House 43 Digest Online

Your children are enjoying their excavation. We have heard from many parents that their children are LOVING the dig. We are so pleased that your children are sharing with you the process of excavating artifacts. Today, the children shared with me (Julia is with the kids at the site) many items they uncovered. At this point, we are focusing on describing the objects. In a few days, we will ask the children to make inferences about why the artifacts might have been found together. Throughout the experience, the children will test these hypotheses.

Today, the children uncovered….

- A knife or dagger that looked like it had an ivory holder (or scabbard) and handle. Both were off-white in color and were engraved.

- A teapot that was broken in to two pieces. It was an orangey, brown color, like clay without any decoration. It looked pumpkin-shaped.

- An inkpad in a holder that looked like it was made out of china. Inside there was red ink that still worked! There was a print of the stamp indented on the pad. It was of a wormy dragon in the shape of an “S.”

- A coin made of copper. It is a pence, perhaps from London?

- Goblets or cup holders — at least 4 of them. They were decorated with thumb-like indents in them all over. They looked like a golden color. There was no handle.

- Many broken pieces of plates with designs that were light with brigh colors.

- Jade chopsticks. They were green.

- A blueish, green statue. It is an animal figure – unknown. It might be a lion or it might be a dragon or maybe a lion and a dragon mixed.

- A sharp knife in a case made out of camel bone? The case is a beige color with carved dragons on it.

- A bike pedal with an orange reflector.

- Two statues of people dressed in robes. One had a little hair. The other was bald.

- Mah Jong tiles, which are red on the one side and white on the other. There is Chinese writing on the white side of each tile.

- Golden dragon pin. The dragon is curly, sort of like a snake. The pin looks like real gold. The pin was open when we found it.

- Gold cup holders with cracked pieces of blue and white plates (porcelain?) inside. You could see fingerprints in the decorations, so we think they might have been hand-made.

- A dragon with a broken tail. The dragon was green with fangs and had an open mouth. There were scales on the top. The colors are green and white. The dragon was on all four legs — “It was rather cute!”

- Two turtles. One was white and one was green (jade?). They were different, but both were small. They were carved. We think they might be chopstick rests.

- A bag of coins. The bag is red with golden swirls on it. The coins are silver. There are a lot of Turkish coins. One coin had four holes on the edges.

We have posted on the third grade website, on the scrapbook page, photographs from the wildly successful, pride-filled, and delicious Native American Museum and Feast. Thank you to all of our friends, families and community members for supporting the hard work of House 43 students, and for contributing to this wonderful celebratory event.

Click here to view the photographs.

Today was House 43’s first day excavating the site from Kashgar, China. We have included some pictures to chronicle the big day. When the children returned to the classroom, we asked them about what they found. Here is a list of what was uncovered today:

- A big pot that looked like a coffee or tea pot with a big handle — the handle was on the top, where it could be held, not on the side

- A box that looked like an eyeglass case with flower patterns that held 5 Indian rupies (paper money) and Turkish coins

- A musical instrument — a wooden flute with designs on it that was “2-1/2 – 4 feet” long

- A teapot-like object — silver — with a lid that could fall off

- A plate with white and blue coloring — “it wasn’t cracked! You could use it now!” The design looked like the design on the blue and white Chinese teacup in the classroom

- Cracked plate in many small pieces with pink flowers and blue turquoise petals

- Silvery box-like object that you could open up in the shape of an oval with a lid. There were petals and flowers on it.

- Gold cup — possibly a vase? — circular shaped, flower design carved cylinder (wider at the middle) without a bottom or a top

- Cement blocks — lots of them

- 2 or 3 coins — one with a 5 on it, definitely foreign. One silver coin was from Turkey

- A pendant, which might have been on a necklace, with a drawing of the Great Wall of China on it

- Little pieces of plates with decorated designs with bright colors

- Brush in a cup — the wooden cup had three-dimensional designs of flowers with stems; the paint brush has a black handle with gold painted designs

- A green cylinder with carvings — possibly jade

Four Seasons Poem

Spring rain is gently falling,
the clouds are blocking the sun
the sun is setting
and up comes the moon.
And we are waiting
for another exiting day!

Trees are letting go of their leaves
Their branches are getting really chilly
The leaves that are still on the branches
are turning different colors like yellow or red.

Snow is falling
you can feel the frosty breeze,
everybody is wearing hats and gloves
some days are even blizzards,
and some times it snows really bad.

School has ended,
planes are flying in the sky
Schools are empty
where is everyone?

My Hamster

My hamster is so great and funny,
he’s as cute as a baby bunny.
He’s organized nice and fun,
He can really REALLY run!
He’s the champion hiker of the house,
lucky he’s never met a mouse!
He’s a great eater and drinker, too.
His name is Sam it’s really true.
He likes to run in his run-about-ball.
He runs and runs right down the hall.
He likes to cuddle up with me,
as his whiskers tickle, I laugh with glee.
He never nips and most hamsters do,
he’s so sweet and amazing, too.

That’s my hamster!!!
And that is true.

The Great Start

Having the assist,
in the first game, for the win,
splendid for the team.

The First and Only Loss

The difficult loss,
yesterday,
it was a strange finish,
a 3-2 loss.

Feelings

Tube Slide

Squatting on the tube slide
silently waiting,
to get shoved down the slide
and then finally,
getting pushed,
hard
wee! Feeling the cold water spray my face
and the hard bumps on the padding
going
up and down, up and down
oh such fun!

My necklace

Feeling my necklace the cold green heart in my hand,
hanging on my neck, small and hard but still,
so fragile
the glass keeping it safe.

Reading my book

almost done
one more page
one more paragraph
one more sentence
one word
feeling so excited
my mind racing
my heart beating
I’m done
(got to make a book mark)

The reason I like pancakes

The reason I like pancakes, is because they taste so sweet!
There very very yummy, and I think they are a treat!
I really like them cooked,
just by me.
Because I think they are the most yummy!
I like to make them into dumplings,
so I can pour,
butter on the top.
It’s one thing that is very special,
and can’t by in a shop!
I cook them so the outside is still very crispy.
But the inside is,
sill mushy.
And if I pour some chocolate inside,
it all gets warm and squishy!
When it’s cooked and ready,
I put it on my plate.
And once I take a bite,
I think it is just great!