Good Things

I am going to focus on good things this month. I have had enough of worrying about things that may not even happen. Work was going kind of ok until Friday, when we had feedback-not personal but a kind of summary of the main points of the observations that went on on Thursday. (This took place in our briefing meeting immediately before school) The main points I remember from this feedback are that we are not in as bad a state with teaching and learning as the other school that he took over was at the start, and, that some teachers are lazy. Well after that comment and the shocked silence that greeted it, I kind of stopped listening or taking in what was being said. I think it is a terrible thing to say to a roomful of people who, as far as I know work extremely hard, care a lot about the children they teach, and also, I am guessing, would mainly take this comment to heart and think it was aimed at them. (I include myself here!) It may well be a tactic to get us all to worry and work even harder. But it is not a good tactic in my opinion. It is a demoralizing comment to make, especially to a staff who have had a very demoralizing year. It also reminds me of that poor teaching strategy, which I have seen in action on occasion, and probably did when young and inexperienced, of telling off the whole class for the bad behaviour of one or two people. Not good. So, after a lovely weekend, but one overlayed with worry, I have decided to try to be positive, do what I have to do, and ride out the storm! So, no more about school for a while (unless of course it is about something lovely the kids have done), but instead those things that cheer me up each day. 

 Me and my friend Sarah (over from Holland this weekend) enjoying curry and wine on Saturday. We went to a restaurant called Cinnamon. The food was delicious and quite unusual.

 Salmon, dill mayonnaise, crunchy lettuce, marinated cucumber all on delicious rye bread with caraway seeds in. This is what Andy made for tea last night. It was lovely!

 Cassie being adorable.

 Ellie in my class shares my liking for stones and shells. But I was surprised and touched to be brought this stone in the shape of a heart from her seaside trip this weekend. How did she know I would love it?!
The other thing is a ladybird on a leaf pom pom. I had PPA this morning so had lunch at home. I was watching the Create and Craft channel and they were promoting pom pom makers. The lady demonstrating shared very quickly how to make things-animals mainly by winding the yarn in certain ways. You do a simple picture on a circle, fold it in half then try to follow it. I have not had a go at any more yet but am about to. I am most pleased with my ladybird!

These are my latest slippers. I used the chunky yarn. It is slightly scratchy on the feet but they are so thick I can use them over thin socks. They were quick to make with this yarn. I now have three cat baskets so am starting on the other four my sister wants. ( I don't know if I mentioned I sent her one for her birthday and all her cats want to go in it-she has five!) I also have some more Amineko cats to make for my friend-she took a couple back home this weekend that I made ages ago for her kids, and now would like some more. Enough crocheting 'til Christmas probably!

Fresh Air

A quick trip out yesterday lead to us discovering somewhere new. We were going to go to a country park not too far from here but decided it would be really busy as it was such a lovely day. So we then decided on Rochester. There was something called The Sweep's Festival on there so it was impossible to park. So we drove up and out a different way to normal, as I remembered a car park round the back somewhere. We couldn't find that, but kept going along a lovely road leading out of the town with some beautiful buildings along it. We saw a sign to Borstal Marina so, after driving a bit further, turned around and came back, hoping to find somewhere to have lunch.We ended up in a little village called Wouldham. It had a pub and parking hurray! It is in a valley with the Medway river at the bottom. We didn't actually get too close to the river in the end, but will go back some other time to try to do that. As we drove out of the village a different way, we had a lovely view of the valley and the chalk cliffs behind. It felt quite removed from everywhere in a strange and slightly magical way.

Flower Observational Drawings

Here are a few of the drawings my class did. They had white and pink freesias, purple tulips, and white and pink roses. We did lots of talking about the shapes and colours they could see as they were working. Some of them found it really hard to do but kept trying. 

 The white rectangle shape at the bottom of Amy's drawing is the water bottle the flowers were in. She did this part with no suggestions or talk. She has got the horizontal lines on the bottle and also has managed to convey that it is round as her lines go off either side of her main shape.

You can see what a different stage Issa is at. He mainly concentrated on matching the colours which he could do, and has made a good try at a leaf shape.

 Kate mixed the two colours together after I explained that you could do that with pastels. I love the way she has talked about doing a flick here. (Relates to letter shape writing-I am always going on about a flick!)

 I love Caitlin's interpretation of the pointy rose leaves. 

 Aidan managed to get the shape of the tulip, its petals and leaves very well. There was a palm leaf in another bottle, and the pink angular lines on the left are his interpretation of this.

Liam's is the one that makes me most proud-he is a very sensitive boy who can be upset by the slightest thing at times. He tries to fight against it but sometimes he just can't and he just has to cry. I feel so sorry for him, all the more so because I was (and still am sometimes) like him and I know how hard it is to be like that. He has come on so far and has worked really hard to overcome his worries. Anyway, as I was talking to him about his drawing, I asked him to look again at the tulip leaf as he had done it purple and I wondered if he wanted to change the colour. This set him off I am afraid. So we had a big talk, part of which was that it is your picture and if you want to do a green leaf purple then you can! (Art can't be wrong kind of idea) The reason I am proud if him is the way he sorts himself out and can talk about what he is worried about and get over it much more quickly than at the beginning of the year. And because he has done a pretty good job at drawing his tulip!

New Term, New Start

Yesterday was the first day back after Easter-an inset day to get to know the new Head a little and for him to talk to us about his ideas and philosophies. It was interesting and hopeful. Tonight we went to his other school to talk to the teachers, look at the learning environment and look at work. This was also good. It will be interesting to see how things progress. 

 We are learning about growing plants this term-starting with beans. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk will continue our traditional stories, and links to the topic so that is the story we will start with. The adults are acting the story for the children tomorrow, then on Friday I will be telling the story with my crochet Jack characters. The giant is understandably cross and Jack is strangely big headed but hopefully they will be well used. The story is such a confused one both in terms of what actually happens, and the morals of it all. Both Jack and the Giant are implicated in stealing but, depending on the version you are reading or telling it is not always made clear who is the real 'baddie'. It is easier to see Jack as the bad one as he steals from the giant in a very obvious way. But what is the character of the old lady all about? Yes, she tricks Jack with her beans not money for the cow, but she must know they are magic and will lead him to the gold. Also she saves Jack from the giant. Who is she?! Jack's Mum seems to be the only straightforward character-oh, and Daisy the cow.

 Jack's Mum's extravagant hair made her head so heavy it went floppy and had to be reinforced with lots of stitching. Looks weird close up but it worked. Daisy the cow, and the basket were both boot fair bargains found at the perfect time.

 As well as growing, we are also looking at different types of flowers and drawing and painting them, to decorate our soon to be role play flower shop. I had a good time today with the children doing observational drawing and learning the names of the flowers and parts of the flower. They really tried hard and made their drawings more and more like the actual flower. I have used water bottles still in their shrink wrap packets-they worked really well. They will then be cut in half and used as the planting pots for the beans next week. So that the children can see what is happening and keep our bean diary. I will take some photos of their drawings tomorrow to show you.

Lily and the Camera

For some reason, whenever I get my big camera out Lily is terrified. I wanted to take a picture of her sitting in the sun this morning with the fluffy new fennel behind her. I tried to hide the camera by my side till I got nearer to her but she saw me coming and was off! 

 Mid jump!

 Then I was just left with the garden. I had a massive tidy up the other day, mainly of the out of control Jasmine bush. I came away looking like I had been attacked but it is much better now and the roots of my irises are exposed to the sun like they should be. I washed the yard too after getting rid of accumulated rubbish, then the other day I bought some cheap bedding from the supermarket-petunias and sweet peas, and have dug out all my lovely pots and planted them in the hope of later colour.

 The fennel is really getting going now. I look forward to it getting really tall and jungle like again this year. 

Swans at Thamesmead

Dungeness

Andy and I went to Dungeness again today. I don't need to say how much I love it there as I am sure I may have mentioned it before. Lots of people there today, including people doing this strange sport. Kite surfing I imagine it is called but I don't know. We had fish and chips in the car overlooking the beach, as the pubs were heaving. We had just started to eat when we were treated ( I speak sarcastically) to the sight of a young man's goose pimply bottom as he hastily got changed next to his orange surfmobile. The fish and chips were not spoilt however!

 You can see the way the shingle forms dunes and the way the sea kale colonizes them in lines. 

 The sea looked very muddy. When the sun came out it turned parts of it this strange green, though it was greener than this in reality.

 This is Prospect Cottage, Derek Jarman's home. I have never taken a photo of it before as I feel it is still someone's home and it seems like an invasion of privacy to do so. However, today there was a whole family tramping around the garden so I thought 'why not?'

 This is Katsuma. He is a Moshi Monster. I know nothing about them other than the children in my class really like them. I found him and a soft toy talking version of another one called Poppet in the charity shops in Morningside. He was 30p and just had to come home with me. I took him to Dungeness to take photos of him on the beach but forgot at first. He likes Derek Jarman's house. And his weird distorted reflection in my car bonnet.

 Coast Drive, opposite the carpark and near the chip shop and railway line for the miniature train. 

Look out, the tiny train is coming!

 

Isn't it cute?

 Beautiful euphorbia in front of this round building.  

 Katsuma on the picnic table. 

 And looking through the round window.