Saturday...

Hope your weekend is off to a ood start.The sun is shining here and it's so lovely to open the windows and let the fresh air fill the house.I can't believe another week has flown by but my tired eyes and aching body tell me it must have done.

Teaching is tremendously rewarding and uplifting at times but working with  children all day is mentally exhausting.Things are even more stressful as our school has merged with another school and there are to be thirty eight redundancies across the board.As I am just a few years too young to take voluntary redundancy without it affecting my pension, so I am spending the weekend filling in an appliction for my job.We have to have an interview and then wait until the end of term to find out if we are employed or not.

I've thrown a few pity parties for myself,felt angry,sad,sick,ill,weepy and today I am Pollyanna.There are thousands of people going through similar situations,life is a recession.This is the way it is and non of it's life threatening.So that said,I am going get rid of the grey in my hair,sort out my diet(.We were laughing at school yesterday saying that they will have to widen the doorways if this goes on much longer, as we are all comfort eating for England and blaming our thyroids) and generally stop moping about.Fortunately I have the shop to distract me,sadly not enough to employ me full time as both son and husband also draw a wage from the business.Anyway,hope you and yours are well and happy.

Forget the week and have a great weekend

Anne x

Back to school.......

As part of our commitment at school we have to offer after-school activities or lunchtime clubs to all our pupils.Over the years I have done many things,ornithology,calligraphy,art & craft,model making,knitting,nature club and gardening.However,I like to have a change and far better to do something that I enjoy rather than just filling in time.So last term I started a Junior chef club,which has been so popular and is is a real pleasure to teach.I have thirteen very enthusiastic chefs(aged 8-10yrs) who have their own aprons,chopping boards and peelers etc.We have learned how to make  soup,bread,chutney,pies,crumbles and sauces and then lately we did  cakes,mince pies and then finished the term with cake decoration which was really enjoyable.I just wanted to show you some of their efforts. Children are far more conditioned to' have a go and never mind the consequences' and I let them loose with fondant icing and edible glitter etc and they had a wonderful time......I think they did really well.

My other club is on a Tuesday lunchtime and I teach sewing to twenty girls aged

(5to10 yrs}They start off with very simple things like needlecases and pincushions and then graduate onto embroidery,patchwork,cushions and bags.Some of the older girls use the machine and are learning to cut out patterns.We have made heart cushions for mothers day, mice,angels and this term we made owls out of felted woolly jumpers and stuffed them with lentils and kapok so they are like beanie owls.

Here are a few of the finished, rather quizzical looking owls.

So I am happy to be at school again. I am not a great cook or particularly skilled with a needle but I am keen to pass on the domestic arts and I think it is really important not to just teach but to inspire and enthuse children.....and sadly many of these things are no longer on offer in our schools.

Have a great weekend

Anne x

Infant Art...

One of the most rewarding things about teaching infants is their total lack of inhibition when it comes to being creative.They don't faf around or agonise over colours or wonder about the end result..they just do it and I am always amazed by their ingenuity.I treach both year one and two (aged 5-7yrs) and as art is one of my huge loves we do a lot of it and I always try to incorporate a creative angle in all that we do...bon voyage cards for migrating swallows...sleep signs for hibernating hedgehogs..They are always making and cutting and sticking and love designing...so I thought Id show you some of our recent seasonal work..The pictures aren't the best as the light was not great but  it gives you an idea....

This is a handprint hedgehog by a five year old.

This is a collaborative efffort.All the children painted and cut out letters spelling autumn then I just let them loose with the pritt sticks and this is what they did...I love ..love ...love it.

This was a colour mixing exercise witht he five year olds..We displaed them altogether like an autumn patchwork blanket..

These are sunflowers based on Van Gogh's interpretation...They had a lot of fun making these and then used pastels and acrylics to give the flowers somr depth..They look so effective and the whole exercise incorporates a lot of different skills...

This is my favourite.These blackberries are again a collaborative exercise where each team had to make huge blackberries after sponging lots of different shades.It isn't finshed yet as it needs a spider and a web and some much bigger leaves..I will show the final result after half term...I love it as it's sculptural qualityis really effective.The photo doesn't really do it justice.Anyway thought you'd enjoy a glimpse of my world, at school.