….it’s amazing what young children can do when challenged
I introduced this lesson to my students in grades 3, 4 and 5. In previous lessons we had discussed foreground, background, horizon line and overlapping to create depth. The lesson came from Natalie over at Smart Class. Don’t let one point perspective scare you away. This lesson is so well laid out that success is almost guaranteed. For some reason the boys really liked this lesson. I’m very pleased with the finished products.
….. temperatures were holding steady around the 0 degree (freezing) mark
It was a lovely balmy day and the ice and snow on the sidewalks and roads are now melting away at an alarming rate. By tomorrow we should have a slushy mesh as the temperatures rise to six degrees (well above freezing).
The good thing about the warmer temperatures today was that the roads had cleared enough to make driving doable and bearable. I drove downtown to meet up with my daughter, A and her partner, J to check out the Junction Flea Market. We’re not quite sure why it was held in the Queen West area when the Junction is north and further west but the Great Hall housed the affair and the turn out was good.
After a coffee, a few Asian dumplings and purchasing a couple of old record albums, some flowers and a vase we headed north to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). The girls wanted to see the Evan Penny show and today was the last day.
While we were there I discovered a great lookout from the fourth floor and took a few shots of the city from an angle I’ve never seen before.
To the left is OCAD, the university of art and design and in the middle is the CN Tower.
…. I couldn’t believe how much yesterday’s storm took out of me
When I was curled up on the couch last night I tried to catch up on some of my reading but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. After awhile I put the book down and decided to work on yesterday’s post. All went well, until I tried to read some of the blogs that I follow. I woke up a couple of times with my laptop literally resting on my lap so I finally gave into my fatigue and went to bed.
This morning my husband almost went for the morning walk without me because I was so sound asleep. When I did wake up I slowly made my way downstairs and discovered that both K and Frances were ready to leave. They kindly agreed to wait for me (well my husband did… the dog on the other hand had no choice) while I got dressed and had my morning coffee.
I’m glad I made the effort to join them. It was a beautiful morning. The snow was so deep at the rugby pitch that I don’t need to head to the gym today. It was quite a workout just walking through the new snow to get to the other side. You really had to lift your knees. Snowshoes would have come in handy today.
…. and the school board kept schools open today….sigh!!!!!!!!!!
The accumulation of snow overnight was far less than predicted so the TDSB decided at 6:30 this morning to cancel school buses but keep schools open. The forecast for the rest of the day, however, was for even more snow than originally predicted because of the delay. The drive into work was hazardous but coming home was even worse.
Over 120 students didn’t come to school this morning and over the course of the day another 40 were picked up before the end of the day. Even though we were willing to combine classes and let teachers who had a long drive ahead of them leave a little bit early the powers that be at the board office refused to let principals make those arrangements.
The city claimed that there were hundreds of snow ploughs out clearing the streets, but we didn’t see one all day long. The ploughs that are suppose to clear school parking lots never made it to our school. Our first worry, after getting to school unscathed, was how we were going to dig out of the parking lot when we were finally allowed to go home.
My friend L took her music classes outside in the afternoon with shovels and brooms in hand to clear off teachers’ cars and dig out the snow around them. They loved it and we appreciated the help.
Even with all their help, one of the most difficult parts of getting home tonight was getting out of the parking lot. We made sure that no one was left behind and with lots of guidance, patience and muscle each car was directed and pushed to the road.
The drive home was slow and scary. At times I wasn’t sure if I’d make it over the unploughed streets or up and over the bridge. When I finally got to my street I knew immediately that it hadn’t seen a plough all day. Twenty feet from the house I couldn’t move the car any further. When I tried to open the car door to get help it hit a wall of snow. Luckily a neighbour was out with his snow blower and came over and cleared the snow around the car and in front of my house. My husband came out as well and cleared away more of the snow so that I could finally pull into the driveway.
All I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and enjoy a glass of wine to calm my nerves. After more than 24 hours of snow it’s finally come to an end.
Believe it or not I’m actually looking forward to getting out tomorrow for a long walk through the white fluffy stuff.
….. this started out as a filler for students who had finished their last project
The last major project that I assigned most of my classes was a one point perspective landscape. It was very detailed and has taken some students three classes to complete. As is often the case there are always students who finish well ahead of their classmates and look to me for the next project. I found a great project that I felt reinforced and extended some of the elements of design that we’ve been learning about and allowed them to dabble in both watercolour and acrylic paints. It’s been so popular that most of my students wanted to make a ‘doodle painting’. Here are a few of the finished pieces done by my grade three students.
….. remember the large sheets of texture rubbings and paintings we did in my grade 2/3 class?
Well last week we took those sheets and designed and cut out Canadian woodland animals and birds and then placed them all together on a large background to create a wilderness mural. We included trees, grasses, flowers, a pond, rocks and logs. The children had a wonderful time putting it all together and were very excited to display it in the hallway outside their classroom. We need to add a few more finishing touches but I was also very excited about sharing it with you and couldn’t wait.
……I’ve always wanted to take students to the Daily Bread Food Bank
On Thursday I told you I had misplaced my camera and the two school cameras. Luckily they had been put away for safe keeping in the office as I had suspected and hoped.
Fifteen years ago when I taught middle school I tried to plan a trip to the local food bank so that students could volunteer and experience first hand how the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto worked. At the time, most of my students were underage and not allowed to visit the warehouse. Imagine my surprise this year when one of our primary teachers was able to organize a field trip to the new facility for our grade 3 to 5 students. My principal knew how much I had always wanted to do this so she asked me if I wanted to accompany the students to the warehouse. I jumped at the chance.
On Thursday, Mme M and I, along with four parent volunteers, escorted 29 enthusiastic students to the Daily Bread Food Bank. After registering at the front desk, the kids dropped off 150 pounds of food and then awaited instructions for their next task. A load of fresh carrots and onions had been delivered that morning so our job was to bag the vegetables into net sacks that held five pounds.
The kids couldn’t get over how big these carrots were. The parents thought that a trip to a farm was in order.
I helped bag these onions. We prepared 200 five pound bags. That’s 1000 pounds of onions.
Talk about throwing yourself into your work.
It was dirty work but the kids loved it. Some of them even said it was the best field trip, ever.
After finishing our task we were treated to a snack and given a tour of the facility. In the end, our hard work provided fresh vegetables for 200 families in the Toronto area.
Mama Cormier 