Monthly Archives: March 2017

Let’s Get in Formation

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let's get in formationIt doesn’t matter if you’re a massive cumulonimbus or a more modest tuft. A fluffy costume, weather pom-poms, and abject enthusiasm are all you need to be part of the most adorable cloud formation ever. Did we pull some awesome moves? You bet. The video is at the end of the post!

We read Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld (Henry Holt, 2011). Cloudette is a very small cloud, but she doesn’t mind. There are benefits to being small (like always being able to see fireworks, even when the sky is crowded)! Sometimes, however, Cloudette can’t help yearning for more. Especially when the big clouds do such important things. One day, a storm blows Cloudette far from her neighborhood. Exploring the new place, she discovers a frog pond that’s almost dry. She decides to do something about it. Concentrating all her efforts, Cloudette rains and rains until she creates the perfect pond for scores of thankful frogs. Delighted, she flies off to find more jobs a useful little cloud can do.

You’ll need:

  • 2 sheets of white poster board
  • White cotton balls
  • White string
  • Hole punch
  • 2 wooden dowels
  • A set of nine, 18″ crepe paper streamers (6 in rainbow colors and 3 light blue)
  • A set of two, 2″ x18″ pieces of blue cellophane
  • A selection of color masking tape
  • Scissors and glue for construction
  • Hot glue

First, your weather pom-poms! We made 2, a rainbow and a rainstorm. To make the rainbow pom-pom, twist the bottoms of six, 18″ rainbow color crepe paper streamers together. Use color masking tape to attach the streamers to the end of a wooden dowel, then continue wrapping the tape around the dowel until it’s covered.

To make the rainstorm pom-pom, twist the bottoms of three, 18″ light blue crepe paper streamers and two, 2″ x18″ pieces of blue cellophane together. Attach with color masking tape, wrapping downward until the dowel is covered.

weather pom-pomsNow for your costume! Cut 2 sheets of white poster board into matching cloud shapes. Hot glue the 2 shapes together. Why? Because when it comes to gluing scores of cotton balls on poster board, 1 sheet is just too thin. It warps almost immediately. With 2 sheets hot-glued together, there’s much less warping. Glue cotton balls to the front of your cloud costume, and add a construction paper mouth and eyes if you’d like.

cloud costumeUse a hole punch to make two holes in the top of the cloud. Thread white string through the holes, adjust for height, knot the string, and hang the cloud costume around your neck.

clouds ready to goWhen everyone was ready, the clouds gathered outside on the library’s plaza. We spread out in a grid (well, we attempted a grid) to insure that no one would get smacked by a weather pom-pom. Then, facing the kids, I cued up my playground whistle, and we got in formation.

Did you know that Cloudette‘s creator, Tom Lichtenheld, used rainwater to mix his watercolors for the book? I was delighted when he sent me the link to this video, which features his young niece and nephew!

An Homage to Three Irish Poets

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THE LAKE OF INNISFREE
William Butler Yeats

william butler yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

THE FOGGY DEW
Katharine Tynan

katherine tynanA splendid place is London, with golden store,
For them that have the heart and hope and youth galore;
But mournful are its streets to me, I tell you true,
For I’m longing sore for Ireland in the foggy dew.

The sun he shines all day here, so fierce and fine,
With never a wisp of mist at all to dim his shine;
The sun he shines all day here from skies of blue:
He hides his face in Ireland in the foggy dew.

The maids go out to milking in the pastures gray,
The sky is green and golden at dawn of the day;
And in the deep-drenched meadows the hay lies new,
And the corn is turning yellow in the foggy dew.

Mavrone! If I might feel now the dew on my face,
And the wind from the mountains in that remembered place,
I’d give the wealth of London, if mine it were to do,
And I’d travel home to Ireland and the foggy dew.

ON THE VOWELS
Jonathan Swift

jonathan swiftWe are little airy creatures,
All of different voice and features;
One of us in glass is set,
One of us you’ll find in jet.
T’other you may see in tin,
And the fourth a box within.
If the fifth you should pursue,
It can never fly from you.

Poetic portraits lovingly rendered by master crafter, Katie Zondlo.

Accio Wand Contest Winners!

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three wands, gray magic woodworkingI am delighted to present the winners of our blog contest! We received a lot of fantastic entries, and it was very hard to choose. Below are the three winning spells, carefully matched to their three unique wands.

wand 291, gray magic woodworkingCUPIDUM LIBER

Awnali Mills, Virginia

My spell is for finding your next good read in a library full of books. The words are Cupidum Liber! To do the spell, you must draw the left side of a heart in the air in front of you with your wand, from top to bottom while saying “Cupidum.”  When you reach the bottom of the heart, do a quick bounce with the wand to the left as though flipping open a book with it while saying “Liber” (Lee-burr).  A book you love will present itself.

 

wand 292, gray magic woodworking

CONTRALETHELOGOS

Marina Schnell, Pennsylvania

Do you ever try to think of a word, and you just can’t remember it? It feels like it’s on the tip of your tongue, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t remember it. I have created a spell to banish that annoying and potentially embarrassing sensation from your life. The incantation is Contralethelogos (con-truh-leth-uh-LOW-goess). When you fail to retrieve a word from your memory, simply point your wand at your throat and speak the incantation aloud, and the word will come to mind. However, you’re on your own if you forget this spell as well as the word you’re trying to remember. The spell has both Latin and Greek origins (Contra is from Latin, meaning against; leth(e) is from Greek, meaning forget; and logo is from Greek, meaning word. The s just makes it sound good).

wand 293, gray magic woodworking

EXCORIO SIMI ALIMENTUM
Matthew Hettena, New Jersey

Translated from Latin: peel (the) monkey food. This spell peels all the bananas you could want for you, and all your banana loving friends and animals.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks once again to Lane O’Neil from Gray Magic Woodworking for the donation of the beautiful wands!