Serenity Spring 2018 — ChrissieEric.com

Serenity Year 10 2018

Mrrrphagurgle crunchbox. Serenity’s favorite new phrase that she mumbles when she’s sleepy =) Sleepy and silly. Makes me giggle.

Serenity adored her rock kit. She had so much fun with her cousins Alex and Alli and Jimmy and Siqi, identifying them all and sorting them. Her favorites were the tiger’s eye and magnetic hematite, especially when she discovered that some of the tiger’s eye was a little magnetic too. Such fun! She continues to love science, poring over books of experiments and sometimes performing them =)

5/3/18

Drama Festival
Serenity’s Drama Festival play this year was all about famous Oklahomans. It took place in a one-room schoolroom, led by Anika the teacher. They had Maria Tallchief, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ida Glenn, Miss Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s sister, and many other famous Oklahomans in the class. Serenity got the part of Mr. Will Rogers, the Greatest Entertainer of All Time, because she did such a great job at the audition that they thought she could give him the most energy. She does thrive on stage! She worked so hard learning her lines. There was one line that embarrassed her a bit, when she was supposed to say “Aww shucks, no need to make such a fuss about me.” I’m still not sure if she was supposed to be embarrassed or if it really embarrassed her to act embarrassed. But anyway, she rehearsed that line a lot. The line before it was the teacher’s line “Mr. Will Rogers, the greatest entertainer of ALLLLL Time.” We rehearsed that line so often even Maia memorized it. In fact, when we were playing with the walkie talkies one day, I said some things like, “Over and out, Roger that.” And she responded, “You mean MR WILL Rogers, the greatest entertainer of all time?” =) Too funny!!!! In the play, Serenity explains how Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory, and No Mans Land came together to become a state.

Ann and John came for a visit around this time and took Serenity to see the Will Rogers Museum. They had so much fun! Serenity got to take her time around the museum and loved it!

In April Serenity went to the School Dance! It had been just for upper school kids for the last several years, so it was her first one! She had a lot of fun! Lillyan came to the dance with us, and nearly all of third grade was there! Serenity and Arjun danced a lot! Not together, of course. Arjun has some serious dance moves, and he was right in front dancing with style! Serenity danced with her own twirly moves, and I love it! It’s so graceful, beautiful, and brave! She loves making up her own movements.

For Creative Producers this year Serenity got to do a project about Ancient Rome. She came hold and told me she wanted to do a project about Pompeii and had ambitious thoughts about grinding up chalk dust to make soot and dust and a model that looked like an archaeological dig. She even wanted to have an interactive portion where people could dig out the models. Well, she did a lot of research about what supplies she would need to make those plaster things but she didn’t have a clear picture of what she would build. So I had her google pictures of Pompeii and look at various travel sites so she would have some idea what it actually looks like there. She got to a page about the House of the Faun and saw the beautiful mosaics there and just loved them. Her current favorite craft, thanks to many hours at Art Club, is working with modeling clay. So she made her own mosaic tiles out of clay. She rolled out the dough to a uniform thickness and made a shaped metal cutter that she used to cut a tile. The design she saw was also exciting because it was a tessellation pattern, which she had studied in math! She did her own design on the colors, and it is so beautiful it’s hanging on our wall already. She spent hours making all those tiles and truly earned her excellent grade.

The big field trip in 3rd grade is going to Rose Hill School. It’s a one room school in Perry, Oklahoma. Serenity LOVED it! The week of the field trip (after I’d asked her for months if she wanted me to make her a different dress), she came downstairs and asked me if I could still make her a dress in blue instead of the pink I’d made for Raegan. Well… the answer was yes =) It was fun to make! And she looks adorable. She let me talk her into having a bonnet too. And then I found out that Ms. Parent would let Maia go to school on Friday, so I got to go with her! So the night before the field trip I made myself a skirt, apron and bonnet so I’d match too. I may lose authenticity points though when I point out that I sewed a cell phone pocket in to the apron.

When they went across the bridge it was truly like a time machine! The school marm did a great job! She had lots of stories to draw the kids into the time period. She asked Serenity if her little brother got in trouble for spilling punch in the drawing room when the teacher had been invited over for supper. Serenity said that he had, but later confided that she hopes Donovan doesn’t get in trouble when it’s his turn to visit the schoolroom! The teacher asked the girls if any of the boys bothered them on the way to school, and Wren accused Ben of chasing her. And another girl did as well, which shocked the school marm. Serenity accused Jef of chasing her. So Ben had to stand with his nose in a circle on the chalkboard, Jef stood in the corner, and she asked for a volunteer to be an example of the third type of punishment typical of the era. They also had fun writing with ink and old-fashioned pens. I got to write with it too! They let me be an 8th grade student. The spelling bee was probably Serenity’s favorite part. I loved how the schoolmarm had to shuffle to the last paper in her pile to find words that would challenge the kids. During lunchtime (which we brought in a metal pail) all the kids got to play typical games from 1910. There was a flying jenny to ride, stilts, hoop and stick games, all sorts of fun! It was a fascinating day!