DARUMA DOLL

DARUMA DOLL 

What's red, has one eye, and says good luck in kanji? Of course, it's a Daruma! A Daruma doll is a doll which has no feet or hands except for a nose, eye, and mouth. But what is it for? It is for making goals. Right now for Japanese class, we are making Daruma dolls from scratch. If you want to learn more, read on.

First I will show you how to make a Daruma doll. You need newspaper, one piece of paper towel, red paint, black paint, white paint, gold paint, paint brushes, coffee cups, a balloon, and cup holders. First you blow the balloon--not too big. Then rip strips of newspaper. Then you glue on the newspaper on the balloon like paper mache. Paper mache is a material that is made of paper mixed with water, glue, and other substances and that hardens as it dries.

Make sure you don't have any lumps or bumps because it's going to be both lumpy and bumpy. Next you will need to wait for it to dry. You will use your cup holders to put the daruma on and wait for to dry. Remember, it takes time to dry, so it might take a day to just get it dry. After it dries, make paper towel strips and put it on over the newspaper layer. If you didn't get to cover the whole thing, then you will need more paper towel strips. Then wait for it to dry again. 

Next you will need red paint, and white paint. Paint some of the white places with your red paint, but not the whole thing because it will be a red daruma. Then the little white space you have, you will paint it with the white brush. Then you will need to wait for it to dry. Next you get your black brush and draw the face with the black paint. 

You can use your gold brush to make designs on the red. Next when you make your eye, don't color both of your eyes because you didn't still complete your goal, so you will need to color in only in eye and leave a circle on the right side. Then wait for it to dry again. Next your coffee cups are important. You cut a hole on the bottom of your Daruma; not on the top of your Daruma. You get a small bell and put the bell inside your Daruma. Then you get a golf ball or any kind of ball and pound it in the cup. You put your coffee cup in the hole. Then you get your liquid glue and put glue on a small piece of felt. Then you paste it on top of the cup.

There! You are now done and have learned how to make your very own Daruma doll.

This shows the IB Learner profile, Thinker. I say this because Thinker exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions. Making a Daruma makes you think creatively and think about what goal you want to achieve

This shows the IB Learner Attitude, Creativity. I say this because you have the creativity to make the Daruma by yourself and show your own style of making your Daruma.

I hope you try to make a Daruma because I know you will like it and you get to have your very hand-made Daruma!

Thank you for reading this and see you next time!!!!(^0^)!!!!

BLUB ABOUT ME! ERIKA

Hi there! It's me, Erika. I hope you liked my blog about Daruma dolls because I loved it. I love reading books and I love to hang out with my family. I like it when we all play the Wii together. My favorite subject is reading and I love my brother. He is funny and cute!

Posted by Mrs. A. Matsuura H102

REGIFTING-WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON???

Do you know what regifting is? Well, I'm going to tell you all about it!

Our whole class had a task to write an argument on what we think of regifting. Most of us didn't know what it was, so we read an article about it. We read about two opinions about this topic. One person said yes--it's fine to regift, and the other said no---it's rude!. 

In the "Yes" section of the article, it talked about why this person says that regifting is a bad idea. She talked about her past experiences and true stories about this system. None of her stories seemed happy and funny. They were all stories of heartbreak with regifting. One of the stories was about herself. It talked about how she bought her friend a gift and also how her friend gave it away to someone else. She spent hours and a lot of money to buy that gift and her friend just gave it away and had no hesitation to tell her. Another story was about a group of girls who wanted to make a surprise birthday party for their friend. They all agreed that a certain friend will buy the designer scarf that their friend wanted for a long time. They all pitched in their money to get the scarf and gave the money to that friend (the one that was supposed to buy the scarf). When the time came and the birthday girl opened her present, there was a really nice shirt in the box. One of the friends looked super disappointed and angry at the friend that got the gift. The reason why she was angry was because that was the shirt that she got for the girl that was supposed to get the scarf. She regifted that top and kept the money that all the girls gave her (to buy the scarf)! This story was the one that stuck out the most because I can't imagine someone doing that to a friend and the lady that said that regifting is bad thinks the same too. 

The other section of the story (the side that says that regifting is okay) gave good reasons too. In this article, she says that regifting is okay, as long as you never used it, it is brand new, and you didn't take it out of the box. She says that keeping something you don't want is useless and will just take up space. She also says that if you are not happy with that gift, and you regift it to someone who needs it, it will make that person happy. Isn't that what you want your gift to do? This section doesn't just talk about why regifting is okay, it also talks about how to regift and the different stages you have to go through or know if it is safe to regift.  It tells you how to re gift, who to give it to, etc. I am pretty sure that you may find this section of the article helpful (if you regift).

Now, this part is up to you! You need to decide what your stance is on regifting. There is no right or wrong answer in this. Your past experiences can also matter. We had author's chair and shared our responses. Our class had different sides on this topic as well. Some students say that regifting is wrong and others say that it is fine. The reasons that the students gave to support their side were really detailed and even got me to switch sides for a moment. If you regift at home that is fine, but if you don't, that is also fine. Just pick what is best for you and you may make your decision in no time!

BY JEWEL

Posted by Mrs. A. Matsuura H102