Tiger -in-a-Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau

January 27
On a Tiger Hunt with Henri Rousseau

We continued our trip around the world stopping in India at the Jim Corbet National Park.  We read a short paragraph about Jim Corbet and his adventures as an eleven year old in India. He later became a famous Tiger hunter.  Then we looked at Henri Rousseau's painting of a tiger hiding in a forest.

Cannon began a collage of a tiger hiding in a forest, he used his new cutting tool to cut tall and sort grasses and leaves and began pasting them down using a glue stick. Then he got a bright idea
and reached for his apple core tool and used it to firmly press the papers onto his picture.

Cannon had the idea to use the rounded end of his Apple Core Tool
to smooth down the pasted paper.

We are not finished yet and will continue this next week.


















Meeting Captain Underpants



Cannon meets Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

Cannon was introduced to Captain Underpants and his two naughty friends George and Harold.  He thinks his dad looks like George who wears a tie and has a flat-top.  The boys invent the super hero Captain Underpants and write about his adventures at their elementary school. In the first story Captain Underpants saves the school by flushing away the "inedible Hunk".  Cannon learned several new words and dad had to explain what a "wedgie" was. 





Scrabble Snacks
 

Can't wait to make this Scrabble with crackers.

Cannon made a list of words words from the story and we used them to play Scrabble Junior.  First we laid out the words using the Banana Grams and then we laid out the words using Cheez-it crackers that have the letters of the alphabet pressed into them. We nibbled on the crackers as we worked. Yum!

Checking out the box.

The List
We started our session by making our list and assembling our materials.  But before we started Cannon wanted to share his book about an airplane ride and pointed out the picture of the family being picked up by someone who was just like his uncle who picks his family up at the airport too.  What fun, making connections from his reading.
Before we started we shared a story about Frog and Toad and winter.  Then we started on our list.  At the end of our session we crossed off the things we had completed.  We didn't get everything done but it is nice to have something to look forward to in the next session.

Beach in a Bottle

January 20, 2013
A New Year and new adventures await us.  We had a very busy first 2013 session, catching up and sharing.  Cannon showed me his marble tower…at least three feet high his fine crop of wheat berry grass, the paper airplanes he made and flew with dad, his banana grahams words and more.  

Cannon examined the branches of Pussy Willows that I had brought with me. He stroked the fuzzy “catkins” and looked at the buds not yet open.  Pussy Willows are one of the first signs of spring.  My friend shared some from her garden. Perhaps Cannon’s branches will sprout roots and I can plant them in my garden this spring.

Catkins from the Pussy Willow branch.

 Cannon was eager to unpack the new Art Cart and get started.  So was Avalon, who crawled over and stood next to Cannon, holding onto his chair and trying to get a peek at what we were doing. But before we got started, Cannon and his mom showed me the first edition of Cannon’s first book, Avalon’s Book of Colors, his Christmas gift to his sister.  

 

 

He and his dad had worked together to prepare the book for publication. They did a great job!  We learned lots of things from this project and had fun too.

 

 



And now at last we can reveal his other Christmas projects.  For mom, Cannon dyed two silk scarves and for dad, he modeled desk accessories from polymer clay. 

 



Cannon proudly shows off the scarves he dyed of mom.

Then we unpacked the Art Cart and made our list, just like Toad did in The List.

We got out the globe and Cannon picked out the places he wanted to “visit” over the next few months.  Then we started our journey by looking at the Maldives – an island nation in the Indiana Ocean south east of Sri Lanka.  First we used our imaginations and made a “piece of the ocean” by filling a zip-lock bag with blue green hair gel.  Then we added some small shells and pressed the air out of the bag and sealed it.  We put it in another bag and used white glue to be sure the bag would not pop open accidentally.  This piece of ocean is fun to squish and push the shells to different parts of the bag. Good exercise for the pinchers and grabbers.  When we held it up to the light from the window we could see air bubbles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to make our Beach in a Bottle.  The project came from an article in Humpty Dumpty magazine July/August 2012 issue.

With mom’s help we gathered all of the supplies and equipment – she even bundled up Avalon and made a quick trip to the grocery for the all important blue food coloring.
Together we reviewed the steps to the project.  First we sampled some water from Figi and found the Figi islands on the inflatable globe.  After we emptied the bottle we used it for our project.


Then we had to add the beach.  We used small shells and sand I had collected from a beach on Paradise Island in the Maldives.  Cannon used a spoon to measure ½ cup of sand.  He selected small shells that would fit through the bottle opening and pushed them into the bottle.  We made a paper funnel to pour the sand into the bottle.

 

Then it was up to Cannon to tell me what we should do next. He looked at the magazine and showed me the next step.  We measured a cup of water and asked mom to use the food coloring to turn it blue for the ocean.  We made a funnel from foil and Cannon poured the water over the sand. 

 

 

 

 

 

The last step was to fill the rest of the bottle with mineral oil.  Then we added some white glue to the bottle cap and put it on tight.  Cannon turned the bottle from end to end and made blue ocean “waves”.  We could see the sand shifting beneath the waves carrying the shells to the beach.   Something to ponder…why does the water and the oil stay separated? Hum.

 

We took a donut and coffee break. Friends, Frog and Toad are still with us and we started their third book Frog and Toad Together.  We looked at the rest of the Humpty Dumpty Magazine.  I asked Cannon to sign the copy of his book that he gifted to me.  We also tried out a new cutting tool which worked very well.  We will use it next week.

It wouldn't be an Art Sunday without a bit of painting.
Cannon created this using liquid watercolors and salt.
He loves being able to paint independently with the
Apple Core tool.  He especially likes cleaning and
blotting his brush then reloading it with color.

 

 

 

 

The Grass is Greener at Cannon's House

January 6, 2013

Wheat Berries are a celebration of life!  They sprout quickly indoors and provide us with a vibrant green in the gray days of winter. Cannon and mom researched wheat berries before planting theirs. They found out you can use them in baking, health drinks and even in tortillas.

Cannon used a round plastic container (Glad-ware 6 cup/48 oz).  We put about 1 inch of fiberfill on the bottom to provide drainage then added about two inches of potting soil.
Cannon scattered the seeds across the top and then covered them with a thin layer of soil. 

 He kept them moist, giving them a light sprinkle of water everyday.  Within days the seeds sprouted and by the end of the week “farmer” Cannon had a fine crop of wheat berry grass. 

 Dad gave everyone a good laugh when he suggested he go to sears and by a mower to cut the grass with.  Cannon can use his scissors to trim the grass when it begins to “lie down”. 

Cannon thought the best part of this experiment was running his fingers over the tops of the green stalks just like every wheat farmer in the world has done since the beginning of wheat farming.

This experiment was from Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars by Sharon Lovejoy.

 

Sunday December 23, 2012
Oodles of Noodles

Ms. Beth is traveling to visit her family for the holiday but she left several activity bags so that Cannon could still have fun Sunday mornings. This Sunday Cannon opened his first activity bag and found a bag of colorful “noodles”.  Noodles are cylinders (about one inch long) made of vegetable starch.  They can be attached by moistening them with water and then and sticking the cylinders together. Too much water and the noodle will dissolve. 

Cannon used his “pinchers” to pick up the noodle and touch it to the moistened sponge before attaching it to other noodles.  The objective – create an interesting three dimensional form. 

 

After some experimenting using the plastic grass armature, Cannon found it worked best to attach several “noodles” together and then to put those modules if noodles together to get a large colorful non objective sculpture.

 

Cannon worked with mom and dad and visited with Ms. Beth on Skype and showed her what he was doing. It was great to share an activity even when we were hundreds of miles away from each other.  

 

When Cannon was finished “noodling” he read a Zoo Book about old world monkeys.

We now know the difference between old world & new world monkeys!

 

 

 

December 16, 2012

Wrapping It Up

At last it was time to wrap up the gifts Cannon made for his mom and dad.  We filled boxes with tissue paper. Then we wrapped the boxes with the paper decorated with Christmas greetings that Cannon had finished “stamping” over the past week.

 

 

 

 

 

Cannon was the first to place gifts under the family tree. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was his turn to unwrap a surprise.

First he shook the package, and then he squished it and tried to guess what it could be. Then tearing, shaking and more tearing and at last. A Big Banana! Full of Banana-grams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom and dad helped photograph and upload the final parts of Avalon’s book and Cannon and I enjoyed a latte and some fresh cinnamon rolls while we built a banana-gram together.

 

Over the next few weeks Cannon and I will be in different places and different spaces so we will meet on the internet Sunday mornings.  Mom and dad will assist with the activities and experiments in the mysterious bags I left behind.  Hum, what can they be?  I wonder.

December 9, 2012
Colors, Colors, Colors!

Cannon’s book of colors for Avalon is almost finished!  We spent the first part of our session painting the final compositions.  It was so exciting to see Cannon grasping the new “tool holder” I had found at The Battery Store.  It is called an Apple Core and is for keeping computer cords tidy. 

 We used it to hold the paint brush in position so Cannon could get a good grasp.  The apple core is placed higher on the brush so Cannon can see where he is applying the paint.

 
Cannon independently loaded his brush with paint from the palette moved it to the paper and painted with intention.  He moved the brush in new ways and in new directions.  Then back to the water container to clean the brush, to the blotting roll to take off the extra water and back to the palette for more paint. He helped add more paint to the palette and I occasionally moved the paper so that he could reach unpainted parts.  We used several textural techniques, bubble wrap, plastic wrap and a fork.

Look, texture!  Congratulations Cannon, on using the apple core and on your independent work.

 We set the paintings aside and went to the clean and dry side of the table to finish the Christmas cards we had started last week.  After selecting the greeting he wanted on the card, Cannon used the new stamps and stamp pads to “stamp” the greeting inside the card. Next he will attach the address labels and stamps and put them in the mailbox.  Cannon also used the holiday stamps to decorate wrapping paper for his gifts.

Look at that good grip on the stamping block.

 

Then it was time for Ms. Beth’s coffee and muffin break.  But Cannon did not want to slow down. We looked on line for ideas for how to publish Avalon’s book.  Dad (or mom) will help us with this step next week.  

We had started our session by looking at the first page of the Frog and Toad story The List. Then we made a list ourselves of all of the things we would do during our time together. After he finished the cards, we finished reading the story. I substituted incorrect words as I read and Cannon caught me every time.  Then we took a look at our list for the morning and crossed off the things we had finished and started a list for the next week.  

 

First on the list – wear our Christmas pajamas!

 

 

 

December 2, 2012
Our Holiday Workshop Continues

 

                                      Getting ready to cut.  Is that a little elf watching us work?

 

As you can see Santa’s helpers are busy.  Cannon really enjoyed seeing Ms. Beth in the reindeer antlers but the Santa hat Cannon chose was a little hot and tickly so it didn’t stay on too long. Just long enough for a photo op.

 

Cannon continued working on his gift for his mom.  We learned from our first experiment and so this second one went very well. Cannon used his left hand pincher muscles and applied the dye with intention.  He used his voice to request yellow or blue.  He held the dryer with “lefty” and used a good full grasp, moving the dryer around the project. 

While waiting for things to dry we moved from the wet side of the table to the dry side.

After reading Frog and Toad’s story about The Letter lst week we decided to send some letters of our own. And since we were in Holiday Workshop mode we made Christmas cards.

§         First Cannon selected the cardstock and folded it in half. I lined the paper up and Cannon used a printers “bone” to make the fold.  After some practice he used the bone independently to get a good sharp fold. 

§         Cannon cut the tree shapes using a Fiskars cutting tool designed for scrap booking. He moved the blade back and forth independently. (I positioned the paper and held the tool in place.) He used a glue stick to cover the shape and helped position it on the card.  Then he used the printer’s bone to press it down firmly and evenly. 

                       

§         We needed a finishing touch – of course the star! Using a craft punch Cannon used his muscles to press down hard on the punch.  A perfect star.  We counted the number of stars and kept track of how many more we needed, practicing a little addition and subtraction.  

§         Then using his left index finger and a little moisture he picked up each star, touched it on the end of the glue stick and positioned it independently on the top of each tree.  

§         The last step was to round all four corners with a corner punch. We used lots of tools.
 

Between each step we moved to the opposite side of the table and applied more color to mom’s gift. Next week Cannon will add his greetings, address and stamp his letters and put them in the mailbox.  Snail mail is fun!

 

                                    Cannon is using a printer'sbone to glue the tree
                                          firmly and evenly on the card.