Will they keep him in?

After trying to get Sam to understand we would like him NOT to attempt a second escape into the main play area today I reminded him this morning when dropping him off at Breakfast Club, 'Now, you do know that you're not allowed to climb the fence.  So, promise me you won't do it again.'

Cue big eyes, cheeky grin, big giggle and 'Well, I might have another little try'.

Alcatraz would have nothing on this kid.

Tom, Dick or Harry

Before I had kids I always said I never minded what I had, but I would be especially happy if I had a real, proper naughty mischevious little boy. Sometimes it's really not good to wish for these things.  Today, on only his second day at Foundation Stage, Andy and I were greeted with a chuckling teacher explaining to us that Sam had attempted to escape.

It transpires he was outside in the play area, which is right next to the main school field and playground.  It is fenced off with an approximatey 6 feet high chain link fence, with gaps in the wires just big enough for four year old little feet.  Seeing his older sister Eleanor on the other side on the field, and no doubt, knowing Eleanor, she probaby added a bit of encouragement, he proceeded to stack the milk crates to make a handy set of steps so he could bunk one over the top and head off into the main school playground to join her playtime.  It seems the grass was greener.....until he was noticed by the teacher.  When asked what he was doing he tried to justify his actions by explaining 'I was only popping my head over the top'.

He thinks it's hilarious.  I hope they check for tunnels tomorrow.

School stuff

Maddie is learning about the Aztecs this half term. Last night she came home with the dreadful homework grid, but she was elated. On it was a task to make something with chocolate.

14 cook books later, Maddie found her recipe.

Chocolate terrine. I've never known a kid so keen to do homework.

Eleanor on the other hand, was elated for another reason. Today the children in her year are having a pyjama day. The idea of hauling herself out of bed and not bothering to get dressed was pure joy for her. But it wasn't until we'd packed her dressing gown and slippers, put on her coat and shoes and were heading out the door that she announced chuckling her little heart out that, 'Oh Mummy, I've forgotten my knickers - hope my jammy bottoms don't fall down!!'

A quick pack of the missing pants and we hot-tailed it to school breakfast club so she could change.

Joshua however, grunted when I asked what his topic was this term. 'Dunno, but my new teacher is nice'.

So, day one of the new half term is over.

How long till Christmas?

WW2 Fish Paste

Today I have pity for Joshua's classmates.

Last night he embarked on the WW2 cooking project he has chosen to do as part of his homework grid. I allowed him the chance to make one main meal, one dessert and one 'revolting' meal. Typical boy, he chose the latter first.

Fish Paste. The recipe is basic, some salted cod, mashed potato, margarine, pepper.... Mmmm, looked good, smelt OK. Then the worcester sauce went in. My nostrils couldn't take it anymore.

It's been refrigerated overnight and a loaf of bread has been cut into chunks. So, yum yum, cold fish paste seasoned with worcester sauce on plain bread.

My kitchen still pongs this morning.

An Old Fogey at 36!!

It's a good job I'm not having a bad day otherwise after reading Joshua's homework grid I might have felt compelled to stick my head in the oven.

"Write three problems involving old fashioned measurements."

Am I REALLY that old to consider yards, feet, inches, pounds and ounces as 'old fashioned'?

He'll be asking me if I've ever seen a woolly mammoth next.

What I Love About Homework

With Maddie, it's her enthusiasm. She's currently doing a project about the Romans and had to pretend she was a soldier writing home about her experience.

Considering she's been in many battles she's in rather good spirits!

Pharaoh's Birthday Cake - Perhaps?

Another post migration.

Joshua and Madeleine's school have an interesting approach to homework and it's taken a little time to get used to the new format. Previously, each day they'd have different assignments set for individual subjects and each batch of homework would have a time period in which to complete it. In some ways I liked it. It helped them to filter their concentration on to specific subjects and also taught them the discipline of having work completed on time and done to the best of their ability. What I didn't like was the rigidity of it. If work was set on a Monday to be in the next day, it was difficult to get them to concentrate when they had after school activities the same night. It's also VERY difficult to ask a child to concentrate on work when there are siblings within earshot all making very noisy demands on your attention. In seniors when exams are paramount, I'll welcome the stricter more rigid demands placed on them but for 7 and 8 year olds, it's all a bit much.

So, I was delighted when the school introduced a new form of homework discipline. Many parents dislike it - I love it. It takes the form of a table divided into multiple skills - numeracy, literacy, interpersonal, intrapersonal, social, scientific, PHSE ..... Then, into each discipline are various tasks each with a differing points value. The idea is to complete at least 8 projects and score at least 30 points with no more than 3 disciplines from each line being completed. They have the whole half term to do it.

This means I can do weekend projects with them - things that take time, rather than trying to rush them at the end of a day where they're tired from school and I'm tired from work, trying to cook dinner, entertain the others and generally being ratty. It means we can spend time together researching information at our leisure rather than being pushed for time to fit it in between dinner, after school activities and a reasonable bed-time.

This half term Joshua's learning about Ancient Egypt. As well as numerous miscellaneous projects from the sheet, he's already done a bar chart showing the length of reign of 4 Pharaohs (he instantly recognised and applied the reverse mathematics when calculating the reign of a BC rule). He's written spells warning casual wanderers away from a sarcophagus and his short story about himself during the period has also received an 'Excellent Job' marking from his teacher. (I think the bit about being caught by the guards whilst fleeing across the desert, knocking the nose off the Sphinx and being chopped up and given to the best chef in Egypt to serve up in the new Pharaoh's dinner kind of impressed Mr H.).

BUT - the Pièce de résistance just HAD to be the pyramid cake he made. With a little bit of help measuring ingredients and loading them into the mixer, he made a Madeira cake.

I've always encouraged the children to think laterally. Not to always be content with the first idea in their head, or feel defeated if somebody has already achieved something they would like to achieve. I like them to think how they can improve on designs and ideas, how they can apply methods and theories differently to achieve the same goal or perhaps improve on it. In this instance Joshua decided that the other cakes his classmates had brought in had exhausted the 'pile one slab on top of the other' method, so he needed something new. He wanted to 'build' his pyramid, so after cutting the cake into bricks we set about assembling it, using hot jam as cement to hold the pieces together. Then topped off with copious layers of buttercream to give that all authentic sandstone look. We had to ensure there were enough bricks for each child in his year group and teachers AND assistants to have one each.

Not much pressure there then.

Looking more like the leaning tower of Pisa here!

Joshua proudly displaying the fruits of his efforts - nearly done now.

TA DA!!! Here we have it - Pyramid Cake

He took it in today to share with the class. 85 bricks in all, so there's plenty for everyone. With this assigment completed he's notched up 31 points and 7 completed tasks.