Bring on the spray color, the industrial strength hair gel, and the sparkles! It’s “Crazy Hair Day” for all Kindergarteners today, but this mohawk only restores Tobin’s hair to a fancier version of his old baby ‘do … ;-)
Tobin’s group of Lego birds is eight members strong now, and I still keep them next to my desk so they’re not getting disassembled by accident. Every few days, Tobin recruits them to fight his Ninjago “bad guys”. The narrative of these battles has gotten pretty complex, so I interviewed him to find out the specific roles and superpowers he has assigned to his birds.
Tobin is lucky to have Ms. Sarah, our groundbreaking, new-ish music teacher from the first day he started Kindergarten. She is a talented and passionate musician to boot, and an awesomely contagious music nerd at the same time. The kids always have the best of times with her, and can’t help but pick up crucial musical knowledge well beyond grade level. On the surface, the kindergarteners have learned 45+ songs this year – which is more than we can ask for. But take a moment to read the little handout we got at the final music share to get a glimpse of her master plan. These kids are off to a great start.
Check out one of the songs they performed, to show us parents how “audiation” works (singing silently in your head, which trains their ability to hold their key during actual singing):
Inspired by our friends next door, we got a space jelly ant farm to study for the next weeks. The blue gel is food, water, and building material all at once and ants can survive in this environment close to their natural life span of a couple of months. The harvester ants we mail ordered are a lively bunch, and set right to work. Within a couple of days, they have built an impressive maze of tunnels already. I have macro video footage of them working in their tunnel, but haven’t had time to edit yet. Here’s a preview of the action in still pictures.
Team Lee-Alto came to Brooklyn all Sunday. We started out with a feast at the Smorg, then continued taking it easy at home. The girls came up with a full production of a theater play about a missing donut – particularly cute were the sound effects during the performance (squeaking balloon made for a police siren). Eric recorded the play, and all kids cracked up watching it several times…
Sung and the kids gave me a tie dye kit for Mother’s Day and last weekend, we set out to dye a whole bunch of shirts in the wildest rainbow colors. Both Sung and I have managed to go grow up in the ’70s without ever making a tie dye t-shirt, so it was a first for all of us. I think we did pretty well, starting with the classic binding techniques: spiral, mirror, lines, and bullseye. Thank you :-x
Mika’s 3rd Grade Chorus had their Spring performance tonight, along with the schools Advanced Chorus (4th and 5th Grade) and Beginning/Advanced Band. Her beginner’s group started in September, and the kids have been giving up one recess period per week to practice. Thanks to their amazing teacher, they have learned so much in this very short period of time. In the above video, you can hear them perform “Rhythm of the Rain” and the classic “A-B-C” song (2nd song starting around the 3:30 mark). More to come in June!
Random art update: today, Tobin brought home a new self portrait from his Kindergarten art class. The “Monster Man” came to life during his afternoon play date with Henry. Typical stuff, of which i don’t show nearly enough … both of our kids are constantly creating something.
Update: Tobin told me the story behind the monster man – “This monster lives on a planet where everybody has 6 eyes. They are all monsters. The planet is covered with black rock, but the rock layer is very thin, and the heavy monsters make it crack. You can see the lava between all the cracks, and soon the monsters will fall into the lava”
All students of Thursday’s “Brooklyn Korean Play Group” went on an early dinner field trip to K-town. 11 kids in total, from the Kindergarten play group as well as the 3rd grade language students. We left right after school pickup, and arrived at Kun Jip around 4:30pm. The kids had to pick their own dishes, and order their own food – in Korean. After dinner, we tried to beat rush hour traffic, but got wedged in with the office commuters regardless. The kids didn’t mind, because Min had given each a little Korean teddy bear, and they played all the way home. Dessert stop at Blue Marble, naturally.
Note: it’s pretty obvious that i forgot to bring my camera along. Blurry low light shots courtesy of iphone…
On this beautiful Sunday, we took our bikes to DUMBO for a Smorgasburg brunch picnic at the waterfront. It was the last day of Tom Fruin‘s Watertower installation at Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is particularly beautiful during the dusk when it’s lit from the inside. The harsh midday sunlight caused beautiful pattern of light on the path below though. On our ride back, the kids convinced us to make a pit stop at Pier 6 playground, where we bumped into Team Neubert. Hours of play – and sideline chat – ensued. Happy relaxed Mother’s Day everybody!
Dear Harabogi,
We hope you have a sunny Sunday-Birthday today and wish you much happiness and health all year! Talk to you on the phone soon. xoxo Tobin, Mika, Ninja, and Sung.