Zootopia

Week 23 – Zootopia Results

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Virtual school went very well this week. After a bit of a difficult morning waking up, Dragon rallied nicely and focussed very well on school.

The morning routine was back to normal, with Oh Canada, the bonjour song (she was asked to sing after and did very well), the petit prince song (she was asked to sing the lundi verse and did well), the jours de la semaine song, the mois de l’annee song, and then she was asked the names of the seasons.

They learned about the letter ‘j’ and she wrote several words that started with ‘j’. She was very excited to practice her printing with other kids.

The story was cute, about a fly that went to space. Then they watched a video about the way they bring food to space with Chris Hadfield. She was excited because she has his kid’s book The Darkest Dark. She loves it.

Math was about locations (far, near, in front, behind) and they played a game where the teacher told them where they had to go. Dragon got used to the words eventually. We’ll practice them. Then they did coding again, which she LOVES. She got to do 5 sets with the teacher, and then she did 5 more by herself. She had to tell the teacher the direction (haut, bas, droit, gauche). We’ll practice that more.

The last thing they did was dance, which she always enjoys doing.

Homeschool this week was pretty great as well.

Dance

She did ballet 2 times this week, and practiced doing the spilts. She also danced with her Yoshi.

Music

Piano: There was no full lesson this week. She practiced her finger movements for the five notes and her triads.

We have a new French playlist that I can play through the Google, with a variety of artists.

Crochet

She did several stitches this week.

Basic Information

We are working on yesterday (hier) and tomorrow (demain) around any given day. The months of the year is going well. We’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.

The saisons de l’année are all memorized. We’re working on how each of them feel and the types of things we can do during each of them.

When I ask her “combien” for any of the above, she now responds in complete sentences.

Printing words

Printing went very well this week. She had some issues with the letters on her own, but I think she just wasn’t concentrating.

Counting objects/math-type activities

She had no problems with the counting worksheet. She has been counting to 50 out loud (four days in a row she has remembered 16 without prompting!). On Friday, she counted to 70!

Math – the math went very well. She has been completing the worksheets with very little assistance.

We did coding through the computer program that the teacher gave us. I had Dragon say the direction before she clicked on it. She LOVES this game.

Storytime

We read stories from the teacher’s outline that was sent to us on Monday. She enjoyed that, and we will continue to do it next week.

We watched Vampirina in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!

Activity

Experiment Blue Eyes – I had her group the shapes by colour, and then by shape. Then I told her to put all the ones with angles in one group, and the circles in another. I told her that the angled ones were better. “Why?” she asked. “Why do you think?” I replied. “Maybe because there’s more of them?” she answered after a great deal of thought. “Is that a good reason?” I asked. “No!” immediate response from her. Then she added “the circles would feel sad.” So I told her, “oh, you’re right, the circles must be better, because there’s less of them.” And she vehemently shook her head. “Why not?” I asked. “Because they’re all shapes. They’re all the same thing.” she replied. I told her that she was correct, and we should never make someone feel bad about being who they are.

Thank you, Dragon. I didn’t even need to teach you the lesson today.

  • She’s disagreeing with me saying that one pile is better than the other

Shapes Activity – we used the book she made in Week 16 to identify the shapes

  • Using her book to find the names

Elephant rescues in Africa – we watched the video and Dragon was very sad that mother elephants had been killed or were dying. I got lots of cuddles. She was happy that the babies were taken care of and she liked watching them hold the bottle.

Week 23 – Zootopia

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I really wanted this movie during Black History Month, because the themes of prejudice are very obvious and provide a great springboard for discussion, especially for my child, who hasn’t been exposed to any direct prejudice.

Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (Please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
Watch movieExperiment Blue EyesLearn about elephantsShapes ActivityFlex

Summary of the week

Daily details:

Dance

Ballet and martial arts on alternate days

Music

Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano

Crochet

The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)

Basic Information

We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.

Printing words

In download materials

Counting objects/math-type activities

Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type –in download materials

Addition and pattern – worksheet

Storytime

Activity

Experiment Blue Eyes (link to experiment) – use different shapes in different colours and have them grouped in different ways, picking one group to be “lesser” each time. Does that make sense? No!

Elephant rescues in Africa (video)

Shapes Activity (print out in folder) – can make more shapes. Group them, name them, etc.

Next week: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

2020 JenEric Movie Reviews

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Hello Movie Lovers,

This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 73 films. Wow. Below is a list of them in decending star order. Within each catergory they are in alphabetical order.

5 Stars out of 5

4.5 Stars out of 5

4 Stars out of 5

3.5 Stars out of 5

3 Stars out of 5

2.5 Stars out of 5

2 Stars out of 5

1.5 Stars out of 5

1 Stars out of 5

0.5 Stars out of 5

What do you think? Do you disagree on any films?

Éric

Zootopia – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2016 movie Zootopia.

*This was my favourite movie of 2016*

Story

Fast paced, coherent, with several great messages. It’s strange watching it in a post-Trump world and seeing messages that were clearly political. If by political you mean: don’t profile people, be kind, don’t give in to fear, and don’t give up.

The structure of procedural and buddy cop movie is done very well, with lots of allusions to other movies, while keeping the twist fresh. It’s also re-watchable even if you remember the twist.

Score: 1

Characters

To build relatable characters it’s important that they have flaws and strengths. To make great characters you need to have those strengths and flaws be intrinsically linked. Judy’s hopeless optimism and refusal to quit are strengths but they also blind her to the obvious dangers and villains.

Nick’s clever mind and overthinking are great for hustles but they make him doubt everything people do.

Score: 1

Dialogue

There’s a lot said out loud and a lot said between the lines. This movie could have easily been bogged down with world building dialogue but is instead filled with wonderful lines. I love the evolution of Nick calling Judy “Carrots”.

I also love the Disney humour. Hearing Idris Alba say, “Life isn’t some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and all your insipid dreams magically come true. So let it go.” was just the kind of self-mocking humour I love.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

This movie is stunning and absolutely beautiful. Zootopia the city is as much a character as a setting and you quickly fall in love with it.

The music is perfect background and the Shakira song is catchy and inspirational.

Score: 1

Fun

Other than the press conference scene, I smile and laugh all the way through. It’s a movie that makes you think about the world you live in and the prejudices, while still making silly sloth jokes.

Score: 1

Overall

This movie is wonderful and has everything I’m looking for. There are a few contrived moments and it’s not absolutely perfect but it makes up for it in humour, heart, and making you think.

If you haven’t seen it, now is the time.

Final Score: 5 Stars*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

2016 Movie Ranking

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Hello Everyone,

Movies can be amazing or absolutely horrible. Below is the list of movies that came out this year that I saw and how I rank them. As usual, there are a lot more that I want to see.

My rankings are a combination of how much I liked the movie and if I’d be willing to rewatch it.

  1. Zootopia
  2. Moana (A by-the-numbers Hero’s Journey that hits every note perfectly. The music was fantastic.)
  3. Finding Dory
  4. Deadpool
  5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  6. Kubo and the Two Strings (A by-the-numbers Hero’s Journey that hits every note perfectly. The music was fantastic. The only reason it isn’t higher is the awkward pseudo-Japanese flavour that rings a little false without any main characters, writers, or directors being from the culture.)
  7. Ghostbusters (I really enjoyed this. So much so I saw it twice. I like it better then the original.)
  8. Star Trek Beyond (Best of the trilogy and the one that felt most like Star Trek.)
  9. The Jungle Book (Way better than the animated one with one of the best performances I’ve seen.)
  10. Hail, Caesar! (Loved this movie but I wish I had a list of movies it was referencing so I could get all the jokes.)
  11. Captain America: Civil War (This was fun, but for a movie called Captain America, it had very little Captain America. There’s a reason people call it Avengers 2.5)
  12. Doctor Strange (A solid Marvel origin story for another white, snarky, male hero. But let’s be honest, we’ve seen this movie before.)
  13. Rogue One (This was an okay movie but wasn’t all that good. Mostly just meh)
  14. X-Men: Apocalypse (So much money spent on big battles. I find I don’t really care about these movies anymore.)
  15. Suicide Squad (Trainwreck but kinda fun. I talked about it here)
  16. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (I saw the theatrical version and it was one of the worst things I’ve seen.)

Do you disagree? Let me know what your favourite movie was.

Éric