Discovery Recital

Kali and Sadie got to perform for us tonight what they've been working on in Discovery over the last five weeks. Sadie participated in a class called Princess Camp and performed a dance to the song Do You Want to Build a Snowman. They had some really cute choreography and Sadie did great.

Kali participated in a class called Show Time and performed to Jellicle Cats from the musical Cats. She got to both sing the lyrics and do some acting/choreography. Not only did she make an adorable cat but she did an amazing job performing. She's very gifted at being dramatic and I can't wait until she can participate in a school play.

Princess Camp

Sadie is doing a class called Princess Camp for this session of Discovery. She is learning how to be a princess and today they were focusing on how they talk and walk. Sadie did such a good job walking with a clipboard on her head. She was so proud that she was the only one to walk around the chair and back without dropping it a single time.

Life in a Castle

Sadie is learning about life in a castle for this session of Discovery. She got to see all sorts of swords and daggers. They talked about armor and she got to try on a vest made out of chainmail which was very very heavy.

She made her own crown, castle, sword and shield and one day her teacher even took them outside and shot candy at them from a catapult.

Cheer

Kali's first session of discovery was cheer and she loved it. Her teachers did such a good job at teaching the basics of cheer in such a short amount of time. Then they taught them the cutest cheer / dance. Kali got to help do a lift and loved it.

Gymnastics

Sadie got a chance to try out gymnastics at Academy West through her school Discovery program. After her first week, all she could talk about was the rope and the foam pit which didn't sound much like gymnastics to me.

When I went to help out, I realized that they were the only two things that didn't seem like your typical gymnastics activities. They also did the bars and beams and somersaults. They just weren't as memorable to the kids. I must admit, though, that it was pretty fun to watch her climb the rope. Also the teacher commented on how well Sadie did on the beam. Maybe we'll end up with two gymnasts in the future.

The last week there the kids got to put on a performance to show us what they had learned. It was like a mini routine on each of the four events: floor, beam, vault and uneven bars. The floor routine was the somersaults down wedges and cartwheels. The beam event included walking along the beams forward and backwards. For the vault, they ran as fast as they could and jumped into the foam pit and they did pull ups and little flips over the bars for the uneven bars. Afterward, they were given medals which made them all so happy. They were so proud of themselves. It was super cute!

Discovery Recital

Sadie had her Discovery recital tonight and did a wonderful job. The kindergartners got to dress up in their Sunday best and sing The Echo Song. It's always so fun to see them on stage.

Discovery Recital

Kali had her yearly discovery recital and this year she was in the "Kids Act Up" class. Her group acted out commercials for the performance. And although the commercials were pretty lame, Kali did an excellent job at putting a lot of drama into the short 30 seconds she was on stage. Her favorite part, however, was the surprise they saved for the end. They did the Gangnum Style dance.

Discovery Ice Skating

Sadie got to participate in her second session of Discovery this year--ice skating. She was so excited to go. I think she was thinking it would be just like when we went ice skating with Brady and Jordan last winter. They skated around the rink holding her hands the entire time. But today wasn't anything like that. Her discovery class was meant to teach her how to skate on her own. She was terrified when she first stepped on to the ice and realized how slippery it was. It didn't help that the first girl to get on the ice burst out in tears and that several of the kids kept falling pretty hard falls. She wanted me to hold her hand and help her, but I wanted her to try what they had taught her and insisted she do it on her own. She was pretty nervous but was willing to give it a try. I think it helped once she finally fell and realized that it wasn't that bad. But she still wasn't enjoying herself and wanted a walker. They only had a few of them and were sharing them around.

Once she got a walker, she skated with it for only a few minutes then offered it to another classmate. But then she started whining and begging for my help again. I realized that she probably wouldn't be acting that way had I not come, so I decided to skate away from her and not give her any attention. Once I did that, she did awesome. She was going much farther and decided that she even wanted to go from one side of the rink to the other. Unfortunately, she only had a couple of minutes and then their time was up, so she never made. But I'm proud of her for trying. And when she tells people about going ice skating, she talks as though it was the funnest thing she's ever done.

Master of Disguise

Kali's most recent session of Discovery was called "Master of Disguise". She was taught how to apply face makeup. The students were shown how to do it once and then they had to apply the makeup on their own. The parent volunteers were only allowed to help a little bit. One week they did stage makeup, the next week they made themselves look old, then they did scars and bruising, and the last week they got to do their own creation. She wanted to do fangs, blood, and stitches, but I convinced her that a clown would be a better idea. She really did a good job. What a fun thing to learn how to do. Her scar and bruising looked so real that she faked out  Josh, my mom and Sadie. Sadie's reaction was my favorite. She immediately put her hand to her own forehead and it was as though she could feel Kali's pain. Even after we told Sadie it was fake, she was quiet and seemed uncomfortable. She doesn't like blood.