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Engineering Foundations

 

Marcelo has been really excited for 1st grade. His tech class for My Tech High is Engineering Foundations. He is working with the Engino: Simple Machines kit.  I told him this was a My Tech High class not a mommy class and that he needed to do it on his own and that he could ask the course mentor questions online using the video feature if he needed help.  I wanted to make sure building stuff didn't become another one of my hobbies.  He did wonderfully from the very first project. He opened the kit and put all the pieces in the plastic container I gave him. He found the correct set of instructions for Levers and got going on his first project, the See-Saw.  He completed it with virtually no help aside from taking apart or pushing together a few pieces. (They can be incredibly hard to do!)  The first project took him a few hours and he was so determined to finish it. I'm so proud of him.

 

 

He even pinched his fingers a few times and ripped the top layer of skin right off! He didn't even complain but merely showed me what had happened like a half an hour later.



Letter Scale

 





Weight Scale

 

Crane

Second dance competition

Marcelo's second dance competition this year was Dance America in Draper at the Juan Diego High School. They competed the "Shake Your Tail Feather" dance, which we call the "Chicken Little Dance" in the Novice Mini Jazz Class D group. They got first place. They also competed the "Bugle Boy" dance in the Novice Mini Tap group and got first place despite the fact that they were looking sideways at the teacher's prompts the whole time!

We were very proud of Marcelo as he is now getting more solo moments in the routine. For the chicken little dance, he starts off the dance on top of a platform in the middle. For the bugle boy dance, he had to come out by himself and find the middle of the stage, then start on his own with the music. It was so cute. Luckily, this stage was high school size and not as gigantic as the one for Releve competition which was at the Val A. Browning Center.

Also, on this second competition, the teachers decided not to be at the front of the stage prompting them which was a big thing for them to overcome.

First dance competition

At Releve in Ogden, Marcelo's first dance competition with his dance company, the Rubies.

They competed two dances.

The second one had some technical difficulties.

They got a trophey for the first one, Shake Your Tail Feather, which Marcelo was pretty much counting on.

Christmas dance recital '11

Yeah baby!

Spring Dance Recital

This is the second recital for Marcelo. I didn't realize until we got closer to it that this was the real deal. Translation: recital fee + costume fee = a lot of money. They performed their one little dance in between some singing numbers at The Performer's Place stage last Saturday as a bit of a practice. (This is where I took the pictures). They have a cute little stage with some inspiration posters on the walls.

Then, they had a dress rehearsal at the junior high school auditorium and pictures, then the recital the following day. I didn't take too many pictures here because on the actual recital day, there were more girls and one of the bigger little girls somehow managed her way up in front of the line and I couldn't really see him. Ironically, they all seemed a bit more focused for the Christmas recital when they were all novices then at this one. They were a bit distracted. I don't know. It could have also been the huge auditorium full of people starring back at them.

Marcelo, was super excited about his costume which was really dress pants and shirt I purchased that were a bit too big on him and a really expensive shiny black vest. I tried not to make a big deal about the fact that I put a tiny bit of stage makeup on him. But he felt pretty cool about that too, despite the fact that his eyes were "heavy".  I only saw one other boy there in a slightly older group.  No wonder, we get half off the tuition price.  And judging by the black spandex-y dance pants he was wearing, I can see why other boys may not want to join.  Marcelo's pin-striped pants rocked.  Even if they did almost fall off of him.

After the recital, we watched the rest of the dance performances.  Marcelo was tired.  He had been suffering from a foul attitude for the past several days.  Or rather, mostly, we had been suffering from it.  But, he quite enjoyed watching them.  I enjoyed it too, mostly.  Although, I did fall asleep about twelve times during some of the more interpretive type dances.  They're just not my cup of tea.  I tried to sneak out right before the last dance and he said, "No, mommy, just one more dance".

The power of books

Most days, week days, before Quiet Time (God-willing there is some), I try to read the kids a story. Sometimes, it's a short five-minute fairy tale, sometimes one of the books from Peter's Beatrix Potter book collection, and sometimes if Sofia is willing, she will grace us by reading one of her beginner reading books.

And then, sometimes this might happen.

Christmas Dance Recital

Marcelo's first major ... anything.

He's been going to dance class for only a couple of months. He's the only boy. He really likes it.

I was anxious to see how he would do. Would he remember his steps (OK, there really weren't any steps. It's mostly line dancing of the upper half of the body). Would he freeze up. Would he freak out and dive off the stage or pee his pants. Would he prove himself to be significantly genetically different from Sofia on the stage. (That's mostly what I was looking for. She picked her nose and looked up at the ceiling for most of her last preschool performance).

Success! He remembered his moves (mostly). He had fun. And then he thought he was a freaking rock star when we got home and wouldn't stop acting like a weirdo and bouncing off the walls.