Thursday 26 September 2013

Meet the Neighbours

As Leenie said yesterday doing something like this really does make you appreciate those who do it well. Nick Parks and Oliver Postgate I salute you! 
The second film has a narration. I am not at all sure about my voice when I hear it like this but this was about my tenth attempt so I give up! The film plays as you record so you can see where you are up to. It would probably help to decide what to say before pressing record!

Wednesday 25 September 2013

More Films

The Girl and the Daisies

SMILE

The Snail and the Lady

Tuesday 24 September 2013

The Baby and the Crocodile.

Our staff meeting tonight was a long one-but a good one. We finally got to have a go on the school ipads, and made a book and a simple movie. It made me come home and search for stop motion animation apps as I want to make those rather than movies and I have made a (very silly) film! It is the scary and sinister tale of a baby and a crocodile. I hope the quality comes out ok-the uploading part of it is a bit of trial an error at the moment. But such fun!

Monday 23 September 2013

Little Films

Time lapse housework.
Spitfire flypast.
Cassie playing. I sorted all my wool out yesterday. Cassie likes to help with these sorts of jobs.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Salute to the Forties Part Two.

 Hair
 Iron
 Lean
 Lunch
Newsagent
 Girl through window.
 Man with difficult chair.
 Nurse and friend.
 Elegant couple.
 Photographer
 Friend of the singer.
 Pipe and headscarf. I can't tell if this man is in costume or not. He would fit into either era.
 Red and green.
Red shoes.
Stylish family.
Green dress.
 Scarves and machines.
 Reflection. I was looking at the reflection of the soldier when I took this but I am in there too.
 Train carriage. 
 Pugilist thighs.
 National treasures.

Salute to the Forties Part One

We went to this event at Chatham Dockyard a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, so we booked to go again this year. Lots of great costumes on show. Lots of lovely stalls too but an unfortunately horrible lunch-apart from the spam sandwich (themed sandwiches) which was ok.
 Army
 Babes. Real baby in one, pretend baby in the other. The wicker rolls royce of the pram world. I wonder if they are Lloyd Loom?
Boy reading.
 Incongruous bag.
 Rochester Cathedral in the distance, from on board a boat.
 Crowd waiting for a Spitfire.
 Walking the dog.
 Evacuee choir. They were a children's theatre group. The little girl with one sock lower than the other at the end of the top line was my favourite. She was really putting her heart into it.
 Feather
 Fez
 Floral
Food
 Goose figurehead.
 Gossip
 I'm over here.
Grown

Thursday 19 September 2013

Moon, Flowers, White Box

Last night's moon.
 An arrow pointing to tonight's moon, (which looked huge for a short while)
 and, when looking from this angle, 
 looked like a giant lightbulb.
 A light looking a little like a large moon.

 A box painted white, with small toys that were just lying around, making a room for this Bob the Builder character. Her work here is done, so she's off on the train to Saltburn.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

This Is It

I keep forgetting that this is now my classroom and I do not have to move again. It is a nice classroom in terms of light and size. But it has been a struggle making sense of it because there is virtually no storage, and every wall has a door, a radiator or a window getting in the way. We have an awful lot of stuff despite having thrown away a lot. The things we have kept are largely ok, but as I said, there is nowhere to put them. We will be getting some more storage eventually, and this will mean more hours of rearranging and sorting when there is really no time for that kind of thing in the day or after school. The good things about the room are that there are toilets and a sink! Basics really but as we haven't had those in our classrooms for the last two years they seem like luxuries. So who needs coat pegs and cupboards, or a draining board when you have toilets and a sink?! Below are a few pictures of the nearly finished article, with some areas still to tweak. The first lot of kids were in today and that went pretty well so all good really. 
Cassie had a blood test last night and I should get the results on Thursday. She may then have to have an x-ray. She was absolutely petrified at the vet's and when he got the shaver out to shave her neck for the needle she was shaking. I had to hold her head while he made a first attempt as the nurse was busy. She moved and he only got a little blood. So then the nurse came and held her much more firmly so he could get enough. You should have seen her face afterwards! Anyway, she seemed fine when she came home so fingers crossed.
My chair, visual timetable, weather chart and behaviour chart.
Humpty Dumpty ready for action!
The music area complete with child puppets.
The book corner with my home made cushions. 
The afternoon children put all the animals to bed and used the cushions as pillows.

My desk and the desk we are going to let the children use. Next door's teacher didn't want a desk so we have two. Last year the kids were always wanting to sit at my desk so this year they have their own! It is tidier than this tonight. The new teacher is great. Very easy to work with and full of good ideas. The whole team we have in the foundation stage are good. We are working together much more as we are sharing a large outdoor area. It is still a bit of a work in progress but we are getting there!