Class 4 E-Circle

This will be my last post for this blog. I have very mixed feelings about that, because I am ecstatic to see you all for Real next week, but I have really enjoyed making the blog, thinking of topics, finding videos and images and best of all, providing the Peeks into Bubbles with you. It's going to be sad to let go of that. I'm quite sure next Monday will be full of mixed feelings too. It will be fantastic to see your classmates and your teachers again and to get on with things. At the same time, you've been living in a bubble of just your family for nearly two months- suddenly you'll be surrounded by more people in one room than you have seen in all those weeks together. That's bound to take quite a bit of adjustments, and adjustments are not always easy. No doubt you can do it, you've done it before, but be kind to yourself and to your classmates and your teacher, give each other some space and kindness. Being well organised takes SO MUCH stress out of

Apart from when I went teaching bubble Gum, all I have been wearing is my yoga pants over the last two months. I bet you have been living in your comfy clothes as well and you haven't given your wardrobe a lot of thought. Excellent timing to start thinking of get your clothes sorted and Be Ready For School and Life in General. When you look at tidying Super Heroes, you can't go past Marie Kondo. She has whole television series on tidying and wrote several books on it. She LOVES messy houses because she so enjoys tidying up. I am not suggesting you start living like her, I personally would find it a tad too extreme. But it is always a good idea to learn from extreme people. Take their wisdom and use it to enhance your own life, without going the full extemist way. Marie Kondo What I love about her, is that not only has she taught me how much fun tidying up can be, she also treats objects with love and respect. For example, when you tidy your wardrobe, she sa

Today I would like you to meet one of my super heroes, Andy Goldsworthy. When we think of art, we often think of paintings and drawings and sculptures made out of bronze or stone or wood. And we saw a bit about Banksy who uses the streets as his exhibition space. Or Frida Kahlo who painted from her bed and in her diary.  There is also a group of artist who work in the wilderness.  Mr Goldsworthy is such an artist. He works out on the land, listening to what nature is trying to tell him. He works with utmost respect towards nature, working only with the materials he finds. Most of the times, he doesn't even use tools, only his hands. He might use a rock he finds to cut a branch to the size he needs, or he uses pine needles to pin leaves together. I have also seen him using his teeth to cut a piece of icicle to the right shape. Or he warms the ice with his hands so it melts together. But that's it. You might think, yes, that's nice, but ar

Kia ora Class Four on this stunning day- another one! Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's day. I certainly did and I still feel the warmth and the good vibes hanging in the air around our home. It feels so nice to be loved and appreciated. I must make sure that when I feel genuine love and appreciation for others to let them know- we don't have to wait for special days to share the light. At school, Bubble Gum had to move into our Class Four classroom last week, due to the toilets being repaired which involved sledge hammers and that sort of thing. Not great to be trying to learn something beside that, so we moved into the sanctuary of Class 4. It felt SO good to be back in our own classroom, James and I felt as if we had come home. It also made me miss you a lot- bubble Gum is fun, but nothing like our own circle with familiar faces. I also saw this on my desk- remember? No novel has ever taken us as long as this one! Fingers crossed we will be back at school so

Hello hello Class 4, I hope your poems and cards are coming along well. If you are stuck with your poem, send me an email and I might be able to help you. As promised, we are staying on the subject of Mum. This year I think it is even more important than ever to celebrate Mums, because if you think being in lock down and isolation is not easy, try being a Mum in lockdown.  (Brief friendly reminder that Mums come in different amounts, shapes and sizes, see yesterday's post) You might think, hold on Angela, this is our Class 4 blog and now you are making me do things for someone else. Doesn't make sense dear Teacher. Do you remember us talking about resilience? Do you remember the story in Class 1 and 2 about filling buckets and how your own bucket fills as well if you give kindness away? Doing something for someone else build your own resilience- you get a lot back from it. That builds your own resilience, your bounce-back-in-difficult-times-ability. Try it. I am a Mum

This Sunday, 10 May 2020 it is Mother's Day. That's going to take a little bit of preparations this year, no last minute dash to the shop. Which is actually so much better. Firstly, what's this Mother's Day all about?  It is not a historical or spiritual festival. Some people say it is a pure economical invention making people buy presents which they otherwise wouldn't buy. So I did a bit of research. History of Mothering Sunday Like many traditions and festivities, Mothering Sunday began with a religious purpose. Held on the fourth Sunday in Lent, exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday, it was a originally a day to honour and give thanks to the Virgin Mary, also known as Mother Mary. Such celebrations required people to visit their 'mother' church - the main church or cathedral in a family's area. The spread of Christianity throughout Europe in the 16th century increased the celebrations and firmly put Mothering Sunday on the calendar. It