Maletch Performed at the Festival of Lights!

Maletch was invited to perform (dance) at the 21st annual Festival of Lights! He was so excited to do it, and we were so excited to watch him! He was supposed to perform the Breakdancing routine that he performed in recital- and he was supposed to perform it SOLO!
Funny, John and I were a little worried he might get nervous, maybe freeze up and forget the moves (since he is used to dancing in a group) and it is much easier to remember when you can look at other dancers for cues. Not only did he nail his dance-- when his routine was over- he stayed on stage and started dancing freestyle!
We think he was unsure if he was supposed to be done or not- like "should I just walk off the stage now?" so like a little pro, when you are unsure of anything on stage- you keep dancing- and that is exactly what he did!!
Poor kid just kept going and going, unsure of how to exit, so they finally sent the next dancer on stage to take over (and let him know he could exit the stage)- hehe- it was so cute!
Great job Maletch!!
The Festival of Lights is super amazing and takes up the entire downtown area of the city- they have everything from Santa's Workshop, to an outdoor Ice-Skating Rink! They also had beautiful horse drawn carriages all lit up in Christmas lights that people could ride around the city!
The stage was right next to the ice rink so after he performed for a very large audience, we enjoyed the rest of our day at the festival! What a fun day!
I will post a video soon!

T-Ball Practice is Funny Stuff!

 

Maletch at bat!

 

Watching T-Ball is just so dang funny! Most of the kids have no idea about the rules of baseball, and basically they do what they are told the best they can.

One time Maletch hit the ball, but he forgot to run. He stood there watching where his ball went, hehe. The coach said, "Run to first." On his first day, he ran to third, hehe. By his second day, he knew where to run, but the kid that was already on first didn't run to second- so then there were two kids on first- haha. 

Later same practice, Maletch was on second base, a batter hit and Maletch watched the action (while he hung out on second) even though another runner ran to second, and then they both shared the base and were talking (both kids had one foot on the base and were just talking and hanging out)- hehe! It seemed like there were always 2 kids sharing a base until the coach would tell whichever one to run to the next base! Watching T-Ball gives a new meaning to that old "Who's on first" joke :)

During that same practice, the coach told another kid, "run to home" - and the kid ran to the dugout- haha! I love T-Ball!

Sariah loves watching her brother play baseball, she is usually hanging in the dugout, talking to Maletch and the other kids through the fence (especially when he is in line to bat).

Sometimes when he's out in the field, she climbs up the bleachers to watch for a few minutes.  

The B-Boy and the Ballerina!!

Just sharing a few pics of the kids... 

 

This was taken at dress rehearsal last Sat.

I just love her expression in this one!

 

Posing for the paparazzi!

 

I didn't catch their perfect poses (I was a little late with the shot) but Maletch struck a Breaker-Boy (B-Boy) pose and Sariah a Ballerina pose!

They are so funny!

 

This was at Disneyland on Sunday.....

Our silly girl!!

I have LOTS of photos to share-- more coming soon!

Breakdancing Class Rehearsal!

Maletch has been going to Breakdancing/Hip Hop class for about 5 months and he loves it so much! Can you believe that their recital is less than a month away? We're super excited!

His teacher is so awesome- we absolutely LOVE her!
I love the way she teaches 4 different ways EVERY class (I didn't include video clips of it all):
1.) She starts off with having the kids line up at the side of the room, and individually she has them do a 'set of moves' alone in the middle of the room (so everyone can watch each other AND she can help give individual direction).
2.) Then, she gets in front and instructs the whole class.
3.) Then she goes to the back and has them practice without her in front.
4.) Then she has half the class (the front two rows) dance while the other half watch, then switches groups (back two rows).
Such a great method! (She is so much better than any of the dance instructors I've ever had!)

Below is a video (a few short clips) from rehearsal.

I will post some video clips from Sariah's classes soon.

Breakdancing Class Rehearsal VIDEO!

Busy Day in School! Messy Day!!

Well, we had a very busy day today in school. In addition to our bookwork (and lots of that) we ALSO had several messy projects on the lesson plan for today. I took some photos and videos of the kids getting good and messy!

Science: Color Mixing Lab
Although Maletch already knows his primary/secondary colors, and how to mix them- this was a recommended lesson for the book we are studying this week. I knew he would have fun with this project! Who doesn't want to play with test tubes, colored water and a pipette?--- I know I do! He had LOTS of fun, first thing he said, "Mommy, I learned about this when I was three from Bubble Guppies." He has a great memory, hehe! He started off with the 3 primary colors, he mixed to make green, orange and purple. Then I gave him a tray with 24 pots to really experiment with any colors he wanted. He loved discovering which ones blended well and which ones made "mud" (muddy colors).
Because he is a science geek like his parents, he turned a color mixing experiment into MORE of course. He decided to take the test tube lids and put them in the water to see if they would sink or float. Then he experimented with how much water to pour in the lids to sink them. Although we've experimented with and learned about buoyancy before too, this was a fun hands on experiment all around!

 

 

Sariah always wants to see what Maletch is learning!

I wasn't planning on this being a group project- since I expected her to make a huge mess. I worried about the dyed water getting spilled all over the place.

Then I remembered, oh what the heck, this is SCHOOL and I designed the room to be easy cleanup! This is a place to explore- so GO for it!

 

Life Skills: Bake an Apple Pie (from scratch)
This lesson goes along with one of their favorite books we have studied (so far) this year. Maletch and Sariah are always asking me, "Mommy, can we read the Apple Pie story again please?"

The book is called, "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" -it is very funny and I highly recommend it. Since they love it and request it so much- I try to bring it back into a lesson once a week (although we are always on another book at the time- I do my best to squeeze it in too).

They were very much looking forward to this project, and so was I.
I love baking, but I have never made an apple pie from scratch before- so this should be fun! It also means, that I had no idea what I was doing, but that just made it more fun! :)

The kids were eager to help, well really they wanted to do it all (everything) by themselves. I happily agreed, explaining I would cut the apples (no sharp knives for them)- but they could do everything else on their own, and I would just be there to help.

They started by making the crust...

 Yep, they mixed the ingredients and kneaded the dough with their hands!

 Maletch did such a great job, keeping it in a circle and rolling it out!

(I had it between 2 sheets of waxed paper)

 I did this part- no idea what I was doing!

We separated the dough into two equal parts, one for the bottom crust and one for the top. He rolled out both circles PERFECTLY!

 

Next I prepared the apples (peeling, coring, and slicing)- what a serious pain in the behind! That's when I was thinking, "who in the world wants to go through this much trouble when you can buy a frozen pie in the store so easily?"
I quickly reminded myself, this was for the kids, so back to peeling, coring, and slicing- until my shoulders were killing me...
hey where's daddy, maybe he can  help? :)
And he did, thanks daddy!
 

 They tossed the apples in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Yay, more getting our hands messy!

They did plenty of taste-testing during this part- they LOVED the sugar mixture!

 

 We had lots more apples peeled and prepared, but I thought this was full enough (and we had gone through 3 batches of the sugar mixture). They kept tossing the apples, and running out of the sugar mix. We used the measurements according to the recipe, but we kept running out. Finally, after 3 batches, I figured we had enough filling- turns out we should have used the rest of the apples- I didn't consider how much the apples shrink when they bake- oops! Oh well we know for next time!

You know what I learned? I am not friggin' Sara Lee!

 I helped put the top crust on, then Maletch brushed the egg wash on top!

He did a great job!

Ok, so then I smelled smoke- what the heck??

The pie CAN'T be burning, the timer still has a TON of time left. I opened up the oven to see the pie filling, boiling out of the pie vents, running down into the oven. Uggh!

  

I was NOT expecting this mess!

Note to self: next time place foil under to catch the mess!

Who am I kidding? Next time? Haha, I don't think so, I'll leave that to Sara Lee!

 

At least our apple pie looks good though...

and it was YUMMY!

My silly picky-eater kids! They did all the work to make the pie- but were too afraid to try it, hehe!

Maletch: "Hey the pie should be cooled now, we need to try it!"

Me: "Oooh you're right, let's go."

I served it up for everyone...

Maletch: "No thanks mommy, maybe I'll try it tomorrow."

OMGOSH- Haha!

Sariah just looked at it (very unsure) and then took off to play with Maletch!

Hehe, I hope they do try it, because it's good! Daddy and I are looking forward to eating more tomorrow (hopefully WITH the kids).

 

Art: Carving Pumpkins
Since he is supposed to be in Kinder, I know his friends in traditional school get to do lots of art projects, but poor Maletch is always bogged down with such a heavy load of bookwork. I TRY to schedule (I should say squeeze in) 3 art projects during the week. The art that I PLAN usually ties into the book we are studying (ex. draw a Russian skyline, illustrate a story he wrote, and learn origami when we were studying Japanese culture, etc.)
However ANY day that we finish our work early and there is time to spare- I always announce "You get a free choice in art projects!" -- (so I only plan for the 3 art projects usually on Mon, Wed, and Fri).
Back to today's art project- carving pumpkins- because it's Halloween, of course!

Making their designs.

The kids made treat bags for their friends (I'll post about that later).

The treat bags had candy and toys. Maletch LOVES the Halloween 'bouncy balls' (from the treat bags)... the orange balls have jack o' lantern faces. After he started drawing on his pumpkin, he remembered and said, "Oh wait! Mommy, I want to make my jack o' lantern like the bouncy ball face!" He asked me to help him change his drawing.

Slime is fun!

 

 

Daddy stepped in to help loosen it.

 

 

 

The mess kept getting bigger, because they started playing with it!

Slime is fun! (I know I said that already)

 

Maletch posed like this on his own- so cute!

We HAD to light them up!

Check out our jack o' lanterns!

Whew, this was a long day! If you're thinking, "Girl you must be nuts!" -you are probably right!
I've been saying that a lot ever since school started- LOL!

I will be doing a post soon, sharing a quick overview of Maletch's school curriculum- it is pretty impressive the stuff he is working on right now! Maybe we'll share 1 full day's work and 1 week's work at a glance and also give a peek into his books. Big load for a 5 yr old!

I will also share what I am working on with Sariah (she is breezing through it all)- a lot of hers is K level work!
I started with a video tour of the room- which helps give a general look at some of the materials we're using, teaching aids, and their learning environment. Next we'll go into the curriculum.

Coming soon: Our Halloween costume pics! You know we all dressed in a theme again- it's our tradition! Anyone want to guess what our theme was this year??