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This Science Fair was just one very awesome experience for our family! We came a bit earlier, so I was able to take nice pictures of almost all the exhibits for our future scrapbook.
Some of them were simple, and some were so elaborate and creative!
The student who came up with this exhibit got the third prize in our category (1-4th grades).
The "Spiders" unit was phenomenal! There were 6 kids working together pulling the project. All the paper mache , the presentation, the artistic approach were stunning and just beautiful to look at.
I loved the "Solar System" presentation as well. The contract of black and the colorful planets just grabbed everybody's attention.

Ironically, I do not have a close up picture of the stand that got the first prize in our category. It just didn't strike me at first, but then later when I was going around once more to look at all the terrific work the kids had done, I came to realize that the exhibit was very simple, but extremely creative and visual. They made a castle that represented a human body, a head, to be exact, with the gates opened as a tongue, germs trying to sneak in and the soldiers, painted red and white for the blood cells, were trying to protect the castle. The set up reminded me of an animated French movie about human body that Mirek keeps on telling me about. He saw it when he was a little boy, and really loved it, so we've been trying to download the version for the girls.

All the kids got ribbons for excellent participation, and then the part announcing the winners came!
Milana was really interested in what was all the cheering and screaming about.
And... we got a SECOND prize in our category! There were more than 30 entrees total, and 18 in our category. And we also heard that there was a tie, and judges (3 PhD scientists!) kept on coming back to our and the castle exhibits, trying to ease the pain of a pretty tough decision making by looking at the projects over and over again. It took them more than 2 hours to set things straight!
It was a whole day event, basically. We were exhausted, but so uplifted and happy! Ivana was on the cloud nine since she got to take a second place trophy home. The place did not matter much to her, but the trophy did.
Leona was saying that her favorite exhibit was ours (good answer!) and the spiders and planets.
I should start planning things for the next year's fair! My competitive spirit has been awaken! Watch out!

We are ready!

And so, we are ready to go to our first Science Fair tomorrow! The exhibit is done, and it is not past midnight! Wohoo! We were pretty productive this time and have completed the task even before the deadline! The sign "Entomology" will be placed on the table cloth that will be covering our half of the table.
This is the main poster with 10 insects on it and the hand written information about them. The boxes are hand made as well, from the recyclable materials as I blogged in my previous post.
And this is our additional poster about the metamorphosis that the dobsonfly goes through. Our real dried up dobsonfly is missing one of the mandibles ( a fancy word for pincers!), but it is still makes a great display.
Well, wish us luck tomorrow. I am hoping to bring at least a ribbon for participation for our exhibit!
A little hint: you can click on the photo to see the enlarged and detailed image.

In preparation for the Science Fair.

We have been working hard on our first science fair exhibit for over a week already. We can almost see the finishing line, since the fair is this coming Saturday, but still need to do a couple of final touches.
The girls decided to use our summer bugs collection and turn it into an educational experience for others at the fair. I was brainstorming ideas of how to display the bugs in a nice, inexpensive way. Ideally, I wanted to find some kind of wooden or cardboard boxes with a glass top, so that we wouldn't have to put a "do not touch, please" kind of sign. I even wanted to try to locate Perri dishes, but we went the recycling route, of course.

The girls helped me to make to boxes out of the sturdy cereal packaging. Then we painted the inside of the display boxes light green, and the outside, for a nice contrast, darker blue-green color. We glued the insect in the middle of the box and topped it off with the clear plastic from the eggs packaging. Looks almost like glass and we don't need to worry for having the bugs crumble under the unsuspecting touching learners at the science fair! The insects were a challenge to pick up from our temporary storage already, and we have lost a few limbs here and there... The delicate wings of the ladybug were gone, and we really wanted them to show, since the information note that Ivana had written was describing them.
Today we were doing mostly coloring and slowly putting the exhibit together.
Leona helped me to spell the fancy word "Entomology" to use for the display, and then we were playing the game trying to remember the names of all the insects we'd colored, cut and glued for the poster.
During that precious hour when Milana was napping we were able to work on the floor. We didn't manage to finish, she was up, and it was time for us to move up to the table again.
Tomorrow we'll think about the presentation part and hopefully, if we still have energy, do a mini addition to the main poster. The ambition is to demonstrate the life cycle of the dobsonfly.

History fair.

Today we went for our first history fair with the girls. It didn't take us too long to figure our what period of American history we want to make the exhibit about.
We LOVE Native American culture. As a matter of fact, both I and Mirek, literally grew up devouring books about Native Americans. My favorite were J.F. Cooper's novels, like "Last of the Mohican's". Mirek really adored Karl May and his absolutely beloved book is "Winettou". He told me that he and his friend wanted to become blood brothers (just like in the story), with cutting each a hand and swapping the drops of blood (try to do it now with all the things you know about diseases transmitted by blood! No way!) But when we were kids, we used to do the impossible.

We visited a Pocono Indian Museum that is right around the corner from us and got some inspiration there. We picked up a few books, postcards of famous chiefs, a punch out panorama of an Indian village, and a dream catcher. I had previously made the costumes for the girls, and braided hair with feathers in them was a final touch.
Since it was our very first time participating in an event of that kind, I wasn't too sure what was expected from us. But since our oldest is 6 and I wanted her to help with the display, we decided to kind of keep it on their level. Ivana helped me to type some info about how the Plains Indians are usually divided into two big groups. One, called nomadic, those tribes that spent all their lives on horses following the herds of buffalo. And the second group, semi-sedentary, who spent half of the time growing food and half of the time following the buffalo. We chose font together and also wrote all the names of the tribes. Then we decided to print ten Indian Commandments and an Indian prayer. A couple of toy horses and colorful tee pees were a great eye catcher for the little kids.
We were also asked to prepare an activity at our booth, related to the topic, so that children would have something to take home with them. We were making paper tee pees with them. With coloring, cutting, and gluing it was an age appropriate activity.
There were other great exhibits at the fair. We really thought that The Great Depression booth was funny. To begin with, it was presented by a family with 7 (YES!) children, expecting their 8th one in April. They had a projector display, very visual source of info for little (and not so little) ones. Then there was a soup kitchen and simple (flour, water, salt and baking soda kind of recipe) bread making and tasting.
California Gold Rush booth was an absolute smash! With real gold searching in a muddy "river"! And the table was covered with items "For sale", that cost more than gold. Like an egg for $3.00, or a can of sardines for $4.00, etc.
Among other exhibits were the World War II, 1960's with their hippie movement, a cowboy both where the kids got to make a "Wanted" poster with their Polaroid picture on it (so cool!), presidents, American Revolution, tracing your ancestors and making a family tree, and another tribe of Native Americans (The Iroquois) with a bow making activity, and a blacksmith outside the hall.
Another wonderful part of the fair was the time when the children got the chance to practice their public speaking skills. Everybody had something to recite, sing, say or read. Here is our Ivana reading out loud the Ten Indian Commandments.
When we were having dinner at home that evening, I asked the girls what they had learned. Leona said, "Nothing", and Ivana's response was, "Mom, I wasn't reading, I was just having a great time with my friend and looking around!"
Well, we had an awesome time together and I'm sure there was some kind of info stuck in their little heads, even those Leona was denying learning anything. Now we have our posters hanging on the wall in our craft room for all to see!

Knitting class.

Today we went for a play date and a knitting class. I thought I'd try to introduce Ivana to this great craft, and we happened to have a friend in the neighborhood who had organized a knitting lesson. Marzhena, a Polish lady, was very nice and patient with the kids.
We were supposed to make a Pancho for a favorite doll or a stuffed animal. The project was a bit too long for the first timers, especially taking into consideration that they needed plenty of help. Leona managed to make one and a half rows, and she was gone from the table. Thanks to Marzhena for not charging me for her. As the class had a fee I knew that would be the case with Leona, but I still did not want to push her away, but let her sit with the kids by the table. That's so typical of her, getting excited to do a big sister's project, but then she looses her patient before finishing it.
Here they are in a circle of knitting friends. And, we had one trooper, a boy, who expressed interest in trying, but, of course, was done before completing even one row.
It was so cute to watch the bigger girls concentrate and really try hard to do the project.
We decided to get together twice a months. It's a bit too much for us, money wise, but I always try to support a crafter or an artist, who makes a living by selling their work and teaching the craft to others. Hey, it is always great to get together with a good company of friends both for my girls and myself!

Homemade play food.

I never have to worry about those announcements about the toxic elements in children's toys, watch closely for the new recalls, and waste my time running to the store to get the money back. As I've been blogging on and on, we MAKE things to play with. Creative recycling is on a roll in our house, and the box with the empty containers is never empty.
And since the girls love to play kitchen, we decided to make more items for them to cook with. And once again, instead of buying the plastic, looking so real fruits and veggies, we made them ourselves.
They might not look very realistic, or may not even be close to looking real, but that does not matter. The creative process, the minimum resources spent and the outcome that brought the girls maximum satisfaction that what I find important.
The salt dough recipe is great. The usual proportion (1/3 cup of water, flour and salt) was not enough, so I had to make more. We also added a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of tartar, to make the dough more pliable. 3 hours in the oven and the food was ready to be painted.
Can you guess what these are?....Potatoes, a pomegranate, apples, chicken drumstick, muffins, a bull's eye, broccoli, meat, and croissant. Oh, I forget the blueberry! Can you see it?

Have you been wondering?

TADAAAA!!!

This is our family's Christmas gift. And that receipt under the Christmas tree was for that!
We got ourselves a piano! It is not a baby grand, and it is even not a new one. But it had to come home with us! Take a deep breath... guess what... It was made in Czechoslovakia (my DH's home land). Take another deep breath... and take another guess... It was made in the year my DH was born! It had to come home with us!

Almost ten years ago I sold my piano, while still living with my parents in Russia. It was a truly treasured possession in my family. The piano was German, made in the beginning of a century. Unfortunately, I do not recall the maker, but I vividly remember the intricate, and my guess would be, handmade carvings on the front panels, ebony keys and the charming sound of a very well made musical instrument.

I had been asking my Mom to take me to the music school for piano lessons for years. Sitting down periodically and trying to come up with a familiar tune and imagining myself to be a famous pianist. Finally, she did. I don't know why it took her so long since the music school, like so many other wonderful extracurricular activities, were free of charge in the Soviet Union. And after the teachers' tests and interviews, the committee had decided that I would be a suitable candidate for a ... violin.

The teacher was telling me that I was fortunate to be picked out for a violin class. That violin is a beautiful instrument (no arguments here!), the queen of all of them and that I would be able to play any musical instrument in the future if I conquer violin's heart. I didn't not want to play any musical instrument in the future, I wanted to be a famous pianist! And nobody seemed to get it!

Four years of torture had resulted in nothingness. I disliked the sounds I was producing, dreaded the practice time, and then finally I quit, secretly from my Mom, pretending to be going for the classes for the whole semester. And when she found out, it was too late, they would not take me back anymore, my spot had been given to another promising child.

But my dream of learning to play the piano was alive until I had to sell our German treasure to recover money to participate in the program to come to the US to work in a summer camp. I had to choose...

And now I look at this piano as mine, as if I have gotten my piano back after so many years. I hope to be able to take a couple of lessons to learn the technique and get reminded of some details of reading the music. I do remember a lot, but my rusty brain needs to be shaken a little bit.

Also, we are hoping with Mirek that at least one of our three princesses will learn to play it. Leonka wants to take piano lessons already now. As for Ivana, she has been asking to play a violin (!) since she's 3 years old. Really, a violin, and we bought a piano! Sounds like my story is repeating... but we will not do the same mistake as my parents did.