Piano Recital

Unfortunately, I don't have photos of my piano recital this year, only video and it is not uploading very well. So I will document the occasion by posting without pictures. I held the recital at a different location this year and it was wonderful. First of all it was much closer, 2 minutes from my house. Second, it is a recital hall, not a storage facility for excess pianos, it was beautiful. Finally, there were plenty of comfortable chairs, the piano was on a stage with great lighting and the owners of the facility were wonderful in accomplishing every request and even offering options I didn't know existed. I had 27 students out of 33 participate this year and they all did great. There were plenty of nervous participants, myself included. I'm so proud of the hard work and accomplishment of each one. They all worked really hard and were able to celebrate that hard work by performing for a large audience. It was a great recital and I'm looking forward to next year. Mackenzie played The Bell Song, Dayton played Freight Train and Alexa played The Room of Requirement.

Pinewood Derby 2011

This year our pinewood derby was done on a stake level. There were about 40 boys who participated and the track was pretty fancy. It has 6 lanes and each boys car was able to race 6 times before the finals. Dayton's fastest time was 185.1 miles per hour. He came in 1st or 2nd in almost ever race. He made it to the finals where the top 6 cars were each able to race on each lane of the track. He ended up coming in 2nd overall and was thrilled. The top 3 finishers were all boys form our ward which was fun. Dayton and Nathan spent a lot of time decided on the shape and then making all of the necessary sanding, painting and assembly happen. Dayton has been reading the Percy Jackson books and decided to put a trident on the hood of his car. It was great that all of the boys were able to race their cars more than once and the speed was timed and places awarded by the computer not by someones visual calculation. It made for a very fun afternoon.

Night of Notables

Mackenzie was asked to pick 3 people she would be willing to learn more about as part of a research assignment. Her first choice was Jane Goodall. I didn't know anything about Jane Goodall until Mackenzie shared her research with me. The assignment included 70 note cards of information, a typed up papers, 3 artifacts, a display board, realistic costume, and memorized speech. The students then shared their prepared speeches, boards, artifacts and costumes for their guests. For her artifacts, she made a pocket dictionary, a journal, and took her chimpanzee. Mackenzie was a little nervous giving her speech during practice and was told she needed to slow down. I can't imagine where should could have learned to talk fast:-) I was able to go to the dress rehearsal during the day. Mackenzie and her class were able to "practice" on other 5th grade classes. She did a great job sharing the information she had gathered about Jane Goodall and she slowed down.