First Grade Field Trip Frenzy!

And now, A Post Featuring our Son:

Larry's first grade class has been busy... very busy... enjoying events and field trips this year.  Their class has had three field trips in the past three months! Talk about a good time!! I got to go on two of them with him and had an exhausting, but good time :)

The December field trip was a trip up to Ohlone Community College to see the play "The Shoemaker and the Elves." That happened while Jon and I were on the cruise, so I couldn't go along... sad day...

But then, in January, all the first and second grade classes at Lincoln went to see the San Francisco symphony in a program called "Play me a Story." The program itself was incredible! The symphony sounded so so so beautiful! 

I'm not entirely convinced the kids enjoyed it as much as I did... in fact, by the end of the program, several of the kids on my row were fast asleep... can't really blame them; the journey to get to the concert hall was a little insane. We left first thing in the morning once school started, loaded up in parent cars, drove to the BART station, rode BART into San Francisco, had to wait at the station for 20 minutes since not everyone in the class got on the first train, then walked 3/4 mile to a park, ate lunch, then waited in line for another 20 minutes or so to get into the building... we all may have experienced some sour grapes as we watched the private school charter buses pull right up to the curb and drop off their students... grr... 

Even so, I think the trip was worth it for the exposure to such amazing professional musicians! The kids enjoyed hearing different instruments sound like animals (from Peter and the Wolf), like toys (a doll and a bouncing ball), and ride along with the "Flight of the Bumblebee." The concert hall was packed with kids from all over the Bay Area. 

It was a little nerve-racking to travel in and out of the BART stations with so many little kids, but the day proceeded without incident and I even got back right on time to pick up Jade and Xochitl from my friend's house before school got out!

The February field trip took us much closer to home (thank goodness!). We went to Tule Ponds in Fremont to enjoy a day learning about nature! We started the field trip with lunch by the pond and then went into the visitor's center for a presentation and hands-on  learning.

The kids got to see two monarch butterflies emerge from their cocoons and be released out the window! That was pretty cool! Larry insisted on wearing his "Safari Vest" that he got for his birthday from Nana and Papa. It was the perfect getup for the day and he used his magnifying glass on almost everything!

 Outside, the naturalist showed the kids many interesting things, including Tule reeds, a beehive in a hollow tree, a raccoon den, a skunk den, and bird and squirrel nests.

All the kids were captivated, excited learners, even if they were a little rambunctious by the end of the day.  We were a little late getting back from the trip; we were parking at the school just as the bell rang.  It was a little stressful getting the six first-graders I had taken in Eva, all carrying their own booster seats, to walk through the parking lot with parents pulling in and out... all well... the important thing is that they all got to make their Elder wood necklaces.

At another totally unrelated Lincoln event, the Health and Resource Fair, Larry got to meet a real Newark police officer and explore the police car! The police officer was very lovely.  Larry was excited to meet her because, as he adamantly declared in his "What I want to be when I grow up" paragraph, he wants to be a police officer and marry a lady police officer...and ride a motorcycle. Time will tell if any or all of those things happen...

So, all in all, first grade at Lincoln has been very good to Larry.  When asked, he might tell you he'd rather stay in first grade next year than proceed to the second... Sorry, Buddy, I don't think first grade would be nearly as fun the second time around...

Elsa Cape

Do you know what is totally impossible to find in stores right now??? Frozen dress-ups. Do you know what my girls are dying to have??? Frozen dress-ups. Solution? Make you own, of course!

I wasn't feeling up to making a full out dress, so we agreed on a shimmery Elsa cape! We had a fun trip to JoAnns to pick our fabric and one large snowflake button.

I drew inspiration from this No-Sew Elsa Cape Pattern, but with some adjustments. Including....

 *An opaque layer underneath the shimmery sheer. It has glitter in the fabric; what more could you want??

 *I finished the edge of the sheer layer by melting it, as suggested in the pattern, but I just hemmed the opaque layer. Then, I sewed the two layers together around the neckline and flipped and top-stitched around the same edge.

*And thanks to a computer-nerdy husband, who harvested some very strong magnets from a couple dead hard-drives, we sewed a magnetic clasp in under the button. I figure it's a quick release in case the cape gets stepped on (which happens constantly) so as to avoid the inherent choking hazards... Also, I skipped adding snowflakes... maybe on another day... they were just so ready to play with them...

 The girls have loved singing and dancing and prancing around in their beautiful capes!

Daddy's Girl

No doubt who Dawna's favorite is:

just another week in Newark...

This was a somewhat uneventful week, but just a quick couple of thoughts...

"My" choir sang for the first time today for ward conference!  They were quite amazing! I had silly nightmares about the choir all last night (nobody showing up, the chapel being unrecognizable...) but nothing weird happened and my singers were all exquisite! They make it fun to be the choir director! 

This was our homeschool check-in week (it happens every other week) where we see Mrs. B. and turn in all the homework we've done and Dawna shares her favorite assignments.  Were were pleasantly surprised when we got there to see that Dawna had been chosen as Decoto's Student of the Month!--complete with certificate and a gift card to McDonalds!  All the kids come along with me when we go and Larry and Xochitl build with the amazing blocks they have there.  One of the High School students there asked Larry what he was building (in the picture below).  Larry said, "A BART station." The teenager said, "WOW! That is Magical!" Larry got a kick out of that! 

 Our winter garden is coming along nicely, notwithstanding the lack of rain... So far, we've harvested broccoli, cauliflower, kale, plenty of parsley and rosemary, and NEW this year: Romaine Lettuce!! It was an easy one to grow, as long as you keep the bugs off! We lost a couple heads early in the season to snails... gross... but we still have one big head to go! Our Brussels Sprouts are coming along nicely also--they look good now, but we'll have to wait and see on the flavor...

 And yes, these pictures are from Christmas... long time ago... but I just found them and had to share how much my mom is the Grandma Pajama Queen at Christmastime! It makes me wish I was a grandkid... Warm matchy pajamas... sigh...

Yeah... 27 Grand kids in one house... can we say crazy???

The Big Granddaughters: Balance, Grace, and Fuzzy socks...

The Little granddaughters...sweet, sassy, and Fuzzy socks...

Rob and Levi WISH they were so adorable!

The boys and their planes! 

Homework

Dawna's writer's workshop this week was to choose something and describe it using sensory detail. She chose to describe her baby sister, which I thought was very sweet :) I post this as the prideful Mama of an excellent second grade writer. Also, the original is going in Jade's baby book; it's THAT good!

She loves this bouncer from every angle... it is not uncommon to find her asleep like this... 

Do you have too many broken crayons?

Well, we sure did! So we did something about it... Dawna's last science unit was about changing states of matter, so we changed solid crayons into liquid by adding heat, and then back into solid again!

We started with all the pieces of broken or little crayons in our crayon box.  We sorted them by color.

Then, we chose two contrasting colors (one light and one dark color), peeled off all the papers, and weighed out  16-18 grams on our little food scale (the precise weight was not hugely important, but measuring out amounts was part of the science homework). 

Next, we chopped the crayons into pea-sized pieces (the first batch we used different sized crayon pieces and it didn't melt evenly...) and put them into a mini-muffin pan.

***Very Important!!!  Coat the muffin pan generously with Crisco before putting the crayon pieces in! It makes them come out SOOOOO much easier!*******

We melted the crayons in the oven (200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes).  The second batch we used our little toaster oven and it went a lot faster. The tops do not look very cute when they come out of the oven, but rest assured that the bottom comes out cute... take care to minimize any wiggle or jiggle on the hot liquid crayons; you don't want the bottom to get too mixed up... 

After the pan cools down all the way, put a dish cloth over the top of the muffin pan and tap it sideways or upside down until the crayons pop out! I've heard if you use all Crayola crayons, the tops come out smoother, but we just used whatever we had, from restaurant crayons to Rose Art to Spiderman theme crayons... so they melted a little differently each time.  Adds to the experience, I think :) 

Now you have fun swirl chunk crayons to color with! They make for fun coloring and stacking and it makes you feel good to "up-cycle" something that could be trash around the house! 

Car Museum! Dipsea Run!

This week was a lonely one for me and the kids.  Daddy was gone Tuesday night through Saturday morning.  Gone on business... to Tahoe... Can't underestimate the importance of "team building" can we?

Yeah, I was a little jealous... but it's not like I would have been snowboarding anyway, so that made me feel a little better...

On Friday, to entertain ourselves, I took the kids on a field trip to the Danville Car Museum.  It worked out perfectly with Dawna's Social Studies chapter this week: "Transportation: Then and Now." We got to read about the "Horseless carriage," and then see one in person!

Horseless Carriage!

Dawna and Xochitl were willing to stand for pictures.   I couldn't get Lawrence to stand still at all!  HE was too busy taking in all the awesome cars!  Nana and Papa and our Danville cousins were all there too, but I missed them in the pictures. 

After seeing all the cars there, Larry now says his favorite car is the Rolls Royce. 

Beautiful Rolls Royce!

Dawna's Second favorite, because of the color, and because it looks like Finn McMissile.

Xochitl's favorite, because of the color.

Dawna's favorite

This one wins for the most interesting car: It's a specially made Rolls Royce for an Indian Maharaja, complete with two silver Boa Constrictor horns, side seats for servants to sit on during hunting, and a removable dark glass compartment so that his two wives would be hidden from public view while traveling.  The story goes this car was found abandoned in the jungle, rusting away, and was so heavy that elephants had to carry it out on a sling... I guess the Rolls don't do so well in the jungle...

While we were there, Weston and Jon took Dan on a long trail run along the Dipsea trail.  Dan did not die... Whew! I was concerned just a little bit knowing how those boys run... but really they all did great!  After the run, they all went back to Antioch for the night... four boys alone in mom and dad's house... what could possibly go wrong...

Saturday we finally all got back together again!  After a grueling run the day before, we decided to take a hike up a hill and along a ridge.  I was still the slowest one there... Lynn got great pictures, which I neglected to get from him... grrr...

Sunday the boys stayed at our place and Jon made an amazing "Surf and Turf" dinner of lobster and steak! Yum! Please come back soon, brothers!  Jon is a great cook, but he only whips out his skills when you are around.

Tough week, but great weekend! We're glad Daddy is home!

How the Cat got its Bell

This week, Dawna had to write a play for her writer's workshop assignment.  Her play is based on a story we read together called "The Meeting of the Mice."  When we read it, she told me that she liked the beginning, but didn't like the end.  So, I told her that she could base her play on the story and give it an ending that she liked.  I think she did great.  It was a new experience for her writing with only dialogue, but she still managed to get a story out.  It has a beginning, middle, and end... and it includes a problem and a solution.  Check.  Meets first grade standards :)

Enjoy our play: How the Cat got it's Bell.  (not sure if you can understand every word, but I think the gist of it comes through ok)