Corey wrote a research report today on inventions of the Sumerians…….
The ancient Sumerians invented many important things that are still used today. One of the most significant inventions was a system of canals to irrigate their fields. They could provide water to their cattle and catch fish. They also made the irrigation canals to control floods.
The irrigation canals lead to city-states because each city-state had its own source of water. City-states are cities that govern themselves. They build walls around the city so it’s protected from enemy cities. Each city-state has its own King. A major benefit of a city-state is that the people could create there own freedom.
The shaduf was another one of their important inventions. It was a bucket on a long stick. The stick was balanced on a tripod of sticks. The farmer would then lower the bucket into the water and then pull on the stick to bring it out of the water. He would then swivel it around and pour it on his crops.
Their inventions benefit us today. We improved them to meet our needs. They were very smart in all fields of the mind.
Its the first day of school at the TKA and the teacher asked each student about what they did this summer.
Jordan:
“This summer I had a lot of fun! I went to the night time zoo. I like the monkeys! I had a lot of friends over. I went swimming. I played laser tag. I went to the beach. My favorite thing was swimming.”
And Corey:
“We went to the San Diego Zoo at night. It was really cool! We heard a lot of cool noises! I scared a lot of people by pressing a button that makes a tiger roar noise. It was funny!
I turned 11 this summer. I had a sleepover with my friend Cheyne in the back of our car. I got an iPod, iTunes gift cards, etc… We also went to laser tag. I had fun at laser tag because you shoot people and get points for it.
I went to Palm Springs. My grandpa was in Alaska. We went swimming a lot! It was really HOT! My cousins were there too.
This summer I had a lot of FUN!!”
The principal thinks that this work is fine for the first day of school, but he’s expecting a significant improvement in sentence structure and creative elaboration.
I had always intended not to contribute to this blog, but to let the creativity and youthfulness of the Team Kess boys serve as the authors. In this particular case, I dont think Corey would accurately recap the events of the day.
While Corey was in Palm Springs this past weekend celebrating his birthday in Palm Springs with Grandma and Grandpa J and Lauren, he purchased a security camera with his birthday money. The security camera has a removable USB thumb drive to record video and then to copy it to a computer. It also has the ability to follow and track movement in a room. Corey was very proud of his purchase. We thought he would just put it on the shelf and add it to his collection of a safe with fingerprint biometric reader, a functional ATM machine, and a door alarm built with an electronics kit (which has since been removed).
This is all background to today’s event…while the boys were at a friends house today, Wendy noticed that a power drill was laying on Corey’s bed. She thought this was really odd, but didnt notice any holes or new pictures on the wall, so she let it go. The question was posed to Corey while eating dinner tonight, “why is there a power drill on your bed.” To which Corey responded with something to the effect of, “To install my security camera of course.”
Corey finally filled in the rest of the details. He went out to the shed this morning and got my power drill. He stood on his bed and drilled two holes into the ceiling (not the wall….Wendy neglected to check the ceiling). He tried to screw the security camera into the ceiling, but it looks like the screws didnt hold in the plaster ceiling. He had temporarily given up while he left for a friends house.
So, tomorrow, Corey is going to patch the holes, sand it down, and then paint. And he’ll be either setting the camera on his shelf or drilling it into a block of wood. There will be no installation on the ceiling or the walls. I dont know why he thought it would be fine to install a camera in the ceiling. We have also banned the use of power tools without parental notification.
Today I’m in my dads office because my mom is doing something and Jordan and Riley is somewhere else. I hope it’s fun!
Two days ago was my Birthday. I turned 11. I got an iPod, PC games, gift cards, ect. That night my friend Cheyne spent the night we slept in the back of the car (my dad put it in the back yard). We stayed up till mid-night and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 1.
Then the next day we went to laser tag. Laser tag is really fun you have this vest and your in a 5,000sq.foot building and its foggy so you can’t see far. You shot peeps on the vest to get points. And played wii, computer, and watched TV.
Yesterday my friend Cheyne slept over because i went to youth group. We also watched a movie outside with our projector. It was fun!!
This week we have been riding bike a lot. We rode about a total of 12 miles and 100 min. One day we went to OB and one day Shelter Island. It has been fun.
