Last week I went to help at a Guide Unit as they were short of a leader for the night. Its been over ten years since I regularly helped at a Guide Unit so it was fun to be back with younger girls again.
This was their last meeting of term before breaking up for the Easter holidays so they had lots of Easter activities planned! They were such brilliant ideas that I thought I would share with you.
The first was an Easter basket to collect all the eggs in. I was really impressed with these and excited to have a go!
You will need 13 strips of paper and one square. A 30cm (12 inch) ruler was used as a template for the strips and the square has to be the same width as 4 strips.
Weave 8 strips of paper together
Place the square over your woven strips to form the base
Fold the ends upright and then weave another two strips around the base
Repeat to form a second layer
Fold the ends over to neaten. Obviously try to do this better than I did! Might be worth trimming them too!
DO NOT TAKE OUTSIDE WHEN WINDY!!!
Gutted.
Never mind there was chocolate to cheer me up.
The girls got to make chocolate nests and a bunny egg holder for their Easter Eggs to sit in!
Too much chocolate? Well there was a brilliant wide game to burn off some energy too!
The girls were given a grid of paper with a list of suspects (Peter Rabbit, Jessica Rabbit etc), a list of locations and a list of potential murder weapons (including carrots of course). Clues were hidden both inside and out which the girls had to find. Crossing of the clues as they found them, eventually they would be left with one suspect location and weapon. What a brilliantly simple idea.
Can you believe the Guides squeezed all of this into 2 hours!
Sorry for the very late Cross Monday. Little Owl just wouldn't settle tonight, and after two hours of trying I have given up and brought her back downstairs. She is currently sat on the sofa next to me, with a bottle of milk and a book. She was amused when I got the cross stitch out to photograph as she hasn't seen it yet! It is something I keep for the evenings when she has gone to bed!!!
After writing last weeks post I realised that it was going to take me over a month to go round the entire boarder. That just seemed a long time so I started cheating - about half way down the right hand side, I stopped doing the second stitch (which completes the cross) on the vine. I will have to go back and complete it at some point but for now I just need to get all the way around so I have some markers to work from.
And here lies my fear. I have counted and double counted every stitch. I have had to undo and redo many a stitch but I'm hoping that means I really have got it right! Usually when you start in the middle you build out slowly meaning you have other stitches to guide you and double check yourself.
I haven't got this and I'm nervous. Very nervous. I won't know until I reach the top if I have got it spot on. One stitch out and... well... lets hope that isn't the case!
Testing and assessments start at birth with the APGAR test being carried out at just a minute old.
On Friday Little Owl will be assessed yet again by the Health Visitors.
The Health Visitors.
It hasn't been a happy relationship with the health visitors meaning that any interaction with them needs careful thought and planning. This does not sit well with my normally happy go lucky nature!
For her Two Year assessment, we have been sent a form to fill in, with a covering letter explaining the form is American and they could help us if we are unfamiliar with the words! Apparently the NHS has not paid for the full license allowing them to adapt the form for the UK. I find this a little bit embarrassing.
We were sent the form 3 weeks prior to the appointment to allow us time to "complete the activities" with Little Owl. So this is how we have found ourselves, at just 23 months old, teaching to the test!
Communication
To be honest, Little Owl has nailed this section, they don't seem to be concerned about the number of clear words that she is saying, as long as she is saying some, can understand instructions and is making 2 or 3 word sentences. We'll be fine as long as they don't show her a picture of a cat and ask her what it is as Little Owl is still calling them "babbies". Don't ask.
Actually, I thought I had this section nailed until I turned the page and found the last question:
"Does your child correctly use at least two words like 'me' 'I' 'mine' and 'you'?"
Little Owl very briefly said "mine", just for a couple of hours, and has said "me" ever since. Does that count? Can I tick the sometimes box? Has Little Owl failed already?
Just to be on the safe side, Papa Owl and I have come up with a new game which basically involves us repeatedly pointing at each other and Little Owl and saying "you". So far Little Owl has failed to say "you" but does think this game is "fun" which is her latest word and sign.
Gross Motor
Thanks to living in a Victorian terrace house, Little Owl can walk up and down the stairs. Running is not a problem either, and we've been actively encouraging jumping over the last few weeks and that's paid off. So that just leaves the questions about kicking a ball... the only ball we could find was from her ball pit!
Kicking ball - tick!
Pity they don't ask about forward rolls... she can do them no problem!
Fine Motor
Spoon - tick! Turning pages of a book - tick! Flip switches - tick! But really - are we meant to be encouraging that?
Time to dig out the bottle (to check turning motion), blocks or toys (to check ability to stack 7) and buttons or beads (to check ability to thread).
Turning - tick! Cups - tick! Buttons - nope. She can pull them off ok but really isn't that interested in threading them. Interestingly, the box suggests its an activity for 3-6 year olds.
Problem Solving
This section is quite complicated.
Drawing lines - tick. Pretending (such as using object as phone or putting boxes on head pretending its a hat) - tick!
Line up 4 objects in a row - why would she even want to?
The next one intrigues me "after a crumb or Cheerio is dropped into a small clear bottle does your child turn the bottle upside down to dump out the crumb or Cheerio?" Crumb or Cheerio? Seriously? Fine that its American but product placement? That's just not British!
Little Owl did it by the way, I put a hair clip in the bottle used in the last section - she had to unscrew the lid before she could tip it upside down - real problem solving!
Does your child put things away where they belong?
Serious? Do kids do this before they move out? Not sure I can tick this one myself! (Pappa owl tells me she puts her toys away after a bath with him so maybe its just me!)
If your child wants something she cannot reach, does she find a chair or box to stand on to reach it?
My mother would have kittens if Little Owl did this!
I think Little Owl is a great little problem solver for example she worked out how to get into the bathroom before me, close the door and slide the bolt across. That was a neat trick we only let her do once!
Personal-Social
Drink from a cup - tick! Copy us - tick! Eat with a fork - tick (but I'd like to know why eating with fork is a social skill when eating with a spoon is a fine motor skill). Feeds dolls and pushes them in pram - tick and tick!
"Does your child call herself 'I' or 'me' more often than her own name?" Yes - but that's probably got more to do with 'Little Owl' being a bit of a mouthful - I reckon if we named her something like Mia she would be able to say it by now!
Overall
That concludes the main part of the questionnaire. The end section has a few leading questions, encouraging the parents to highlight any concerns we may have about her development.
Do we have any concerns? Well yeeess - the more we are hearing of Little Owls voice, the more we are having to come to terms with the fact that she sounds like the Spanish Interpreter from Blackadder!
So far this cross stitch is progressing very differently to how they usually do because I'm wanting to extend the pattern - something I haven't done before!
Usually you start a pattern in the middle. The patterns themselves have the middle marked on them, so all you need to do is find the middle of the fabric and get started.
But not for me as I don't know where the middle of my pattern is! The original design would measure at 52cm x 46cm. My design won't be any wider but ignoring the top and bottom border, my design will be a third longer. I don't know how wide the border is so I am over estimating my design at being 70cm x 46cm.
The lovely folk at the Historical Sampler Company sent me a piece of fabric measuring 107cm x 70cm. I decided that I would start my pattern in the top left hand corner and work around the outside and then in to the middle, where my changes will be. This meant I had to measure 18cm down and 12cm in from the edge to find my starting point!
So that's where I started nearly two weeks ago! I started with the dark red which creates a single line of crosses around the whole edge of the design. I would be impossible to accurately count the correct number of stitches needed for this border so I just stitched far enough to reach the first flower which also contained this red. When this thread ran out, I swapped to mild gold which formed the stem of all the flowers around the border. It was quite a hard pattern to follow not helped by the pale colour so after a couple of strands I swapped to the bright green which was not only easier to see but also had a much simpler pattern to follow meaning that once I had done a few I could copy what I had stitched and didn't need to look at the pattern until I reached the corner.
The pattern has 11 of these flowers along the top and bottom edges, and 13 flowers going down either side. The flowers repeat in a pattern of 4 so this is where I am able to gain the extra length for my design, meaning I will have 17 flowers on each side.
Its a long slow process doing the border. I'm usually buoyed on by the fact that I have nearly finished the piece and its the final touches which makes it look ace. I will be strange to have a frame which I am filling in and I must admit the novelty is beginning to wear off!
Tis the season to be a maths teacher tra lalalalalalala
Thinking back to last summer when I first took a step off of the
teaching treadmill in search of something more flexible, I was nervous.
Would I find work? Would there be enough work for me?
Well it turns out there is!
There is a national shortage of maths teachers, really there always has
been, but at the moment, with teachers leaving the profession in large
numbers, this has been made far worse.
It is not unheard of, in these unhappy times, for a whole department to leave a school at the end of a term.
This gave me a long term placement from September through to Christmas.
Over Christmas I began to get nervous again but as term started, the
phone calls began and I found myself on 'day to day' supply - one of
those placements could have been long term if I hadn't been going to
India. I could have been working 5 days a week if wanted.
Back from India and I found myself in another long term placement,
hopefully until mid-June when the GCSE exam is. I've been brought in as
one of two extra teachers enabling the school to have class sizes as
low as 5 for their year 11s - they really do want them to pass!
I also managed to bag myself a bit of teaching at a 6th form college -
one of Gove's ideas is for kids to carry on studying maths until they
are 18. Colleges aren't set up for this so are having to pull in extra
staff. Unfortunately the kids weren't so keen on Gove's plan, and low
turn out meant that my classes got cancelled and I was officially made
redundant after just 3 weeks!
But that's not all - I've been given some tutoring work through the Supply Agency too. School's get extra money to support kids who are in care, one school locally have decided to spend that money on tutors. I've got one kid at the moment, but there has been talk of a second.
Last summer, I went through some training to do online tutoring. That company stopped trading but one of the tutors has set up on his own and got in contact to see if I could run a course for some year 6 students. I had to say no as it was at a time I was already working.
So at the moment work is all good. I am definately employed up until mid-June when the exams are but I suspect there will be less call for supply after that and obviously nothing in August! A couple of exam boards have been in touch though, I've got a contract with one (but no guaranteed work), and waiting to hear from the other, so hopefully I'll make it through to September and I can start all over again!
I haven't written this post to show off or anything like that. Supply teaching doesn't pay anywhere near as well as a permanent job. If I was working full time I would be £6000 worse off a year doing supply. Plus I don't get any benefits from agency work. But teachers are choosing this route as the only way to get a work life balance that works. As their only option to keep healthy. A friend told me recently that she was going to take early retirement and work as supply. She is leaving her 'proper' job because, well, for the same reason everyone else is - its just a bit shit at the moment in teaching. Apparently, reading my personal posts on Facebook was part of her decision process.
So that's why I wrote this post. I'm not showing off. I'm not saying the grass is greener. But I am saying its ok out here!
Still no sightings of those pesky back molars although they are giving Little Owl some gip! She has however, had her first visit to the dentist!
Signs and Speech
Little Owl is still using signs to communicate, but as the words come through the signs are slowly dropping off - although she has started doing all the signs and actions along to songs now which is really cute! And the words really are coming now - new this month is Grandma but Granddad is still a sign. An "oooh" sound has been discovered which gives us "poo" and "bool" (ball). "Peas" and "please" has been developed to give us "pee". "Pear" and "bear" are new too. Its like Little Owl is learning to spell at the same time as talk!
What's new?
Well the new words might give you a clue - pee and poo are becoming quite dominant! Little Owl has started wearing pants when we are at home! I've even been brave a couple of times and taken her out in Totsbots training pants but only when I've known we won't be long! Will she be dry by her birthday? Watch this space!
Something I have begun to notice with Little Owl is that she is beginning to get shy when meeting new people. She'll hide behind my legs and take a while to make sure of things before coming out. I guess I'm finding it strange as she has always been so confident, but until recently, when she met new people or went into a strange room, she would have always been in my arms. Now she is more independent, she is looking for safety in me - it is very sweet!
I've missed doing Knitting Fridays, I guess I have missed working on a project but I have also missed having a weekly post to write where I could just say a little bit about what I have been up to that week without worrying if it could be a whole post on its own.
So what's with Cross Mondays? I love cross-stitch. It was the first craft that I discovered for myself at 13, it doesn't require too much skill (it really is just stitching crosses) so I didn't need to be taught, and the patterns are all coded and are like little puzzles which appealed to me. I remember doing lots of teddy-bears at that age but lots of cross-stitch is a bit cutezie and old ladyish and I slowly stopped doing them.
Along came my first niece in 2003, and I stitched a large Victorian sampler for her baptism. My parents celebrated their Ruby Anniversary in 2005 and again a Victorian sampler was stitched. Then my nephew appeared in 2006 and I stitched again, this time a Noah's Ark as I wasn't sure he'd be so keen on the Victorian samplers as he grew! Niece number 2 came along in 2009 and another Victorian sampler was stitched.
Little Owl arrived in 2012, and I haven't stitched. The reason is that my Mum thought she might have a go. So I gave her a year to get started, the whole of 2013! Nothing happened. It's not a surprise. My Mum is a great knitter but she really doesn't like sewing. She has many knitting projects that have been sat waiting to be sewn together for years. Things she was making for me as a child.
I knew Little Owl's cross stitch was going to be mine to do. But by waiting a year it has taken off the pressure. Every now and again, I would browse the internet and add to my Pinterest board, knowing that a decision wouldn't need to be made yet.
As the end of 2013 approached, I started to get excited about the prospect of stitching again. I kept looking but I couldn't find 'the one'. There was one I really liked, but it didn't have the space to write Little Owl's name or date of birth. There was some that did, but I didn't like them nearly as much.
The lovely ladies on the stand not only gave me advice on how to extend the pattern but said they would send me a kit with a bigger piece of fabric so that there was space for my design. That was on Sunday, and I had my kit by Wednesday!
