Mayan Creation Play

Mayan Creation Play

by D.

Today we drove to San Juan Bautista with our friends and we watched a play, the Mayan version of creation. They had instruments that were from Mexico - a maraca, a box filled with beans, and a drum - and they had traditional clothing from the Mayan culture. They spoke the languages that Mayan people spoke.

What happened in the play: the people did a dance with all different colored people. (I'm not sure what it meant.)

Then the Mother and the Father wanted a world with people who worshipped them, so they created the animals. But the animals didn't talk, so the God of the Sky brought over a plumed serpent who talked.

They talked about what to do. Then the God of the Sky created the mud people. They didn't have a brain and they didn't have a heart. The mud people kept bumping into each other and dying. They couldn't survive, so she cast them away. During the part with the mud people, they played really neat Mayan music.

Then the Mayan people made a planet with mountains, trees, rivers, and plants. They called out the Grandmother and Grandfather.Together made the Wood People witch were violent - they weren't nice to the animals. A great flood was created to kill all the Wood People. One macaw survived. He branched off and made all of the other animals.

The animals told the Gods that the White Corn and the Yellow Corn were their food supplies. The gods brought over the corn and told them that they will watch over the animals.

The first humans had big golden masks on and they learned to worship the gods and created a good habitat for all the animals.

In the background of the stage they had some pretty cool Mayan paintings. In the play they spoke Spanish and English. I really enjoyed the play.

D's Spice Box, Part I

We are working on a project in my class that explains 'our culture.'

What I have done so far: I've researched what my parents' cultures are. Then me and my mom brainstormed a couple of ideas and I decided that I wanted to make a box with spices from all of the countries that my ancestors came from. I searched all of the main spices of each country's cuisine.

• The Philippines has tamarind, ginger, sili.
• People in Spain use coriander, bay leaves, saffron, and paprika.
• Portugal has cinnamon, celery salt, paprika, and bay leaves.
• In Germany, they use caraway, bay leaves, juniper berries, and white pepper.
• Ireland they cook with thyme, rosemary, and sage.
• In Sweden, they use cardamom, saffron, all spice, ginger, and dill.

After we made our list, we shopped for all of the spices at Whole Foods. When we got home, I made the box for all of the spices out of a recycled shoe box.

Next: I need to fill the box with all of the spices and write my essay about my culture. I have to go to bed now.

Wood Gasifier Stove for #makercamp2014

I made a wood gas stove this summer for Maker Camp, #makercamp2014. 

Wood Gasifier Stove

by R, Grade 7

Story of Inspiration
I have seen the name wood gas stove or wood gasifier stove around a few times but I didn’t know what it was. Then I read about it in Makezine number 27 on page 136.

How it Works

This stove is basically an efficient wood chip burner. The smoke and gas that comes out of the wood chips when they are burned is still flammable. In a regular fire some of that gas is not burned. 

Wood chips are put in the middle can with the grate and are lit on fire. The holes at the bottom of the whole stove and the grate allow the fire to be fed with plenty of oxygen. The wood chips start to put out their smoky gas. This gas rises up through the wood and lights on fire. Gas also escapes through the holes at the bottom of the middle can and rises. This gas goes through the holes at the top of the middle can and it also lights on fire. Those are the secondary burners. The wood chips will burn and you will have to keep adding wood chips. Then just use it as a stove.

What We Did With It
My brother and I used the wood gasifier stove a lot during our family's 10-day camping trip. I used it to heat water and we made tea and hot chocolate. One night we even cooked dinner - sausages! - on it so my mom didn't have to cook over the fire. And, after dinner one evening, my brother and I roasted marshmallows in the stove.

It's neat to make something that isn't just a creation, but it's a useful creation. I'm pretty sure that my mom would agree with that.

Makey Makey for #makercamp2014

We received a complimentary Makey Makey for participating in #makercamp2014, but you can purchase directly from Makey Makey: here.

Makey Makey

by D, Grade 5

What: The Makey Makey is a simple machine that sends an electrical pulse through a wire that is connected to your hand. It runs through your body and connects to another wire. That wire connect to the Makey Makey and completes the circuit. You're the button!

When you tap an object that's connected to a certain section of the Makey Makey, it sends a command to the Makey Makey. The Makey Makey transforms the signal to something the computer can read.

How I used it: I used the Makey Makey to type, to play the piano, and make a drum out of oranges.

To make the drum out of oranges, I connected the wires to the Makey Makey and connected another wire to my foot, attached to aluminum foil. It sent a signal from my foot through my hand. When I tapped the orange, the signal went back to the Makey Makey to tell it to make a noise. It was easy! And fun!

Looking Forward: I can't wait to make a guitar out of it. That's my next project with the Makey Makey.

Meet Jumpy! {by R}

For my birthday my dad got me an RC airplane, a type of glider called the Zagi 5C. Unlike the Jettiger, that we tried last year, this plane is easy to fly. My first airplane, the Jettiger, only got one flight before it was demolished in a crash. 

We got to build more on the Zagi 5C.

  I even got to design the colors myself. I used my favorite color for the main part: yellow!

A few days after I got the plane, me and my dad started building the Zagi 5C. We started by getting some materials like the 3M77 spray adhesive. Then we set up the GoPro for a time lapse. We then glued the two airfoils together and glued in the carbon fiber spars. That glue was extra strong.   

We took it out for its maiden voyage this week. My dad is still working on the video. Stay tuned! I can't wait to get more time with Jumpy. You'll see why I named it Jumpy soon.

 

The Best Camp Ever {by D}

When we picked D up from his day at Ventana Wildlife Society's Condor Camp last week, he was ecstatic and gushed, "Mommy, that was the best camp eveeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" Awesome. So, naturally, I had him write about it.


June 12, 2014 -
Today I went to the best camp ever, Condor Camp!

First we went to Laguna Grande Park to meet everyone and get in the van. But, while we were waiting, we played aquarium tag, which is pretty much Snakes and Minnows except you have to think of an animal and one of its adaptations. When the person who is It calls on your adaptation, you run to the other side.

After the game we introduced ourselves and told what our favorite animal was. Mine is a wombat!

Then we got into the van and drove all the way to Big Sur. We passed Bixby Bridge and went all the way to the Ventana Wildlife Society's Visitor Center and learned about animals. Here are a few facts I learned during that presentation...

Mountain lions lick their babies' butts to keep them clean. California condors live in the Grand Canyon, too. They can get killed by electrical poles. Baby condors eat plastic and get poisoned by the DDT, but sometimes they have surgery to remove the poisoned plastic from their stomachs. I also learned that condors can change the color of their skin, depending on how they are feeling. Finally, I learned that the California condor population was down to 22 in 1970.

Then we climbed into the vans and drove to Seal Cove because seal is one of condors favorite foods. So, we set off. When we reached Seal Cove, we didn't find any seals or any condors. We did find a bunch of ants and a turkey vulture was flying overhead in the sky.

Then we drove to private property in Pfeiffer where the condors usually hang out and we heard beep! Beep! BEEP! from the  tracking device. It was Condor #204. He flew through the trees and down the cove. We got out the telescope to see if there were any more condors. We did this for about ten minutes. Finally we packed up, ate lunch, and went swimming.

Best. Camp. Ever.

Condor Camp {by R}

My brother and I went to Condor Camp last week with Ventana Wildlife Society.

We started off the day playing a game of adaptations. I was a cone shell snail. Then we introduced ourselves and shared what we wanted to get out of condor camp in a group circle. I wanted to learn more about thermal gliding and I also wanted to see a condor. 

Then my brother and I climbed into the 'Great White Shark' which was actually a large van that could hold 15 people. The other van was called the 'Lone Gray Wolf.' The adults drove us all to Big Sur.

We stopped at a visitor center on condors. And, even though it was closed, we got to look around it. Then we got a quick presentation on condors. 

I learned that lead poisoning is the biggest threat to California condors today.When a hunter shoots an animal with a lead bullet, lead scatters all around the flesh. If the kill is not found by the hunter, a condor could eat it and it only takes a miniscule amount of lead to kill a condor. And I definitely did not know that the condors get electrocuted on power lines because they are so big that they easily touch two wires, completing a circuit. 

We got to see how the condor tracker operates. Almost all the condors are tagged with radio transmitters. If you see a condor without a radio transmitter, it means that they were likely raised in the wild.

As you can tell, I learned a lot from Condor Camp!