Maker Faire 2018 – a big week

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 | poppypeach

It was another crazy busy week including a very full weekend! Last week I missed the Market Day at my daughter’s school for the first time in years as I was working and I heard these mealworm races were excellent, I suggested that they add a chicken next time and the mealworm that survives is the winner!

Thursday evening we had the Celebration of Learning at my work where the kids present their projects. For the 1st-grade class, they presented their Global Village which they made from foam core and upcycled materials. Inspired by the book, If the World Were a Village read by my co-teacher, we chatted to the kids and documented their discussion to get the project off the ground. We asked the science teacher to help with the materials and organising the footprint of the village where everything should go. Our art teacher helped with the details of the ground and road and supplying the paint. I helped the kids with the paint colours, some of the construction and documenting the info. To make it a truly collaborative experience the 2nd and 3rd-grade classes helped set up the LED power station. The idea from the beginning is that each child who made their pieces/places can take them home to play with them.

Maker:S,Date:2017-9-14,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y — The photo booth!

Saturday evening I went to the 2nd Annual Bollywood party as a gift to myself for studying even though I still have 3 weeks to go! The party is organised by some parents from Stevenson Elementary school as an auction prize. Somehow over the evening, I had a few too many vodka mango cocktails and I was dancing the night away, shooing away the birds (my new Bollywood move!). It is always such a fun night and so good to meet some new families and catch up with friends.

Sunday we had to get up early and go to our volunteer shift at the Maker Faire for Stevenson Elementary Schools booth where the 4th grade was showcasing their gold rush sluice boxes and the 2nd grade had their air plants art installation on display. We worked our 2-hour shift and off we went to enjoy the fun of the Maker Faire and by then Missy was hungry and ready for a hot dog! Not me I really do not like the food at Maker Faire all carnival deep fried disgusting food.

We lived the dream by checking out a teardrop trailer to see if we could fit in and then we found this refurbished trailer the kids really enjoyed, perfect for 2 people and the kids can camp in the tent outside 😀

As we ran into some Australian friends after checking out Homegrown – a place where you find the artisanal yummy food including hot cocoa, we saw a parade of cupcakes and another friend of ours from school riding the horse-drawn solar carriage.

Wandering through the rest of the Faire we had fun with Big Face Box while we caught up with friends from our old school plus so much art was on show and SO many useless robots. We had such a cool time, running into friends and checking out all sorts of new gadgets and games.

I happened to be taking a break from walking when I came across this talk from Ted Dintersmith and he talked about the future of education in America and how there needs to be a bit of a shake-up in regards to the system. He showed videos of jobs will not be available in the future due to advances in technology and how there is a need for students to be able to be innovators and makers. He is out there to inspire students and educators to feature project-based learning schools allowing kids to become critical thinkers. The timing of this talk was perfect as I have to write a reflection of my educational philosophy for my next assignment!

Plus at the Maker Faire, I found this artist Miss Velvet Cream by chatting with someone at a food truck – so inspiring to see her work plus she had won all these blue ribbons including the editors choice. Oh, and how can I forget running into a fellow chicken lover Stoneface Project (we did a craft show together in SF ages ago!) at the SF Bazaar and she gave me some super cool earrings – a huge thank you! A couple of other fun discoveries were Escama Studio – pieces made from soft drink pulls by artisans in Brazil. And my daughter loved Bottle of Clouds laser cut hand painted pins and earrings, I could not resist her cat and teapot earrings, perfect for a cat and tea lover!

Such a great time was had by everyone and we were very tired at the end of the weekend, time to catch up on some sleep…

Grateful for all we have

May 15, 2018 | poppypeach

My exercise and eating well regime have been going really well as my meal plans are simpler now with eating more salads and knowing how to balance it with protein and grains. Tonight’s couscous salad of watercress, raw beets, grated carrots, radish, tomato and my new fave plant protein Beyond Meat “chicken” strips made from soy and pea protein topped with a miso chilli dressing so perfect for a meatless Monday. If I were to go vegan this is a perfect meal, one day I will get there! Still eating seasonal, local and organic adds so much variety to your diet and it is even better to get the vegetables direct from the farm.

So I went out for Mothers Day celebrations on Saturday rather than Sunday as I am not a fan of crowds or people. I had a study break from my paper and went out for lunch to Terun on California Avenue in Palo Alto and afterwards, I went shoe shopping for my mothers day gift. Oh boy, what a treat to find such comfortable and beautifully made shoes, I saw these on a parent at the school I work at and said, “where do you find them” and she told me! These shoes are handmade in Israel and they are the most comfortable and light shoe to wear, I really had a hard choice choosing so I decided on the blue flats as I am looking for alternative shoes in my shoe collection to take over the Camper shoes that I have loved over the years. I get a feeling that from now on any spare $ I have will be spent on these Jafa shoes, they are the best! I mean the colours of the boots are stunning and that is what I have my eye on in the future 😀

I enjoyed this vodka cocktail for lunch with beet gnocchi, eggplant balls, a Neapolitan style pizza with pear and gruyere plus a farro dish with calamari – what an amazing feast!

At work former students of 2nd grade built this portable see-saw at tinkering, it is super cool and I see the kids hang out at recess or during class time for some air time outside. It sways on a PVC pipe and a chunk of wood – superb design.

This week after a week of being appreciated it was time to be grateful for the wonderful year I have had. At the end of last summer, I began a temporary substitute teacher assistant role which initially was going to be 6 months but carried on for the school year where I got to meet another two lively cohorts of children in Kinder and 1st. I am truly grateful for this opportunity of working alongside some incredible educators. Today I was notified they don’t have a role for me next year so I only have 19 days left in this role until Summer vacation. After that it is a holiday in Australia to visit family and friends and then back here for one more year of student mama life and organising our move back home, it will surely be exciting!

I usually go walking every week around the neighbourhood and it has been beautiful lately with all the spring flowers everywhere, I especially love the orange California poppies. This beauty is growing from a succulent and it is super tall and so pink it catches my eye each time I walk past – I managed to capture this in the evening light the other day, early morning would be best I think!

Oh, and as I was cleaning out the classroom of library books to return I found this inspiring story and did a read aloud to the kinder kids. It is a story of Julia Butterfly Hill who lived in a redwood for over 2 years to see it preserved for all time. It was such an inspiring story inspired from the novel which I have to get my hands on sometime to ready over the summer I think! Which brings me to the Tarkine in Tasmania – a place where I visited many moons ago with The Wilderness Society. Patagonia has made a film about giving this incredible forest sanctuary for all time World Heritage Protection. Heres to making that happen as I really would love to take my children there when we go home as it is such an experience for them to visit an ancient rainforest where you feel so small.

Nothing like a holiday!

February 20, 2018 | poppypeach

Now we are on holidays and it is so good to sleep in and catch up with so much stuff that has been waiting to be done such as getting rid of stuff for our move! So far I have cleaned out the sewing room but I still do not have a cupboard’s worth of fabric, hey I could be here up to another year so I have to keep some fabric to keep me occupied in my spare time!

Yesterday we did a coop clean out with another 4H family and we came home covered in dust. It was so much fun to see the chickens again, Ruby even got to go on a walk with a chicken leash 😀 Now their coop is super clean complete with an indoor dust bath made from play sand and diatomaceous earth to help keep the feather mites at bay.

Saturday I went to yoga after weeks and it was a brilliant start to the weekend with my idea of cleaning my house I may as well cleanse my body too with some hot yoga! The spring flowers are starting to pop up but with the current weather with overnight lows of 2-4 degrees, I only see it in the sunshine during the day.

These lovely watercolour pictures are created with salt on the watercolour to create the sky in the background. This was a discovery for me as I have not had much experience with watercolour. Our art teacher worked on planet paintings with the kids and these were my favourites with the bottom on looking like Salvador Dali.

Wednesday we had wandering time in the chapel and the kids worked on an exercise of what feelings arise when you look at particular colours and this is what happens when you give a 1st-grade girl the colour brown.

These made great gifts though next time I will wrap them individually on cardstock so they do not tangle plus they need to be made long so the string can get over the child’s head. In the end one was so small it went on one of the kindergartens stuffies!

A quick little Valentine gift

February 14, 2018 | poppypeach

With Valentine’s day around the corner, I had a bit of a task on my hands to make last-minute valentines for my Kinder and 1st-grade students. So here is a quickie tutorial on making these cute little wooden bead heart necklaces.

Supplies needed: a stash of wooden beads – 25mm (about 1″), watercolour paint, brushes, skewers, a tall mason jar, sharpie, concreters string (from OSH) and Mod Podge.

Paint your beads all the colours of the rainbow using a watercolour wash on each bead, use a skewer to hold the beads in place. When the paint is dry draw a heart with sharpie and seal with mod podge on aluminium foil. The beads are ready to be strung and given to the kiddos as little Valentine gifts from their teacher! A super cool and somewhat quick project, I did have help with quality testing from my 9-year-old daughter – lucky!

This is a super cute kinder card my co-teacher came up with using tissue paper squares, glue and then cutting the card to make a card for their parents.

These are observational watercolour drawings made by the 1st-grade class for a card for their parents – such beautiful watercolours created.

This was another kinder card using sequins, a sticker and a heart doily – I really love seeing what the kids make when given the opportunity to craft.

This is an invitation for making the paper plate heart sewing with yarn craft for the 1st-grade class. All you need is some yarn, paper plates prepped with a heart shape and a hole punch and yarn needles. This is the perfect craft to practice sewing with a large needle and ready punched holes.

And sewing last week with my volunteer class at Stevenson Elementary was making felt emoji keyrings – featured is one make by a 5th grader. We precut the circle and the kids can embellish whatever emoji they like from our emoji poster for ideas or create their own.

And I thought last week was pretty quiet with the 100th day of school – the Kinders bought in 100 of different things like coins, seeds, Perler beads, pom poms and these two with beads and little tiny felt houses. I remember when I did it with my kids it was 100 buttons stuck on some cardstock, maybe I was too overwhelmed with the two kids to be super creative at the time 😉

Again the amazing ramen recipe from Minimalist Baker and this time with a poached egg and seaweed – an absolute favourite at my place each week, especially in the winter.

This is the Japanese Pizza from 101 cookbooks with a watermelon radish salad with a side of chanterelles and homemade miso mayo drizzled over the top – such a divine meal for the mushroom lover.

And I thought last week was pretty quiet – checking over all of this it seemed like quite a busy week for me, oh and I got some sewing done on the weekend too as I was inspired by some love bird fabric I found at FabMo. It is so good to sit at my sewing machine again 😀 we have a break from school/work next week so time to organise the study/sewing room and do some sewing.

Time for some Pie

September 26, 2017September 27, 2017 | poppypeach

The weekend was so relaxing, and I think that my body was just saying slow down after I went to visit my acupuncturist for a Seasonal Adjustment. My last treatment was in February, so it took a while for my body to just say OK now it is time to relax and stop! So I did and even took time out on the hammock in the sunshine – it felt so good to have a nap.

As the weekend was my hubby’s birthday weekend our weekend began at our friend’s place for Navratri Golu to see the collection of dolls (collected over 11 years since my friend’s daughter was born) reenacting various Hindi stories, watching kids perform and eating a delicious Indian feast. On Saturday we enjoyed pizza at the park with our neighbours and hung out and relaxed on the blanket while the kids were playing and Sunday I made this amazing raw vegan cheesecake (plus two quiches).

I made a vegan fresh mango and strawberry cheesecake to share on Friday night to take to my friend’s place and it disappeared in seconds! The second one I made for my hubby’s birthday cake was mango and passionfruit, was divine and took me to the tropics! I found this recipe and modified it the second time using my Vitamix to make it extra smooth. For the Friday night version, it was the one bowl food processor recipe as I was making it before work and had to get it in the freezer, quick sticks!!

Raw Mango Passionfruit Cheesecake
to fit one Pyrex Pie dish

Crust

1 cup almonds
8 medjool dates
1/2 cup dried coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Filling

1 large mango
1 lime (plus lime zest)
1 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight, and drained)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup agave (or maple syrup)
1/2 cup coconut manna
3 passionfruits for mixing
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 passionfruit for swirling through the mix

Instructions

1. Mix all the crust ingredients in a food processor for about 1 minute.
2. Place the crust mixture into a pie dish and flatten evenly with your hands.
3. In the Vitamix (a very smooth mix) or a food processor mix the mango, lime, cashews, coconut oil, agave, coconut manna, 3 x passionfruits and vanilla extract.
4. Swirl the passionfruit insides through the pie to see the black seeds everywhere.
5. Pour the filling into the pie dish and place in the freezer – freeze for at least 5 hours.
6. Remove cheesecake from the freezer and let sit at room temperature to cut into slices.

Enjoy!
This can keep in the freezer well-covered for a couple of weeks or just scoff the whole thing down which is what happened at the party on Friday night.

Now back to work/school so I have been really enjoying working as a Teacher Assistant at Ventana School, and I love seeing the art around the place especially when it is kiddos painting chickens! These are artworks by the kindergarten kids, and I just love their colours in their observational drawing.

IMG_8888 (1) IMG_8887 (1)

So more math games and fun with the kids – this time Race to a Flat where the kids cut a strip of paper to record their numbers at each roll of the dice. The aim of the game was to get to 100 or more rolling the dice and adding to the solution each time. The kids were so excited that they wanted to make stip of paper longer and longer – I wish I learnt math this way back in the day. Perhaps I would have loved it like I do now after the course in my Education degree.

IMG_8879 (1) IMG_8877 (1)

More math resources for the classroom and another fun game I really like is Capture 5 using the 100s chart, and all you need is some objects to be the players, and these kiddos used glass pieces and ones to capture. Check out the video link for info how to play, but it is a super fun game to practice addition and subtraction. These kids were trying to play Capture 25 and were working as a team.

IMG_8875 (1)

This is another fun math game using simple things such as a paperclip for the spinner and whatever objects you can find for the players – you can use coins or coloured rocks whatever is small enough to fit in the squares. This cool game is Place Value Munch, and my co-teacher finds all sort of fun math games on the Teachers Pay Teachers website. The kids really enjoy this game and so did I when I was playing it with the kids in the math rotations. I have to say this is the best way to learn math playing games and having fun!

Back to another week of work and life – taking it much slower as the weather is warm again even though it was the first day of Autumn last Friday.

NaBloPoMo – Day 15 – ShowMe – a very cool app for the kiddos!

November 16, 2013May 28, 2016 | poppypeach

Today as we were hanging back at school with my son’s teacher we were shown this great app called ShowMe – it’s for the iPad and you can create all sorts of presentations with it. As soon as we got home Miss Holly wanted to have a play on it and she created a show on how to draw a cat! It is very fun to watch – you can see it here… Of course in class it is used for teaching others their math concepts and the like but it is very fun for the kids to play with as you can see!

Here is a still from her presentation.

How to draw a cat – the presentation called ‘Hollys cat’

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