Chicken Shawarma

As promised, here is the recipe for the chicken we used for our chicken shawarma pitas today! 
The geeky goodies crew prepared the tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley for the mediterranean salad that we piled on top.  We also tried arugula and a creamy yogurt sauce.

The Final Stretch!

Can you believe it's already the last week of summer school?!  We have been doing so much reading and cooking and crafting that it's just flown by.  However, the best is still yet to come!  If you haven't already, check out our flickr photo account with pictures from all of our classes (see link to the left).  I update this the most frequently, about every day or two. 

Hogwarts students celebrated Harry's 11th birthday with cupcakes sent by Hagrid himself.  Once wands had chosen their students, all first years learned their first incantation...Wingardium Leviosa, under the supervision of Professor Flitwick.

In Magizoology, we are following in the footsteps of the illustrious magizoologist, Newt Scamander.  Every day we encounter a different fantastic beast and diligently record our sightings in our field journals.  Perhaps we'll see a dragon this week? 

The American Girls have been trying out recipes inspired by the historical characters, especially those of Felicity, Kit and Molly.  We have made crafts like punched "tin" art, tissue paper flowers, and even had a doll photoshoot.

Last week, Camp Half-Blood was visited by a reporter from the South Pasadena Review who will be featuring our class in a story.  Look for it sometime in the next week or two.  Percy and his faithful companions have been spending some time in the armory, which has been helpful on their quest to face the God of the Underworld, Hades.  They did have to stop to rest and refuel a couple of times, notably with Delphi Strawberries, ambrosia and nectar.

Finally, the house elves are pleased to report that the student trainees are doing better than expected helping out in the kitchen.  However, it does seem that they are sampling a bit too zealously, especially when there's custard or pasties involved.  Hardly anything makes it out to the Great Hall for supper!

P.S.  If you are a wizarding or half-blood family, look out for the movie permission slip, we'll need those if we want to watch either of the Harry Potter movies or Percy Jackson!  You can also email me at miss_cong [at] hotmail.com if you didn't get the form or have lost it.

Welcome to SPEF Summer School 2018!

P. 1 Hogwarts School of Wizardry
P. 2 Magizoology
P. 3 American Girl Cooking and Crafting
P. 4 Camp Half-Blood
P. 5 Hogwarts Kitchen

Don't forget to check out the links to the left, especially our flickr account and follow me on Instagram (@teaching_magic)!

Check back for updates and additional activities/recipes. 

Summer School 2017 is Coming to an End!

Dear Families,

We have had an amazing three weeks of summer school so far, but like all good things, this too must come to an end!

If you haven't already, check out the flickr account!  There are photos from all of our classes and even from our Wizarding World meetup.  On your computer, you will see a list of relevant links to the left, this may not be available on all devices.  If you don't see the list, never fear, the link is here:  flickr

You can also check out our Instagram account, @teaching_magic

Also, please sign and return our movie permission slip.  The Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts movies are rated PG/PG13, so we need a parent signature!  This will go out Monday, if you do not receive one, or lose it, just copy/paste/print and send it in.  :)

Alternately, email me at miss_cong[at]hotmail.com

There's still a ton of fun to be had, and lots more pictures to post, so keep checking in this week!

Welcome to Summer School 2017!

Welcome to A.V.!  This year, I am based in Room 101.  We have been having a great week so far, and are looking forward to sharing it with you!

All families should have received a newsletter this week, which needs to be signed and returned.  If you are in more than one of my wizarding classes, you only need one, simply check the correct class. American Girl has a separate form.  If you did not receive one, I have extra copies by the door or you can print the PDF I will send in an email.

I'll be posting photos on flickr shortly, check back frequently for new pictures!  I believe you can still download them for free.

If you are a wizarding family, you may also have received information about a Wizarding World of Harry Potter meet up this Friday.  Since, like me, many wizarding families have annual passes to Universal Studios, I thought it might be fun to have an informal hang out at the park.  I am planning to take the Metro from the South Pasadena station at around 3PM, check out the rides and attractions, have dinner, and leave around 9-10PM.  There may also be a photo scavenger hunt (more details later), with a small prize for the winner.  Feel free to join me for any or all of the activities.  I will post my whereabouts that day on Instagram, so follow me @teaching_magic for updates.  

You will need to purchase your own admission and provide your own transportation (you can come with me on the Metro if you like, but will need to pay your own fare). Students must be accompanied by an adult (additional guests are welcome).  

Go Metro to Universal Studios Hollywood

I'll be at the Metro station at 3PM, let me know if you want to come with me so I can wait for you. Otherwise, you can follow these instructions to get to Universal.

From South Pasadena:

Look for this parking structure if driving to the station:

There may be a $3 charge for parking.  

Walk to the station.  Then purchase/reload your TAP card, the machine is to the right of this picture.  

Each person needs their own card and it costs $1 (keep the card for future trips).  Load the card with at least $3.50 to cover the round trip.  Don't put too much on it as the value does sometimes expire!

At the platform, make sure you're on the side headed to East Los Angeles.

Get off at Union Station.  Follow the signs to get to the Red Line platform.  Take the Red Line headed to North Hollywood.

Get off at Universal City, the station should look like this:

Go upstairs and make a left at this sign: 

Cross the pedestrian bridge:

The tram stop is right there: 

This will take you all the way to the area between the front gates and CityWalk.

Meet in front of the Forbidden Journey.  See you inside!

Two Weeks Down!

The first two weeks have just flown by!  Here's what you may have missed:

In American Girl Today we finished up McKenna and are moving on to Lea, Girl of the Year 2016, for week 3 and 4.  Lea loves adventure and photography and will journey to Brazil, where her brother is studying the rain forest.  

Last week, the American Girl Forever character was Felicity, a free-spirited girl who loved horses and was dealing with the tense times leading up to the Revolutionary War.  This week will be  Samantha Parkington, a girl growing up at the turn of the 20th century.  Samantha fought for the rights of child laborers and her Aunt Cordelia for women's voting rights.  

In Hogwarts, students visited Diagon Alley, where Mr. Ollivander provided them with wands.  There were Rowan, mahogany, ebony and holly wood wands with one of the following cores: Phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, veela hair, thestral tail hair or unicorn hair.  On their train journey, they learned about famous witches and wizards through chocolate frog cards.  They finally made their way to the castle and have been sorted!  Everyone is enjoying sending Owl Post to their friends and participating in potions class with other houses.  Next week promises to be full of even more surprises!  

In the land of Chewandswallow, we have been making apple pies and cheeseburger sliders, not to mention trying candy making with chocolate dipped marshmallows.  We even made a s'more inspired marshmallow, dipped in chocolate and graham cracker crumbs.  

Finally, in the American Girl Kitchen, we tried (and failed!) to make benne candy.  The recipe we got from American Girl omitted butter, which we are sure was a major ingredient!  We'll try that again at a later date.  We also made Kirsten's apple tarts, Coney Island hot dogs like Rebecca would have eaten, and French toast (invented to use up leftover bread and popular during the rationing era of WWII).  

We hope you are enjoying the Independence Day holiday and we'll see you Tuesday!