Making our Greek pots

Today Mary Lou helped us make our own pots inspired by the pottery of ancient Greece. We started by taking a rectangle of red clay and shaping it into a ball using only our hands. Then we used our thumbs and fingers to pinch into the clay and create an open space. We added a coil on the bottom for the "foot." Mary Lou taught us that to attach coils you must "scratch to attach" using a special tool and then use water as a type of glue. By adding coils to the top we were able to make our pots taller. Some of us even added an additional coil to create a neck and lip for the pot. The next step is to paint the pots with a black glaze. Then using a sharp tool we will carve our designs into the pots.

Charlie waits to hear to the next step.

Upside down pot - adding the coil to create the foot.

Here you can clearly see the "foot" of AG's pot.

Heather uses the scratching tool to attach her coils.

Carly and Hannah make coils.

Aiden scratches his initials onto the bottom of his pot.

Bread's done!

The bread just finished baking! Take a look. It smells as good as it looks. I can't wait for everyone to try some tomorrow.

Experimenting with the ancient Greek alphabet

Once we had our jobs, each group worked to create a sign for their stand in the ancient Greek agora. We tried using the Greek alphabet for the writing. We found out this was really hard, because the Greeks didn't have the exact same letters or sounds that we have in our alphabet today. Can you read our signs?

Yeast (Tenley and Clare):

Whole wheat flour (Aiden and Henry):

Honey (Karen and Liam):

Olive oil (Caleb and Heather):

Yummy Barley (Charlie and AG):

Salt (Carly):

Come Get White Flour (Andie and Hannah):

Bowls (Kenley and Will):

Trading and Baking

Today we took a trip back in time to ancient Greece. We first learned about the Greek agora (marketplace) and then set up our own mini-agora in the classroom. By specializing in different jobs we were able to barter with each other to get the supplies needed to bake bread. Here were our jobs:

Our Specialized Jobs
Egyptian Yeast: Tenley and Clare
Bee Keepers: Liam & Karen
Olive Farmers: Heather and Caleb
Wheat Farmers (white flour): Hannah and Andie
Wheat Farmers (whole wheat): Henry and Aiden
Barley Farmers: Charlie and Anna Grace
Salt trader: Carly
Merchant (bowls): Kenley and Will
Merchant (spoons): Ryan and Heymi

Thanks to Ms. Earles for documenting our baking adventure with the camera. Everyone's family should get some pieces of bread to try out tomorrow. Enjoy! Let us know what you think.

And finally...

Ancient Greek play practice

Yesterday we read the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. Today we started practicing reading and acting out the script for the play. We broke up into two groups to run through the play. We talked a lot about how in ancient Greece women were not allowed on stage, so men played all the parts using masks. Here are the casts of characters:

Group A
Hannah & Ryan = Zeus (and director)
A.G. = Psyche
Carly = Aphrodite
Caleb = Sister 1 & Ant
Heymi = Sister 2 & Reed
Aiden = Cupid

Group B

Charlie & Henry = Zeus (and director)

Andie = Psyche

Kenley = Aphrodite

Clare = Sister 1 & Ant

Tenley = Sister 2 & Reed

Will = Cupid

As we practice each day we will take turns with different parts. Eventually we hope to pick permanent parts and even add props and costumes. We could tell that some people practiced at home last night by all the personality they put into their character today. Aphrodite and the Sisters have especially humorous parts. Zeus is the narrator.

Working on our podcasts in GarageBand

Today we spent some much needed time in the computer lab. Above you can see a screenshot  of what Charlie's podcast about Cardinals looks like so far in Garageband (you can click on it to get a larger, more detailed view). In this program we combine our voice recordings, music, and pictures to create a final product.

The Big Snow

On Saturday February 6, 2010 Me (A.G.), Sammy, Dad, Noah, and Ruby had an adventure in the snow. First we built a snow fort. Well. . . not exactly a snow "fort" but it was three tunnels connected. After that we went sledding! I loved every time I went down but my favorite run was after Sammy and Noah went inside and me, Dad and Ruby piled onto the sled, then we tore down the hill. As we hit a jump/dip Ruby and I were sent flying! As we looked back, Dad held up half of the sled, as we looked down we realized that we were sitting on the other half. Our sled had BROKEN in half! Then Dad decided to go inside.

 After that, Ruby and I were tromping around in the snow when my snow boot got stuck. I yanked and yanked and finally I pulled my foot out. But the boot was still stuck!!! Our neighbors were shoveling their driveway right across the street. So Anna Grace (me) with one shoe off and one shoe on and her sister Ruby went stomping to the bottom of the driveway. "Are you having fun?" asked our neighbors. "Yes, but. . ." Then I realized my other boot was stuck!! We happened to be standing on a huge pile of snow. While trying to pull out my boot I flipped upside-down, so I was hanging by one foot. As Ruby ran up the driveway to get help I was yelling "help!!!" but the neighbors didn't hear me! I managed to sit up and pull my foot and get my boot out. Then I walked over and tried to pull out my other boot, but I couldn't. Then Dad came outside and dug my other boot out and we walked inside. Then I put on warm socks and slippers and sat by the fire!

THE END

By: Anna Grace Calhoun