Friday 8 May 2015

Clouds, Ceilings, Challenge, Camping & More

It's the end of the week so it must be:

To begin with are these little thought clouds I have used to try to help some of the children I work with understand what other people may be thinking if someone says something or does something.  Often these children get into trouble because they do not stop to think about the consequence of their actions and why the other person may react how they do.  The aim therefore is to role play some scenarios and break down what may be happening.

I say an action or sentence and the children need to hold up:
 a red cloud if they think the other person might have an angry thought
a blue cloud if they think it might be a sad thought
 a yellow cloud if it might be a happy thought
a green cloud if it might be a nervous/worried thought
a black cloud if it  is an OK - nothing special thought

Sometimes the children are in agreement, sometimes they think something very different to how others would perceive the situation so we have to talk through these thought processes.
We can then move on to what that other person may be actually thinking and vocalise those thoughts.


Sometime ago I blogged about there being a hole in my ceiling - caused by a hole in the roof - which I am very pleased to say I have now managed to mend (oh boy was it a whole lot harder than even I had imagined) and have begun the process of putting wallpaper up over the mended part and wall below which needed the wallpaper removed too.  
I have learnt a lot whilst doing this job and although it is always going to look like a patch repair I am very pleased with myself for giving it a try and saving a whole heap of money in the process!!
Hole in ceiling exposed after I investigated a sagging in the wallpaper - water had been dripping for years?  Original lath and plaster work over 150 years old an be seen.  I had to carefully remove sodden laths without bringing too much more down - leaving an actual hole which I forgot to photograph!

Then I had to make my own laths and secure in place onto the more solid ends of the original laths and beams of ceiling.  Tried to do this with hammer and pins but in end had to resort to electric nail gun!

Have learnt to mix my own plaster as needed very light weight and to build up layers forcing it between laths to hold.  Smoothed off with finishing plaster.
Have now sized the wall and ceiling ready to afix ceiling wallpaper as well as wall lining paper later today.  Am changing the colour of the wall so that won't be a problem as will paint entire wall once ready but somehow need to mix a small quantity of paint to correct colour to match ceiling!!

Last Thursday, I successfully completed the A to Z Challenge - a challenge that requires you to blog through the alphabet every single day of April except on Sundays.  It is also about visiting lots of new blogs about lots of different subjects and I can totally recommend this.  
Sometimes as teachers, I think we can get a bit too insular and only ever really visit blogs written by other teachers - mainly because we are always looking for things to improve the teaching in our own classrooms but if you do dare to go further then there really are some amazing blogs and bloggers out there who can fill your head with inspiration, wisdom and creativity.  So if you didn't have a go this year think about it for next - I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
Another resource I shared this week and wrote about the ideas that could be used with it was about camping!  If you'd like to take a look and be able to download this freebie please click on the picture below :)

and finally
this weekend is promising better weather so hubby and I will be out in our garden trying to wrestle it back under control and finishing off the scattering of grass seed in order to begin the process of growing back our side lawn - I will be just so happy when green shoots appear :)

Here's to everyone - hope you all have a lovely, restful and enjoyable weekend :)



12 comments:

  1. Most enjoyable post to read, hope the weather does improve for you.
    Have a great day.
    Yvonne.

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    1. Many thanks, Yvonne - I suppose I should be making a start rather than going through blog posts but who cares? I'm having lunch!!

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  2. What a lovely post. Luv the cloud idea.

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn. I will be over to visit your Celebrate post soon :)

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  3. I was hoping with all the C's in the title, you'd find time to mention Celebrate the Small Things. We're a "C" too! Congrats on mending your ceiling hole. Plastering and wallpapering sound very hard to me. Have a lovely weekend. :)

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    1. Oh whoops - sorry Lexa - I'll need to remember that for next time!

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  4. Wow, that is certainly a large project you took on. Good job! I also tend to read blogs I can relate to. But I tried to be more open minded this time. I’m glad I did!

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    1. Well I'm certainly glad I met you through the Challenge, Lyndagrace :)

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  5. I love your thought bubbles. My kiddos love writing speech/thought bubbles for pictures they draw. I would love to do a month long blog challenging and fun. I read a lot of quilting and nature blogs!
    Jenny

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  6. You've done a wonderful job of patching up your ceiling. We're just getting our kitchen ceiling painted after the damage from the leaky shower (we've also got a brand new shower), although we're lucky and have had someone come in to do it all for us (thank goodness for landlords, I wouldn't know where to start with it).

    Those thought bubbles are a great idea. It reminds me of a traffic lights system which one of the teachers I knew used. When a new activity was introduced, before the children were dispatched to work on it, they would be asked if they were 'Red, Amber, or Green'.

    Green meant ready to go, Amber meant they were unsure of something and Red meant the teacher needed to run through it again to make it all clear.

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  7. Whoa. Can I ever relate to this post! Our home is at least 120 years now- they didn't always register them right when they were built, so I say at least. We have plaster and lathe in the original part of the home- we've done two major additions. We took down the walls ourselves, and the plaster dust was so thick, even with a breathing mask, I got really sick. Fever and headache. We decided never again. For the next room, when I took off the wallpaper, the plaster underneath was cracked. Majorly cracked. We filled in the cracks best we could and when it came to painting, I got special ceiling paint that could be textured and put it on the walls. Then I used a flat blade spatula and formed a "swiped" look to the texture. Over that paint I used a dry rag with another color to accent and fool the eye into seeing a great "special" wall. It worked beautifully. Completely designer. Only we know it was to cut out a LOT of work :) So glad your project went well and in the end you are happy. Homeownership- it's a mixed bag, though I wouldn't give up our "homestead" for anything. Loved your post. Kathleen
    Kidpeople Classroom

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    1. What a fantastic comment - with lots of helpful detail - thank you so much Kathleen :) I will be heading over to your fabulous teaching blog to catch up with what you've been doing shortly!

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