Malcolm X Celebrates National Women’s History Month with Five Plays

I'm so proud to be part of this amazing school community! Not only do the kids get a chance to be part of a theatrical production, but they get to learn about great woman in history while doing it. I love the diversity of the woman picked for the 5 productions and I even got to learn something as I'd not heard about Wangari or the inception of bloomers! I love that we live in a diverse community that teaches kids to fight for what they believe in and accept all people, the story of Wilma Rudolph (the play Holly was in) helped give her the determination and bravery to stand up to the BUSD school board last week.. I'm so grateful for the teachers, and parents.. And so proud of the kids...

Below is the press release from the district information officer and links to photo's and video of the plays

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Malcolm X Elementary School 2^nd graders performed five short plays on "Women Who've Changed the World" telling the stories of Dolores Huerta, Amelia Bloomer, Wilma Rudolph, Helen Keller, and Wangari Maathai. Their amazing script was based on stories taken from books about these courageous women, and transformed into theater by Malcolm X’s own drama teacher, Mariah Castle. The 5^th grade Drama Club filled in as stage crew, and helped to insure a seamless production. The students were well prepared for their roles and articulately executed their lines in two assemblies and an evening performance for the parents.

Check out video of “Women Who've Changed the World” and enjoy photos of the production.

M X 2nd Graders - Women Who've Changed the World Photos:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/53901376@N04/albums/72157665885842372

M X 2nd Graders - Women Who've Changed the World Video:  https://vimeo.com/159453974

Playing already!

I just saw this old post never got posted - from April

Today Holly and her little sister played princess.

When Lyra was getting bored watching mommy make lunch holly says "my sister wants me"

And she was right, Lyra stopped fussing right away and tried to grab and hold princesses 

Into her mouth they went as soon as she could get a hold of it.

Later they played pirate and big sister gave some cuddles 

Spring Choral

Last week Holly's school had a Spring Choral with the k-3rd graders.  It was a morning performance, so in spite of being up till 4:00 am with Lyra I wanted to take Holly to school and see the show.  

It was nice being up in the morning with Holly, getting ready, eating breakfast, and fun to take her to school.  Though it wasn't the normal morning routine, it was school seeing her classmates.  Before the show some kids ate breakfast, Holly decided to color.

The kids had been practicing for a few weeks learning the four songs they would sing, not only the words but the hand gestures too.  Those I think really help the kids learn the songs, matching the motion with the words makes it easier to remember.

Holly has been telling me about the rehearsals all week and the day before after each grade practiced they all got to stay to watch the older kids preform their songs.  Holly was excited to see a girl in first grade who recently presented her with a book she wrote, and some new first grade friends she met in her Wednesday fairy tale dance class.  She also got to see her 3rd grade reading buddy preform.

It was nice for the kids to watch each other during rehearsals, as the auditorium was filled with parents on performance day.  

Each grade sang 4 songs.  The kindergarteners were so sweet.  Every grade sang "This Land is your land" and as the kids got older their versions became more elaborate the older kids had more verses and their singing was much more melodic and in harmony.  It was cool so see how they would get better as they got older.

The first graders sand one song where each line grew on the last so in the end the sun fed the weed that fed the snail that fed the eel that fed the shark ect..ect.. They had signs for the word in each phrase and by the end had kids holding up all 7 I think,of course these were tto help them remember all the words.  Later the third graders sang a similar song but knew all the words with no prompts, very impressive.  It was a super fun morning.

Here are videos of the songs the kindergarteners sang:

This land is your land:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7yq9xt8I6U

Mr. Moon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhQvBL7HjY

Oats and beans and barley grow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou9tc8nyEE0

Four Seasons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3gtqDwByc0

And finally after their last bow each Kindergardener class exits / this video is fun for Holly to watch because she gets to see every kindergardener as they walk by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F3J3xOoTL0

Sleepover

Last weekend we had a sleep over with Mira

Holly was so super excited and counted down the days and then the hours and then the minutes until she arrived on Saturday afternoon.

The girls played a cool Sofia the first board game during lunch

Then decided to go outside and play in the back yard

Holly wanted our neighbor Stella to meet Mira so we invited her to join us for a bit

The girls invented a sandwich game where they crashed into each other on the slide

It was hilarious and interesting to see the type of "rough housing" girls do compared to boys

Baby Lyra didn't want to miss out on any of the fun

Here she is trying to eat a flower Holly picked for her

As tumbely as they were it was cute how the girls were being careful if each other

Here we are under the Cherry Blossom tree in full bloom

Lyra loves being outside and she really likes watching the big kids play

Here is an awesome VIDEO Joel made in slow motion that includes some jumping and sliding from the sleepover:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqHit74jBlQ

The girls did a great job taking turns picking what to play including doll house, babies, doc mcstuffuns, pinkalicious uno, and this fun balloon popping game that was a birthday gift from Leekou (thank you!)

They had yummy spaghetti dinner and then bath time with colored water and bubbles.  Each girl picked one color, Holly red and Mira Blue and they got to watch it turn purple.

While drying off they watched toy story if terror which Mimi had picked earlier in the week.

Then they were off to bed, not a problem at all... At least the big ones that is 

Recital after Princess Camp - Video