Josh's Animal Project

The first graders in our school all have to do an animal project.  Josh chose the Cardinal as his animal.  I'll be the first to admit that he just wanted to do a boring poster, but with some coaxing he decided to do a diorama instead.  This is because 1) dioramas are way better than posters, and 2) I had a fake cardinal in my Christmas decorations that I wanted to use.

So we did the research and he wrote his report - drama and pain, let me tell you.  And then we worked on the diorama.  Josh actually did quite a bit of the work, and I think it turned out really well!

You might ask (and rightly so), "Maren, why in the world do you have a fake cardinal in your Christmas decorations?"  To which I would answer, "Because my dad has a twisted sense of humor."

I've always hated fake birds, with their smug faces and wee, beady eyes.  They're creepy.  My mom, on the other hand, loved them and would put them up around the house at Christmas time.  (We all have our faults.)  One year she put them on this big plant in the dining room and they were all facing me - on purpose! It was a creepy Christmas dinner that year, with "It Always Feels Like Somebody's Watching Me" running through my head. So a few years ago my dad thought it would be funny to send me one of the fake birds, for old time's sake.  Haha, Dad.  Super funny.

I was only too happy to put it to good use in this project.  Needless to say, I told Josh I wouldn't be upset at all if he lost the bird at school.

Okay, so we're Madsens and we go the extra mile - this isn't just a diorama.  It also makes sound!

On eBay we found one of those little microchip thingies (technical term) that are used in cards to record a short message.  We recorded the call of a cardinal, and viola!  Awesomeness ensued.

At the end of the project I couldn't help but think "Two first grade animal projects down - two to go."  This was both depressing and invigorating.