UNCG Piano Camp Recital

Well, Olivia has had 5 days of lessons, workshops, individual and group practices and it all comes down to today. 

She had her recital in the UNCG Music School's Organ Hall. They didn't have to play on the room's beautiful pipe organ, tho. She did an amazing job, but I wasn't allowed to video the performance.

Later that afternoon, she participated in the group choir event, which was a requirement for all Music Camp participants. 

EMMA Arts and Sciences Night - April 2017

It's the end of the term for EMMA Classes and this time, the boys took Art and Music along with their PE class.

 They showcased their artwork, which we were very impressed with.

 We got to see Olivia's Pinecone Project from her Botany class displayed. She had to form two hypotheses regarding how a pinecone behaves in cold and warm weather and then do experiments to prove it. She proved that they close in cold, wet weather to protect the seeds, but open in warm weather to release them.

 Olivia also took a North Carolina History course that taught her not just history, but geography as well.

 She did a great job in the class, working hard to learn about our state's products and industries. I particularly like her depiction of beef cattle.

 At the end of the evening, the boys were part of the performance of The Agape League. They did sucha great job singing and doing the hand motions. 

 I'll admit that I wasn't sure Ezra would enjoy doing the play because he doesn't really like to be in front of people, but he was really into it and both boys did a wonderful job!

Finally, for Olivia's last day of Literature Circle, she dressed up as a character from Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which was her favorite book of the term, and made a posterboard with facts about navigation to share with the class. In her Literature Circle class this year, they read a book about every 2-3 weeks and discussed it. Each week they chose or were assigned a role. The 6 roles were: Discussion Leader, Passage Perfecter, Character Coordinator, Creative Connecter, Vocabulary Detective, and Story Sketcher. And the books they read in the Fall were Number the Stars (*favorite), Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Trumpet of the Swan,  Ben and Me, Sign of the Beaver, and Best Christmas Pagent Ever. And in the Winter/Spring they read Rules (*a favorite), Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Lemonade War (Olivia devoured the whole series when we found them at the library), Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Olivia and I went on to read the Sequel), and The Blind Colt (we also went on to read the sequel). This was her favorite class this year along with Robotics.

 

Overall their full year at EMMA classes were fantastic and they can't wait for next fall's term. We've even signed Emma up to go!

Our Musical Children

The kids have all been taking some form of music instruction this spring. The boys have been going to Kindermusik with Miss Maggie and have had a wonderful time. Ezra sometimes is reluctant to participate, but when he's at home, he is singing the songs and doing the motions that they learned in class, so we know he's picking it up.

this last week marked the end of the spring session and the last class was a family day, so all the kids got to participate. 

Ezra can be particular about which activities he does, but when he picks one, he really has fun with it.

The kids just adore Miss Maggie. 

The great part is that Maggie also does private piano lessons, so we signed Olivia up for lesson at home. She just had her first recital the evening before Irene was born. She was a little nervous at first, but, since she was in the middle of the program, she saw the other kids doing it and had no problem when it was her turn.

She will certainly be continuing her practice and lessons this summer and fall.