Jump Rope Team!

Complete with their team t-shirts, the Rockets performed this morning to show off all the diligent work they've done since December. I'm not going to upload the freestyle video because it's so large, but there were some really impressive single jumpers and some duos that were spectacular. Below you'll find some video of the teams that performed. Again, so impressive. The thing that amazes me is that they all look so placid. I know I'd be huffing, puffing and tripping all over the place!

They are the only team in the city (or surrounding cities). How lucky we are to participate!

And to think May started the year as a "non-jumper!" These shows are a real hoot to attend with Sariah because rope or no rope, she stands up and jumps her heart out to the music. She's planning to join the team when she gets to third grade just four years from now!












I can't fail to mention Mrs. Lorraine Ware, Miss Carroll and Mrs. Grooms who have taken so much of their own time to coach these wonderful kids. Thank you!

Family Goals

On New Year's Day 2008 ,we made three family goals to try to accomplish:

1) Read stories from our ancestor's lives.

2) Make it to sacrament meeting every week (and on time so we don' t miss the sacrament).

3) Exercise as a family once a week.

Nathan's school genealogy project gave us a good start on reading family histories. We have yet to actually sit down and read a story, but we've been talking about it.

We've been trying hard to meet goal number two. Having church at 11:00 am instead of 9:00 am has helped. Not as much as you might think though!

Today was our first family exercise session. We went to the YMCA where Nathan was having his swimming lesson. We reserved a racquetball court and brought our jump ropes. I've checked some books about jumping rope and we are all hyped up to practice and try out some of those tricks we've been seeing lately. Jump rope is a tough sport! We're planning on doing swimming, jump rope, and basketball during the cold weather months.

May Gets Some Pointers

May is in a white shirt and jeans closest to Chris Brown.

After the jump rope film was finished, we were invited into the cafeteria of the Middle School for Cold Stone Ice cream. But, outside the cafeteria, were all the young kids who had brought their jump ropes to jump with the stars! May was among them. She was pleased as she drew "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the crowd. Some of her classmates were there as well showing their stuff. Chris Brown roamed among the jumpers and gave out handy tips. May hardly wanted to put her rope down to grab some ice cream!

After we left the cafeteria, I saw Nathan disappearing towards the jumpers. He didn't have a rope so I figured he just wanted a closer look at what was going on. As it turned out, he had grabbed a flyer from the night's events and was trying to get an autograph. His first attempt proved futile since he forgot to bring a pen. Then, the pen he found didn't work. Finally, he got his autograph and has stashed it away in his binder of his special papers. He thinks maybe he'd like to try his hand(s) at jump rope too.

Elijah took his boots off and did a little jumping himself. I think the fire has been lit in this household! Bring on the warm weather! (It's 10 degrees and windy today!)

Jump!

Last night we were fortunate to have viewed a new-ish film at the Children's Film Festival, called "Jump!"

I was disappointed at first because the way it was billed led me to believe that we were going to view the actual jump rope show. But, as another patron pointed out, "it is a film festival." We were privileged to have Chris Brown present, who is competitive jumper. Even considering May's participation in her school's jump rope team, I never would have imagined the incredible sport that I saw for the first time last night.

Chris Brown (college age) and his younger companion (from the team he coaches in Brighton, MI) did demonstrate some of what they do, before the film started. I took videos with my outdated digital camera, so they aren't the best quality, but are still fun to watch.

The "Jump!" film we watched after their demonstration was put together well and was extremely motivating. It will come out on DVD sometime soon. I definitely want to see it again.

Here's the website, if you want to look it up:

http://www.jumpmovie.com

Here are the videos I took:






Here's a YouTube video of a team speed dance:



And another of a single freestyler:



Another inspiring film you might enjoy, which is in the same vein as "Jump!", is called "Mad, Hot Ballroom." It's about middle schoolers who learn ballroom dance and then compete. These type of films are motivators that teach kids that they can reach their dreams. Dream on, Dream away!

She's an Author!

I have to tell you about May's wonderful teacher this year. Her name is Mrs. Lorraine Ware. May tells me that Mrs. Ware and Miss Carroll (her class' intern) are her very best teachers yet (and that's really saying something because I was super impressed with last years teacher and intern!)

Mrs. Ware has been on a waiting list for years for a tremendous learning opportunity. It's called "The Big Zoo Lesson," and is held at our local zoo. Basically, the kids get to spend a whole week at the zoo, studying science. I feel so fortunate that the kids get to participate.

Mrs. Ware has also been hosting Book Bingo at the school for several years. Families donate books for this fabulous event and everyone meets together to eat pizza and play bingo. The tension mounts as numbers are called and kids who win bingo get to go out into the hall to choose a new book. Quite often we have come home from book bingo with a large stack of books since all the kids are allowed to play and people are quite generous with their donations. It's a wonderful event. The kids in Mrs. Ware's classroom, which includes May this year, are in charge of helping with the event. They hand out tickets to Bingo winners.

Her classroom puts together a newsletter twice a month with a student photographer and student articles. These newsletters tell about all of the good things that are happening at school and in the classroom. I love being able to see into the day-to-day life in their classroom, through the eyes of the students.

Mrs. Ware, along with the other third grade teacher, Ms. Byrd-Goode and Miss Carroll, is the coach for the jump rope club. You can see more about that in my previous post here. I love it that May gets to participate in this club. It's a great way to get exercise and develop agility. Thanks goes to these teachers and their dedicated work.

The most recent, cool project they've been working on is their very own books (thus, the title of this post). They have written and illustrated their very own fairy tales. They were each given a blank hardback book in which to write their work and draw their pictures. I was so pleased to see May diligently working and then sharing her project with her siblings as they all sat around to hear her reading her tale, "Mousey and the Three Rabbits."

Jump Rope Club

May joined her school's Jump Rope Club a couple of months ago. When she started out, she was what is known as a "non-jumper." Since then she has been working hard and can do some amazing tricks. It was hard to take pictures because the lighting was poor enough that I needed to use the night picture option which excluded the action picture option.

May appeared in several of the groups that performed and did amazing tricks like: pretzel, front-cross, and squat. I was dazzled by the whole show. They will continue practice and perform again in the spring, hopefully out-of-doors so that I can get some better pictures!
(That's May doing "squat" in the middle. See how fast they move??!!)