Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Seeds of Learning School
Seeds of Learning School is a fun and educational class in Redmond for children seven years of age and older. Seeds of Learning features challenging classes with fun activites and helps students with creative writing, structuring essays, and helps develop other useful writing skills; mental math is one of the most exciting activities of the day, with plenty of prizes and praise for all participants. There are history projects like learning about the founding fathers, the history of Russia, royalty throughout the ages, the history of Halloween, etc. The school is located in a friendly, warm home enviroment, but there's also lots of space to stretch out, play, and learn! The internationally recognized and published nine-year-old author Adora Svitak currently attends classes in this school; Adora Svitak wrote the book Flying Fingers at the age of seven and says she will "continue to enjoy the highly educational and fun experiences I had and contine to have at this school". This innovative school also offers private tutoring. See www.seedsoflearning.com for details.
Speech in NY
I have just returned from New York with my ears hurting, runny nose, and two enormous cardboard posters with my smiling face printed brightly to the side of "Adora Svitak--A Child Prodigy Speaks". They were nice posters but they gave us some trouble at the airport; brobdingnagian cardboard posters in gigantic Kinkos bags aren't exactly the regular carry-on luggage. It was stored in the coat closet on the plane during the flight.
The flight itself was not the worst I have experienced. I was not forced to make use of the small, strangely clean white "Motion Sickness" bag conveniently tucked into every seat pocket--there were times, however, when I felt slightly queasy. We had bought a very interesting and educational card game about headlines from the New York Post about memorable events over the century; we spent some time playing this while eating cake and drinking ginger ale.
I made a speech at the Longwood School, a wonderful, innovative school with classes divided not by walls but by bookshelves or lockers. This idea might sound ridiculous but really I thought it was quite a good idea; walls sometimes restrict movement, while there is less waste of material and space with this idea. The students were highly intelligent; I talked with some of them after my presentation to get feedback on my presentation, how I might improve it, etc., and they also asked me questions. I was also questioned by reporters from MiddleScoop, the school newspaper; a great deal of the questions were better than the ones adult reporters ask me, and I enjoyed the experience immensely.
I was also in Long Island to give a speech at Stony Brook University's renowned Charles B. Wang Center; I sold out the emergency copies of Flying Fingers and began autographing things like my poetry and story writing booklet, tickets, even scraps of paper when people were desperate. There was a reception with delicious Chinese food and chocolate milk that I drank thirstily as I answered questions from all sides; sometimes people would be asking me whether I could take a picture with them and snapping about one hundred pictures; other times they asked where I got my inspiration from, when I began writing, etc.
It was quite a nice event on the whole; the Wang Center was a beautiful place, dedicated to sharing different cultures with the rest of the world--this was even reflected in the wonderful resturaunt, Jasmine, which had all kinds of different foods. My favorite was probably the samosas I got almost daily. There were serene, relaxing gardens with small ponds and bridges; there was an impressive display of a model of a Chinese chariot, and the Wang Center had many fountains that calmed you a great deal.
I had about three to four microphones clipped onto me when I was making my speech; it was amazing they did not fall off or at least get tangled together. I was quite relieved to take them off, however, and prance off to explore the rest of the Wang Center.
The flight itself was not the worst I have experienced. I was not forced to make use of the small, strangely clean white "Motion Sickness" bag conveniently tucked into every seat pocket--there were times, however, when I felt slightly queasy. We had bought a very interesting and educational card game about headlines from the New York Post about memorable events over the century; we spent some time playing this while eating cake and drinking ginger ale.
I made a speech at the Longwood School, a wonderful, innovative school with classes divided not by walls but by bookshelves or lockers. This idea might sound ridiculous but really I thought it was quite a good idea; walls sometimes restrict movement, while there is less waste of material and space with this idea. The students were highly intelligent; I talked with some of them after my presentation to get feedback on my presentation, how I might improve it, etc., and they also asked me questions. I was also questioned by reporters from MiddleScoop, the school newspaper; a great deal of the questions were better than the ones adult reporters ask me, and I enjoyed the experience immensely.
I was also in Long Island to give a speech at Stony Brook University's renowned Charles B. Wang Center; I sold out the emergency copies of Flying Fingers and began autographing things like my poetry and story writing booklet, tickets, even scraps of paper when people were desperate. There was a reception with delicious Chinese food and chocolate milk that I drank thirstily as I answered questions from all sides; sometimes people would be asking me whether I could take a picture with them and snapping about one hundred pictures; other times they asked where I got my inspiration from, when I began writing, etc.
It was quite a nice event on the whole; the Wang Center was a beautiful place, dedicated to sharing different cultures with the rest of the world--this was even reflected in the wonderful resturaunt, Jasmine, which had all kinds of different foods. My favorite was probably the samosas I got almost daily. There were serene, relaxing gardens with small ponds and bridges; there was an impressive display of a model of a Chinese chariot, and the Wang Center had many fountains that calmed you a great deal.
I had about three to four microphones clipped onto me when I was making my speech; it was amazing they did not fall off or at least get tangled together. I was quite relieved to take them off, however, and prance off to explore the rest of the Wang Center.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
A three-day camping trip is what we spent our weekend on this summer. We went with our aunt and uncle to a place called Hoodsport, which was a miniscule place hardly big enough to be called a town but hardly small enough to be called a village (plus I imagine old-fashioned huts and no cars when I think of a village, and there were definitely cars at Hoodsport, and there were no old-fashioned huts either).
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
Camping
A three-day camping trip is what we spent our weekend on this summer. We went with our aunt and uncle to a place called Hoodsport, which was a miniscule place hardly big enough to be called a town but hardly small enough to be called a village (plus I imagine old-fashioned huts and no cars when I think of a village, and there were definitely cars at Hoodsport, and there were no old-fashioned huts either).
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
Camping
A three-day camping trip is what we spent our weekend on this summer. We went with our aunt and uncle to a place called Hoodsport, which was a miniscule place hardly big enough to be called a town but hardly small enough to be called a village (plus I imagine old-fashioned huts and no cars when I think of a village, and there were definitely cars at Hoodsport, and there were no old-fashioned huts either).
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
We went crabbing at Hoodsport and had quite a success as far as we were concerned (although the crabs apparently weren't too happy), catching quite a few monster redrocks and one male Dungeness, which bit my aunt quite hard.
We had crab, crab, crab for dinnner, which I eventually got quite tired of, so I switched to veggies and politely refused the crab offered to me. We still had quite a few crabs and quite a bit of meat after my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, my grandparents, my sister, and I had all taken a share, and the leftover crab was given to my mother after the trip was over.
We went hiking and saw glorious waterfalls; we went swimming and came back dripping wet and dirty; we washed off our grime in rivers of snowmelt; we caught oysters in oyster-invaded beaches and quested for better swimming places; we stood on the deck of the homeward ship, the wind and our hair whipping our face; we took so many pictures we had to delete some, and even then we had to use our uncle and aunt's camera on occasion; overall, it was a perfectly wonderful experience (even though I got perfectly dirty!)
Saturday, May 20, 2006
The Wonder of the Great Minds: My Mother's Blog
This is to announce the coming of "The Wonder of the Great Minds", my mother's highly interesting blogspot, the address of which is www.wonderofthegreatminds.blogspot.com . I have read it myself and posted many comments, and I would advise readers to do the same, as it is always highly pleasing to see comments.
In any case you should have a look at this blog; it is my mother's blog and is very humorous, interesting (as I said before) and gives a cheerful outlook on the life of an American mother to readers.
Adora
In any case you should have a look at this blog; it is my mother's blog and is very humorous, interesting (as I said before) and gives a cheerful outlook on the life of an American mother to readers.
Adora
Friday, May 19, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Book Reviews Wanted!
WANTED: Lots and lots and lots and lots of book reviews! I am desperately in need of book reviews for my magazine, Gaze of the Sun, which will be coming out shortly. Or maybe it will take a long time...
Anyways, these book reviews have a chance of being published in my magazine (depending on how good they are), so make sure you don't share any personal information in your book reviews you don't want going past me!
Adora
Anyways, these book reviews have a chance of being published in my magazine (depending on how good they are), so make sure you don't share any personal information in your book reviews you don't want going past me!
Adora
Friday, May 05, 2006
A Blog Recommendation
For those of you who are not so inclined to use vulgar language, perhaps you should stay away from this site; while we occasionally use bad words if the need comes up, we do not promote its use outside of private buildings such as the Academy of Sinister Death (a.k.a. Seeds of Learning Blog). We focus on subjects such as politics we disagree with, tragical tales of our teacher (Beastie)'s victims, and many other interesting things that cannot be described in here. The address is seedsoflearning.blogspot.com . You will find one of my articles under the name of "Pumpkinglasses".