Lexical Light

Time for a Bit o' Cheese

What can break my weeks of blog neglect?  TEAMWORK, of course!!!!! "A Chair for my Mother" is my favorite episode, in part because of this AWESOME video. I'm so pumped to have found this. It's not unusual for me to bust out the chorus when we're doing some work. After you've enjoyed the main video, scroll down for the video of the ending credits. Also hilarious.  The kids & I gave nicknames to the dancers: "Flippy Guy," "Bendy Girl,"  "Twirly Girl," and "Cha-cha Man." No offense to the dancers. They're quite talented. Blame it on the '80's.

Thanks to the youtube user who posted these.

That's Made of Corn?

My skirt is made of corn. So are the containers for my leftovers. They’re not really, but they could be. This article on my Yahoo home page caught my eye because it explores the possibilities of the USA becoming less dependent on oil because of corn. Go figure.

Not only is corn used to produce fabric and plastic, but less fossil fuel is used in that process than in the traditional manufacturing process for similar petroleum based products. "Anything you can make out of petroleum, I can make out of corn and soybeans," said Larry Johnson, director of the Center for Crops Utilization Research at Iowa State University. Cool. 

The article also caught my eye because it’s not the first time I’ve heard about this. Thanks to a Reading Rainbow episode* we saw a few months ago, even my kids know you can make fabric and plastic from corn. When I saw this news story today, I immediately thought of LeVar taking us to the factory where they turn corn into plastic. That’s one of the small joys in my life…making connections. I can’t wait to tell the kids.

*I couldn't find that episode info. I'll link it when I find it. Oh, the suspense. 

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

I want the kids to be "learners for life" so I teach them to find connections all the time. 

Today's Reading Rainbow, Episode 14: The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, had a couple of connections on it. 

1. It opened w/a segment about unusual pets, showing several parrots.  The connection: Emily has been fascinated w/parrots since our church's Christmas drama that had a songbird character in it. Since then, we've watched a PBS special on parrots, read books from 2 different libraries, and had a parrot themed birthday party...complete w/homemade paper craft parrot.

2. The feature book was The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash.  The connection:  we got to see the illustrator, Steven Kellogg, in person at Aunt Sandy's school. Each of the kids got an autographed book, each a different title. Aaron caught the connection.

BTW, that book and the others in the series are funny, but you don't have to take my word for it.