Thursday, June 30, 2011

Oceans: What makes them so. . .

Today is the 2nd day of the school year.

Today's color was blue.

It was the Partly Sunny! 

This month's poet is Poet of the Month - Matthew Arnold   (1822 - 1888).
We read:
To Marguerite by Matthew Arnold
Yes! in the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown,
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow,
And then their endless bounds they know.

But when the moon their hollows lights,
And they are swept by balms of spring,
And in their glens, on starry nights,
The nightingales divinely sing;
And lovely notes, from shore to shore,
Across the sounds and channels pour --

Oh! then a longing like despair
Is to their farthest caverns sent;
For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent!
Now round us spreads the watery plain --
Oh, might our marges meet again!

Who ordered, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cooled?
Who renders vain their deep desire? --
A god, a god their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumbed, salt, estranging sea.


Our monthly topic is Oceans. 
We learned why the ocean is salty and blue. Princess Bunny and Princess Button were brave enough to taste a sample of the sea.  ( Just a tiny bit of salt in a cup of water)

Since we are not really learning about sea creatures, I thought the Royal Children could make one.  Each child created a sea urchin.  OUCH!