Trying Again

I am going to try again to post the photos I wanted to show in my last blog.

The knitted hat completed and ready to wear when I next go on a boat, as well as being my August make.  Now, I have to get busy with September's.  I think it will have to be something I finish rather than start from scratch!

The calendar and book from The Works.  Two pressies from one shop - excellent

There is still something going on with downloading as had to put these on to picasa to load from there.

However, I have also managed to make my "stamp?" for the monthly make now be linked to the actual website.  I am learning!!

Committing Myself, Montessori and Canal Boats

I decided last night to commit myself (when you're in education you often feel you're heading this way!) to a craft monthly make.  Being new to all this blogging I had never even left a comment on anyone's site before let alone tried to gain a stamp/label/thingamajig/whatsit before, which is what I've kind of done although it doesn't link to the actual site so to do that please go to http://thefeltfairyuk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/make-month-2012-sign-up-here.html.  Anyway, I'm feeling proud of myself but if anyone can help out with how to actually link or even what that picture is really called in the margin then I'd be pleased to know.

The first monthly make for August will be the hat I sewed up and finished first thing this morning.  I'm posting the pic here and then I will try to post to the August group on Flickr - which will be another first if I succeed.

Update: the photos don't appear to be wanting to upload here but I have succeeded in posting to the August Flickr site - Hurray!!http://www.flickr.com/groups/1882864@N22/

Today is also the 142nd birthday of Maria Montessori.  I would love to visit a Montessori school to see how it works in real life.  I try hard in my own teaching to engage the children through tasks, being multi-sensory and creating a happy and playful atmosphere whenever and wherever possible and guess what it works.  Unfortunately, in the present climate, I feel I am being constantly told this is not how teaching should be.  Ofsted's ticklists do not account for happiness and a child's sense of learning and I seem to be fighting a losing battle.  Therefore, the more promotion of such teaching as Montessori the better.

I have also managed to buy two presents to be squirrelled away for Husband's birthday.  This is quite an achievement as normally he only receives the latest Terry Pratchett book.  However, I popped into The Works yesterday and found a waterways calendar for 99p (yes I checked it was for 2013!) as well as another book in the series about canal boats he is currently reading (also a bargain at £1.99).  I have yet to read them myself but they seem to make him explode with laughter.  Now I just have to hope he doesn't buy it for himself during the next two months!

Photo doesn't want to load - what's going wrong?

Dyslexia, Knitting and Feral Cats

Last night, I watched the BBC programme, Growing Children that focused on children with dyslexia.  Having trained as a specialist dyslexia teacher last year I know something about it, but the programme really brought it home to me about how lost these children can be in our mainstream school system and how little maybe my specialist teaching can really help.  The young girl that had received three and a half years of the same specialist teaching instruction I deliver was still struggling so much that her parents decided to pay for her to attend a special private school for dyslexic children, where classes are very small, noise levels for concentration are minimised and all teaching is specialised; conditions that I don't think can be replicated in mainstream school.  

The two hours I have timetabled for specialised dyslexia teaching within my school now looks miniscule and will it really, actually help?  Of course, I know it will help them in terms of self-confidence, being given the chance to talk about what's happening in their head without fear someone is going to think of them as odd and allow them to have an hour where they are truly happy in their learning environment, this I have discovered from the child I have been giving specialist instruction to after school for the past year (in my own time), but I also know her grades did not improve in class with her class teacher or for the end of year tests and this is what my headteacher is going to be expecting for funding for lessons like this to continue.  Slightly depressing, I think!

So to cheer myself up I will post some photos of my latest knitting project, that I hope to be sewing up today, to create a hat for canal boating during the autumn and winter months.

This pattern I found in a charity shop for 20p.  It's the pinky, stripy one I've knitted.

I also found the Jaeger wool at the same charity shop, 5 balls for £2.50!!  100% pure wool.  Bluey-grey with multi-coloured flecks in.  The hat took just two and a half balls, so I'm passing the left overs and the pattern to my mum who wants to knit something for the soldiers' xmas boxes.

Last of all a plea to anyone out there who could possibly help a friend out who is being over-run with feral cats.  Over the years a cat colony has formed based around the abandoned out-buildings of the old house she owns.  She is now becoming too ill to look after them properly and needs to find loving homes for them to be rehoused to, preferably in pairs or more and to people who understand that they are not lap-cats.  As you can imagine the cat shelters are all full to bursting and cannot take on anymore.  The cats have been neutered but not vaccinated and the ones to be re-homed range in ages between 9 months to 5 years (of which there are about 15!!).

New Beginnings

It's the first time I've ever blogged so I hope anyone reading this forgives my errors and newbie ways.

My hope is to document my steep learning curve as a new SENCO and to communicate my findings, trials and tribulations and possible breakthroughs in the ways of teaching those children in mainstream primary school who find it so hard to learn like the majority.

I also want to share the wonderful creativity there is in the world in all its forms that's helps make life bearable as well as some of my own efforts in creativity and craft!

During the bank holiday weekend I attended the International Festival of Glass held at Stourbridge and was blown away by the beauty and incredible techniques and mastery of the glass workers.  I learnt so much and witnessed pure magic as people created amazing pieces of art in front of my eyes.  The event encompassed a number of venues of which I only managed to get round the Ruskin Mill, Broadfield House and the Bonded Warehouse in the one day, however as the exhibitions are running until 15th September I'm hoping to be back to see more soon.http://www.ifg.org.uk/

The photo shows the glass vase I bought from the student stall.  The young man who sold it to me (as well as being the craftsman who had made it!) has just completed his three year course and talked so animatedly about the things he had learnt during his time there; he was a brilliant ambassador for the college.

 

The photo was taken on a very dull and rainy day so you just have to imagine how beautiful it truly looks when the sun is shining through it!

 

The next three photos unfortunately show what is happening to the glass industry as more people choose to buy cheaper imports from abroad.  I can remember visiting this Stuart Crystal site during the 1990s to buy various glass decanters as wedding gifts (I wonder how many jobs were lost when it closed to move to the much smaller premises across the road?)