Penguin Cake!

We're so proud of our class today: they made cake! Look! It even looks like a penguin!

They all love making 'cakes' in the sand and water trays, so we thought we'd extend their enthusiasm by giving them the chance to do the real thing. And it worked! They were (mostly) really good, listening to instructions and taking turns at doing 'special jobs'. There was, as far as I'm aware, only a tiny bit of surreptitious bowl-licking. One of them even suggested that we could all share the cake. This impressed us, because sharing was another reason for making cake (rather than, say, buns). It's something our class tends to struggle with. This afternoon, though, they all sat patiently and waited for a slice, and only one little boy complained that he wanted more (does that remind you of a song?)

Anyway, penguin cake created, decorated and consumed, children sent off home, bag re-packed for the weekend, I'm heading to the station to go and visit Noah. Wahoo! Have a fantastic weekend!

The Wind Blew

Outdoor play this morning saw a cluster of five-year-olds watching in astonishment as a piece of paper from the writing trolley was whisked back and forth about the playground by the unusually strong wind. They gave chase, but to no avail; the direction of its flight kept on changing. And then, suddenly, an upward gust caught the paper and it flew higher, higher, above the roof, over the school buildings and away! Everyone simply stared.

Pom-poms and streamers were in high demand; a toy pram blew over and the doll inside skittered across the tarmac; and the wind also took one of the more gauzy pieces of fabric from the dressing-up box. I couldn't help being reminded of Pat Hutchins' picture book The Wind Blew, and envisaging a similar scenario on Scarborough seafront, the wind mixing up all the things it had taken before suddenly flinging them down and blowing out to sea.

No such scene greeted me, however, when I finally made it down to the seafront this afternoon after finishing my planning. Despite living about three minutes' walk from the beach, it was the first time I'd seen the sea in about two weeks. Like they say, doing a PGCE does keep you busy! I didn't find any evidence that the wind had repented of its ways, however. I wonder if those half-finished drawings from school really did blow out to sea...

What, already?

"Humph was a camel with brown eyes, and his favourite word was 'humph'. Humph! His favourite word was 'humph'."

I am, I feel, quite as aware of this particular camel's vocabulary preferences as anybody needs to be. We're on a regime of two to three rehearsals a day for the songs in the Christmas play, and Humph's limited lexis (however precocious for an ungulate) is reiterated at the end of every verse of this one. I am similarly well-informed about the unceasing industry of Bethlehem's innkeepers, the shepherds' earnest desire to show the way, and the twinkling, diamond-like nature of a certain little star. The children sing beautifully (way better than I can) and I'm sure the extravaganza will be in every way delightful. I just wish those charming musical numbers would stay behind at school instead of interrupting my evening with well-meaning gallivants through my unsuspecting consciousness.

Anyway, the lights are up in town, I've been hearing suspiciously (un?)seasonal songs in the shops, and I received an advent calendar in the post this morning (thanks Mum!)

It may only be the middle of November, but it seems that Christmas 2009 is almost upon us...

Floating or sinking?

So I'm loving the teaching I'm doing, but absolutely hating the paperwork.

I had another observation today (apparently I was satisfactory/competent, which I'm embarrassed to say is better than last time round) and found out that I have, as I suspected, been missing some of the out-of-school work I'm supposed to be doing. It's not actually much (just a weekly evaluation sheet), but it's yet another fairly pointless document that I'm not really sure how to fill in. I've just started growling at it,* so I decided to write a bit of blog instead.

Floating and sinking in the water tray went well today. We provided a range of brightly coloured materials in addition to the usual ducks, jugs, bowls, foam shapes, etc, and asked all kinds of challenging questions. There were a few alarming comments (a solemn "If you sink you drown" was followed by another lad's "I've drowned three times!") but the concept was fairly well understood, and there were some nice attempts to make floating objects sink (dropping stones onto a piece of tin foil) and vice versa (impromptu boats included a wooden spoon and a strange confection of feathers and pipe cleaners - which I'm sorry to say was not as effective as its diminutive creator might have hoped). The plan is to expand that tomorrow by specifically requesting boats and challenging the children to get them (loaded with the penguin) from one end of the water tray to the other without touching them.

The way things are going at the moment, boat-building materials are likely to include several screwed up weekly evaluation sheets...

* Yes, literally.

Yesterday at school we watched a video of The First Christmas. Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she was going to have a baby, who would "become a great king". One little boy spoke up loudly, saying "The angel said that the baby would become a Viking!" I replied that the angel had said "a great king". "No!" insisted the boy, "A Viking!"

Today's activities included 'car writing' (on letter-shaped roads, with micro machines), counting playdough sausages, sellotaping sticks onto a cardboard house (for the Second Little Pig to live in, of course - we tried PVA glue but the sticks came off) and decorating biscuits to look (vaguely) like Pudsey the Bear. I was delighted when one boy actually spelt a word with the letter roads - it might not sound like much, but it's the first time I've ever seen any of them spelling a word unaided and I was very proud of him.

Next week we're going to be based in the water tray. We'll be reading Lost and Found (a lovely book about a penguin) and thinking of ways to get our own toy penguin to the, ahem, south pole. Hmm, what are the best boat-building materials to use with four-year-olds?

Plans...

Campus corridors this morning were rife with tired-looking but wanly smiling PGCE students clutching shiny sheaves of paper and armfuls of library books. Because - yes! - it was finally Handing-In Day for Assignment 1. And a good thing too really, as we're all in school for four weeks now, starting on Monday. I'm planning to spend this weekend, well, planning... that and visiting Doncaster. Oh, and attending the clothes swap at church tomorrow evening. I'm quite keen on this notion of clothes swapping - I think it's a bit like judicious use of charity shops, but rather quicker. As I understand it, people go along with clothes they find they never really wear, and come back having swapped them for clothes that someone else never really wears. Actually I think it's a great idea, because I always prefer wearing other people's clothes to my own. I wonder how long the clothes can be conned into believing they aren't really mine, and thus fitting me perfectly, feeling delightfully cosy and looking quite nice. I'll give it a couple of weeks.

Anyway... better go and turn that plan of planning into more than just a plan. After all, I need some good plans.

Today's list of likes and loves

I like fireworks!

I like the feeling of having finished your first assignment, printed it out, filled in a cover sheet and even found a plastic wallet to put it in (as required, bizarrely, by the university guidelines)

I love God

I like the fact that I'm going to be in school for four weeks starting on Monday!

I love it when you actually manage to help somebody, even if it's only a little tiny bit

I love the feeling of being part of a community, however small and however short the duration

I like the fact that my church is doing a clothes swap this weekend

I like reading a book that isn't assignment related

I don't love having water all over the floor and dripping wet clothes everywhere because something funny happened with the washing machine, but I'm mostly recovered from that now

I love Noah (oh so much)

I like writing my blog, even though I don't think anybody actually reads it

But if you are reading it, then I like you!

My Unexplained Absence Explained

Well. I haven't been here since Luke's birthday.

'Here' virtually, you understand. In physical terms I've been very much 'here' in Scarborough, and have even spent quite a bit of time 'here' in front of Gwyn [1], typing away. Since Sunday, most of that typing has been on my play essay. In fact you could say there's been a bit too much typing and my work would now benefit from some judicious use of the backspace button, as my assignment is currently about 1500 words too long. As Noah pointed out, I have an essay and a third. And I haven't even said everything yet!

Before Sunday, I found myself somewhat too busy to write for a rather more pleasing reason, namely the actual presence, right here, in my flat, of the aforementioned Noah! He was able to come and stay for a whole week, and it was fantastic. Anyone wanting directions on how to impress their girlfriend should apply immediately to him. I wasn't feeling too well, but it mattered not a bit: Noah did most of the cooking and all the washing up, and even made my packed lunch. He arranged some charming surprises for Roundabout Day [2]; he came to meet me from lectures, took me out for dinner, impressed me by cooking calzone, bought me an ice cream and told me bedtime stories. He even took my rubbish out and made me some delicious green bread [3].

All of which was wonderful. But the most wonderful thing of all wasn't being cared for in a truly decadent fashion. It was rather the pure joy of being close to the person I love so completely.


[1] My computer.
[2] Everyone celebrates Roundabout Day, don't they? 27th October? It's a very romantic story...
[3] Apparently it was supposed to be blue, but he was overly modest with the food colouring.