Five Fun Things I Did Today

I didn't ride any roller coasters, hike any mountains or shop Rodeo Drive with a limitless credit card, but I managed to have plenty of fun today:

1. I made origami cranes with my history class. 

We've been studying about World War II and the atomic bombs that leveled the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which is a violent and unbearably sad topic for young children. So for our class today, I focused on the twelve-year-old Japanese girl, Sadako, who hoped to cure her radiation-caused lukemia by folding one thousand paper cranes. According to Japanese folklore, anyone who accomplishes that feat will have a wish come true. Sadly, Sadako died in 1955, after folding just 644 cranes, but other Japanese schoolchildren heard her story and sent the remaining 256 stories to honor her memory. Today, the Children's Peace Monument in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorates Sadako's story. So we folded these complicated origami cranes in class, and despite the fact that my patient but somewhat confused students called, "Mrs. Streicher, Mrs. Streicher!!" at least a billion times, we all had a very good time. 

2. In art class, I made this cut paper collage.
We've been studying the Elements and Principles of Design, and for the past couple weeks in class, I've been setting up stations where the students create a piece of art that helps them think about one of the elements or principles. My students always love to do stations - I think they enjoy the freedom of being able to move from one area of the classroom to the next, the fun of seeing what special little project or activity awaits them at each station, and the flexibility of working on each project for as long or short of a time as they like. The room is filled with the happy sounds of students talking and laughing together, and I always enjoy that special energy even if Station Days are a bit of extra work for me. Usually, I have my hands full with helping the students one-on-one with their individual projects, and keeping each station fully stocked with materials as the students buzz through the supplies, but today I had a few moments to spare. So I sat down at the "pattern" station and made this little collage. Not only did I enjoy the chance to express my own creativity, but it's so adorable to see how the students flock over to me and watch with fascination as I work. 

3. I played with cornstarch.
For dinner (more about that in a moment), I used some cornstarch and water to thicken a sauce. As she was helping me clean up the kitchen after dinner, my youngest got sidetracked by this bowl of half-liquid, half-solid goo, and began the interesting game of dripping it down onto her hand and experimenting with its awesomeness. She asked me if I wanted to play too, and my first answer was, "No, I've done that plenty of times - I don't need to get my hands all messy right now." And then I realized how lame that sounded. So I stuck my hand right into the bowl and played with her. We dripped, dabbled, squeezed and sloshed about in that mysterious substance for at least fifteen minutes, grabbing it as a solid clump and then feeling it ooze, oh so cold and clammy-like, from between the fingers of our clenched fists. So glad I took the time to play!

4. For dinner, I made a huge and delicious batch of orange chicken. 

Not only is it fun to eat, but orange chicken is so entertaining to make.  First, the marinade has lots of sauces and spices to mix and stir together - I especially enjoy chopping the fresh garlic and ginger root. Then, once the chicken has rested in that yummy goodness for a few hours, it's time to shake it up in a bag full of flour and fry it up all golden brown. Finally, the sauce is made by heating the marinade and thickening it with cornstarch. (See how this story links up to the last one?!) That's so clever - oftentimes, recipes do not use the leftover marinade for anything and you just end up throwing it out; I think it's very smart to turn it into a sauce. Sadly, I was so excited about making and eating this delicious dish that I forgot to take any photos of it. I thought of it just as I was finishing up the dishes. So I decided to take a pic of the leftover dishwater and empty dish rack as a memory of that satisfying meal.

5. At the end of a grey and rainy first-day-of-spring in Seattle, I received this glorious photo of a warm and sunny California sunset.
My third-born is spending her spring break on the beach in San Diego, and she texted me this beautiful shot of the beach, near the house where she is staying. Can't you just feel that cool sand on your bare feet as you walk along that beach? I sure can. I can smell the salt in the air, and I can imagine how the warmth of the day is beginning to chill as the evening settles in. I wish I could trade in my Seattle clouds and raindrops for some California sun, but if I can't, I am very glad to enjoy this picture. 

What fun things did you do today?