Got lost

Thank goodness!   I`ve found my blog.   I couldn`t get in for ages...forgot details.   Anyway, I`ve found it and so I`m off and running.
Have had an amazing year so far.   Found and fallen in love with Sir Ken Robinson and went to a presentation on Inquiry learning by Aussie, Kath Murdoch.   She hit the nail on the head for me.  Her words just "painted the picture" with clarity.   I`m catching on, at last, to the fact that elearning is just SO important.  I thought that the kids that were referred to me for help, really needed the 1-1, hands-on with me, with magnetic letters etc for spelling knowledge, how words work etc, but last week, the seniors, some of whom are very needy in spelling (dyslexic), asked if they could write another article.   It is real, it is now and it is what will help them the most.   Sure there is a place for my 1-1, hands-on with magnetic letters, BUT, what is real is them, thinking about presenting some writing to the world, for others to read and comment about. 
I`m following Sir Ken Robinson and Aussie Tony Ryan, because they are funny, informative, challenging and are driven to improve learning for others.    Sir Ken Robinson, is into saving creativity - can you imagine...we have to save it.  I look at the demise of a lot of fine arts, dramatic arts, music, movement etc in the every day running of our school and I shudder. 
I just wanted to reflect on how i`m in there and grabbing all the ops I can from our mentor, Lorraine, as she finishes with us at the end of the year.   I`m with a group who have skyped and that is a great tool, and we will follow up with that.   I am blogging myself and refining the blog on class-blogmeister to give the kids ops to continue to use elearning tools.
Seize the day.

Went AWOL

How I`d love to go into school on Monday, and set up a "Tinkering Classroom", where the kids can come in and build whatever they`d like to from whatever is there! I`d have electrical tools, bits of wood, nails, hammers ...all sorts. There would be a few rules around the tools and they could go for it. Saw a clip on the TED site and man, how i agree with that dude...sorry, forgotten his name...but what he has done....set up a tinkering school. Kids made a roller coaster and even a swing bridge out of plastic shopping bags! Great co-operation, problem solving, life do I hear you say.

Fantastic break

Great holiday break over past 2 weeks. Time to rest and recreate...had time with my Mum and caught up briefly with some family members in Pukekohe, NZ.

Gathered small self-set kowhai seeds in the bush where I live. Collecting was sheer joy: tui in the tree, sucking nectar from the kowhai flowers, busy little insects all over the leaf litter as I searched for wee plants, wind in my hair...great to be alive.

Trying to grow some seeds...it`ll be fun that is for sure.

The end of Term 3 approaches

Where has the term gone? I start every end-of-term post with that I`m sure. Very full term and of course, time appears to go by with more speed...I loved the term. I loved the young students I worked with...such wonderfuly little creatures, who embrace what comes their way, with much gusto and verve. Mostly boys so they are straight up and as honest as the day is long....or as I have been bemoaning, as honest as the day is short!!!
Bring on the 2 week break. Chance to rest and recharge batteries, do some art work and visit family and friends.

The next chapter in Toe by Toe

Up and running with our next lot of children, to introduce them to Toe by toe, a small step by step programme, structured to teach them to decode, using sounds - short vowels and consonants first. It is something that can help children who struggle with learning to read, because of various reasons - dyslexia, developmental delay and the list may go on.
I`m so excited for them as we have senior students, acting as tutors. Watch this space...I`ll keep you posted!!!

Meet my Mum - Heather Watson

Mrs Heather Watson was born Heather Blakemore,on 28 March, 1924, in Auckland to Ivy Ellen Malin and Claude Costello Blakemore. She had one sister, June and one brother, Boden, both of whom, were younger. She spent the early years of her life, in Wellington, where she was educated at Beramphore Primary school and Wellington Technical College. She played netball for sport and matriculated before leaving school. She met her future husband when mail she was sending to her cousin, inadvertently went to him, in Egypt, during the second world war. On his return in 1945, they met for the first time and after a few months, they were engaged. They married on 26 october, 1946 in Lower Hutt. Ooops!! I forgot to tell you my Dad`s name. Henry William Kennedy Watson, from Taihape. Dad was offered a job in Pukekohe and so they moved there and set up house. Their eldest child, Lynn Heather, was born on 19 June, 1948, Wendy Beth (me), came along on 31 May, 1951, twins Brenda Gay and Bruce Henry on 11 August, 1957 and finally, Neil Brian on 31 December, 1959. For most of their married life, they live in Tuakau. My Dad, Henry William Kennedy Watson, passed, on 15 July, 2003. Heather sold her property in Tuakau and purchased a 2 bed-roomed unit in Pukekohe in April 2006, and she is as happy as a `pig in lettuce`there since. I ring my Mum at 7.00pm each evening to have a chat and a catch-up and to let her know, I love her.
God Bless you Heather, you are a treasure and one of a kind!

Meet the trilogy

Meet Lazzie. Ebony, well-upholstered and shiny. He joined the household back in 2007. He showed himself in the bush and J. fed him and after about 8 months of this, he came inside. Lazzie was originally named Blackie. " How original, " do I hear you say? One morning, when I was on breakfast fatigue, I glanced outside and saw this black shape lying in the garden. I told J. that Blackie was lying in the garden...very, very still. Thinking the worst, I suggested that she go and have a look. I heard, her ask "where in the garden is he?" "Under the tree", said I. After a couple of minutes searching, she yelled out, "that is a piece of black weed mat!" Hence him being renamed, Lazarus....Lazzie for short! The vet estimates that he is about 4 years old.

Lucy, half and half, half tabby and half tortoise-shell, is 16 years old. She was dumped by some lovely thoughtful soul, by the BP pumps at Lake Rotoma, on a cold, very wet May day, back in 1993. Terry, the manager and J. rescued the wee ball of wet fluff and J. dropped her off to me, snug and cozy in bed, because it was the school holidays. We named her Lucy, because of her bowels...very loose. Once she was wormed and cleaned up, she developed into a dear wee kitty. Has always been a home body and is not far from the noise of the shaken whiskas box. She has developed a thyroid problem - overactive, which in turn, has caused a heart murmur. Her back left foot, has an infected claw - hence the plaster on it, in the photo. The vet put a plastic collar on her...which stayed on for about 30 seconds, if that. We are not going to put her on to tablets for her thyroid because she gets so stressed and upset when you try to force anything into her...we will love her and care for her and let her live the rest of her life here, with us, for as long or as short as that maybe. We love Lucy.

Jack, the 8 year old tortoise-shell, makes up the third leg of the tripod! Like all tortoise-shell cats I have known, up close and personal (well, the only other one, the late, great Mister Mister)

he is a delightful, loveable, Barbara Streisand look alike! We got Jack from the SPCA, in late 2001 as a kitten. He bonded with me, as I was off work for the term, but he is more aligned with J. He has so much room, in which to roam and roam he does. Fussy eater and a dirty-stopout, he is gone at daybreak and wanders back, around tea time.