Do you speak hand talk?

As a little preview of the Native American studies we'll be starting this Spring, we had a fun and educational visit from Seabury grandparent and Lewis and Clark history buff and re-enactor Gary Bush, who introduced us to Native American sign language, or "hand talk." He also talked a bit about some animals that were important to Native Americans and how they were used. We got to feel many different furs and pelts, from beaver to buffalo. Gary is an amazing storyteller and the kids were absolutely fascinated ...

 If you speak only French and he does not, how do you tell him that you're hungry? (One hint: Don't just yell "I'm hungry!"

 Gary told us that people were often identified by conspicuous personality traits. Meet "Little Talk-A-Lot Woman."

 "Little"

 "Talk"

 Or they were known for their great deeds or roles in the tribe. Here is the great hunter ...

 "Little Coyote."

 Here's how you say "Moose."

 This Buffalo skin was HUGE. 

We could not wait to touch this!

But apparently you had to be pretty strong to wear a buffalo hide! It is heavy!

Here's a beaver hide, ready to make a lovely hat.

Complete with tail!

Thanks, Gary!

Oobleck!

We did a little more investigating states of matter recently, this time by playing with "oobleck," made from cornstarch and water. We've talked about the 3 main states of matter, solid, liquid, and gas, and we started this investigation with the questions - Is it a liquid? Is it a solid? What do you notice to make you think so? Cormstarch and water form a "colloidal solution" in which the particles remain evenly distributed through the solution and never settle, displaying very unusual (and fun) physical properties. The answer to our questions? It's both a liquid AND a solid!

Here we go, Leonardo!

We have begun studying the Renaissance and the science of inventions, so, naturally, we have started learning about Leonardo Da Vinci. One of the websites we looked as we started to gather background information had this to say:

“Leonardo da Vinci may seem an unusual topic to study in science. But the more you learn about this remarkable Renaissance man, the more you will realize that he was a terrific role model for applying the scientific method creatively in every aspect of life including art and music. Although he is best known for his dramatic and expressive artwork, Leonardo also conducted dozens of carefully thought out experiments and created futuristic inventions in a time before modern science and invention had really begun.”

We started by looking at Leonardo's notebook (the students LOVE his "mirror writing") and his "Vitruvian Man" sketch, discussing how art and science (in this case the ideas of architect Vitruvius) started to intersect during the Renaissance and how this focus on the human form reflected the ideas of the time (Humanism). We decided to try this ourselves, outlining and then measuring some classmates in these positions to see if the span of our arms matched our height. The result: not quite - the three people we measured were a few inches taller than their arm spans. But our resulting drawings and sketches turned out beautifully, whether perfectly proportional or not. We look forward to some further explorations of Leonardo's ideas and inventions. Soon we're going to try making Leonardo's parachute!