings his fellow classmates to the barn, so he can show-off Gabilan to his friends. Jody brags about Gabilan, showing-off Gabilan's new fancy red saddle. When Jody first gets Gabilan, he torments himself by thinking that the mice would have chewed away Gabilan's beautiful tail until it was thin and stringy.
Jody is very sad when Gabilan dies, but only for a day or two. From then on, he doesn't show signs of mourning. I think that Jody was mostly sad because he had lost that pride of having a dazzling, beautiful pony. I don't think that Jody ever thought he and Gabilan were ever friends. Jody thought that he owned Gabilan. I don't think Jody really loved Gabilan as a friend; as an equal.
I believe that Jody loves Gabilan mostly only because Gabilan is strong, powerful and beautiful. I don't think Jody really loves Gabilan, the horse. Having Gabilan gives Jody a sense of pride.

Essay on The Red Pony by Adora

2007-06-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck is a story about growing up and learning lessons. Jody, the protagonist, is a ten-year old boy growing up in the Salinas Valley, with an infinite number of chores to do. Obscure in school and sternly treated at home, Jody is delighted and proud when his stony father gives him a red pony named Gabilan. However, Gabilan later passes away.

One of the major reasons Jody cares for the pony is because of pride. While he does appear to make many sacrifices for the pony's welfare, he boasts about the pony to earn himself prestige; he worries that, upon riding the pony, he'll injure himself, not worrying about Gabilan's safety. Jody forgets about the pony after its death, upon learning he'll have the chance to get a new horse.

Jody makes plans to show Gabilan off immediately after receiving the pony. Jody brings six boys from his school to see the pony without considering Gabilan might be nervous or inclined towards an unsociable disposition. Jody brags about Gabilan to the other boys, and proudly displays the beloved saddle of red Moroccan leather, liking the saddle because of its beauty, which boosts his pride, in direct disregard towards Billy Budd's criticisms of its showiness.

Jody is more worried about himself than the pony. When learning he'll have the chance to ride Gabilan, he becomes afraid "that in the flurry of bucking Gabilan might slip and fall on him and break his [Jody's] leg or his hip. He had seen that happen to men before, how they writhed on the ground like squashed bugs." Jody is also worried about shaming himself while riding Gabilan--"He didn't like to think what would happen if he grabbed the horn. Maybe his father and Billy Buck would never speak to him again, they would be so ashamed. The news would get about and his mother would be ashamed too. And the schoolyard--it was awful to contemplate."

After a spell of sadness after Gabilan's death, Jody appears to forget completely about the red pony and focus his attention on caring for Nellie, his father's horse, as part of a bargain with his father to earn a new horse. Jody is proud just thinking about this achievement--"his shoulders swayed a little with maturity and pride."

I conclude to say that Jody merely enjoys Gabilan's company because it gives him stature in a world built upon pride; his boasts about Gabilan display his want for attention and how he considers the pony the perfect tool to execute his plans for prestige. Jody remains, in my opinion, a pride-motivated protagonist and a key figure in one of the most acclaimed works of 20th Century literature.

Descriptive language. No Figuretive Language.

2007-06-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

1. The ruler is straight and non-flexible. The ruler is sparkly red and blue, and has a wooden case. The ruler stretches as high as the highest sky-scraper. It was created by Sir Doofusduguduganmisterduppy.

2. The waves of the ocean splash up, icy cold, against the sandy waves of shore. Dusk has spread all over the sky. The salty smell of the sea permeates through the gloom of the rain and gray. The waves have no mercy, spilling frothy white and blue all over the golden sand. Through the fog the sea rolls on.

a conversation

2007-06-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today we each created a character to match one of our vocabulary words. Adora chose 'Apollonian', Adrianna chose 'jovial', and Katie chose 'mercurial. This conversation takes place in a classroom. Katie (who modelled her mercurial character on herself) has just broken a classmate's nose because he called her fat. Her teacher, the jovial Emily Sumner, is just addressing the situation, when the superintendent, the Apollonian Hester Dickens, drops in unexpectedly.

"Katie I hope you realize that what you did today was very unkind," Ms. Sumner said, sounding unperturbed. "Don't you think you should apologize?"
"Never!" Katie screamed angrily.
"Please, why don't we have a lollipop and talk this over..." Ms. Sumner said gently.
"I'll have a lollipop!" Katie chirped, suddenly cheerful.
After a brisk knock, the superintendent, Hester Dickins, walked into the classroom.
"Hello, I'm the new school superintendent, Hester Dickins"
"Hi my name is Emily Sumner! How are you?" Ms. Sumner held her hand out warmly. "Oh yes, and this is Katie!"
"And what is Katie doing in the classroom? I note that the other children are gone."
"Licking a lollipop!" Katie interjected, and began barking like a lunatic.
"And why might you have a lollipop?" Ms. Dickins inquired calmly.
"I punched someone in the nose," Katie snapped. Ms. Dickins looked sober. "This is not permitted by code 1204 of the school charter," she said, without raising her voice.

Connotative and Denotative-posted by Adora

2007-06-11T17:32:00.001-07:00

Negative version
__________________________
Senator Herbert Brown, a gnarled man, his hideous, wart-bedecked face clearly marked by the ravages of time, is a bossy figure. Though he enjoys coffers overflowing with gold, he retains a miserly lifestyle. With pigheaded pushes for privileges to the similarly ostentatious United Golf Club, his ideas are outrageous.

He often wavers in his morals, compromising his so-called "religious principles" for Ferraris and thousands of dollars in wasteful dinners. He promotes each one of his own ideas with babyish petulance, but meets everyone else's ideas with aggressive close-mindedness. Sen. Brown is a blight upon the nation and a miasma of corruption, and only you can stop him.

Connotative and Denotative posted by Adora

2007-06-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

For class, we're doing a project where we're writing all-positive descriptions of politicians, though behind the positive connotations lurks the negativity. For instance--"commanding" translates to "bossy." Distinguished translates to "Old" as well as "Ugly." "Warrior" hides "bellicose", "aggressive", or "warlike".
____________________________________________________________________________________
A distinguished figure with a commanding presence, Sen. Herbert Brown enjoys a wealthy life infused with the culture that makes him much-liked among intellectual circles. He is realistic about life, making solid plans for the future during the presidential race. The wisdom he has gained over the years supports these plans.

The causes for which he crusades (fair rights for the United Golf Club, acceptance of beneficial ideals in other countries, and several others) are fueled by his youthful enthusiasm and defended by his dedication. Brown keeps strong principles, and promises to serve the country as a warrior for its moral preservation.

2007-06-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Laurice politely, but firmly, declined the green silk dress that her Aunt Aurora gave to her as a gift, saying that, "they put live silkworms in a giant vat of boiling water! I just cannot wear this. I'm very sorry!". Later, when Laurice returned downstairs to make bread, she thought that half a cup of her flour was gone. Laurice thought that Aunt Aurora had robbed her flour bin, but that was based on a pure guess. Laurice's husband came home from work looking depressed and tired. Laurice asked him what the matter was, but he turned away and walked into his bedroom. The next morning, when Laurice brought Nathan, her son, to school, she felt very happy.

2007-06-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Laurice politely, but firmly, rejected the green silk dress that her Aunt Aurora gave to her as a gift, saying that, "they put live silkworms in a giant vat of boiling water! I just cannot wear this. I'm very sorry!". Later, when Laurice returned downstairs to make bread, she thought that half a cup of her flour was gone. Laurice thought that Aunt Aurora had robbed her flour bin, but that was based on pure conjecture. Laurice's husband came home from work looking dejected and tired. Laurice asked him what the matter was, but he turned away and walked into his bedroom. The next morning, when Laurice brought Nathan, her son, to school, she felt very jovial.

word origins: words adopted from other countries

2007-06-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

India:
Priya slept in a small bungalow. The bungalow was warm and comfy, but she couldn't move around very much. She had to do the wash by hand every day. She washed her pajamas in the morning, so that she didn't have to sleep in cold, wet pajamas when she went to bed.

Mexico/Spain:
Eduardo was very macho. He displayed much machismo: He drove a huge Dodge Ram and lifted weights at the local gym every day. He liked playing football and boxing. He had a humongous mansion that had two alcoves.

France:
Jerry wore faux leather, with faux fur lining the edges. He was an animal rights activist, and sometimes walked around town wearing a sandwich board that said, "Les animaux d'amour, ne les mangent pas" (Translation: Love animals, don't eat them). He went out to eat at restauraunts quite a lot, and every single time he went, the waiter would tell him, "bon appetit".
Jerry's wife, Jeanne, had an overstock of envelopes. She had a total of 349 blue envelopes, 400 white envelopes, 19 purple envelopes, and 12 illustrated envelopes.

VOCABVOCABVOCABVOCABULARY

2007-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

Grugelle was in great dislike with the hotel's rooms. The hotel had a look to it that make you feel unwelcome. The hotel rooms didn't glow with radiant, golden light, and the bedspreads were not the least bit soft and comforting. Many trash-like paintings lined the walls, and a mural of a dark and black side of the sky stretched across the entire ceiling. Despite this, the maids and workers there were completely friendly in every way...by the time Grugelle had left the hotel she had 31 new friends!

VOCABULARY

2007-06-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Grugelle was enamored with the hotel's rooms. The hotel was not in the least way inhospitable. The hotel rooms glowed with radiant, golden light, and the bedspreads were soft and comforting. Many priceless paintings lined the walls, and a mural of the sky stretched across the entire ceiling. The maids and workers there were completely amicable...by the time Grugelle had left the hotel she had 31 new friends!

Awaiting Beastie's Return

2006-07-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Ah...we await Beastie's return from her dark, chilly lair, which is located in the murky gloom of a faraway swamp in a kingdom she rules herself, with a gloved claw upon her scepter of mouse-skulls...

And the lair itself has a carpet of fine Persian make, with intricate swirling patterns, bright and mysterious, with monkey traps cleverly laid across the floor...

Beastie is probably dining on Chango Frito y jalapenos y bebe frito y George Bush y Laura Bush y Dick Cheney frito...

Accompanied by vintage claret reddened with the blood of a tigress.

Anyways, that's what Beastie is likely doing (along with basking in the son and devouring any poodles who are stupid enough to come her way)...this is going to be one long week awaiting Beastie's return.

We Await Beastie's Return

2006-07-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Weekly Update

2006-05-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

The esteemed Professor Ado Ra Pestito gave a lecture at Seeds of Learning on Thursday, May 18th, pontificating on the subject of Henry the Eighth, whom she deemed quite a knavish character. Professor Pestito spoke quite eloquently and was obviously well informed, though she displayed her depraved sense of humor from time to time, making macabre jokes and comments like 'oh, good, another headroller'. Professor The Beast was most impressed and gave praise that bordered on fulsome. We eagerly await Professor Gata's lecture on Hiroshima, which will hopefully not involve quite as many innapropriate jokes.
In other news...Professor The Beast continues to live the life of a Philistine bon vivant, Frassy continues to insinuate that Pestito is oloroso, and Katie-san's improvident otter pop habit continues to deplete her allowance.

Leaf girls.

2006-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Actually, I saved that document as leafy girls, but does it matter? The answer is apparent. Well, I don't want to go babbling on, but it seems I'm prone to. Well, this is what I wrote for the assignment a few seconds ago, which was to write about an ivy leaf without using the words: green, leaf, ivy, or plant. I wrote
'life vibrating through a summer of different colored love'.
Have to continue with the rest of class now.

more invented words

2006-05-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

workbookist-person who makes workbooks
catpeller-volition device made of cats
feety-tending to or having feet
nonfeetist-a person who doesn't believe in making feet
boxal-relating to boxes
foxal-relating to foxes
subfox-underground fox minion
alotterpel-relating to being pushed by otters
noncat-dog
(As in, 'I took my noncat for a walk at the noncat park.)
hopeject-to throw or force hope on another
graphevilist-someone who writes evil things
horribility-the quality of being horrible
pansportist-someone who carries pans
foxmitist-someone who sends foxes
foxaudist-someone who listens to foxes

Vocabulary

2006-05-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Brywyr the Poodle King was terribly parsimonious and refused to share his monkey stew with the prime minister.

A description of a mausoleum: A bright pink pyramid coated with gold plates. Assorted birthstones are cast on the plates, and dark looming music issues from the interior.

Adora only washed sporadically and her fellow students complained that she stunk up the place.

My parsimonious bodyguard refused to give me change and I stuffed him into a tortilla for dinner.

When Cazen got mauled by a bear she had to live vicariously through her sister, Eva, who went bear hunting once a week.

fun with the prefix and suffix

2006-05-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Unforbeastie-not before beastie
Enbeastiehood-in the state of being a beastie
Subbeastie-beastie’s minion
Beastiish-like beastie
Foreblunder-what you did before a blunder
Malvadahood-state or condition of being evil
Rekill-to kill again
Adoraful-full of Adora
Subgeese-below geese
Inbeastie-Barbie or Sharpie
Inadora-Adrianna
Inadrianna-Adora
Ghenghiskhanesque-like ghenghiskhan
irgood-not good (Adora)f
infrassyish-opposit of frassyish

This Is Just To Announce...

2006-05-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is just to announce the coming of the sinister Democrat Daily, a liberal magazine featuring grim subjects, gory deaths, and such. We will be posting articles of this magazine on the blog soon, so bite your lips and eat more Chango Frito while you wait!

Impious Vocabulary

2006-05-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Morris Razbelly Diner was a nasty little dive down on the corner of 42nd and Penderle Street. Its waitresses had a reputation for chicanery; customers were always complaining that they had been overcharged. The owner, Morris 'Big Belly' Razbelly, maintained a semblance of respectability in the community, but it was whispered that he was a fence. He ran a poker game out of the back room, and the Honorable Reverend White devoted several sermons to decrying the diner as a den of iniquity and vice. Big Belly was skilled in the art of sophistry and was able to (fallaciously) convince customers who feared the wrath of the allmighty that God himself played poker.

the banal thingo

2006-05-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

It seemed blue all around.
The mountains were much bigger than behemoths, a perfect tower over the beautiful landscape. If you listened on the topmost top of the mountain, you would hear nothing. Nothing at all. It would just be you and the silence; the water lapping up onto the shore way down below you.
You would be able to see the whole ocean and have the urge to dive into it all of a sudden. But you wouldn’t-you’d stay up on the mountain, on top of the world.

by
~frassy

cat gods vs. deranged dogs

2006-05-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

The birth of cats happened in the third half of 100 B.C. The cats were fairly tiny, and were only the color black. Sir Mondraken of Latunia discovered a cat in the Ukatan mountains and gave the species the name, 'cat', short for cattani, which, from italian, translated to the word death god. For now, that's all...I have to have dinner.