She’s come a long way!

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Kristen Page

Considering her first cello was styrofoam and blue, she’s really becoming a fine cellist!

January 2012

The girl “played” ANTS at her first recital.

April 2012

By her second recital she was actually using her bow, and she played Twinkle var. A (just the first section).

November 2012

One year in, and she was finally playing Twinkle Theme.

April 2013

May Song for the fall recital (at this point, she’s starting to move through book 1).

November 2013

The girl nearly cried with joy when she got to pick Rigadoon! It was one of her favorites.

April 2014

In the fall of 2014, she graduated from level 1 by playing Minuet 1.

November 2014

Today the girl was poised and confident as she played Hunter’s Chorus. It was beautifully played!

April 2015

Videos coming soon…

Letting go

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Kristen Page

Sometimes we need to hold on…

Occasionally we have to catch her or pick her up…

But once she gets her bearings…

This girl always takes flight!

10/52

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Kristen Page

“Mommy, I don’t want to go to school”

Me: “I’m sorry you don’t want to go to school. I’m glad you get to go to school. Did you know that some girls don’t get to go to school?”

“What!? Why not!? Someone needs to speak up for them!”

You do that strong girl!! Mommy is proud of you!

Today is International Woman’s Day. I thought I would honor some beautiful young women I’ve met by sharing their portraits. I pray they all get to go to school and that they will #makeithappen (the 2015 theme).

Tied in Knots

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Kristen Page

The girl and I celebrated Presidents Day by hanging out in sweat pants, watching an extra episode (or two) of Curious George, and just goofing off. It was perfect! We didn’t goof off the whole day, though. I decided that I must teach her something!!! Every six year old needs to be able to blow spit bubbles! So, we set to work.

Just as she started getting the hang of it, she got distracted…this happens a lot when you’re six! She noticed a “new” pair of hand-me-down sneakers and decided that I should teach her to tie shoes instead of how to blow spit bubbles (always the practical child). And that’s just what I did.

She caught on pretty quickly, and she was more than determined to learn!

There were a few setbacks…

The dog bragged that he could tie a shoe, no sweat!

The girl never gave up!

Her persistence paid off!!

Success!!!

After dinner, we put her knot tying to another use…it was time to address the “dangly, gray tooth”

We tied some dental floss around that tooth and….

A quick tug, and…success!!!

Population Ecology

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Kristen Page

I love teaching population Ecology. At the most basic level, knowing something about birth rates and survival allows you to predict changes in population size. For people who care about conservation, it’s an important skill. However, it’s not really a skill you expect from a kindergartner.

Imagine my surprise when the girl explained to me (after seeing a dead squirrel)
Every animal has a number and if any of those animals get hit by a car and is dead then the number goes down. If the number goes down to one it’s in danger. If that one gets dead, then it’s extinct.

Not bad reasoning for a little girl!

Maybe next year, I will have her tutor my students.

Christmas Muffin

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Kristen Page

The girl heard some holiday music at school last week. She’s been singing All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth since she learned it. I think it’s her favorite because her two front teeth are wiggly and she’s hoping to lose them for Christmas.

one afternoon the girl told me that she really didn’t like “the muffin song”. She said “it’s annoying”. I asked her to sing me a little because I am not familiar with “the muffin song”. She sings “I’m getting muffins for Christmas…”

To the tune of “I’m getting nuthin for Christmas…”

I think we have a new tradition. Muffins at Christmas!

“Dunkin for Apples”

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Kristen Page

Last week in kindergarten, the girl was learning about buoyancy (well, they didn’t use that word). She learned that punkins can float ecause they have air inside. We filled the tub and put everything from my cheese grater to the the girl’s toy animals in it to see if they would float. I think it was the most fun we have had with homework all year. While we were “studying”, I told the girl about bobbing for apples.

She decided that we were going to dunk for apples this weekend. And so we did…

The Apprentice

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Kristen Page

This weekend, I passed along my old camera to the girl.

She’s always loved taking pictures, so I thought why not let her see what she can do? When I suggested going on a photo adventure, she was very excited! In fact, she made a list.

1 pine cone, 2 acorns, 3 interesting leaves, 4 buckeyes, and 5 red flowers
We went out to one of our favorite places to walk and explore. Here is what we came up with. The girl was using an 18-70mm lens. I was using my 30-30mm lens, so I could get closer.