Riana had:
Let's Talk about Weather (not her favorite class- she thought it was boring)
Jewelry Design (Riana is really getting good at making and fixing jewelry!! See below)
ORLA News Show (They had the chance to write news stories, do interviews, and videotape.)
Medieval Journey (see below)
ORLA Singers (see below)
Rocket Science (see below)
Swing Dancing (see below)
Sariah had:
PE (Sariah absolutely loves this class. The teacher, Mr. E, is so much fun!! Whenever the girls are late to his classes, they just say they were fishing because he says that is the only good excuse for being late. LOL! Sariah especially loves beating out the boys in this class. She is one competitive girl! I wonder where she gets it?? ...LOL!)
Silent Movie Making (with Mr. Z- They made the coolest silent movie, which we all received a DVD of, with silent movie music and everything. My favorite part in the movie was when two boys are trying to hit Sariah with a whipped cream pie, she ducks, and they both hit each other. LOL! We all enjoyed watching it. See below)
Design for the Times (Sariah made a gorgeous calendar. Every picture was amazing and she couldn't make the calendars simple- she insisted on coloring every single square. So her calendar is very lively and colorful! See below)
Medieval Journey (see below)
ORLA Singers (see below)
Data, Graphs, and Probability (Mr. Z can make anything fun! And Sariah can make anything artistic, even a pie graph!!)
Fabric Design (Sariah designed several fabrics and even tie-dyed a couple of things. See below)
Tierra had:
Animal Adventures (see below)
PE (She loves this class!)
Medieval Journey (see below)
Jump Into Writing (Tierra wrote the sweetest things in this class. Like "Happiness is... being with my family." I loved seeing the things she brought home. She is such a sweet girl. She is becoming quite the writer too. She has great handwriting. See below)
Come On and Sing (see below)
Karina had her first classes ever and loved them:
Animal Adventures (see below)
PE (She also loves PE with Mr. E or as they like to call him "Mystery")
Hands On Math (She enjoyed having this class and playing math games)
Tumbling (see below)
Come On and Sing (see below)
The girls had several projects (between the four of them) due at the end of this semester. I helped them progressively more the younger they were. I was so proud of Riana for doing hers all by herself!! She studied Medieval fashions, collected several pictures and made them into a slideshow on the computer, typed up a report on it and made it into a scroll, dressed her dolls up as a Princess and a Pauper (she even made up the Pauper costume herself), and dressed up to present her project in front of the class. Sariah also studied Medieval fashions, then created and sketched out (and colored) a few pictures of Medieval fashions. I helped her type up a sheet with labels (with the types of fashions she used) for the sketches and helped her arrange it on a poster board. She also came up with her costume and presented it to the class herself. Tierra had two projects. Her first project was for Medieval Journey. She studied food from the Medieval Times. We brought in bread, barley cereal (grape nuts), and assorted dried fruits to share with her class. We also most a small poster, but she forgot it at home. And she dressed up. Her class really enjoyed her project! :)
Tierra's other project was for her Animal Adventures. She decided to study black and white animals, instead of just choosing one animal. I helped her type up interesting facts about her animals and helped her display them on a poster board. She colored the pictures and glued on black and white squares on the poster board to look like a checkerboard. It turned out cute. She also found stuffed animals to go with her project. Riana helped her "make" a horse into a zebra with paper. It was pretty cool! Karina chose to do her project on a giraffe. I helped her cut the poster board into 3 and glue them on top of each other to make a giraffe's neck. It was the actual length of a giraffe's neck and a baby giraffe is the same length. It is also how long a baby giraffe falls to the ground, when it is born. Interesting stuff! I drew the neck and she (and her sisters) colored it, while I wrote facts on it. It looked great! She also brought in her stuffed "giraffey." They all did great on their projects!
Karina had a lot of fun in Tumbling, especially because most of her school friends were in that class. It has been so cute to see her make her own little friends. Some of her buddies are Elyssa, Alayna, Abbey, Hailey, and Jack. I love her sweet little friendship with Jack. I captured this sweet picture of the two of them- very cute! PS- It must've been hot pink day in Tumbling. LOL!
Aurora loves to join in on Tumbling class. The teacher sometimes even lets her join in the actual class. It is very nice. Aurora also has her little ORLA friends. Here she is with friends Calyssa, Hailey, Lilly, and Ellyana. Also a picture of Lilly and Aurora on the horse. Some people even think they are twins. LOL!
(Elyssa and Ellyana are sisters and Riana is friends with their big sister, Emily. I am friends with their Mom, Collony. Other siblings are Ethan, Evan, and Elayna. Also, Lilly and Alayna are sisters and Riana is friends with their big sister, Hannah. I am friends with their Mom, Tricia.)
Every semester, when we sign up for classes, the girls get to choose 3 and I choose 2 for them. (Then later we fill in the gaps, when we register for more classes.) Well, this semester, I made Riana take "Rocket Science." She wasn't very happy with me, as usual, however, she ended up enjoying the class, as usual. LOL! She had to "write checks" for the different parts and build a rocket. Then they blasted them off. Riana's rocket, not only shot up the highest, it also worked exactly the right way! The parachute came out and floated down beautifully, which apparently doesn't happen much, so her teacher was very excited!!! It was really neat to watch!
The girls singing and swing dance performance was delayed due to snow. When they performed it, some kids were not there. At the dress rehearsal, Mrs. H had Karina step in for someone's solo on the Banjo song. She did great! She also had Tierra step in for someone else's solo (on "This Pretty Planet") and she ended up singing it for the performance. She did so good that I don't think anyone could even tell that it wasn't hers. I was so proud of them because they are so brave to sing solos at such a young age! Sariah had a duet with another girl and sang beautifully and Riana's tone was gorgeous on her solo (both in "Hey Jude.")
Riana was so excited to take Swing Dancing, however didn't end up enjoying having to touch boys. Her partners were a boy named Caleb and a boy named Ninos- both very sweet boys. I am sad to admit that I thought it was kind of cute (probably because I knew she wasn't interested, so it was safe.) They performed their swing dance to a hip-hop song, "My Heart's A Stereo" and it matched amazingly well. It was modern and fun! It was especially fun to watch the swing dance performance for the school board. They were so impressed by this group of kids (and the whole school! They said the administration, teachers, parents, and students should all be very proud of the learning environment they have created.) It was so neat to watch their faces and listen to their comments about how they were so impressed by this modern look to swing dancing.
1) A few of the pieces of clothing Sariah designed, using many different techniques such as tie-dye, drawing designs, ironing on her designs, etc.
2) A few of the pieces of jewelry Riana made. She made some for certain holidays, made bracelets for her American Dolls, made matching earrings and bracelets for her closest friends with their names on them, etc.
3-4) Tierra with some of her writing- journals, poems, etc. I especially loved her journal page which read, "I am happiest when I am with my family" and her acrostic poem which included, "Families can be together forever" and "I love them." She came up with all of that in class, on her own. She also drew very cute pictures of our family, a rocket, a submarine under the sea, rainbows, a picture of our family and friends this summer in Nauvoo swimming together, etc. Her teacher wrote this about her writing, "Tia- I am so proud of the efforts you have shown and the progress you have made! You write from your heart-- it's wonderful!! Keep up the great work! Mrs. B"
5-7) Pictures from Sariah's Silent Movie Class movie they made.
8-11) My 4/12 favorite pictures Sariah made to go with her calendars. I was especially impressed with her March picture. She cut each individual part out, from a magazine, and put it all together, with a picture of herself that they took in class, on a background painting she made. It looks amazing, like it was meant to be together.
12-13) Sariah was one of a few students in ORLA, who was chosen to create a work of art for a gift to the school board. ORLA's mascot is the ORCA whale. (She did trace the outline of the orcas.) I thought it turned out beautifully!
