My Blog

aargh!

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:35:38 +0300

hi everybody--

Today is international talk like a pirate day. if you don’t know about this day, here are some places to find out more.

The Official Talk Like a pirate website -- Be sure to check out the pirate speak translator and the pirate phrases.

how to talk like a pirate -- a wiki-how site with lots of pirate tips.

finally, Here’s a pirate podcast from On Board games.

i love you,
grandma tamra

turkish hats

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:15:50 +0300

hi everybody--

last week, when i was at the grand bazaar, i learned some things about turkish hats. many of them are made from felt. felt is a kind of wool fabric that can be made into hats, boots, jackets, even tents!

Here is a story, felt from the heart, about some kids in alaska who learned how to make their own felt. Here are some other instructions in case you want to try your own experiments, but it sounds kind of complicated.

sometime this week, you will get a package in the mail with some turkish hats. i hope you like them.

i love you,
grandma tamra

trees

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:08:20 +0300

My friend Henri sent me pictures about an awesome tree. Some people think it is in South Africa, but it is really at The Animal Kingdom in Disney World. Anyway, this got me thinking about trees: fat trees, slow trees, fast trees, dangerous trees, deep trees, old trees, and tall trees. Here are some interesting websites about trees.

The 10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

10 Amazing Tree Houses

The Tree House Guide

Interesting Facts About Trees

What are the awesome trees in your neighborhood?

origami

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:26:13 +0300

find an adult to help you make some paper toys. here is a video that shows how to make a crazy paper toy.

Here are some other sites about origami.

Robert J. Lang Origami
Bay Area Rapid Folders (BARF)
Paper Plane
Awesome Paper toy
Origami on flickr

Optical Illusions

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:03:10 +0300

This week my students have been playing with optical illusions. optical illusions are tricks your eyes play on you. Here are some of the best on-line illusions. Which ones do you like?

Michael Bach
Kids NIH
Ritsumei
Exploratorium

To learn more about illusions, read this article in wikipedia. If you are in san francisco, you can learn more about how we see and illusions that trick us at the exploratorium.

crystal gardens

Sat, 5 Apr 2008 19:26:12 +0300

when i was a kid, i loved to help my grandma zone do her laundry. she had a wringer washing machine that squeezed the water out of the clothes. my job was to help pull the clothes through the wringers. if we were washing white sheets or clothes, she added bluing to the wash. bluing, whatever that was, made whites more white. sometimes i would drip the blueing onto chunks of coal from the coal bin. after a few days, i would have a crystal garden.

crystals grow when water that is full of salts and minerals evaporates. different types of minerals grow different types of crystals. When Papa Mike and I were at Siwa oasis, we found big crystals around the edge of the lake.

you can still buy bluing today at the grocery store. ask your mom to buy some bluing and follow the instructions to make your own crystal garden. send me a picture of your experiment!

here is a website that has the instructions: Magic Salt Crystal Garden

The wolf and the Hyena

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:10:00 +0200

When papa mike and i were visiting siwa oasis, we learned many things from our guide, mr. abu bakr. Here is a story that he remembers from his grandmother.

once upon a time, the wolf was very thirsty, but he could find no water in the desert. He searched and search and finally found a deep well. it was too deep for him to reach the water so He jumped into the bucket that was tied to the well and sank to the bottom where he drank to his heart’s content.

Then he realized his predicament. He had no way to get out of the well. He could only wait to be rescued or to die. finally a thirsty hyena came along. He looked into the well and saw the wolf.

“Hello! What are you doing down there?”

now the wolf, knowing that the hyena was not very smart, saw his chance to get out of the well. “I’m enjoying my time,” said the wolf. “The water is sweet and there is food as well. Grab the end of the rope and pull me up so that you can enjoy it, too.”

The hyena took the end of the rope and being heavier than the wolf, he slowly sank into the well. Midway, they passed each other. “It’s just like life,” said the wolf to the hyena. “Some of us rise, and some fall.”

Goodnight My Cairo

Sat, 8 Mar 2008 19:13:25 +0200

whale valley

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:33:16 +0200

You probably know that egypt is a huge desert, but 45 million years ago, Egypt was under the sea. When the sea dried up, some whales were stranded, and their fossized bones are in Whale Valley, a beautiful park southwest of cairo. We also saw fossilized mangrove swamps, coral reefs, a swordfish, a sea turtle, and billions and billions of nummulites. You can see all of the pictures here.

How Two Thieves Were Caught

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:16:29 +0200

Karakosh was well known in old times as a judge in Cairo. He was specially famous for his intelligence and his ways of tricking criminals, which made him a much feared man.

Here are two stories of how thieves were caught by him.