Attack of the African Bees!

Last week we were invaded and attacked by bees!  I heard the piglets yelping and screaming and I ran out to see if any thing was wrong. Something was!!  The bees in our garden had been stinging our piglets and obveselisly the pigs had annoyed them. I am very used to the flies that are always around the pigs and flies all over me but this was a very loud buzzing. A moment later, I was running and screaming back to mummy with bee stings and bees all over me. In my top, in my skirt , my bandana, and my hair. All over!! Mum striped all my clothes off and put cream every where. My worst sting was on my finger, a bee had got stuck between my fingers and it’s all swollen but it’s getting better slowly.

(To finish the story ... Mummy and Rachel ran outside and realised that all the pigs were loose. With Spedito, they tried to catch the pigs. The dogs were chasing the pigs and the bees were chasing everybody. Everybody was getting bees on them and there was a lot of flapping, shouting, yelping, snorting and rolling about in the dirt. Mummy called Daddy at the office to come and help and they bundled up against the bees and worked on getting all the pigs into the garage. Daddy and Rachel were stung and Mummy escaped. There was a lot of squealing. There were so many bees everywhere. Auntie Ann found Amisadai and Louisa huddled under a blanket on the top bunk and read them a story. Five of the seven piglets were found and rescued but the last piglet was not found until that evening. She was huddled in the ground, stung and rather poorly. But all the pigs survived and two days later were safely in their own banda again. We had an interesting time getting them all back again).

Bee Protection later in the day

From Louisa
On Wednesday we went to Kilolo. It is  very cold  in  Kilolo, we had our sweaters on. It is not  like Magozi, Magozi  is  very hot! We went to a conference and we did cooking on the jiko.

Getting ready for the cooking demonstration in Kilolo

Sharing the bread rolls with everyone at the conference

Sewing, Planting and a Theatre Performance

We are having fun with Auntie Ann and Rachel staying! We love doing sewing with Rachel! We are, at the moment, sewing quilts, dolls and having lots of fun!! Rachel has sewn a whole blanket by hand wich turns into a pillow and has lots of pretty patterns! I love the flowers and colors.

Sewing our quilts

We went to Magozi and planted lots of trees. We have given out 2 trees out to Mendrad, 2 for Kalista, Yuda (Judah) and Lucy, 2 for Ezekiel who helped with Mama Mirrisianna and 2 for Mama Juliana. I loved planting them with our new pack up spades!!

Fun with bubbles! The kids were scared of the first ones because
they hadn't seen them before and didn't know what they were!

Today we performed our play, "The Drinking Gourd" with our friends, Tianna, Abeni and Kaiya. We had a good audience who came to watch! I was the Father and the US Marshall. Louisa was the Preacher and Little Jeff. It was really fun and we all had to talk like we were from down South! We had popcorn for the intermission and foot and star biscuits for afterwards (to follow the drinking gourd).

Rev.  Louisa

Taking the slaves to freedom in the wagon

The Marshall is looking for runaways

Father says goodnight to Tommy

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Tanzania!

Yesterday we celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee here in Iringa! We painted our faces with the Union Jack and we made Union Jack cakes and a lemon cheesecake with union jack strawberries! We took all that and our flags to our friends house and with some other British friends watched the Queen and all the boats. We liked Kate's dress! We had a roast dinner and lots of fun! We hope you all in England are having lots of fun at the parties!

God Save the Queen!

Poems and Playscripts

In school, we are doing poems and playscripts.We are working on 2 playscripts which would like to do for Ben and Sam. One of them is ''We're going on  a Bear Hunt'' and the other is "Follow the Drinking Gourd." It is a bit hard with only two actors though!

Here is a funny rhyming poem for my friend Alice in England!

Alice Apple Cake

This is my friend Alice apple cake

I love it when she starts to bake

Chocolate chip cookies she does make

I like to eat them in my break

Alice apple cake takes me to Jake

Alice takes us to the lake

Alice took us for our own sake

In the boat we saw a  drake

But all the rowing made our arms ache

Time to go home for apple cake.

By Amisadai Monger

Here is my shape poem for our unit on the Underground Railroad.

On Sunday we went to A Community Day. David had a snake for us to hold (it wasn't poisonous) and we found a sandsnake with Shera. Today we had Ezekiel and Bora and baby Lightness to visit.



Emma Eggy Bread, Moses and Magnets

We have been writing poems. Here is a rhyming poem ...

EMMA EGGY BREAD

By  Louisa  Kirsten  Monger

This is Emma Eggy Bread.

Emma was sewing with thread,

Before she went to  bed

She was sewing a dress  that  was  red

“I am   bit  tired” Emma said

“And  I  have a  got  a  ache  in  my  head

I’ll  get  better  if  I  go  to  bed.”

We have also been learning all about the Underground Railroad. We have been reading "Listen to the Whippoorwill" and "The Drinking Gourd" and have written our own spirituals and slave songs.

Moses

            

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

We’re goin’ up  to  Canaan.

We’re goin’ to  the  Promised Land.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

We’re  lookin’ up  to  Heaven

Lookin’ up at  the  stars.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

Egyptians are a comin’

Run  for  your life.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

Get  to  the river 

It’s  safe on the other  side.

Moses, Moses, people follow Moses.

By Louisa  Kirsten Monger


CODE: Moses = Harriet Tubman    Canaan = Canada    Promised Land = freedom  
Stars = Big Dipper and North Star    Egyptians = slave catchers   River = safe from dogs in the water


To play on the ukelele, Line 1: C C F C     Line 2: G7    Line 3: G7 C

We have been learning about magnets. Here is a something we made to show how the same poles on magnets push apart. We also made a compass with a needle. 

Volcanoes and Crystals



Wow! The volcano erupts!

 In science last week, we made a Volcano. In a bottle we put baking soda, dish soap, red food colouring and water . We shook the bottle then put it on a tray and filled the tray with a mountain of sand. Then I poured viniger in the bottle. It exploded! All the baking soda, dish soap, red food colouring and water exploded!! But it was not red like magma. Even with all that food colourling!! The viniger is an acid and when it touches bicarbonate like baking soda it reacts by bubbling and fizzing.(You can tell a limestone rock by pouring viniger on it beacuse the rock will bubble and fizz). You should try this!

The heat inside a real volcano in the magma chamber below the earths crust pushes magma up the vent of a volcano. It shoots out the top of the volcano in the form of lava.

We are also making Crystals. Crystals are solid shapes wtih flat surfaces lined up in repeating patterns. They are formed by minerals. We dissolved a mineral called alum  and when it became solid it was a crystal.

Our growing crystal

Our crystal tree. Before



After!



New Video! Lulu Has Piglets

Here is a video we made of Lulu having her piglets on Friday!