Dancing Queen and Dorothy Wanna Be

This girl LOVES herself some Wizard of Oz, so she was really excited to do a Wizard of Oz dance concert again this year.

(Is she channeling her inner Molly Shannon Superstar?!?!)

She was a Munchkin from the Lollipop Guild (one of my kid's favorite parts from the movie.)

She was being a bit of a stinker and wouldn't let me take her picture. 

So, sadly for her and her future-self -- I don't have many pictures of her, but she was pretty stinking cute.

(P.S. To the lady in the background -- cute shoes!)

She's holding the flowers.

(My camera is unfortunately not very fancy and doesn't do well in settings like these.Where is my mother-in-law when I need her? Sadly, she was out of town. She has an amazing camera and when she attends these types of events, I never even take my camera out.)

She pretty much insisted that we bring her flowers -- because that's what you're supposed to do.

At the last concert several of the older girls got flowers and she really wanted some to.

Daddy came through.

Scary Smile. Makes me laugh.

Enough pictures already people.

Isabella, you are one adorable Munchkin.

Great job dancing your little heart out.

Now to get started on the Dorothy costume for Halloween -- she won't stop talking about it.

Anders Class Play

They studied South America and their teacher had them put together a play based on an Incan myth.

It was really cool.

It was about corn and how people were created. 

Really cool.

Some of the kids had multiple parts and took on and off different pieces of costumes.

Check out this awesome tree!

She puts it up on one side of the room. You can't tell from here, but it is HUGE! I love it!

Anders was a narrator.

Great job Anders!

You are probably one of the cutest Incan kids I've ever seen. :)

School Art Show 2010

This is by FAR one of my favorite events at their school.

They put on a HUGE art show of all of the pieces that the children learn from two different art teachers.

(Actually, one teacher does K-2 and the other does 3-6).

Anyway, this event is so big. 

They set it up in the gym and it is always so amazing to walk in.

First, we're off to see the kids' pieces. 

The one thing I LOVE about this show is that every child gets 2-3 pieces at least.

Plus, they put up a sign telling you what they learned about as they created each piece -- an artist, method, or type of art. 

Love it.

First up, Max.

I love these masks. So cool.

I didn't get a picture of the sign, but they were studying movement I believe. 

The Eric Carle wall is ALWAYS one of my very favorite!!

I love me that monkey in the tree!!!

His self-portrait. 

These are another one of my favorites. I now have a set of 4 trees (each in a different season) from Anders and Max. I hope to do a really cool display with them sometime. They are so beautiful.

Next up,...Anders.

I didn't get photos of all of the signs telling you the artist or style. Woops.

The skulls were way cool -- in the style of Georgia O'Keefe. But, this print titled "The Bucktooth King" is probably one of my favorites. I love the title, I love the piece. So funnny!

His haunted tree and some impressionist geraniums and more from his class collection.         

A few of my favorites that weren't from my own kids' classes.

I loved these cheerful still-lifes.

These black and white flowers -- so cool. 

The bugs were some of my favorites as well -- they were new to the show. (Most of the grades do the same art year after year so you basically see some of the same stuff.) The rest are pictures of the show itself. It is hard to document but the sight of all of this hanging on the walls and dividers when you walk in is just awesome.

See anyone you know? (Two somebodys? Three?)

{Don't worry dear. I won't tell anyone you have a thinning spot up there.} :)

They had several three-dimensional projects that were really cool -- one was a sculpted chess set. Each of the students sculpted a piece. Rats. No photo. But I LOVE these masks.

What a way to finish -- these Andy Warhol McD's fries. Love 'em.

So cool. 

Science Project Time

Anders has been so excited about doing a Science Project

At his school, they let the third graders have their own science fair, just to let them start getting used to the idea, so they'll be ready for fourth grade.

They don't move on to state or regionals, but it is a lot of fun.

The idea is to pick something simple and just work through the process.

Monsieur Le Science wanted to try some rather complex projects.

He had a very hard time deciding.

I decided to try and persuade him to something a bit more simple --

I used candy.

He started out by making his graph/chart.

Busy sorting one bag at a time.

{Look at Liam smiling just looking at all of that candy, hoping he's going to get at least some of it.}

In case you're thinking I'm finally going up on the good-mommy scale b/c I finally remembered to document something --

You're wrong.

I only remembered b/c we needed to document it for his project.

At least it's something.

He had such a great time with this.

And it was doable (as opposed to some of the very complex electronics experiments and chemical reaction attempts he was looking forward to.)

He started with a question and was then able to come up with a process for how to answer the question.

Then his hypothesis.

He had to figure out supplies and a method.

Then he came up with a few ways to track his results and analyze the data.

His dad taught him about a pie chart and a bar graph and helped him make one on the computer.

He entered in all of the data and learned how to read it.

{Surprisingly, he LOVED the graphs!}

The answer.

Hm. Who knew?

His handwritten chart for tracking his data that he used while he was sorting and counting.

{He opened, sorted, and recorded one bag at a time.}

His fancy graphs.

{He got extra points from the 6th grade judges b/c he had graphs.}

His method.

He ate a surprisingly small number of M&M's b/c he ended up using them on his board.

We had a great time gluing them on.

One student at school had only one comment:

"What a terrible waste of perfectly good candy."

Very funny.

The final board.

Great job Anders!

I'm so proud of you.

Look out b/c next year we're bringing out the big guns.

{And maybe just a few bags of M&M's for old time's sake.}