renovation alert

We have promised for a long time that at the end of grade seven Annika could have a room renovation.  We said she could choose her own paint etc, and paint over the yellow I chose for the room when she was one.

Original room.  When she was a baby there were bumblebees and flowers on the purple wall frieze.  Cute.  But probably not for a TEENAGER (ok minor freakout that I am going to have a teenager in the house. Breathe.  Mask the anxiety by re-doing her room and maybe it will all go away).

The time has come.
(Honestly, you turn your back and children grow and all of a sudden they are in grade seven and demanding fulfillment on promises made about rooms).

Down comes the yellow.  Yes we let the girls kick in some of the old plaster walls.  I did some with a hammer as well.  Supremely satisfying.  Then I got thighs of steel by carrying all the plaster outside to the ute up and down the stairs.

In goes the insulation in the walls.

Then we had it re-sheeted and re-plastered.  No photos yet....

Stay tuned for awesome teenage room renovation.

It will not look like this:

or this:

Mostly because these bedrooms are really clean.  Do actual children live in these?  Do they have clothes?  Or tiny bits of paper that are "craft"?  Or school stuff?  Or half completed lego?  I scoff at these designer bedrooms.

Scoff.

kidsummer night's dream!

Annika and Gab were both involved in the primary school musical this year - which was an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Annika was King Oberon (boys being a little thin on the ground in the drama club).  She was pretty awesome and OWNED it.  I can say that cause I'm her mum.  But independent opinions also said she was pretty good.

Gab was a beautiful fairy.  She knew exactly what she had to do and looked gorgeous.  She has come such a long way from being a kid who didn't talk in front of anyone at prep.  She is determined to try out for a speaking role next year.

A big thank you to the group of mums who made the costumes.  It did not involve me.  I handed over $12 and my children were costumed.  Excellent.

And I am so impressed with the teachers and kids that gave up all their time, lunch breaks and after schools, to do a performance that went for an hour and a half.  No-one forgot their lines.  Everyone remembered to come on at the right time.

It gives the kids so much confidence and pride.  Love it.

romeo and juliet - the adapted version

At the Special School this term I have been exploring Romeo and Juliet with the Seniors.  It has been so fun doing some age appropriate material with these kids, and I have used google images of a young Leonardo de Caprio as some of my picture symbols.  It is especially exciting doing it with them, as some of the kids are using their communication devices (iPads with an app called Proloquo2go) to participate in the play and activities that I have.

I have written an adapted version of the play, cut out about 12 characters and simplified the language a lot.  I kept in about 10 lines of the original Shakespeare and 6 main characters.  We have acted out the play, and done language activities around it (because I am such a speechie we have to make sentences and learn new vocabulary!).  I have done character bingo (with lovely pictures from the Baz Luhrman film), opposites (life/death, love/hate, Montegue/Capulet etc), sentences with different tenses, rhymes, match the quote to the character and an interactive quiz on the whiteboard.  We also have a dance party each session - because Romeo met Juliet at the Capulets party.  I have had to put One Direction and Katy Perry on my iPad.

And the kids are getting it.  They are getting the big themes of love, and lost love, and jealousy, and death.  I have put the expectation to them that they will engage with this text, and they have risen to the challenge. They are talking about it and recognising themselves in characters.  They are excited about learning.  The teachers are really amazed and supportive.  We divide into teams of Montegues and Capulets and taunt each other across the classroom.  We have made banners for Montegues and Capulets, and disguises for when we creep into the party.

I am so excited about this that I am going to start adapting some more of the senior texts for the students that I work with.  Macbeth maybe.....

Sometimes my job is pretty fun.