Colorado History Project

For the past few months, Marina's class has been studying Colorado history. Each student was assigned an important person to profile. Today they had their "wax museum," where they dressed as their historical figure and spoke as them. In addition, each created their own PowerPoint presentation about them as well.

Marina's subject was Josephine Aspinwall Roche. She was the first female policewoman in Denver. Later, she inherited her father's mine and campaigned for safely and better wages for miners. She worked for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington DC.

Marina was hesitant to let me see her presentation. Her teacher let me know she had done very well earlier n the day. Finally, she let me see it. I was impressed with the knowledge she had. I also got to see some of her classmate's presentations as well.

After the "wax museum," the students performed four Colorado themed songs. Marina even had a solo in one of them! It was clear the kids had fun with their projects.

Muffins for Mom

Every year, Marina's school schedules a breakfast the Friday before Mother's Day. We haven't made it there in a few years but Marina wanted to go this morning.

Just as we arrived, we heard someone calling Marina's name. It turned out to be her best friend with her mom. So there was no question of who we'd be sitting next to!

We were welcomed in and got to pick from a huge table of large muffins. Of course, Marina went right for the chocolate muffin. She was quite happy with that. We had a nice time eating our muffins and talking with our friends.

After eating our muffins, I walked the girls to their playground so they could go to class. After such a fun start to the day, I think they forgot they still had to go to school!

Eureka!

 Marina has been studying Colorado history this year at school. Today her class went on a field trip to a former gold mine and mill. Marina asked me to attend as a chaperone. Only five parents were allowed to come and I was fortunate to be one.

Marina was a bit disappointed that her good friends were all assigned to the first bus to the mountain town while she and I were on the second one. So I actually got to sit next to her on the ride. We saw some beautiful scenery on the way!

Once we arrived, Marina was happy to be reunited with her friends. The mine was incredible. It was built into the side of the mountain. We had to take a smaller bus to the entrance.We started by going into a small mine. We all wore hard hats inside and there was a small vein of gold still in the rock that we could see.

Next we saw a tunnel which was built for other mines to send their rocks to the mill so the gold could be extracted. Then we went into the mill. We saw where the rocks were smashed. We learned how cyanide and mercury were used in the process. Marina is researching Josephine Aspinwall Roche, a Colorado woman who worked for safer conditions for miners. I'm sure this experience will help her with that!


At the end of the tour, the kids all got to pan for gold. They found pieces of pyrite and small flecks of real Colorado gold. They were all encouraged to shout out "Eureka!" when they found it. That was by far the favorite part of the tour for all the kids.

At the end of the tour, everyone retrieved their lunches and we sat down to eat. The kids were pretty hungry by then. Once everyone had eaten, we all got back onto the buses for the ride back to school.

At the Hop

Every year, Marina looks forward to the Sock Hop at her school. This year was no different. She had outgrown the poodle skirt she wore the past two years, so we got her a new one this year. It was a bit too big for her, but we made it work.

To make the night even more special, we decided to have dinner at a 50's style diner. and we invited some friends to join us. The wait staff gushed over Marina's outfit and she was happy to show it off for them. We all enjoyed our dinner before going to the Sock Hop.

Marina met up with several of her friends and they got temporary tattoos and had their nails painted. Then they were ready to dance.

The Sock Hop started with the Limbo, always a favorite. Then the dancing started with some geared toward the younger kids. Marina didn't get excited until the Macarena played. She was more interested in the dancing than her friends, which annoyed her a bit. But nothing could stop her when Thriller started.

By the end of the Sock Hop, Marina was very tired, but she was happy!