Ballerina

 

 

 The ballet school performance is over, and it was lovely.  For two weeks now,  she'll get a well deserved break.  Then she'll really get to work.  9-5 every day, a full time job of ballet training.  It will be intense, but this is what she wants.  I read a review about her school performance on Crosscut.  It said, "In the course of an hour or so you experience the birth of a dancer, see the art of ballet evolve from literal baby-steps to virtual flight." 

 She is just starting to fly. Yesterday, my friend Kat, who writes at Seeking Sanity, wrote about her own tiny ballerina, also named Grace, who's taking those first baby steps- and I got all teary as I looked at her adorable pictures and remembered my Grace at that age.  Sometimes this journey, which has taken many years, feels like it has gone by in the course of an hour, and I miss my tiny ballerina.  Other times, the years it has taken to get here do seem very long- and it makes me appreciate, all the more, those who have made it, who soar in this beautiful art form.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from my dance board on Pinterest. 

credit: Alina Somova for Vogue

 credit:Vihao

 credit:  Collette Dinnegan for the Australian National Ballet

6.12.13

 My dear husband has taken my son and his friends to the skate park this evening.  My daughter is at church, enjoying deep fried Oreos and hanging out with her friends.  I gave her tofu and broccoli for dinner before she left, hoping to balance out the junk food.  So now the house is quiet and I have a few minutes to pop in here and say hello. 

  One might think, that with all the important end of school year events that have been happening around here, that I might have a lot of pictures to show.  I don't.  I've just been so caught up in it all, that I haven't been getting my camera out as much as I'd like.  What you see here, is all I've got.  The flowers were from the Farmer's Market.  Derek and I made a date of it one night last week while Trent was at basketball practice.  Shopping, driving the kid around, and date night.  How's that for multi-tasking?  Trent had his last basketball games of the season on Saturday.  Then he had his end of year piano recital on Sunday.  His last swimming lesson is tomorrow, and his last day of school for the year is on Friday.  My car is going to be very happy to sit in the driveway a little more often over the next month or so, I hope.   

 This final picture was taken at the Pacific Science Center, one of Trent's favorite places.  We spent four hours there today.  I promised myself that I would just follow Trent around, letting him lead, never mentioning the time, never rushing him.  I kept that promise and we had a great time.  I also forgot my phone at home, helping me to be even more present.  I should do those things more often.

 This upcoming weekend will be all about Grace, my sweet daughter.  Her school performance for ballet is on Saturday.  There have been lots of extra rehearsals lately.  Thank God for car pools.  I don't know how I would have been able to get the kids everywhere they needed to be otherwise.  She has worked extra hard this year and I'm crazy proud of her. 

 I gave it my all this school year, teaching my kids at home.  It was a good year, but I'm very tired.  I have no voice at all right now.  This seems to happen every year around this time.  It's like my body finally tells me, "you're done".  So now it's time to rest.  I think I'll read something just for fun.  Do any of you have any good book recommendations?  

Business and Economics Unit for Elementary Grades

  

This is a three week unit plan that I put together for my third grade son.  It is an introduction to some basic business and economic ideas, using literature and games as the primary tools.

Concepts/Vocabulary: 

                 *Allocation and distribution          *Interdependence

                * Economic Role of Government   *Markets and competition

                 *Goods/Resources                        *Money/Banking

                 *Human Resources                       *wants/needs

                 *Incentives                                   *saving

                 *Innovation

                

 Day 1- Ump's Fwat- a funny story that is a great introduction to economics. This story is published by the Powell Economic Education Foundation.  It is about a caveman named Ump who perfected a bat and turned it into a successful business.  Concepts:  Marketing a product and making a profit.  You can download a PDF here.  There is also a worksheet with questions about the story that can be used.  I didn't get around to using it, but there is also an instructors guide that is available for this story,

Est. time: 30 min.

Day 2- Hands on Banking is a free courses designed to teach students how to take charge of their finances and set financial goals.  It consists of  online games and a fun tutorials.  Concepts:  Money/Banking

Est. time 1 hour + (This might be a good one to stretch over two days)

Day 3:  Field Trip to a business of your choice.  Because we had a friend there, we took a tourof the corporate offices of Starbucks.

Day 4- Read Aloud:  How Santa Really Works by Alan Snow.  Concepts:  allocation and distribution

Est. time:  20 min.

Day 5-Read aloud and discuss- Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer by Carol Brendler

Concepts:  Innovation, Interdependence

Est. time- 20 min.

  

Day 6- play Ka-Ching!  Here's what the game's website says about it....

"Buy low, Sell high! Making money is the name of the game in this high stakes duel for dollars. Compete against your opponent to turn the biggest profit by strategically buying and selling stock cards. Buy cards at face value and then sell them in pairs for the greatest possible return, all while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Accumulate the most cash and you're in the money!"

Both Trent and I had so much fun with this game.  Concepts:  Money, multiplication, strategic thinking

Est. time- 30 min.

Day 7- Read aloud and discuss- The Flying Bed by Nancy Willard 

Concepts: Goods/Resources, wants/needs

Est. time- 30 min.

Day 8- Play Ka-Ching!

Day 9- Read Aloud and discuss- One Hen:  How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway (We really loved this book!)

Concepts:  Money/Banking, human resources, want/needs, innovation

Est. time- 20 min.

Day 10-  Read aloud and discuss- When the Bees Fly Home by Andrea Cheng

Concepts:  markets, human resources, producers and consumers

Est. time- 20 min.

Day 11- play Ka-Ching! 

Day 12- Read aloud and discuss- My Rows and Piles of Coins

concepts: saving

Est. time- 20 min.

Day 13- play Monopoly or Monopoly Jr.

Day 14-Read and discuss Owney the Mail Pouch Pooch

concepts- economic role of government

est. time- 20 min.

Day 15- visit a museum of history and  industry (if possible)  We went to the one in Seattle.

* Another book recommendation, that my son used for his quiet reading time, was Little Leap Forward

** If you want to search for more resources related to business and economics, check out Rutgers University Econ Kids website.  There is a wealth of information here, and is where I found a lot of the resources used in this unit plan.

Trent and I both enjoyed this unit- there was some good learning happening, and I do believe that his interest in business and economics has been sparked by this introduction.  I hope that these plans can be a help to some of you.  

6.1.13

 One of these days life might slow down again, and I'll be able to get back to writing here on a regular basis.  In the meantime, I'll post a few pictures that I recently took and say a quick hello.  

 

 Most to these pictures were taken today in downtown Seattle.  It was a beautiful day:  a basketball game for Trent in the morning, took Grace to a ballet rehearsal downtown, wandered around the city with Derek and Trent while we waited for Grace, Pike Place market and Nordstrom, BBQ with the neighbors, listening to good music around a fire, and now a little time to write and edit pictures.  Perfect. I hope that you are having a good weekend as well.

Field trip to Starbucks Headquarters

 Trent, my third grader, has been learning about business and economics for school lately.  I thought it would be great if Trent could visit a local business, so I asked a friend, who works at Starbucks headquarters, if we could have a tour of the place.  He was kind enough to say yes, so today we had the privilege of seeing behind the scenes at the place that makes the coffee we drink.  Trent is not a coffee drinker- he goes for vanilla steamers and bagels, but he is very aware of the success of Starbucks, and it's a company that practices business in a way that I admire and feel good talking about with my son.  This field trip was just too cool to miss, so Derek and Grace ended up coming along as well.  It's a huge place, with nearly 4,000 people in this building.  Here are some pictures from our tour....    

a display showing how coffee beans are dried after they're picked

the building was beautiful- very open and modern

A Starbucks within Starbucks

one of the many coffee stations in the building, learning how to use the Clover machine

coffee roaster used for company tastings 

this image is made up up thousands of thumbprints, from the partners who work here

the cupping room smelled amazing...they had just been tasting a Kona roast

Trent looks very serious here, but we actually had a lot of fun.  It was also a worthwhile learning experience.  He didn't have a lot of questions at the time, but he has been talking about what he saw and asking many questions since we left. 

Before we visited, I read Onward, by Howard Schultz.  It was an inspiring book, that was relevant for anyone interested in not just the business of Starbucks, but in the process of working towards a dream and achieving success.  I have become just as, if not more, interested in this latest learning experience for Trent.  We still have three more weeks left of studying business and economics, and I'm looking forward to it.