My project for the day

[New England Eeyore]

There is such a thing as karma. Full disclosure - when I was a little girl, I did very well in school but anytime there was a project that was at all art related, my Dad would end up doing it for me. (My art-anxiety can be traced back to the mean 2nd grade nun who gave me a C+ in art - the only C I ever received in my life!) I couldn't even draw a stick figure and even at a young age I didn't see the point of a shoebox diorama. I could write a fantastic book report but I didn't see how glueing some little figures in a box was supposed to help me learn. Teachers, don't yell at me.

Life comes full circle. My DsD-13 called me up and asked if she could come over so I could help her with a science project. Sure, science is my specialty. When she gets here she tells me she has to make a 3-dimensional model of a plant cell using household items. Oh-boy. That's the exact kind of thing my Dad would've done for me back then! I thought about calling him but I decided to suck and up and see what we could come up with. Well,first, I actually tried to beg off, saying "This is kind of like art - I'm not really good at art." She actually laughed out loud and said "Are you kidding? You do scrapbooking - you're really good at art." Hmph. Tell that to Sister Yvette.

Well, you try coming up with a household item to represent the endoplasmic reticulum. I felt like the anxiety-ridden second grader all over again! And I couldn't really even use my scrapping stuff. Here's a tip - glue dots do not adhere to food.

But here's the finished project. She'll get to bring it to school but I have to share it with someone. I hope we get an A!

Nucleus - plastic bag containing Nucleolus (pom-pom) and DNA (2 twisted pipecleaners)
Endoplasmic Reticulum - spiral pasta with Ribosomes drawn on with a marker
Golgi Complex - pecans (I had to yell at her "Stop eating the golgi complex!)
Mitochondria - cat treat (the teacher suggested a peanut - of course we didn't have peanuts!)
Vacuole - liquid-filled vitamin
Cell wall - popsicle sticks
Cell membrane - pipe cleaners
Cytoplasm - cardstock
Chlorophyll - green pom poms

 

[rlovew]

I think you did a great job!!!

Rebecca

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

edoplasma.....whah??

OoooK looks good from here what are they teaching these kids nowadays sheesh we had to make solar systems out of styrofoam

BTW Dioramas are my specialty!!! I love them, DS10 has Old Faithful, a bug habitat, a blacksmith shop on a dude ranch, and a vacant lot in Chicago.
I'll have to take pics tomorrow. They are way cool! Give me a diorama over a research paper any day of the week.

ETA we just finished a Drumbone, like the ones from the Blue Man Group.

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Suzanne--I think we must have been separated at birth! I'm like you--I can write a paper or do whatever in that vein, but I cannot do anything art/diorama related!

Your project looks awesome, though!! Definitely an A! Plus, I like the sort-of-hidden-Mickey (or at least it looks like one in the pic!)

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

This is Chlorophyll but if your one of my moms imaginary friends it's a hidden mickey yes she talks to people who live in a computer, shameful I know.....

Is it sad that I knew what you were talking about Brooke???? There we go sharing more of our brains amongst the group.

 

[maria34a]

I spotted the hidden or not so hidden mickey right away too!!! So does this mean that we failed the science portion of the test????

 

[New England Eeyore]

Thanks, guys! I was looking at it upside down when we were assembling it but when I saw it right side up I saw the Mickey. It wasn't intentional - but obviously we both have Disney on the brain!

I think I have to scrapbook this project. I scrapbooked her first shoebox diorama back in 1st grade - the topic was Andrew Jackson. About the only interesting fact we learned about him was that he had killed a man in a duel(!) and I didn't think that was exactly appropriate. We've come a long way since then.

 

[Lisa]

edoplasma.....whah??

I'm right there with ya. Had no clue what it is. Had to look at the pic to get my daily dose of edjamacation. lol

 

[Queenie]

Looks great, I remember doing all this stuff in biology at high school although the Endoplasmic Reticulum and the Golgi Complex have completely escaped me! Happy I specialise in physics at uni these days!!

I'm so glad UK schools don't do diaramas and things like this, it's not my idea of fun and I'm with Brooke - I can't see how you learn much from them. In the UK we just have to draw and label them in our excercise books - no silly 3D versions made from pipe cleaners!

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Good job! I'll give you an A too!!!

Love to help the kids w/ those projects... but like you NEE, I too can NOT draw even a stick person.. give me every thing else and I can do wonders w/ it!
The kids get so tickled w/ me because if I see an edge that is off, I run down stairs grab the paper cutter and we must fix it!
The teacher asked Cam how he gets his project boards just perfect.. He says.. I can assemble but Mom glues! LOL

 

[kaddjr]

Hhmmm...I don't think you are "art challenged"- it looks great to me! I'd rather do the art stuff than write a paper any day. I hope to start college in the fall and I'm already starting to dread the papers. My hs senior thesis was written the night before it was due (we had 9 weeks to do it).

DD and I are working on a diorama right now. We just have to finish her dinosaur (can't decide if she is just going to paint him or if we will do a paper piecing). She also has to write a report about her dino but that has to be done at school, thank goodness.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I love the hidden Mickey.

I think you did a great job using household items. A+ from me.

 

[New England Eeyore]

Queenie - sounds like I would have loved to go to school in the UK. Good old fashioned book learning, none of this foolishness!

Buffy - where are the pictures of the dioramas you promised? I was expecting to log on and see them tonight!

It's not due until Friday, so it looks like we won't out until after vacation what her grade is. Bummer!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Queenie - sounds like I would have loved to go to school in the UK. Good old fashioned book learning, none of this foolishness!

Buffy - where are the pictures of the dioramas you promised? I was expecting to log on and see them tonight!

It's not due until Friday, so it looks like we won't out until after vacation what her grade is. Bummer!

Sorry, working on the written portion of the drumbone. I'l snap some in a bit.

 

[YodasMom]

Very cool, NEE!!! Wish I could have done it this way in school, rather than just memorizing it!! I'm sure you'll get your A!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

OK here are some pics:

From 2nd grade. Sorry it looks weird, the fence broke, I need to reglue some stuff.
The Life of a cowboy report, Blacksmith Shop:

The National Park report, 3rd or 4th grade.
Old Faithful:

5th grade. The diorama for a book. Note the trash bags in the back corner, that is where I burnt my thumb on the glue gun. It took 4 or so months to heal Remember?!?!?
Vacant Lot in DownTown Chicago: (per the description in the book just so ya know, nothing against Chi town)

5th grade. Build your own musical instrument. DS10 chose the Drumbone from the Blue Man Group:

 

[Mickster]

They all look great! Nicely done. I hope you got As on all of them.

 

[vanyel]

I'm really impressed but I have to disagree on the diorama vs research. I think I failed that in school. Have you done any altered books? Seems like it could have some similarities to the dioramas.

I especially like old faithful!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Old Faithful is really neat looking.

What did you use for the brick wall for Chicago? It looks really shiny in the photo.

My eldest is artisticly inclined. When he gets to dioramas, he is not going to let me play.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Old Faithful is really neat looking.

What did you use for the brick wall for Chicago? It looks really shiny in the photo.

My eldest is artisticly inclined. When he gets to dioramas, he is not going to let me play.

The brick was from the miniatures section of ACMoore for doll houses. It's just shiny cause I took the pics in the basement so I had to use the flash. It is made of plastic so it was a bit shiny to begin with. Not what I really wanted for the wall but we didn't have time to make bricks.