Four Days Down

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….and I’m still standing

I started writing this yesterday and I finished the whole piece when I pushed the save button for the last time. I had just added my tags and when I went to preview the post I discovered that an hours worth of work wasn’t there. Oddly enough the tags were there but all the photos and links had disappeared. I tried every thing to find the missing work but to no avail. I have no idea what I did but I was too tired to rewrite the piece so I went to bed hoping the the work would show up the next day. Unfortunately it didn’t so here I am rewriting the post again.

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School started on Tuesday and four classrooms in our school had been converted into temporary kindergarten classes. A flood earlier in the summer delayed the construction on our new kindergarten addition. The workers were pulled from our job site to repair the damage that occurred in other schools. Needless to say, opening day was far from a normal day.

As I suspected the library was one of the classes affected. Two of the four kindergarten classes have since been able to move into their new spaces but the class in the library wasn’t one of them. In fact it will probably be another six days before the other two classes can move into their new homes.

So it’s art on a cart, which I’m used to anyway but now I also have to do library in a box as I travel from room to room. The staff is anxious to start using the library but I’m not able to unpack my books or rearrange the furniture for at least anther week. It’s a maze of boxes and book stands.

The kids have been great. They look forward to art classes and every class has greeted me with cheers and hugs. I started each class reading the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.

This is a wonderful book about making your mark in life. Vashti, the main character in the book insists that she can’t draw and her teacher encourages her to put a mark on her blank paper and see where it takes her.

From here I introduced Wassily Kandinsky’s Study of Concentric Circles. Kandinsky never intended to sell his study of circles. He merely wanted to experiment with colour theory and see how colours looked when they were painted side by side. Little did he know that this would become an important piece of work in the art world.

I’ve used this lesson with every class so far. This was one of my very first art lessons when I first started teaching my own art over 14 years ago. This time around I added a new twist to the assignment with the older students. I will share the results with you later next week when they finish the project.

Yesterday I was asked to give an art lesson to the JK/SK class. I came across a wonderful blog, Prek+K Sharing, that focuses on lessons for very young children and lo and behold I found an art lesson using Kandinsky’s Concentric Circles. I decided to use crayons with the junior students and let the seniors use the watercolours. I’m glad I did. The difference in abilities between the 3/4 year olds and the 5 year olds was quite amazing. All in all I was very pleased with the outcome.

Back to Running and Back to Work

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….running is like riding a bike, once you start again it’s like you never stopped

On Sunday I started running again. I didn’t plan on it, it just happened.

My husband, Frances and I started on our usual morning walk but we barely left the house when my husband started to run. Frances kept putting on the brakes when she didn’t sense that I was right behind her so I started to run as well. And I kept running and running and didn’t stop until I hit the 4k mark.

We stopped at the Tim Horton’s in the park, where I bought a small coffee, asked for a cup of water and used the restroom. K wanted to run some more so I agreed to take the dog and the two of us walked the remaining 2k home. I was amazed that I was able to run so far after not running for about two months.

Today we started with a walk and started running at the entrance to Col. Sam Smith Park. Again, once I started running, it felt so natural and comfortable that I continued to run until we reached the point, turned around and ran all the way home. Another 4k of running and 1k of walking.

If someone had told me 18 months ago that I would become a runner I would have scoffed at them. I remember trying to run with my husband when I was in my 20s and put my back out. I was about 50 pounds lighter than I am now and I just couldn’t get into it. So why is it easier now? Shouldn’t it be harder? After all I’m 30 some years older and heavier.

I think the difference is that this time I started out slowly. Literally, I started with only running 50 metres on the first day and then going 100 metres the next. Slowly I added more distance and as the weight came off it became easier. The other difference is that I had a goal. I was coaching young girls to run and we were all training to do a 5k run. My goal was to finish the race and try to run half of it and walk the rest.

My first 5k wasn’t pretty but I did finish. I was exhausted, emotional and anxious about my health, all at the same time. When I realized that I wasn’t going to die from running, I continued to run periodically for the rest of that summer and in the fall I ran with the cross country team. It got easier and easier. During the winter, when running became too difficult my husband and I walked regularly in the evenings despite the cold and the record breaking amounts of snow that we encountered last winter.

I agreed to coach the girls at school again this spring and we worked toward completing another 5k race. This time I wanted to run the entire race without stopping and in under 45 minutes. It turned out to be a very warm day and I needed to stop 3 times, once for water and then again a couple of times to re-energize. Each time I walked I went for about 100 metres and then started to run again. I finished in 47 minutes and ran most of the 5k.

My plan was to run over the summer but for some reason it just didn’t happen. I did a lot of walking, especially when we were in Ireland and we continued to walk when I was in the city but for some reason when I went to the cottage I didn’t run at all and some days I didn’t walk very far either. As some of you know, we’ve had bears inhabit our island this year and even though I’ve never seen them I do know people who have. My biggest phobia in life is meeting up with a bear. I don’t know where that comes from because I’ve never had an encounter with a bear but I think the possibility of meeting a bear in the woods or on the beach kept me from wandering too far from the cottage.

This fall my goal is to run with the cross country team again and I think it’s time to search out another 5k race this fall. I started back to work today but I got in that run before I left for school. Next week it won’t be as easy to do that because I have to be at school earlier but I know in the first week back the gym teacher will start recruiting the students for this years cross country team. I’ll be right there with them at 7:45 every morning.

Time for a Clean Sweep

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….in my library office

I love a clean, well organized space. If you came into my office in the last couple of months….well lets be honest…..for most of the year you would have been assaulted with a chaotic mess. It’s been a challenge trying to keep my art materials organized and maintaining a school library at the same time. I’m glad to say that the library itself was mostly tidy and organized, thanks to my library helpers and parent volunteer. As for my office, I was able to close the door and put posters up on the class windows to hide the mess.

The end of the school year is always hectic and there never seems to be enough time to do everything that needs doing. On top of that it seems that the art teacher gets to inherit anything and everything that other teachers don’t want. Every time something new was donated to my art program I’d tell the donor to just put it on the counter, table or desk in the office and I would look at it later. Well later didn’t happen for a long time.

This week a few of us returned to school to finish doing things we couldn’t get to before school was out. I thought I could do it all in one day but it took me three days. I’m happy to report that the office looks great and I didn’t just stuff things into drawers and behind closet doors. I actually threw things out and organized materials onto shelves and into boxes.

There are still two carts in the office that contain art supplies, neatly organized mind you, but I’m hoping to clean out the storage room down the hall in August and make some space for most of my art papers and paints. This way the library office can once again be used for library work. The only thing that I need for my art classes is the use of the sink in that room.

It leaves me with a good feeling, knowing that the room if finally clean and organized. I can now enjoy the rest of my summer.

Before After

The Month of June in Photos

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Mama Cormier

Saturday, June 1st – Fun Fair

: Our principal taunting the boys and girls

: Professional griller

: Inflatable slide

: What a good sport!

Saturday, June 8th – High School Reunion

Sunday, June 9th – Girls on the Run 5k

Wed, June 12th – West Conference Girls’ Soccer Finals

Thursday, June 13th – Forest of Reading Celebration

: Finished accordion journals

: …. Luke’s journal

: Drama workshop

: Lunch…..pizza

: Thanks for being expert readers

Saturday, June 15th – Opening the Cottage

: View of the island from the dock

: Enjoying first breakfast at the cottage

: Taking a break after opening the cottage

: View of the cottage from the lane

Wednesday, June 19th – Spring Concert

: Folk Dancing

: Line Dancing

: Shaking those hips

: Modern Dance based on a story that students chose to tell through movement

: Grade 1/2 choir

: ‘Modern Ruins’ dance

: The Junior Choir

The report cards were printed, proofread, reprinted, copied, signed and sent home today. The grade 5s had their farewell ceremony yesterday and today were away for their fun activity day. Today the rest of the school had their Fun Day and a colleague and I spent the morning clearing out the computer lab so that construction crews can come during the summer to remove the wall and enlarge the library.

I’ve returned 90% of all the artwork that students produced in my art classes and students have returned most of the books that they took out of the library. I’ve started removing the books from the shelves that will be moved during construction. Only one more day with the children and then the staff party, followed by one more day of meetings and closing down our classrooms for the summer.

…….busy,busy and only a few things left on my to do list. Phew it’s almost over and then I can start planning for our trip to Ireland.

The Next Picasso?

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….my grade 2s,3s and 4s loved this project

Even though we only have less than one week of school left, my students really wanted to finish their Picasso portraits. I love all of them. They are all so different and so very colourful. The ones that were started two weeks ago were painted with acrylic paint and the ones that were started only a few day s ago were completed with coloured sharpies.

An Almost Perfect Day

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..until our guest speaker didn’t show up

Today was the day I was most stressed about. Since January I’ve been running a school wide book club, featuring children’s books written by Canadian authors. The club was open to all students in grades three to five. Initially over 80 students joined the club.

The program is called the Forest of Reading and there are books for all age groups from Kindergarten to high school and beyond. Each age category is named after a tree commonly found in Canada. The primary books are classified as Blue Spruce books, grade 3 to 6 are Silver Birch and the French books are named Tamarack and Poplar.

Every year new authors and books are featured and at the end of April students from all over Ontario vote for their favourite book in one category. There’s a big culminating event in Toronto that students are encouraged to attend to meet the authors and find out who the winners are. It’s like the Oscars of children’s books. A couple of years ago the entire school went downtown to attend this event. It was outside and it was a very cool day and because it took place right next to the lake it was even colder. There were thousands of children there and there were line-ups for everything.

Last year we decided as a staff to host our own special event with the students at our school. It was such a successful day that we wanted to do it again. Unfortunately with the political climate in all our schools this year it almost didn’t happen at all. Earlier in the school year the parents purchased the books for us and I really wanted to proceed with the program. Luckily enough teachers were willing to help out and be expert readers so the program started in earnest in January.

In order to participate in the year end celebration for the Forest of Reading the students had to read enough books to reach a goal of 10 credits. I’m happy to say that 34 boys and girls reached and surpassed the goal. One of my students read 38 books.

Today the successful participants were pulled from class and enjoyed two specially designed workshops. In one session the children worked with a professional actor and did drama activities around one of the books that was featured this year. In the second workshop they learned how to make an accordion book which they could personalize and take away with them. For lunch, we treated them to pizza, juice and popsicles.

After lunch I had arranged for one of the Forest of Reading authors to come to the school and speak to the boys and girls. We were all very excited about this special visit. Unfortunately this was the one feature of the day that did not take place. Our guest of honour had mixed up his dates and thought he was coming to the school tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m not at school so we arranged to do the presentation on Monday morning, so not all was lost.

At the end of the day my colleague and pottery teacher was excited to show me how her Father’s Day gift activity turned out. These wonderful clay trophies mounted on bits of scrap marble were created by D’s grade 1/2 class. I think they’re amazing. What Dad wouldn’t love these works of art?

Another Thing Checked Off the List

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….the end of the school year is fast approaching

Soccer games finished – check

Girls on the Run finished – check

Report Cards printed – check

Invitations for Forest of Reading Celebration made – check

Author and actor invited for the big day – check

T-shirts bought for the concert – check

Track and field finished for this year – check

Timetables organized – check

Money collected and counted for Jump Rope for Heart – check

Things Yet to Do in the Next Two Weeks:

Phone Heart and Stroke to pick up the money collected for Jump Rope for Heart

Proofread report cards

Finish cutting papers for the bookmaking activity

Order pizza for students’ special lunch

Hand out invitations to the students and teachers

Print final copies of the report cards

Plan lessons for the next two weeks

Clear off book shelves in the library for the renovation over the summer

Hand out prizes for Jump Rope for Heart when they arrive

Volunteer Tea

Spring concert

Activity ‘Fun Day’

“Phew, I can do this!!!”

Cheers!

Girls on the Run 5k

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….today was the day

I woke up early, 6:07 to be exact. I put on my running clothes and made my way downstairs to make coffee. I checked my emails as I enjoyed my Crema and protein bar. It was lovely and quiet in the house, just what I needed before heading out to meet my fellow coaches, L and C.

We had decided ahead of time to meet at L’s house and go together in one car. There was very little traffic at 7:30 on a Sunday morning so we made good time getting to the race venue. The race this year was being held at the Vaughn Mills mall. When we got there, there was already a sea of pink t-shirts.

Our school was assigned a flag where our girls had to meet us. We handed out their numbers and safety pins and the moms and dads pitched in pinning the numbers to the fronts of their shirts.

It was great seeing so many parents get involved, not just by being there but also registering for the run so that they could run with their daughters.

There weren’t as many pre-race activities as last year but some of the moms had brought along coloured hair spray so that the girls could have racing stripes put into their hair. Even some of their teachers got into the spirit.

I’m not sure how many times I’m going to have to wash my hair to remove the pink dye. One mom, who’s a hairdresser, said that it might take three or more washes. Hmmmm!!!!!

Two hours after arriving at the mall, the race finally started and about 1000 little girls and their coaches and parents started on the 5k run.

I had set a goal for myself to run the 5k without stopping and try to do it in 45 minutes or less. Last year I think it took me about 55 minutes and I walked at least half of it. It was very warm and humid today. Before I left my husband asked me not to overdo it and to be careful not to get caught up in the excitement of the race. I know that the recent heart attack of a very close friend who lives out west was leaving him feeling a little apprehensive about me running today. I have to admit that the our friend’s heart attack was also in the back of my mind. The attack was a mild one and she’s doing much better but she’s the last person we would ever have suspected of having a heart condition.

I set a very reasonable pace for myself and was able to run the first half without stopping to walk. When I did stop it was at the water station but I started to run again almost immediately. The heat did bother me and I walked a couple more times but never for more than a minute. In the end I finished in a time of 47:27, 2 1/2 minutes slower than I hoped for but this year I felt so much better than I did last year. I didn’t experience those moments of dread like I did last year and I wasn’t as emotional….no tears.

Now that I have an official time I can work on getting that number down. I should plan to do another 5k sometime this summer. It’s good to have a goal.

Time to work on my art piece.

Cheers!

Free University Courses

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….. just signed up for a 7 week course in art

Like I’m not busy enough as it is, I signed up for an intense course yesterday that involves reading, taking quizzes and painting. I’ve already done all the reading for last week and taken the quiz but I haven’t started the painting. It’s due tomorrow night. I still have to run a 5k tomorrow morning and I have to finish my report cards.

One of the problems is that the course started last week so I’m already a week behind. When I get this first painting assignment done I’ll be caught up. I’m actually very excited about doing this. The program is called Coursera and it offers hundreds of free courses that are taught by certified professors from dozens of universities, worldwide. Check out the courses here.

What did I learn this week? Well the program is designed for beginning artists so the basics taught this last week were a good refresher lesson for me. This week the focus is on Fantasy art and I learned a lot about Independent Fantasists, such as Rousseau and Chagall, Dadaism, Automatism and Abstract Expressionism. I was also introduced to some Fantasists that I was not familiar with, such as Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray.

Man Ray http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Man_Ray_1934.jpg

Marcel Duchamp http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Marcel_Duchamp_01.jpg/128px-Marcel_Duchamp_01.jpg

Giorgio de Chirico http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Giorgio_de_Chirico_%28portrait%29.jpg

My assignment this week is to come up with my own Fantasy painting using any medium and technique I’m comfortable with. I also have to create an artist statement. Wish me luck. Well I’d better get to those report cards. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.

Cheers!

We Lost in Overtime

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….heartbreaking

I knew the minute I saw the other team that this was going to be a close competition.

A few days ago I told you about my trials and tribulations when I took my girls’ soccer team to the West Conference finals. The team easily won their first game and then we had to wait an hour between games before we could play our final game. Little did we know at the time that the other team wasn’t going to show up because they had gone to the wrong location.

After waiting in the hot sun for an hour and a half I had to make a decision. Do we win by default or do we allow the missing team to make up the game in the next two days at our school? After speaking with the team we reluctantly decided to play later in the week.

Finding a time that would work for both teams proved to be difficult. I had the upper hand and basically gave them a time that worked for us. I knew that they must have been under a lot of pressure from their community because the time I gave them originally didn’t work for them and when I told them that we had run out of options (which we had) they found a solution to arrive at that time.

All of this happened late Wednesday afternoon and I then had to run around the school to inform the girls that we were playing at 9:00 in the morning the next day. Unfortunately one of our players couldn’t make it because of an appointment that couldn’t be changed on such short notice.

On the day, we had to scramble to find pinnies that were all the same colour because the boys took the jerseys to play in their West Conference game. They won, by the way, and are moving on to the City Finals. To make a long story short, we started out by scoring the first 2 goals and then they tied it up. We then scored 2 more goals and in the last minute of the game the other team tied it up again.

We had to go into overtime, two 5 minute halves and the first team to score would win the game. It was stressful and in the second half the other team put the ball into our net.

When we congratulated the other team I quietly said to the coach from the opposing team that in the future she should be careful not to miss a game again because I’m not so sure that I or any other team would be so generous, again and agree to play at a later date. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that but she became quite indignant and said that if the tables had been turned she would have definitely ‘invited’ the team to her school so that the girls could play. This is all fine and well to say when you’ve just won your game but she didn’t have to wait for an hour and a half on a shadeless field with 16 girls and a dozen parents who had made the long trip to watch their girls play and then have to inform everyone that we weren’t playing because the coach of the other team hadn’t read her emails. We had been informed about the change in venue a week before the game and there were several emails in between that went out informing all of us about the times and field locations.

In the end I explained to her how the girls had helped me make the decision to host another game so that her players had an opportunity to play. I graciously offered to make the presentation of the banner to her team because the convenors for the tournament couldn’t come to the school on such short notice. In turn she praised my girls for a game well played and thanked them for making the decision to give her team another opportunity to play.

Should I have kept my mouth closed and not said anything to this coach? I’m afraid I’m very much like my father and sometimes blurt out things before thinking it through. The only difference is that I know how to take back or apologize for my words where my father rarely does because he believes that you should be allowed to say what you want and not worry how it affects someone else. As he gets older it seems to get worse, as if age is an excuse for insensitivity.

I would welcome your thoughts on this predicament. Have you ever been put on the spot where you had to make a decision that was literally a game changer? I only wish that there was something in the regulations that deals with situations like this. We have rules for everything else, maybe we need a rule for no shows.