A Slice of Sky

Black Dog by Pamela Allen, 1991. Penguin Books. Ages 5-8. Picture Book.

What do you do when your best friend forgets about you? What do you do when you’ve let your best friend down? This story urges you to continue to hope and to love.

Christina and her black dog are the best of friends. They live together on their own in the

forest, doing things that dog and humans do- they play and become each other’s best companion.

However, one winter’s day, Christina thinks she spies a strange, beautiful blue bird in a tree. This

‘bird’ fills her thoughts so much so that she presses her face against the window pane daily, waiting for it to emerge.

The vision fills her dreams. In her fascination with this elusive bird, Christina forgets her very

best friend, black dog, who waits in vain for her to play with him and be attentive to him again.

In a desperate attempt to win back her love, black dog embarks on a most dangerous task: he

will be the blue bird his beloved friend so desires.

Christina learns that friendship is costly and fragile. The story ends on a hopeful note , as she

returns to black dog.

A wonderfully poignant story ( yet another one by Pamela )  to explore faithfulness , friendship with a reminder

not to take those whom we love for granted .

When Joy was littler, we used to watch storms together from the balcony door of our flat. The balcony overlooked a large pond, which made lightning streaking across the dark evening sky look more spectacular than ever. We would sing that rhyme-song, “I hear thunder” or sometimes we’d just stand and watch. I taught Joy not to be afraid of thunder, “It’s only the sound of clumsy clouds knocking into each other,” I’d explain.
Today, she knows it’s a bit more than that. But that ‘kiddy’ explanation helped then.

“While thunder roars and rages in a storm, it really is the silent, magical silver lightning that is dangerous,” I tell her.
“But it’s beautiful,” she says, “ like a night-rainbow.”

I should be more factual than I have been in our discussions about storms. But then again, there’ll be loads of time for facts later. We bask in the wonder of the present .

This experiment to ‘make lightning’ adds fun to the facts.
1. Stick a piece of plastic sheet on the table.
2. Put a metal tray or big metal plate on the cloth. Push a ball of plastiscine on the tray.
3. Put on a pair of gloves.
4. Using the plascticine as a handle, rub the tray against the plastic sheet for 2-3 minutes.
5. Turn off the lights (the room has to be dark).
6. Bring a screwdriver close to the edge of the /plate. Watch sparks fly.

When you rub the tray against the plastic sheet, electric charges are built up. When you bring the screwdriver near, the energy is released onto the screwdriver. That’s what causes the crackle and the lightning spark.

This is one dirty thing to make! Smog , particularly ground-level ozone and airborne particles, is harmful to living things. Making this experiment is  a handy way to kickstart a discussion about pollution and

conservation.

Smog is a concoction of tiny water droplets in air and carbon dioxide. This results in a foul

atmosphere.

This is how you can make smog:

-Cut a strip of paper, fold it, then twist it.

-With  some foil, make a jar cover. Then put that aside.

Now you need to make the foil really cold. You can do that by placing some ice cubes on it.

-Wet the jar so that its walls are damp.

-Light one end of the paper strip, drop it into the jar.

-Seal the mouth of the jar with the cold foil. Keep the ice cubes on top of the foil.

Ask your child what she can see in the jar.

Ask her what happened. You could ask questions like:

-What happened to the water on the sides of the jar ? You could ask leading questions like:

“What happens to water when it is heated up?

(  turns to vapour.)

- What happens to vapour when it is cold? ( It condenses and becomes water/ droplets) So ,

what happened to the water vapour in the jar when it met the cold air ( from the foil)?

-Can you think of times when you have seen this?

Mist actually forms in the jar. It forms when warm air meets cold air. In the absence of moving

air, fog is formed.

“The Seven Chinese Brothers” by Margaret Mahy, Illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng, 1990. Scholastic Publications. Picture Book. Ages 6-9.

This is a tale of seven Chinese brothers who use their  unusual individual abilities to outwit the tyrannical Chinese emperor, Ch’in Shih Huang. Hungry for fame and power, the emperor conscripts labourers from the peasantry to build his Great Wall of China. Historically, the building of  the wall exacted the deaths of thousands of these conscripted labourers. In the story, the sufferings of these labourers form the catalyst for the brother’s intervention to deliver the workers. The first brother has an amazing sense of hearing and ‘could hear a fly sneeze a hundred miles away.’ The second one has an astounding snese of sight, the third has unusual strength , the fourth possesses bones of iron (literally) and so forth.

This is a highly enjoyable story. You could do further research on various aspects of the story-

history, culture, language. It is however, fiction, and therefore you need to overlook whatever

historical inaccuracies there may be in the tale and in the illustrations.

My children got really caught up in the story especially when I got them to  to predict the outcomes of the brothers’ escapades.  The realistically humourous illustrations add to the fascinating tale. My two kids started discussing supernatural powers and which one each preferred . I just wish I had the ability to have more time on my hands!

Here’s the 7 Brothers Activity Worksheet. Enjoy!

A chameleon is able to see in different directions at the same time. This enables it to ‘multitask’- watch for predators and look for food. As a mom, I can think of times when I wish I had eyes like that – watch the toddler and keep an eye on the frying pan, watch the kids and read a book, look out for danger as we walk as well as look at the sky.

Well, this experiment won’t enable you to do that, but it does give you an idea of what it’s like to see in two different directions.

Get an egg carton. Cut two egg holders from it. Make a hole in the bottom of each carton of

about 0.5 cm across. The holes should be a slightly off-centre. Put the egg holder over each of your eyes ( the holes pointing in different directions).

What do you see? Or rather, how do you see?

Our eyes are placed in front, enabling us to perceive depth and to have binocular vision.

Observe where horses’ eyes are placed. Horses’ eyes are placed at the sides of their heads and

they are placed high up. This gives them a 360 degree vision, enabling them to see far above

their heads as well. Amazing.

Before you decide to throw out your old stockings, restrain yourself. They come in handy for this simple ‘gardening’ activity.

Fill an old nylon stocking with compost ( soil-lest). Make a knot at the opening. Now you’ve got a head, somewhat. Use some markers and draw in a face. Plant grass seed on top of the head. Wait for the ‘green hair’ to grow on your stocking head.

You might want to make little ones as well so you eventually get a family of grass heads.