Box-a-saurus

Eliza was assigned a project last week - to create a Box-a-saurus. We knew it would be a challenge to get it done. Roy was supposed to work with her over the weekend. Well, the weekend came - and went. And so did Roy - he's in Fort Worth the rest of the week for a science convention (woo-hoo!). This year I took away his debit card, gave him cash for meals and a little spending (he and the guys might enjoy a malted beverage while away). I hope that curtails a lot of the problems. Last year he came home with an African millipede. But I digress ... that's another story...

Anyway, we remembered tonight - yes, after school - that the dinosaur is due TOMORROW. Grrr. I had envisioned a night of crafting, however, this isn't what I had in mind. After much deliberation (actually done throughout the last week and not last minute), Eliza chose the Gilmoreosaurus. According to the project it was supposed to be done without parent help and using recycled materials from home. I think we all know (especially speaking as a teacher) that most of the parents did the projects for the kids. I did help Eliza with some of the details, but she really did the project. I will admit to doing some of the clay smushing. Being a control freak and perfectionist, it was pretty hard to let her do it all alone.

Eliza made her dinosaur out of an empty Gain detergent jug covered in some kind of clay mixture made of volcanic ash. She cut the tail and legs from foam sheets. She used a styrofoam egg for the head and pinned on two jumbo blue sequins for the eyes. Since it is an herbivore (she informed me that meant it was a plant-eater), she pinned *many* sequin leaves in place of a mouth. It was hungry after 80 million years.

We had a long talk about how beautiful I thought her project is and how proud I am that she did it herself. I told her about "some kids I've taught" that didn't do their own work and how much more I value their work if they do it instead of their parents. I hope that she took from that conversation what I intended: if other people show up with "prettier" dinosaurs, hers is still perfect because she did the work herself.

By the way, the ribbons are not permanent (I don't think). The foam sheets kept coming loose so Eliza had to devise a way to hold them in place until the glue dried.