John Williams, Round 2

So last year Lindsay and I went to see John Williams perform with the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a great concert! He conducted several of his classic movie pieces including the Superman theme, the Star Wars theme and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was great. So when a couple we know out here invited us to go with them this year (his mom plays viola in the orchestra) of course we were in!

This year the concert was even better than last year! They had a guest violinist who was AMAZING (probably could play "Flight of the Bumblebee" without breaking a sweat) during the first act and the second act was great as well. The encores were the Star Wars and Imperial March themes again, plus he had the orchestra do the last part of E.T. with the digitally remastered version of the movie playing on the screen.

However, my absolute favorite part happened about halfway through the second act. During intermission, I noticed that there were empty choir seats behind the orchestra. My favorite Star Wars song of all time is from The Phantom Menace, called "Duel of the Fates" but it requires a choir to perform. I like that song so much, Lindsay got me the sheet music for it for Christmas last year.

Those choir seats weren't there at last year's performance, so I started to get my hopes up. There were two songs performed with the choir, then this one (which I filmed):

Made my day.

Kinder Kinder Kindergarten

This past month I have been teaching Kindergarten at a Korean Summer School. The students are really great. They try to teach me Korean. There are 7 of them and I teach them all day. There are a few things I have learned about helping this small group get along- since they are together all day and they play with each other, but are a fairly wide range, from just barely five to almost seven, I have done some problem management, but things are going well and are fun. I also started with 3 and then the class grew as some of the students in Grade 1 moved into my class and new students joined. There's only one girl in the class but one more will be coming this week. .

We have been doing a lot of fun songs, crafts, and activities to keep busy and engaged in learning during these summer months. Here's a picture of the class (when we had 2 girls- one was only doing summer school for a few weeks-) doing a counting and number comparison activity.

Yesterday was our Open House, when the parents came to see more of what their kids have been up to! I snapped a few pictures before it started so I could share a sense of the class with you. It's a 'monkey' theme, so it's fun to call them my 'monkeys' and give them their jobs for the day. One student is the 'filler' or 'monkey' helper.

One activity I'm particularly proud of is when they asked,'what's a cocoon?' They are English Learners, but this is a tricky word anyway. We did a whole lesson about the butterfly life cycle, then had a 'caterpillar' visit (it was plastic)... we examined the food he ate (various leaves) and made observations about the different kinds. Then after lunch the caterpillar went missing!! We went on a treasure hunt around the school, visiting the different teachers and gathering clues, and then ending back in our class where we found the caterpillar making a cocoon (or chrysalis for a butterfly.) It was really fun to set it up on our tree and label it :)

The open house went really well! I enjoy teaching these kids!!

Mom's Visit

We had such a fun time with Mom when she came to visit a week ago! I spent a fair bit of time with her and my nephews since I had the week off from work. - she came to help out my sis who lives nearby and is busy with an editing project!
Some of the highlights with the Puente boys included a trip to the Science Museum, where they had a hay day in the kids area and where we saw this neat solar powered house out on the lawn of the Science Museum.

Also, Spence and I were spoiled and got her all to ourselves one evening!! Here we are at various stages of burger enjoyment.


me- SOOO excited

Spence- ordered a 'pretzel bun' for his burger. he's smart to order somethign so yummy even for a bun. How did he know? 'It sounded good-' he says.

Mom, about to take a delectable bite!
So yea, it was lovely to get out and dine together. You can always find an excuse for that. These were 'build your own burgers' from a Hole in the Wall (that was literally the name of the place) on Bentley/ East of Sepulveda, and Santa MOnica- it was really great to have a chance to visit together and also enjoy delicious food.I'm glad she could come!

Treats!

A friend of mine and I recently hit Beverly Hills to catch a Sprinkles Cupcake each... Mmmmmm... Just to note, too, SPrinkles cupcakes opened 'Sprinkles Ice Cream!!' yesterday. I was excited about the ATM, but this... this is my favorite! Cant wait to try it out. The flavors are the same as the cupcakes.

http://la.eater.com/archives/2012/04/19/sprinkles_ice_cream_opens_may_24_in_beverly_hills.php

What do you think about the idea of 'Sprinkles Ice Cream?'

While we were in the area we went to see the exhibit at the Gagosian Art Gallery- a small and cool little gallery nearby. The photography and artwork of Cy Twombly were on display...

Here's one of the paintings we saw!! This one was my fave. I like the bright colors.

I really enjoyed the cool photography and art by Cy. Just to give a little info, Cy recently passed away- he was an American artist 'well known for his large-scale, freely scribbled, calligraphic-style graffiti paintings, on solid fields of mostly gray, tan, or off-white colors.' (to quote wikipedia.) My friend is an artist so she was telling some of this to me as we looked at the work. It was fun to take a look!
Do you like the Cy Twombly painting? I love abstract art myself.

Mirman and the Chocolate Factory Fair

Spence and I had such a fun time at the Mirman Fair recently, so I thought I’d tell you guys about it. I got there in the morning to volunteer for a few hours in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ area. I was lucky enough to be put in charge of the ‘Spin Art.’ You remember from your days as a kid? They put a paper down under a frame on a wheel, close the lid and turn it on? You get to drop paint through and as the paper spins it makes a really neat design? Well that’s what I helped several kids to do. Some even wanted to make 2 or 3! It was cute, busy, fun and rewarding. The best part is when Spence came to meet me! We met up with a coworker of mine and her boyfriend and walked around, getting hot dogs for lunch, scouting out the Silent Auction, browsing the bake sale, watching some of the kids play games like catapult and ball tosses and whatnot. There were some really fun decorations like big huge 'candies' and lollipops in the lawn. We went to the parking lot area and got ice cream - and agreed to watch some of the kids who really wanted to show off to their teachers as they sped along on the roller coaster ride or jumped really high on the trampolines. A big moment of the day was just before the silent auction closed. Our eyes caught sight of a ‘Simpson’s Basket’ from one of the producers of Simpsons. We had seen it earlier and it still peaked our interest. It had action figures, several Simpson’s seasons, character key chains, and other cool jazz. So we had to bid! The price was already fairly high but we figured we'd give it a shot! What did we have to lose? :) Well... We quickly got outbid, as it turned out, but it was fun to try! And we did our part to raise the bid and help the fundraising cause I guess. It was wonderful to see everyone, a well planned event, and we had such a lovely, really fun and snazzy day at this awesome fair!

FLORENCE

Here is Spence' blog post about FLORENCE! (this was my fave city)


So Lindsay told the Venice portion of our Italy trip, so I get to tell the Florence portion.



We took the train from Venice on Monday morning and got to Florence in the early afternoon. Here's some of the sights we found on the way from the train station to our cute little B&B:


The Duomo


Ponte Vecchio


Mmm, pizza!

The next day we went to the Accademia where Michelangelo's David is kept. They don't allow pictures, but the sculpture is AMAZING! There are a couple of copies around town, so we got pictures of those:



This bronze one is at Piazza Michelangelo, which overlooks the city.



This one is by the Palazzo Vecchio.

We then went to the Uffizi Gallery (once again, no picture). We then hiked to the top of a hill to see a church and got these amazing photos of the city:





Such a beautiful city, plus the history present in the city! I'd love to make it back there sometime!

Italia!!!

Our Italy trip was amazing! We thoroughly enjoyed Rome, Venice, and then Florence- ate tons of gelato and yummy food, and had such a blast together. I love Italy!!!!!! There are pics up on FB too thanks to Spence!

There is lots to tell but I guess I really should just start somewhere... let me start with Venice, and then I'll try to post again about more later. We were there on Sunday April 1, and saw St Marks square, the Correr Museum, and....

Sunset... Beautiful Grand Canal

We also heard some great music at the Florian Cafe... BUT One of the highlights of our trip was our Gondola ride! Our Gondolier was named Giovanni! Here are some pics


The Bridge of Sighs... people would get one last look at Venice as they were led into the prison on the other side of the bridge. They were said to *sigh.*

There were tons of beautiful sights as we glided along... it was really cool to be right at street level and get a different perspective as we passed little 'alleys' and streets. I loved this beautiful plant hanging over the wall.

When the moon hits the sky... no, actually we did get serenaded, but it was the tune, ' O' Sole Mio' I got a little on video- the last bit of his song. It was absolutely lovely as we coasted along. I was amazed at how quietly and beautifully he sang on this peaceful, quiet eve as we floated through the 'streets' of Venice. I'm glad Spence and I could do this! Luv you!

Spencer's Birthday!

It was so wonderful to celebrate the birth of my wonderful husband Monday (2-27)! We did a lot of things to commemorate his special day because he is amazing, and also because it was his 30th!!

Here are a few pics so you can get a sample of the fun we had!!

We got together with friends- it was fun to see a couple we knew from the singles ward and a new couple we recently met!

Here's a candid shot of the group playing Carcasonne- Spence is taking our turn at the board. McKay is even wearing the Carcassone tshirt.

We ate special treats (I made my friend Mercedes' macarons!! They were yummy! From a mix! www.mercedesmacarons.com)

Also... from a mix... Sprinkles cupcakes!! Mmmmm....

He opened presents

Including a special soccer scarf to help us remember our trip coming up!


A very special present arrived from the RSL team too because Spence was fast with a twitter trivia contest! I will let him blog about it...

Also. On his actual birthday, we went for yummy dinner! It was delightful!

It was such a blast! I love you! Happy Birthday Spence!

Teaching Depth and Complexity.

Recently we had a seminar at my school about what makes someone an expert on a given topic. We discussed the theories of depth and complexity and Sandra Kaplan's 11 points that help someone become an expert on a topic. It starts as a reader or seeker looking more deeply into a text or resource...

As a reader, I already like to ponder my texts and make connections to other disciplines, so this was right up my alley. This seminar really grabbed my attention because I am already innately doing some of the things we learned about. The seminar put terms to my practices and icons and ideas to my toolbag as a teacher.

Here are her points. (Below) So before reading a book to my students I could ask, 'what are some of the different points of view (point #11: different perspectives) you hear in this story?' and it gets them thinking more deeply about the story and the characters. Here's a worksheet about it:



Or you can look more closely at the worksheet on this site:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4872391/Depth--Complexity-Icon-Chart

Anyway, I thought this lesson was really great and I am excited to incorporate it into my teaching.

One of the exercises we did in the seminar was to talk about areas where we consider ourselves to be experts of sorts. I talked about singing. What is an area where YOU think you're an expert?

Improv-a-ganza!! Drew Carey hosted!

Spencer texted me yesterday afternoon to see about getting to IMPROV-A-GANZA!! He'd just read that it was in LA that night!

I met Spence there, as it turned out, because traffic was... well... LA and I didnt leave early enough and at least one person from your group had to get there way ahead for reserved seats. But once we were there, it was just delightful to enjoy some dinner together in the restaurant area...

We finished up and headed down some stairs... there was Drew Carey! He was chatting with a few people. So cool! We figured we should try to get a picture. It wasn't too hard because he was really quite nice. As we asked about the picture he's like, 'I'm Drew,' and then shook Spencer's hand, then mine as I said, 'Lindsay.' Haha... I guess you forget to introduce yourself to someone you 'know,' right? Anyway, we got the picture and Spence's eyes are even open!



After this excitement we showed our tickets and were let into the theater. We had AWESOME seats! Right up at the front! There were lots of little tables so we were close to others watching which made it funny when we were all laughing so hard.

Drew Carey came out and introduced the show. It was neat to hear more from him. He was funny and energetic and looked just like I remember from TV except he's lost weight. He talked about this and that... about how it's impossible to hide a break up these days - facebook is bad enough, but for someone like him it's like, he might as well hire a marching band!! I guess he'd broken up with his GF that day.

then he introduced the cast!

The scenes they did were absolutely HILARIOUS!!! In one, two audience members were chosen to come up and make the sound effects. In another they had a long time married couple come up and talk about their first date.

Drew Carey and an actress acted it out and the real couple had to ding a bell if they got it right and toot a horn if not. SOOOO funny, because sometimes you heard the bell from one person and the horn from the other as the scene progressed.

One of my faves was a scene of two people pretending they were on the set of a soap opera. They had to randomly pull out lines written down on slips of paper by us audience members. The punch line/end was one Spence wrote... 'We're going to Disneyland!!'

We also loved it when they did 'worst professionals.' They imitated bad scuba instructors, psychologists, and teachers too-- (with things like, 'you don't need to learn this!! you dont need to learn anything!' or 'i hate kids!') I suggested 'Forensic Accountant, ' and it was so funny to see what they came up with. Drew pretended to be blind, another actor came up and counted... 'One, Two, Three, Four dead bodies...'

Hilarious!!!!! I love that Spence found this online and we made the drive and laughed away! It was fun to chat with the audience members after too (and actors a little,) because we'd learned a little about them along the way!

Love you, Spence!