29 Faces – Day 15 to 25

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….these faces weren’t done by me but I did teach my grade 2s how to paint them

Today I covered a grade two class that should have had music but the music teacher was at the Kiwanis festival with two other classes and the class I should have had was one of the two classes at the competition. When the grade 2s came into the library I decided to turn the period into an art class. I thought that they could probably handle making faces using watercolour paints.

I demonstrated how to add the skin tones and face shape first and once that was dry we added the hair. I recommended that the facial features be done with marker. Some followed the instructions and others didn’t but most of them had a lot of fun and their faces were pretty good. Here is a gallery of faces for you to enjoy:

Too Tired to Draw or Write

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….falling asleep in front of the laptop

I was hoping to draw some more faces but I’m so tired that I am literally dozing off in my chair in front of the computer. So it’s off to bed for me and it’s only 10:00. I have to get up early tomorrow anyway for another basketball practice. The boys won their last game so they’re moving on to the next round on Wednesday.

Today I took 35 boys to a choir competition. I wasn’t slated to go but one of the adults supervisors was away so I volunteered to help out at the last minute. I rescheduled some of my classes and spent a couple of hours listening to the angelic voices of nine and ten year old boys. This was the first year that L entered a boys’ choir and they managed to secure a second place standing with a “gold” designation. Bravo boys!

Good Night! Maybe I’ll have more energy tomorrow for drawing and writing. Sweet dreams!

Share Your World – Week 8

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..these questions required a bit more thought than normal for me

Would you rather be given $10,000 for your own use or $100,000 to give anonymously to strangers?

At the moment I’d rather be given $10 000. for my own use. I’m trying to pay off some debt and if there was any money left over I’d rather give it to someone I know than to a perfect stranger.

When you’re 90 years old, what will matter most to you?

I guess at ninety my ability to get around and do things for myself will matter the most to me. I don’t want to become a burden to my children. So, therefore I need to stay physically and mentally fit and healthy to achieve this goal.

Candy factories of the entire world have become one and will now be making only one kind of candy. Which kind, if you were calling the shots?

I’m not a big candy eater but if I had to choose one it would probably be chocolate covered nuts. My husband reminded me of a candy called Bridge Mix that our parents would bring out for special occasions. It contained a variety of chocolate covered nuts, mints,raisins and jellies. My husbands choice is jujubes.

So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?

It’s usually in the back of the car or I’ve left it at work. Luckily I have more than one umbrella but unfortunately most of the time I have to search for it.

Cheers!

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/02/24/share-your-world-2014-week-8/

Reaching Goals Early

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..600 followers as of yesterday

Thank you to everyone who has chosen to follow me since I started blogging. My second anniversary is coming up in mid April. Last May I set a new set of blogging goals for myself but the only one I remembered was reaching 600 followers by May 1, 2014. So I went back to my post on May 1, 2013 and reviewed what I had written. Here is an excerpt of that post:

…. I reached 300 followers

I reached all my goals before the end of April with your help.

Where do I go from here? Here’s what I’m thinking:

150 likes for one post (114 for https://mamacormier.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-blue/) This one will be more difficult to reach. It seems that I get most of my likes when I participate in a photo challenge

Our principal taunting the boys and girls

August: Niagara Falls, ON

200 views for one day (currently sitting at 159) I reached 303 views on June 7th

600 followers one year from today I reached 600 followers 10 weeks early

30 000 views one year from today I am 5500 views away from this goal – That would be 550 views a week, 79 views a day – right now I average about 50 views a day

300 new posts in the next year I’m at 262 so I have 38 posts to go – that’s 3.8 posts a week….very doable. My magic number will be 614 posts in total.

Of course once you reach a goal it’s time to set new goals. So in the next 10 weeks my revised goals are to:

• attract 75 more followers

• write 50 more posts

• reach 320 views in one day

• average 80 views a day

Of course none of this is possible without your support. Looking forward to hearing from you. Hopefully I can give you something that sparks your interest and makes you want to visit here. Carol (aka mamacormier)

Cheers!

Flags & Food

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

This might have been an interesting way to make our flags for our Winter Olympics at school…..or maybe not. Very creative, check it out.

the bippity boppity beautiful blog

Flags & Food

NATIONAL FLAGS MADE FROM EACH COUNTRY’S TRADITIONAL FOODS

Italy

basil, pasta and tomatoes

India
curry chicken, rice, cheera thoran and papadum wafer

Brazil
banana leaf, limes, pineapple and passion fruit

China
dragon fruit and star fruit

United States
hot dogs, ketchup and mustard

Greece
olives and feta cheese

Japan
tuna and rice

Lebanon
tomatoes, pita bread and parsley

Vietnam
rambutan, lychee and starfruit

Australia
meat pie and sauce

South Korea
kimbap and sauces

France
blue cheese, brie cheese and grapes

United Kingdom
scone, cream and jams

Turkey
Turkish Delight

Spain
chorizo and rice

Indonesia
spicy curries and rice

Thailand
sweet chilli sauce, shredded coconut and blue swimmer crab

Switzerland
charcuteries and swiss cheese

Credits
Client: Sydney International Food Festival
Advertising Agency: WHYBINTBWA, Sydney, Australia
Executive Creative Director: Garry…

View original post 22 more words

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Orange

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Another great challenge put out by Cee over at http://ceenphotography.com/2014/02/18/cees-fun-foto-challenge-the-color-orange/

Big Huge Labs

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..discovered a great ‘free’ website for making Photo Booth pictures and more

Big Huge Labs

Have fun!

The Perfect Day for our Winter Olympics

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….freshly fallen snow and temperatures just below freezing

Tuesday morning I arrived early for basketball practice. I assigned a couple of students to sweep the snow off the adventure playground and I drew a couple of targets on the brick wall in preparation for the event that G and I were in charge of, the biathlon. In total there were 11 activities that were being set up for our Winter Olympics.

Shortly after the bell rang students waited to be called to the gym where they would find out which country and team they would be part of. We were hoping to start the first activity at 9:00 but organizing 420 students into 22 teams took longer than we anticipated. The older students were the flag bearers and held up their flags which also had a number of letter assigned to it. Before the students arrived their teachers wrote a number or letter on their hands so they would know where to go when they got to the gym.

The challenge was placing the kindergarten children with the older children. It was the first time that the younger children participated in a fun day with the whole school. I think that their teachers were a little more anxious than the kids themselves. The grades 4 and 5 students did an excellent job looking after their younger team members. They assisted them with the activities and ran with them when necessary but most importantly no one was lost or misplaced during the entire morning.

Every team rotated through at least six activities before the morning ended and then everyone returned to their classes where hot chocolate and cookies were waiting.

After lunch all the students went to the gym where all the choirs were called to the front of the room to perform the songs that they would be singing later in the week and in the following week for Kiwanis. This is a music festival that our school participates in every year. It’s a competition where schools compete against each other in different categories. This year we’ve entered a primary choir, junior choir, grade 4 homeroom choir, grade 5 homeroom choir and a boy’s choir.

After the choirs performed we had our closing ceremony for the Olympic games. At lunch G and I tabulated all the scores from the morning’s events and we determined which countries would win the gold, silver and bronze medals.

We asked the flag bearers to pick up their flags and after the Olympic torch and the banner with the Olympic rings entered the gym I called on each country to enter the gym with their flags held high. The spirit in the room was amazing.

Then it was time to announce the winning countries. The winner of the bronze medal was Denmark. Silver went to Sweden and the gold medalists came from Germany.

Enjoy the photos while you listen to

ThePianoGuys – Let It Go (Disney’s “Frozen”) Vivaldi’s Winter

Burning the Midnight Oil on the Weekend Preparing for the Winter Olympics

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….my weekend wasn’t all fun and games with the family

Of course when I say ‘the Winter Olympics’ I’m referring to our fun day at school where we organized a variety of winter games for the boys and girls to participate in. Last week a group of us quickly assembled a committee to plan for a Winter Olympic extravaganza that involved the entire school, from JKs to grade 5s. Not knowing how much longer the snow would stay on the ground and knowing that the temperatures wouldn’t be in the polar vortex zone we decided to host the games on the Tuesday right after the Family Day weekend.

The committee came up with 12 different sporting events, from the ‘Biathlon to Luge to Hockey, that teams could compete in. The sign up sheet went up in the staffroom and all the staff signed up for an event. Two teachers volunteered to make hot chocolate for 420 children and two of the kindergarten teachers wanted to make the Olympic banner with the Olympic Rings. My colleague next to the library worked with me and her class to make 22 different flags from some of the countries that actually participate in the Winter Olympics. After making the paper flags we decided that we needed to laminate them so that they wouldn’t be destroyed when they were taken outside. That job was done mostly during our prep time and after school and G took some home to finish off the remaining ones after we ran out of the Mack Tack that we were using.

I volunteered to make the 60 medals on the weekend and I had started to make paper dowels for the flags but I hadn’t made nearly enough before I left for the weekend. I also wanted to make an Olympic torch but I wasn’t quite sure how I would tackle that because of course I wanted it to look like the one that was used in Sochi.

Over the weekend I spent some of my time shopping for ribbon for the medals and silver spray paint. A parent at school donated enough CDs for 60 medals and a can of gold and bronze spray paint.

After spray painting the CDs gold, silver and bronze I wrote on each of them, Rosethorn’s Winter Olympics 2014 and then I attached a ribbon big enough to fit over a child’s head. I debated whether to hot glue the ribbon at the ends or sew the ends together. On Monday night I opted for a quicker method and I taped the ends together.

Once the medals were finished I made 36 paper dowels to attach to the flags so that the children could carry them high in the air and then I taped them to the back of each flag. This is what my dining room table looked like Monday night.

One night over the weekend I was up till 3:00 in the morning working on the medals and on Monday I was up till 1:30. Before I went to bed the night before school I decided at the last minute that I really needed to make the Olympic torch as well. I quickly traced out the shape of the torch that they used in Sochi and then transferred the design onto 3 pieces of cardboard that I glued together and spray painted white. In the morning I added the red trim and glued some tissue paper at the top to represent the flames. When we did the closing ceremony I chose a little boy in kindergarten to carry the torch into the gym. He was the perfect choice.

To be continued……….

Spending Family Day With the Dogs

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….and my daughter and son-in-law

Today was another sunny but cold day in Toronto and it is Family Day. It is an official holiday in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. As the name implies it is a day to celebrate families.

Yesterday my husband and I went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) with out oldest daughter, A and her partner, J and saw the show, The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910 – 1918. I loved it. It’s not a huge show but it featured some amazing artists from the past, such as, Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse, Chagall, Franz Marc, Kupka and Miro. There must have been at least 30 different artists whose works were on display. It was fascinating to see how this era of new technologies ( film, photography, planes, telephones, electricity, etc.) and the presence of World War I affected the art world. If you’re in Toronto the show goes till March 6, 2014. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed at this show so I don’t have any original photos to show you. The Great Upheaval.

After seeing the show we browsed through some of the other galleries at the AGO, where you are allowed to take photographs. Here are a few highlights of our morning.

: View from a small balcony above the gallery

: Lauren Harris

: Jean Riopelle

: Peterson Ewen

: New addition: The Italian Gallery

: View of the upper beams

Today, my husband, Frances and I arranged to meet our youngest daughter and her husband and Lucy at High Park. We took both dogs to the off leash area. We’ve had so much snow that all the paths are packed solid with snow and ice. Luckily K brought his cleats for his boots and our walk was relatively uneventful, falling that is. We did see a few people wipe out but no serious injuries happened.

Frances and Lucy had a great time, running and wrestling with each other. We got a good walk, as well, probably close to 4k. The humans got tired just watching those two dogs darting back and forth.