International Pillow Fight Day 2014 :-)

On the downward slope...yeeeah!

Me, this term:

I do love my job, honest, but like any teacher who knows they throw 100% effort and energy into their job, by the end of term they're bound to be bedraggled and drained.

I wish you all, parents, kids and teachers alike, a happy, peaceful, fun Easter holidays.

Who needs an excuse, but...

ITS INTERNATIONAL PILLOW FIGHT DAY TODAY, PEOPLE!

Enjoy!

Photos of our battles to follow soon!

Hola

It's been a few weeks. 

I've discovered Instagram. Say no more. 

Pinterest and Instagram...there's no hope for me. 

I have however, given up Facebook so that's my excuse. That's the extent of the socialising in the P 'n P house.

My gratuitous Instagram for the day (the April challenge, 'in my hand'):

And there have been no pedicures or indulgence to kinda back up the blog's name. I'm not doing the expat wife reputation any good!

It's all been about ticking off checklists especially for my sister's hen do planning. But that is all now booked. Watch this space for some fun and japes in the summer. 

So...school then.

The last couple of weeks in year 4 have been all about the art of India. We have looked specifically at Rangoli but also at henna/mendhi. Even the boys had a go at designing once they had shaken their heads into their hands.

Rangoli is such a skill! We looked at pictures and videos and were amazed how they could scatter the sand/rice flour so neatly and precisely. The ladies made it look so easy. 

Everyone created a chalk rangoli, planning and working from the grid of dots all the way to the symmetrical colour design. One group of four in each class were to design a rangoli together and then make it out of sand outside the classroom. This was a great activity and one I will only tweak a little but definitely do again next year.

The sand rangoli group worked really well especially after the early frustration of making the grid of dots much bigger than what was in their sketchbook but also because of the fact it was really hard to sprinkle the sand! Even I had a go and I made it look like I was salting my dinner!

Space Art!

A little something different this year seeing as I'm teaching them Science as well, let's throw that into the art lessons!

Today was Peter Thorpe, an artist known more for illustrations but has become loved for his rocket pictures which have that 50s comic book feel. I like being able to give the kids an artist name to make the lesson more personal, but I always encourage them to let their own style shine through. 

I had the kids combine Star Patti's chalk galaxy lesson over at Deep Space Sparkle along with Peter Thorpe's style of rockets. We thought about the bold colours we'd use to create that futuristic atmosphere but mostly we focused on light and shadow, thinking where our sun would be and therefore where the shadows would be cast on the planets and rockets. Very interesting, this is almost a science assessment activity in itself, seeing what they understand. 

Enjoy! We certainly did!

Year 6 and the Blitz skylines.

Frustrated to start this one...I had a really good PowerPoint for them that as well as showing the children some dramatic pictures of a bombed skyline, it also helped to described blitzkrieg. But it seems to have been lost in the ether...

Never mind, it all worked out over some discussion, some googling and brainstorming.

They loved the idea of using masking tape to create searchlights once peeled off. A few remembered that charcoal can be erased and they created their searchlights that way.