Come Bug Out With Us!

This year, we will be back to the Bug Fair to pick up our annual supply of silk worms. The kids are excited as they will feed them mulberry leaves, watch them grow, and then move them to the butterfly/ moth habitat to watch them create cocoons and then hatch into moths. later in the month, we will get passion vine caterpillars and repeat the process again.

9:30 am – 5 pm

Special early opening for Members at 9 am each day!

Exposition Park will soon be overrun with winged creatures and creepy-crawlies, who are convening at the Museum, along with our scientists, for North America’s biggest bug festival.

Nearly 70 Exhibitors Fill our Museum Halls!

This year, the buzz is even louder because it’s the Year of the Fly. Visitors can cradle a bug or two in their palms and learn about the homes and habits of a wide variety of roaming insects from Entomology Curator Dr. Brian Brown (one of the Museum’s fly experts).
Government agencies, educational institutions, and entomological societies will be on hand to answer bug-related questions. The fair will also be abuzz with exhibitors, displaying everything from live specimens to bug-related products, such as honey, silk, and wax as well as bug-inspired artwork.

Demonstrations with Bug Chef David George Gordon (world renowned Insect Chef and author of the Eat-a-Bug Cookbook), Daniella Martin of Girl Meets Bug (www.girlmeetsbug.com), and David Gracer (owner of Small Stock Food Strategies, a company devoted to making insects accessible as food to all). All three will be on hand to whip up some bug delicacies for the adventurous snacker!

Special Buggy Performing Artists

Keep your eyes peeled for our roaming insects and stilted butterflies. You never know when a jumping spider might pop up in front of you for a picture!

Musical performances by John Acorn!

Bug Fair and other programming (excluding the Butterfly Pavilion) are included with regular Museum admission. For additional information, call (213) 763-3433 or email educate@nhm.org.

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Children’s Book Council and Every Child A Reader

May 7-13

Every morning at the preschool, children come in the door carrying a book that they want to share with their friends at morning meeting. They pick out their favorite pictures,  show the children, and answer questions about the book.  Next week, in conjunction with Children’s Book Week, the children will be offered the chance to be a “reader” in the library area. They have seen parents and grandparents join us and read to the children; now it will be their chance to sit in the parents chair and share the book with other children.

Children’s Book Week, a literacy initiative, is an annual event that began in 1919. Since 2008, it has been celebrated in May and this year will be celebrated May 7-13, 2012. In 1944, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) was established, and it administered the celebration until 2008 when its foundation, Every Child A Reader, also became involved.

 During Children’s Book Week, public libraries, school libraries, and bookstores generally have special activities for children that are designed to encourage a love of books. Check with your local book stores and libraries to see what they have coming up.

According to the Children’s Book Council,

“A celebration of the written word, Children’s Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes and bookstores. Through Children’s Book Week, the Children’s Book Council encourages young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books.”

 The Children’s Book Week site includes bookmarks you can download and a variety of activities for kids and teens, information on official events plus tips and resources for teachers, librarians, publishers and booksellers. Use these resources to celebrate the joy of children’s books with your children.

ENJOY!

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Interactive Family Concerts at Los Angeles

Chamber Orchestra with Kidspace Children’s

Museum

Unlock the magic of great music!. LACO’s family concert series opens the door for kids to enjoy this magical sound world now and for the rest of their lives. Check out their website or purchase your subscription online.

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2 cabbage white butterfly caterpillar were sighted today and the kids were very excited. As teachers, we weren’t entirely surprised as the cabbage was planted to encourage them to come.  ( I do realize that we are rare gardeners in that we plant to encourage a crop damaging bug) . We saw the white butterflies a few weeks ago and hoped that we would have caterpillars once again.

Once we have a few caterpillars, we will dig up the plant, caterpillars and all, and repot it so it can be brought inside and placed in the butterfly habitat. Then, over the next few weeks, we will continue to feed the cabbage leaves from our garden to the caterpillars until they are big, fat caterpillars. It is amazing how much they eat and every morning when we check them, we see only the bare spines of the cabbage leaves.

After several weeks of feeding, they will finally make their chrysalises.

Of course we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and other books that describe the metamorphosis process.

When the little white butterflies push out and dry their wings, we will be ready to launch them. In past years, a few have stayed around the school and come back to munch on the remaining cabbage leaves.  And the process begins again.

Life cycle is one of the major themes of the school as we discuss the garden, which has a winter and summer planting. We plant bulbs in the fall and await their growing in the spring.  The apricot tree loses its leaves and resprouts.

We also discuss the life cycle of animals and people. We have a number of families who have new babies as well as 5 families who are expecting babies this summer. We talk a lot about families and generations and have pictures of each child’s extended family on our walls. We are fortunate enough to have grandparents, aunts, and uncles regularly volunteering at the school.

Inevitably there have also been losses in families, including the death of grandparents and we share those stories as well.  When children experience, discuss, and read about the full range of human, pet, and garden life, we feel that they learn more about how to understand and cope with the riches and challenges that life holds.Tweet

Hello everybody, We’re so glad to see you. Hello to Jennifer, We’re so glad to see you.

When the child hears his or her name, s/he goes into the middle of the circle and does a self- inspired dance . We recently had a valentine’s gathering and it was amazing to see how each child has evolved his or her own dance moves over the last few months.

Group time is another opportunity to put on music and get moving. Everything from the Macarena to Motown has provided inspiration. 

We also incorporate music and movement into various themes the children are involved in. The Teddy Bear theme that ended in a Teddy Bear Picnic was a great chance to move to the song Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around.

Recently, Allison, who does music with the children every week,  has been introducing the children of both rooms to the experience of listening for and moving to the beat of the music. Using world music with a strong beat, she has had them clapping, marching, jumping , and dancing in four four time.  In the pictures, they are clapping high and low and in a circle to the beat.

Dancing brings a room to life; it is one of the many ways a play-based program helps our children develop skills and have fun at the same time.

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The idea captured the imagination of several children and the building began in earnest.  There were long buildings of two and three stories. There were towers that went as high as they could before they fell down.  There was a sustained period of building.

Then the cups sat in the shelf for a couple of weeks while other ideas were pursued. Then a new discovery was made and the interest returned. A child wondered, “What if I build rows of them?”

The next iteration of the idea was the shift from the Yellow Room to the Green Room. The children in the afternoon are a mix of Yellow and Green Room children and one of the Green Room kids noticed the cups.  She tried them and the next morning requested they be brought to the Green Room. So more cups were brought out and new discoveries were made. The Green Room kids, consistent with their developmental level (see block building under child development) were interested in the horizontal potential in these cups.

They had done similar exploring a few weeks previous with corks.  One boy had been to a haystack maze over Halloween and wanted to make one. That brought about days of corks weaving over the carpet in different patterns.

We have a box of wonderful and colorful cardboard tubes just sitting and waiting that will make a new addition to their building world when the time is right. We also have plastic rectangles that fit into the notches of the tubes. This combination  will launch new ideas that will take us to some interesting places. We are looking forward to it.Tweet

Food of course plays an important role. Two of our Korean parents volunteered to make vegetable dumplings, pot stickers as the kids know them. The children practiced their skills with chopsticks when they first arrived in the morning.

First, the children then mixed the tofu, onions, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and cabbage with the soy sauce and sesame oil. Many parents requested the recipe that I have included at the bottom of this article.

Then the filling was carefully put in the wonton wrappers and the edges were sealed closed. The children were so engrossed with making these that they made 84 dumplings.  18 children also managed to eat all but a few.

While one mom was frying the dumplings,  the other mom and her son taught us how to play a Korean game that utilizes 4 bamboo sticks, each  with one flat side, and a game board for moving the stones as many spaces as you have flat sides when you drop the sticks.  This was very popular and played all week.

This year is the Year of the Dragon so we create dragon masks for decorating.  We have several books that showed the great variety of dragon possibilities and the  children’s artwork reflected the range of ideas. We culminated the art effort with a dragon parade with music and a serpentine march around the classroom.

Our Tibetan father and daughter arrived on Wednesday dressed in beautiful silk costumes that are worn in the Tibetan celebration.  They shared their traditions, including the decorative flags, Tibetan writing, and their sheepskin used for yoga.

It was a wonderful week of celebration and was yet another way for our children to embrace other cultures and to learn appreciation and respect for the variety of ways that people live and celebrate.

Dumpling Recipe

1 pkg firm or extra firm tofu

1/2 chopped onion

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 zucchinis finely shredded

2 carrots finely shredded

1 finely chopped scallion

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms of your choice

1/4 cabbage finely shredded

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt/pepper

3 packages of dumpling wrappers

optional: 1 egg

You want to squeeze out as much water out of the tofu as possible. I usely use a paper towel and wrap it around the tofu and squeeze. Mix all the ingredients together and season with salt, pepper, soy sauce, agave, sesame oil, and the optional egg. And you can add/substitute any of your favorite vegetables.

When stuffing the dumplings, dip your index finger in a small bowl of water and wet the edge of the wrapper about half way around. Place about 1-1/2 tbsp of the mixture in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and pinch the edges to seal it.

For a healthier version of the crispy potsticker, use about 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and lightly cook the dumplings in a nonstick pan till they are lightly brown. Then add about 1/8 of a cup of water and cover with a lid over a medium heat. Cook for about 2-3 minutes and then remove the lid. Cook a little longer till the water has evaporated and the dumplings are crispy.

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There will be orientation meetings on Thursday January 26th and Tuesday February 28th at 5:30 pm at the preschool. This meeting is for parents who have already toured the school and are interested in learning more as well as to receive an application for Summer or Fall 2012 enrollment.

Applications are due by March 2nd; decisions will be sent by mid- March. If there are any remaining spaces, applications will continue to be taken. A small waiting list will be maintained in case there are changes by parents before their child’s enrollment.

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DOWNTOWN ON ICE

Right across from the Biltmore Hotel in Pershing Square

http://laparks.org/pershingsquare/doi.html

532 South Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Skating Session $6; Skate Rental $2

HOURS OF OPERATION
General Schedule: November 17, 2011 – January 16, 2012

Monday – Thursday: 12:00pm to 10:00pm
Friday – Sunday: 10:00am to 10:00pm

*Special Extended Holiday Hours
December 19 – January 2 from 10:00am to 10:00pm daily

Parking in the lot underneath.

TRAIN RIDE TO SANTA ( GRIFFITH PARK)

http://www.griffithparktrainrides.com/content/travel-town-santa-train

The Travel Town Museum has a magical Holiday Train Ride and Visit with Santa.  Santa, himself, will be on hand and each child will receive a candy cane and a special little gift.  Mrs. Claus will also be there to greet you and talk about life at the North Pole. If you wish, Santa’s helpers will happily take your picture with Santa for purchase as a keepsake of your visit. After visiting Santa you can board the Santa Express at Travel Town Station for a trip through a wonderland of holiday lights and scenery. If you prefer, you can get into the Holiday spirit by riding the Santa Express before you visit Santa.

The ride will continue on December 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and December 14th through December 23rd.  The first train leaves about 5 pm each night and the last train will leave at about 8 pm, unless it sells out, in which case they may close earlier.

BILTMORE MILLENIUM HOTEL – Holiday Tea for Children

In conjunction with the City Ballet of Los Angeles’ annual performance of this time-honored classic, the Biltmore hosts a special tea for children and parents with holiday sandwiches and cupcakes! Event will feature special performances throughout the tea by real ballet dancers from the production, including the Sugar Plum Fairy herself!

Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, 2009 from 11:00am – 1:00pm in the Rendezvous Court

$38 per person

 Please call Smeraldi’s Restaurant at (213) 612-1562 for reservations.

LOS FELIZ 3 THEATERS 

Mommy and me Wednesday matinee at 10:30 am at 1822 N. Vermont Ave. Great to do when the kids are out of school.

Beautiful Holiday Lights

Los Feliz is the perfect place to view holiday lights and decorations.  When my daughter was young, we used to gather together as a family in my mom and dad’s camper with its big windows and drive the streets.  Armed with hot chocolate in Thermoses, we  drove the streets, oohing and aahing at the sparkling and colorful lights and inventive decorations.

Los Feliz  usually has the  DWP  Lights Festival but this year, due to prolonged construction, it is not open.   Hopefully the construction will be complete by next year.

Relatives in town/ Children Off from School

 TRY GEOCACHING

Geocaching  is a new way for family and friends to have fun and explore the Los Feliz area. It is  a fabulous blend of an old-fashioned treasure hunt and modern day technology. In our family, it appeals to my husband’s love of computers, his Iphone, and technology in general,  to my love of treasure hunts that take me back to childhood and college days, and to our children and grandchildren’s love of the hunt.

Here is how geocaching works. All over the world, people have hidden small boxes and other containers that contain a log for recording the finder’s name and often, little trinkets and trackers. Trackers are the official geocaching item that has a tracking number that keeps track of the travels of these items.

In order to find these caches, you go online to geocaching.com and look up an area where you want to search for a cache. I looked up 90027 and found many interesting possibilities. You make note of the area and the GPS coordinates, then off you go in search of the cache. Now these hiders are quite clever so you have to use the clues the other cache finders have left to solve the puzzle and locate the cache.

When you find the container, sign in on the log. If there is a tracker, you can take it and place it in a new cache that you find next time.  At the end of your caching day, whether you have one or several, log on and record what you have done at geocache.com.  It is nice to leave a clue on the computer record if you found that a cache was tricky to find. We ended up eating in a great restaurant right next to a cache, an added bonus to the experience.

So if you find yourself with family and friends looking for something fun to do that can take 20 minutes or several hours or you need everyone out of the house so you can cook or wrap packages, try geocaching. We have found that we learn something new about our Los Feliz neighborhood every time.

Happy Hunting!

Holiday Shopping for Chanukah and Stocking Treats

Holiday shopping is truly upon us.  I was raised in a traditional manner here in Los Angeles; Christmas shopping only began after Thanksgiving.  There were no early holiday purchases, decorations or holiday music. While times have changed now that I have grandchildren, I still leave the stocking presents for close to the holiday. In Los Feliz, there are many delightful places to buy great holiday gifts and stocking stuffers.

For the coffee or tea drinker:

• (Starbucks on Vermont and Prospect (http://www.starbucks.com/store/15113),
• Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hillhurst (http://coffeebean.com/location.aspx?UserID=38650288&SessionID=iqKCsPjuBOLdZnkvRAld),
• Intelligentsia on W. Sunset (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/locations/view/)

• A new book by a favorite or new author plus an interesting selection of books you might not find everywhere ( Skylight Books on N. Vermont (http://www.skylightbooks.com/))
• Theater tickets are a nice treat  at Los Feliz 3 on 1822 N. Vermont Ave.

When our grown children come with the grandchildren, it opens the door to much more shopping. Great toys and children’s clothes can be purchased at:

• Dragonfly Dulou on Hillhurst Ave. (http://www.dragonflydulou.com/contact)
• La La Ling on N. Vermont ) http://www.lalaling.com/e-store/cnt_store.asp).

Farmer’s Markets

• The Farmer’s Market on Hollywood just west of Vermont at Barnsdall Park on Wednesday from noon to 6 pm is a great source of food goodies and handmade items.

Los Feliz Library- A Jewel in the Crown

Remember the library; Los Feliz has a great one.

Los Feliz library (http://www.lapl.org/branches/Branch.php?bID=36) is one of the jewels in the crown of the Los Angeles Public Library system.  Located at the corner of Franklin and Hillhurst Ave, it is a community center for much more than books. We are so lucky to have a beautiful building with natural light and wonderful spaces to enjoy many neighborly experiences.

As a preschool, we regularly uses this library to get books that  reflect  activities in the classroom and  children’s interests. The book collection offers so much to choose from; the  56,000 books is very thoughtfully  and well put together. This collection is loaded with current titles and excellent breadth of subjects. The librarians are very knowledge,  always able to guide with great suggestions. There are movies to rent and books on tape. They have a program that allows interlibrary

The library is much more than books. It offers a wide variety of programs such ascomputer classes, author program, architectural lectures, monthly book discussions, music performances, chess, and a quilting circle.

One of the lesser known treasures of the library that I have been wanting to try is the Scrabble Club. I love Scrabble but I am part of a family who are not enthusiasts. On Saturday morning, people with all levels of skills put their Scrabble boards under their arms and come to the community room to find a similarly skilled partner. I loved the friendships and goodwill that were evident the day I visited.

The children’s story hours are always lovely and many of the preschool families have enjoyed many hours with well-chosen books.

A library card and the Los Feliz Library are definitely a passport to hours of enjoyment.

For Last Minute Boxing and Shipping Needs

No matter how we try and how careful we are in our planning, there is always something that needs to ship at the last minute. Box Brothers on Hillhurst Ave (http://www.boxbrosla.com/boxtest/store-locations/box-bros-los-feliz-village) has everything you need. They can do any kind of shipping from electronics to antiques and also provide a valet boxing pick-up service if you aren’t able to get to the store (or want to avoid long lines).  They will also assist you in helping to find the exact size box you need so you can pay for only what you need. They have loads of packing materials as well. They save us every year.

I wish you a wonderful holiday and a great new year.

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