Following Michael Moore

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….. walking every night

In an earlier post I promised I would bring you an update on my weight loss journey. Here it is.

I won’t lie and say I was perfect over the holidays. I wasn’t. Far from it but I did manage to maintain my weight loss for most of the month. I say most because my baby sister came for a visit the weekend before I had to go back to work and there was wine and eating out involved. I made pretty healthy choices but I probably ate more than I should have and even though we did a lot of walking, it’s not the same as a good workout at the gym or brisk walk/run through the neighbourhood.

Also that old nemesis, STRESS, has come back to haunt me. As teachers, we didn’t get very good news in the new year and our labour dispute continues. Therefore going back to work brings with it uncertainty and potential conflict.

Consequently when I got on the scale Monday morning I was up 4 1/2 pounds. Now I know that some of that was water and sure enough I was down 2 pounds the next morning.

So I’m back on my low GI eating program but the biggest change I made this week was going out every night for a long walk with my husband. Usually when I get home from work it is already dark and I don’t like walking by myself. K told me about Michael Moore’s walking challenge and how he’s been doing it now for over 42 weeks. I’ve started following him on Facebook and I’m sharing his article on why he walks. I don’t always agree with everything he says but he clearly states what some of the benefits of walking have done for him. He doesn’t share his weight loss in this article because he says that it’s not about that but in a later post he reveals that he’s lost 60 pounds.

Michael Moore on Walking

Last Sunday I promised on this blog that I would make it to the gym on Monday. There were a few hiccups that day and things didn’t go as I had planned. After completing an unexpected task I started on my way home. It was late and it would have been so easy to not to go to the gym. I was about to pass it when I told myself that ‘no, I had to go’. I went in and did 30 minutes on the treadmill.

On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, K and I went for 45 minute brisk walks. On Wednesday I did a 75 minute yoga class and then went to book club. Today K had an appointment out of town so he got up early and walked without me or the dog. Frances is so tired from yesterday’s two walks that she’s still sleeping. It’s time to get her and me out into the fresh air. After that I’m planning on going back to the gym and do some weight training.

By the way, when I got on the scale this morning it showed that I had lost all the weight I had gained plus and an extra 1/2 pound.

The weight loss journey continues. Stayed tuned for future updates.

Cheers!

January Photo a Day 2013: One o’clock…somewhere!

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. and paper, two challenges rolled into one

Yesterday my computer was giving me grief and I couldn’t post anything. When I finally got it fixed it was too late to come up with photos of paper. It just so happened that at 1:00 today I was teaching art to my grade 2/3 class and we were colouring and painting large sheets of paper. The lesson was on texture and they experimented with a variety of materials and techniques to create virtual texture. They loved it and I loved what they came up with. We will use these creations in future works of art.

Check out the other January 2013 Photo a Day photos at Jeanne’s blog…a nola girl at heart

A Lot of Walking Today

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. 3 hours on the picket line, 50 minutes on the elliptical machine and 2k to dinner and back

I tossed and turned in bed last night and had weird dreams about being accosted on the picket line by an angry parent.

None of it happened of course, in fact, the day was surprisingly civil and we were met with a lot of positive support. For those of you who are unaware of what I’m talking about, let me explain. In Ontario today, 30 000 teachers walked off the job for a one day legal strike to protest Bill 115. In a nutshell, this bill has taken away our right to negotiate a new contract with our employer, the school board, and gives the government the power to determine our wages, benefits and working conditions without consultation or discussion. The minister would disagree with this statement but she has predetermined the conditions of these so called negotiations.

This strike is NOT about money. We have said that we are willing to take a pay freeze. It is about losing our democratic rights and the erosion of The Human Rights Code and our Labour Relations laws. If you want to take the time to read the following letter, it explains it much better than I can.

A Letter by a Member of Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario

The media has said over and over again that teachers do not have the support of the public. After today I’m not so sure. Only one car in three hours gave us the thumbs down while dozens more honked in support. We had so many neighbours and parents come by with coffee, tea, water, soup and treats that our little cart was overflowing with the generosity and kindness of the ‘public’.

More food arrived after this picture was taken.

Even on the radio today, the media was extra tough on the Minister of Education by being more persistent in demanding that she answer their questions instead of side stepping the issues with pre-scripted statements that didn’t deal with the issue at hand. They are starting to put some of the blame for this mess into her court and are demanding that she take some responsibility for it.

I went to the gym today after walking for three hours, to work off the one Timbit, three homemade cookies and the 1/2 cup of hot chocolate I ingested. It doesn’t sound like much but when you haven’t eaten these things in a long time it seems like a huge indulgence. The scale shows that my weight is holding steady at a 32 to 34 pound loss.

We decided to go out for dinner tonight because neither of us felt like cooking. We walked to our favourite Indian restaurant and ordered and shared two vegetarian dishes, a plate of rice and an appetizer of chicken kabobs, nicely grilled and seasoned with lime juice. We had water as our beverage. We took the leftovers home and will probably add some of the sauce from the saag paneer to our eggs in the morning and one of us can probably have a light lunch from what’s left over. We walked home briskly after dinner to add about 2 more kilometres to my walking total for the day.

I have another appointment at the gym tomorrow for my last free personal training session and I also have an appointment for one more acupuncture treatment to see if it can alleviate my occasional bouts of dizziness. I’ll share my experience in a future a post.

Cheers!

Warm vs Cool

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Mama Cormier

……from one disaster to one triumph

Last week I had my first failed art class. Well half of it didn’t work out but the second half was more successful. I was teaching my grade 2/3 class about warm and cool colours. It was a concept they easily grasped. I had seen a great project that involved bleeding tissue paper onto white paper to create a beautiful new paper that was either in warm colours or cool colours. In the following class we were going to cut the new paper into pine tree shapes and create a landscape of warm or cool trees.

Unfortunately I didn’t do a sample ahead of time and I didn’t test the tissue paper we had to see if it would bleed. The colours were steadfast. The boys and girls created a colourful collage of tissue shapes using only water. When they dried very little colour came off the tissue. I’m not sure I can salvage this project.

The second project was somewhat more successful. After the children put their papers away to dry they chose warm or cool construction paper and cut out interesting shapes and created a 3D effect by curling or fringing or folding their papers before gluing them onto a black background. I’m hoping to arrange all the cool projects together and all the warm projects together to create two separate wall murals of warm vs cool abstract design.

The next day I was desperate for a new warm vs cool project for my grade 3 class. In the morning before work I got on the internet and googled ‘warm vs cool lesson’ and the first two sites that came up were youtube clips. The one demonstrated a lesson for painting a warm and cool city landscape. It was excellent. The instructor said it was foolproof and that you couldn’t make a mistake. She was right.

The kids loved this activity. The only part that gave them a little bit of difficulty was drawing in the windows. I had to show them several times how to angle the windows and doors so that the buildings maintained that 3D look.

The Hands are Done…..

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

… the grade 5s have finally finished their hands and coloured ribbons

It’s not completely their fault that they’re so far behind. I only see each class one day a week in a 5 day cycle. Their first art period was cancelled because it occurred on a zero day, a large number of them were away at the cross country meet, some of them missed class because of other tournaments, a few were on vacation, and then I was off for my surgery (I left the supply teacher an easier assignment).

The bigger problem is that I have a group of students in that class that have managed to keep up and in fact are so far ahead of everyone else that they’ve finished all their assignments. I planned to make the next class a catch up period but what do I do with the handful of students who have finished everything? I guess I could give them a project that no one else will have an opportunity to start later. What do you think?

grade 5 hand and ribbon

These pieces of art focused on creating secondary and tertiary colours from the three primary colours. The students first created a colour wheel after learning how to mix acrylic paints and then they created a second piece, applying what they learned when they added colour to the ribbon. The second focus was on line and shapes and how to create an interesting design with a variety of lines and filling in areas to create shapes.

The next project involved line and colour as well. Students were asked to create the illusion of depth by changing the value of the colour from dark to light as they filled in the spaces. This idea was a little more difficult for some of them to comprehend but the examples below show that some of them are beginning to grasp the concept.

Here’s a sneak preview of the last lesson I gave to my 4/5 class. The lesson was on positive and negative space and I love using this Japanese technique called Notan. Only three students finished (these are the students that I need to find more work for).

Peace Banners

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. created by students at my school for Remembrance Day

This is the first year I’ve missed the Remembrance Day assembly at school. I was off recovering from my surgery. Before I left I was able to collect most of the banners and a group of us picked some of the best from different grades within the school. We asked 5 students to talk about their banners at the assembly.

I took photos of the banners that were chosen and of the ones we were considering. One of my colleagues, K, agreed to create a slide show that would play while the students and our guests came into the gym. I also requested that someone take pictures of the gym after it was decorated with the banners. I think the children did a great job. Enjoy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Next Best Thing to Children’s Art

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. buying children’s art books

Today I was able to leave school early and go the book vendors’ sale for teacher librarians. When I got there I only had two hours to browse and buy books. I had 2 main objectives: purchase this year’s Forest of Reading books and purchase French books.

Luckily one vendor had most of the Forest of Reading books so that I didn’t have to wander over that large room looking for the various titles. As for the French books, there was one vendor that sold only French books. The first time I went to this book sale this same vendor had already packed up and left by the time I got there. Even though I arrived 2 hours before closing, he was starting to pack up when I arrived at his section.

When they saw that I was interested in buying numerous books from them they were very helpful and over $900.00 later they were glad that they hadn’t left early this time. Normally I take a French Immersion teacher with me to help make decisions about which French books to buy; however today I literally had to judge a book by its cover and trust the suggestions made by the vendor. Hopefully I’ve made some good choices.

I had time to visit a third vendor today. The two women who own this book shop in the east end of Toronto are very knowledgeable about their books and I really enjoy buying books from them because they are so passionate about their books. They sold me several art books for children and I’ve decided to share them with you.

The first books are a series of art books by Irene Luxbacher, titled 1 2 3 I Can Paint, 1 2 3 I Can Print, 1 2 3 I Can Collage, 1 2 3 I Can Builld and 1 2 3 I Can Draw. They are written for children but teachers new to teaching art would find these books very helpful. Most of the examples could be used for art lesson plans.

Each book has a materials page so that you’ll know what you need to complete all the projects. Each activity has step by step instructions with clear techniques and inspirational projects that will leave children with a sense of accomplishment. At the back of the book art words that are used throughout the book are explained and teachers and parents are given tips to “ensure a good art experience every time” for their children.

Tomorrow I will share some more books with you.

Cheers!

In the Pumpkin Patch

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. children’s art always makes me smile

Today we had the dreaded District Review. I knew that we would probably fare well but I couldn’t help but worry about my 15 minute inspection. I stayed up late to make samples for today’s lesson. I got up early and printed some worksheets, left the house without eating breakfast and worked through my lunch hour to set up the classroom for the lesson.

The 15 minute visit was over in a blink of an eye. We had to pretend that the team wasn’t in the room. The teacher wasn’t spoken to but they did ask questions of a few students while they worked. It was a pretty unsatisfying experience.

At the end of the day the staff was asked to come down to the staffroom for a quick overview of what the teams observed throughout the day. The report was positive and down the road a more detailed report will make it’s way back to the school with suggestions on how to move forward. You could almost hear the sigh of relief that every teacher wanted to release as the superintendent gave her report.

When I went back to the library I started to go through all the artwork that my 110 students have produced in the last 2 months. Their beautiful pictures fill me with a sense of pride. I’ve posted a few of the pumpkin pictures that my grades 2 and 3 students completed.

Enjoy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Playing with Paint

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. when it rains it pours

Literally it was pouring rain today and the kids were indoors all day. That’s tough on the kids and the teachers.

My friend L and I left school earlier than we normally do and headed for Art Junction hoping to find some free materials for my art classes and for her dance and music classes. The posters I was hoping to get weren’t accessible today because of a flood they had earlier in the summer but I did find these great banners that can be cut to size. The back side of these banners are blank and white and will work well for painting projects. L found lots of interesting materials for making instruments with the kids and she picked up some very funky costumes to use for her grade 5 opera production.

When I got home tonight I checked out a lot of art blogs and was so inspired that I finally pulled out my paints and had a great time. I created 3 mono prints on yupo paper and worked on making 3 examples of peace banners (using the recycled banners from Art Junction). This year for our Remembrance Day assembly we decided to decorate the gym with peace flags created by the children.

When I said ‘when it rains, it pours’ I was also referring to my obsession with painting. Once I start I don’t want to stop. It’s now 1:50 in the morning and I have to get up at 6:30 to go to work. The good thing about doing art is that I don’t snack….hmmm, maybe I should do more of this but stop at a more reasonable hour.

Here are the pieces of art that I was working on. The yupo prints are 6″ x 8″ and the flags are 14″ long.

: Abstract monoprint

The Visit is Over, the View from my Room and a Project for a New Week

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. my son is on his way back to the Netherlands

When I woke up this morning I was in awe of the beautiful golden colours from the crabapple tree outside my bedroom window. It was a sharp contrast from the cool fuchsia pink blossoms of the spring.

Despite the beautiful day It was somewhat sad. I had to say good bye to my son. His short visit was over and it was time for him to return to the Netherlands. There is a possibility that he’ll be back at Christmas.

Heading out for the bus station. B had to get back to Montreal to catch his flight back to Europe.

After dropping B at the bus station I did some shopping for school and home. Sunday is my least favourite day of the weekend because I always find I’m getting ready for school or trying to complete chores in the house that I didn’t get done earlier in the week.

Friday night I did work on a sample for one of our next art assignments. We’re working on how dark and light tones of colour add depth and dimension to objects using chalk pastels. I’ve already introduced the concept to one of my grade 3 classes and they’re very excited about drawing pumpkins.

There are many variations of this theme on numerous art blogs. I needed to move away from paint and have the students experiment with a new medium.

The blog that I used for this project belongs to Gail Bartel. She does some amazing projects with her students. Check them out at A Faithful Attempt

It’s going to be a crazy week. The library is going to be shut down for 2 days so that library services can come in and ‘revitalize the space’ (weed outdated and damaged books) and Scholastic Books is dropping off the cases for next week’s Book Fair. We also have to sit down and organize the Remembrance Day assembly, write report cards for the progress reports and get ready for our big district review (all classes will be inspected to see what kind of learning takes place).

Of course that means there will be more stress in my life and we all know how stress affects my weight loss. I’m thankful that I’m at least maintaining my weight loss. I’m contemplating joining a gym again. The one I used to go to has just reopened in a new location, closer to home, and is cheaper and offers more for less. I’m tempted. What do you think?