International District

The Serpents and Stingrays visited Seattle's International District to learn a little more about China which they had studied in class. Their guide Mike told them about Chinese family organizations, how the early Asian immigrants lived in Seattle and showed them some of the sites in the ID. They then enjoyed lunch at a Chinese restaurant, visited the Wing Luke Museum and bought pounds of fortune cookies at a factory in the ID. It was a fun day of learning.

YUM!!

One of our Stingray parents came in on Friday and taught the Stingrays and Serpents a little about Greek cooking. They made Greek cookies and Spanakopita, a pastry stuffed with spinach and cheese. It was fun making the treats but even more fun eating them. Thanks Evy!

Maya Math

The Serpents are studying Mesoamerica and today they learned how the Maya did their math using the manipulatives the Maya would have used; sticks, stones and shells. They found out how the Maya base 20 system worked as well as how to add and subtract in base 20.

Auction Project!

Come one, come all! To the Seabury Auction 2014!

Our Serpents are hard at work finishing their BEAUTIFUL auction project this week. You won't want to miss this!!! The final product will be a solid walnut wooden coffee table (designed by Serpents, hand-crafted by the talented, Carlos Taylor-Swanson) with a colored glass inlay that runs throughout (designed and put together by the kids, facilitated by the lovely, Cathy Moeller). Here are a few photos of the children putting the glass pieces together for the inlay:

 

We hope to see you at the auction because you will definitely want to bid on this gorgeous piece!

Seattle Art Museum

The Serpents and Stingrays made a visit to the Seattle Art Museum to see an exhibit of the work of Joan Miro. We had studied for the trip by looking at his paintings in class but were not prepared for his whimsical sculptures made from found objects such as forks and tin cans. The Serpents are looking forward to another round of sculpture in class as they try to emulate Miro's work.

Chinese Medicine

We had a special guest speaker today in the Serpents' class! Dr. Lisa Taylor-Swanson (also known as, Gabe's mom) presented a lecture and demonstration on Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture used to alleviate many common ailments. Gabe and Ms. Head graciously volunteered for the acupuncture demonstration!

Louise Nevelson

After learning about the sculpture of Louise Nevelson, an acclaimed American sculpture, the Serpents built their own found object sculptures.

 The final step was several coats of paint to make the sculpture shine.