Share Your World – 2014 – Week 46

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….6 more weeks before the end of the year

Thanks Cee for four more great questions.

On a vacation what you would require in any place that you sleep?

I require at least two pillows, a clean bathroom with a hot shower, and a desk to write from.

Music or silence while working?

More and more I find I like to work in complete silence, especially late at night. During the day I don’t mind a bit of music when I’m doing chores. It helps elevate my mood when I’m working on something I’d rather not do.

If you were to move and your home came fully furnished with everything you ever wanted, list at least three things from your old house you wish to retain?

I would want to retain all our musical instruments, all my art work and my antique blanket box. These are the things that add character to our home.

What’s your least favorite mode of transportation?

My least favourite mode of transportation is a speed boat. I’m fine with larger boats, ferries and sailboats but I’ve never understood the thrill of bouncing over waves in a speed boat.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for time spent with my oldest daughter, her partner J and her nephew A. We spent an afternoon at the museum and then we all went to one of my oldest teaching colleagues and best friends for supper.

I know I’ve had a good weekend when I can finish a piece of art. Last week I did the last of the assignments for my on-line class, Table Top Drawing and Painting. I’ll post those pieces later in the week.

This week I’m looking forward to some normalcy. I can continue to organize the library. Everything is finally coming into place. The last of the additions arrived today and will be installed this week. I’ve finally deleted boxes of damaged and old books from the computer and processed half of the new books that I purchased during the book fair.

On Thursday my husband and I are going to the theatre to see The Book of Mormons. I’m really looking forward to that. It’s not often that we get out to see a live show.

Cheers!

More Kindergarten Art

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….this JK/SK class is like a giant sponge

I love teaching art to my kindergarten class. For the most part everything I teach them is absorbed and acted on by these eager learners. Last week I taught them how to draw their bodies that didn’t use stick figures.

I found this chart on Rowdy in Room 300 and used it with the class. I started with a blank chart and filled it in one square at a time to demonstrate how to draw a body.

They were given the option to take it one step further and draw a second body of their best friend. They were encouraged to draw what they were wearing and use the colours that best represented their hair and eye colour. I think they did an amazing job.

Our Monster Gallery

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..the grade 2/3 class finally got to make their ‘monsters’

I introduced this lesson before Hallowe’en but we hadn’t finished a couple of other projects and the Remembrance Day assembly was coming up and we needed to make our poppies so our ‘monsters’ were put on hold.

Our inspiration came from Mies van Hout’s book Friends. She’s a wonderful artist from the Netherlands who likes to use oil pastels on black paper. Before we started I demonstrated how to draw a random shape and from that come up with a monster. I explained to the class that if they have a monster in mind they are more likely to experience disappointment if it doesn’t turn out the way they envisioned it. Most of the class trusted my instructions and created very interesting and ‘fun’ monsters.

Share Your World – Week 45

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….week 45?…. are there really only 7 weeks left in the year?

What is your favorite color?

Easy, peasy! Red

In what do you find the simplest of joys?

I find great joy in a good book, quiet time at the cottage, conversations with my husband, getting lost in creating new art and hugs from my students.

Would you prefer a reading nook or an art, craft, photography studio?

If I can’t have both I’d have to choose an art studio. I need a place where I can put out my supplies and leave them out and not worry about putting things away because company is coming or family is staying overnight and need to sleep where I currently do my art.

What is at least one of your favorite quotes?

I don’t know who said it first but I believe in “live in the moment”.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for time with family. The memorial for my aunt and my daughter’s birthday brought together the family for two days. Some family members I see regularly but others only occasionally and it was nice having everyone together even if it was only for a couple of days.

This week I’m looking forward to our annual Remembrance Day service at school. Everyone has worked very hard to make the day special and if it’s anything like other years it will be a very touching and memorable day.

I’m also looking forward to spending some time with friends and going to another concert put on by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. On Saturday or Sunday I’m also entertaining a young man (J’s 7 year old nephew) by taking him to the ROM. It’s always fun taking children to the museum.

For more Share Your World posts check out Cee’s photography.

Share Your World – Week 43

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….talk about last minute for this post

What is your favorite time of day?

I love early mornings when the sun first comes up but here in the Northern Hemisphere that is happening later and later. So I’d have to say that in the summer mornings are my favourite time of day and in the winter I’m more of a night person. I seem to get re-energized late at night and it’s when my creative juices flow. I’m trying to get to bed earlier so this is a bit of an inner conflict that I have.

What’s your favorite charitable cause and why?

I’ve never really thought about a favourite cause. I like to donate to the Daily Food Bank and support causes that help the hungry and homeless but I also am very actively involved in the Heart and Stroke campaign called Jump Rope for Heart. This is where we encourage children to get active by skipping to promote a healthy heart and at the same time raise funds for heart and stroke research.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

Curled up with a good book and a cup of tea.

When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?

I prefer a nice pen to write with, one that doesn’t smear or leave my fingers blue. I find that with pencil my fingers always smudge the lead as I write. I’m left handed.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

As some of you may know my aunt passed away earlier today so I’m grateful that her suffering has finally ended and that she’s in a better place. I’m also grateful that the book fair is over and that we raised a substantial amount of money for the library and classroom libraries.

This coming week I’m looking forward to getting my library back but even more I’m looking forward to seeing my son when he comes for a short visit on Sunday. I haven’t seen him since last Christmas.

For more Share Your World posts click here.

Happy Hallowe’en

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….a fun day at school but not so nice this evening for the trick or treaters

Day 5 of my Book Fair had to end on Hallowe’en. Getting dressed up, lots of candy, sick children and very excited children and last minute purchases made for a very exhausting day. Pretty much every child dresses up for Hallowe’en and so do most of the staff at our school. At the end of the day we have our parade where the entire student body walks through the school and then outside around the the property. Unfortunately it rained all day so we had indoor recesses and we tried to keep the children calm with a movie during lunch. The rain had let up a little bit towards the end of the day so we decided to brave it and take the parade outside.

My friend L and I led the school throughout the halls and then around the school. Every year we try to come up with new costumes and when I saw this idea on Pinterest I knew that it was the costume for us. It was also extremely easy to put together and we had fun making the kids and parents try to figure out what we were. We dressed up as the Black Eyed Peas.

Here are a some pictures that I can share with you. The parents do an amazing job decorating the school and many classes took the time to decorate pumpkins.

It’s almost 8:00 and I’ve only had one knock on the door. Even my husband’s fabulous pumpkin isn’t attracting children to come up our walkway. Too much rain. I guess I’ll be taking a lot of candy back to school.

Share Your World – Week 42

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..time to put on my thinking cap to answer Cee’s Share Your World questions

What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?

I don’t like sleeping in that late. Sleeping in for me is 8:30. If I can squeeze in enough sleep I’d prefer waking before dawn.

If you could choose between Wisdom and Luck, which one would you pick?

I would choose wisdom. With wisdom one rarely needs luck.

If you were given the opportunity for free skydiving lessons would you take them? Why or why not?

I’m not into skydiving. I’m afraid of heights. I don’t even like roller coasters. It’s the first drop that scares me, after that I’m okay.

Is the glass half empty or half full? What is in the glass?

It’s all about perspective. If I’ve poured half a glass, it’s half full. If I poured a full glass and I’ve sipped half of it, it’s half empty. What’s in the glass? A good red wine, of course.

This glass is just empty.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my husband’s ordeal with surgeries and hospitals is finally over and knock on wood, he’s good to go for awhile.

I’m looking forward to a successful book fair at school. It starts on Monday and goes till Friday. I’ll be busy but it will be worth it. The kids love it and are so excited about opening day.

Monster ‘Friends’

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….Mies Van Hout has illustrated and written a wonderful book called Friends

Image borrowed from:http://cache1.bdcdn.net/assets/images/book/medium/9781/9359/9781935954231.jpg

This week I read Mies Van Hout’s book Friends to many of my library classes. I shared the book with my kindergarten class and instructed them to create and draw their own monster. We started with a free hand blob, turned it around and decided which end was up. They then added eyes and any other features they wanted to make a unique monster. They were encouraged to add a lot of colour using oil pastels. Considering that these children are only 3 to 5 years old I think they did a fabulous job. Enjoy!

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Creating New Colours and Turning Them Into Bugs

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..after learning about primary colours the kindergarten class mixed two primary colours together and voila! …… instant bugs

Of course it was more than that. When two primary colours (red, blue, yellow) are mixed together you get secondary colours (purple, green, orange). The object of the lesson was to see which two colours made each secondary colour.

Each student was given three small squares of watercolour paper and the three primary colours in watercolour. They were instructed to put two different colours on each half of their paper and while it was still wet, fold the paper in half and press hard. When they opened the paper they discovered that they had made a new colour.

This part of the lesson took an entire period so we put the squares aside to dry and in the next class we looked at the shape on the square of paper and cut it out and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. I had no idea how difficult this step would be for so many of the students. They had no idea how to hold a pair of scissors, never mind cut with them. After some trial and error, everyone managed to cut out at least two bugs.

Once they were glued down, the students were given markers and were encouraged to add details to their bugs, things like eyes, legs, wings, antennae, etc.. Here are a few of the finished papers. Enjoy!

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Share Your World – Week 41

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I’ll do my best to answer Cee’s questions

Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures?

I’d rather take pictures. I’m often disappointed in how pictures turn out when other people take them and I’m not talking about how I look in pictures but rather the overall composition. I’ve grown to love taking photos and experimenting with the settings.

What did you most enjoy doing this past week?

This week has been very strange. I’ve spent most of it, so far, going to and from the hospital. My husband had to go back in and have a second surgery on his neck. I picked him up this morning and he’s doing just fine, thank you.

I did go back into work on Tuesday and Wednesday and I’d have to say the most enjoyable thing that I did was make ‘leaf people’ with the kindergarten class. I’ll post of the their art in the next few days.

What is your greatest extravagance?

My greatest extravagance has to be a designer skirt that I bought and paid over $200. for. This is a big deal for someone who shops mostly at Winner’s and Marshall’s.

Which letter of the alphabet describes you best?

What a strange question! I’d have to say ‘C’ because two of my initials are C and because the letter is round and curvy like me.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my husband is finally out of the hospital for the second time and that the second surgery was successful. On Sunday I took my husband back to emergency because his neck blew up like a balloon. Turns out that the cavity left behind from the cyst that was removed, filled up with fluid and became infected. On Monday we went back for a second doctor to look at the neck and he informed us that K needed a radical neck dissection to remove the infection and clean out the area.

Monday was the Thanksgiving holiday so the hospital, especially the operating room area, was in holiday mode and somewhat understaffed. The waiting room was locked and we sat in semi darkness in the deserted registration area for day surgery. While we were waiting we had a bit of a scare when the intercom blared out that there was a code blue in one of the operating rooms. Luckily K’s surgeon came down the hall soon after and informed us that the surgery was successful and the code blue wasn’t for K. Phew!

For the rest of the week I’m looking forward to a full recovery for my husband and no more trips to the hospital. I’ve taken the day off because I was experiencing some dizziness yesterday and I’m hoping to relax and catch up on my sleep.