House 43 Digest Online

I am an astrolabe
Made
Of bronze
Made by a blacksmith
With iron
Tongs
A wealthy merchant paid
For me
To be made

(Read on …)

Once upon a time there was a young witch named Sarah. She lived in Venice, Italy.

She loved playing with magic. One day she was swinging. She let go, and flew quite to far and landed far to lightly. Another day she made a field of flowers open and close their petals and change colors.

Over the years her idea of fun changed to mischief. She liked the sound of the church bells at noon. So one day at 7:30 in the morning when she was bored she made them ring. It caused chaos. People ran around Venice trying to get where they needed to be at noon. One day she needed to get somewhere, but she didn’t have a gondola. So when she saw one empty and docked on the other side of the canal she made it come to her. She made it move itself. Then she saw a ship leaving port. She thought that it would be even better than the gondola so she turned the ship and made it sail toward her. Even with her mighty engines in reverse the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal. Then she saw a bird and got an idea. So she let the ocean liner go and went to her magic teacher, professor Nickles, to learn how to fly, but professor Nickles said, “You should not have made the liner do so much destruction.” Sarah was sorry. This time she’d gone to far. Then proffessor Nickles said, “However I think that you might have wanted to use the ocean liner as impressive transport and if I teach you to fly will you promise not to do anything like the ocean liner again?”

(Read on …)

Shelters of the Southwest

In this paper we will explore the shelters of some southwest tribes, 500 years ago. These include the Hopi, Zuni, other pueblo tribes and Navajo.

The Hopi and Zuni lived in strong permanent settlements constructed out of adobe. These structures were called pueblos. Adobe is a mixture of dead plants and mud or clay. They would put the mixture in a frame and let it harden in the sun. Then they would make a wall and stick it together and plaster it with adobe that wasn’t dried into bricks. Ceilings were supported by wooden rafters. Pueblos could house whole towns. They were several stories high, if it got too crowded they would add more rooms. Each floor was smaller than the one below it, creating useful balconies on which they did many things on. Pueblo comes from a Spanish word, meaning village. The inner rooms were used for storage, but the pueblo tribes sometimes slept there on cold winter nights. The ground floor didn’t have any doors or windows. They used ladders to keep out anyone who did not have permission to enter. Callers would bring the latest news. Some other tribes (including the cochiti) lived in pueblos as well.

(Read on …)

Paddle-to-the-Sea

By Holling Clancy Holling

Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling Clancy Holling, is an excellent book. It is about a little wooden canoe with an Indian in it. He starts around Lake Nipigon and ends up in the Atlantic. On the way he escapes a forest fire, a sawmill, goes over Niagara Falls, witnesses a shipwreck and still gets there in one piece. Paddle-to-the-Sea is also a Caldecott Honor book. Bon Voyage Paddle!

DS of H43 worked with SH1 from Edinger House to develop a web posting about House 43’s New Orleans Buddies. Click here to read the complete paragraph.

I am from a time when skyscrapers tower over the city.

I am from a time when planes fly people thousands of miles in a few hours.

I am from a time when tall apartment buildings are home to hundreds of people.

I’m from a time when machines do many dangerous and fiery tasks. (Read on …)