Page 33

Learning At Its Best: A Classroom Of Magic

where the MAGIC happens

I was lucky enough to have a tour of Miss Charlie’s classroom recently. Given my interest in all things children, education and teaching it was like getting a private and personalized tour of Disney World. Only better!

Her class and the rest of the junior school (kindergarten and year’s 1 & 2) share newly renovated and connected federation houses in one part of the campus. Here they have their own tennis courts, play grounds, rooftop gardens, junior library and even a secret corridor connecting to the main gym and swimming pools. From there it leads on to the rest of the school. I happen to think it’s rather impressive, but I may be biased!

What really amazed me, and made me want to never leave (I’m not joking, I might have to apply for a teaching job there ASAP), was the open planned piazza that connects the junior school classrooms. This open space is where the magic happens. And I assure you, magic (and learning) really does happen in these special places.

[left]

THE FRIENDSHIP FAIRY TREE

A large stick tree with many off-shoots and spindly branches, a green carpet below and a photo of each student hanging from the branches. Friendship and freedom of speech is fostered in this area, especially conflict resolution. The rules being that the youngest student has the (carpet) first to express themselves and each must listen openly to the other. Kindness and love are the purest of heart.

Arabian Nights

A magic carpet furnished with plush beaded cushions and middle eastern style blankets. This is a place for imagination to prosper. Anything is possible when dreamed, imagined or conjured whilst on the magic carpet.

The Young Inventors

A creativity corner filled with arts & crafts and DIY. Using an old projector, the walls display recent artwork, odd shapes and different colours over a cloth backdrop. Anything that can be thought, can be made in this workshop.

The Power of Words

A quiet enclave with cushions and small tables surrounded by walls of books. The space is open for quiet time, rest and relaxation, more reading lessons and to get one-on-one help. No one is alone on their journey, although each person’s journey is unique.

[/left]
[right]

The Nature Reserve

A sprawling garden of planter boxes and trellises growing herbs, flowers, vegetables. There’s a worm farm and a protected caterpillar area. Students take turns to tend the garden and have science lessons in the reserve. Preservation of resources, sustainability and action & consequence are taught here. Everyone is accountable.

Drama Panorama

A wide open space used for plays, student presentations of their self-written stories and to recreate scenarios. Posters on the wall show the components of a story, techniques to acting and literary devices. Freedom to be yourself.

Time Through The Hour glass

The History Center is a separate little room featuring real life-size dinosaur models, historical artefacts, history books, collections of old money and a slide show on repeat featuring a presentation of ‘how Australia came to be’. History shapes the future.

Leavin’ On A Jet Plane

The Travel Center is a little room decorated with flags of the world, maps of the continents and countries, info posters on America, England, China and New Zealand, a foreign money exchange and signs with different time zones and travel distances between Sydney, Australia and far away places. Multiculturalism and diversity of languages are well and thriving.

[/right]

As a self-confessed Peter Pan, the facilities on offer to give exceptional learning experiences simply blew me away. It was amazing and I wished that I could have learnt like this when I was at school. Given all that is on offer it’s no surprise that Miss Charlie is fortunate enough and lucky enough to be attending a very select private school. However, discounting the strict school uniform policy and a relatively structured school day (and the school fees!) you couldn’t be blamed for thinking it was instead a Steiner or Montessori school.

Whatever the label, it sure is special! From my observations and interactions at the school and with Miss (smarty-pants) Charlie herself, it’s no wonder she’s so switched on and is constantly challenging the limitations of current norms. It’s also no surprise that she simply stuns me with her never-ending ‘why’ questions!

The Gift of Giving & (That) GoldieBlox Ad

‘Girls Toys’ vs ‘Boys Toys’

Purchased: A trolley load of Christmas presents.

‘OK, I’m going to stop you all right there, because I think I know that you’re thinking’..

It’s only November!
An (entire) shopping trolley load? That’s a bit excessive don’t you think, materialistic much?!
Who cares? Why are you telling us this?

Well, valid points. So to explain,

the presents weren’t for me, nor for the tribe of kids I have hanging off me everyday.

They were instead bought to be given to a charity. Miss Charlie’s school has a sister school, a less fortunate school overseas, who they sponsor and support. Her school sends over old library books, previous edition text books, school uniforms, stationary, sporting equipment and a bunch of other stuff. They also suggest that the school community get involved with extra fundraisers and give what they can.

Miss Charlie, being the full-of-ideas and generous-of-heart ~~little~~ big girl who I’ve come to admire, has decided that this Christmas she wants to give the kids of her sister school presents. She wants them to be happy and thankful and lucky just like she is and seeing as she’s in Year 1 at an all girls school, she has decided that the presents should be for girls around the same age as her. ‘Sorry boys, I guess you’re either still on the naughty list or you’ve still got cooties’.

Great idea we thought, so I went out and loaded up with a fairly major selection of toys, games, craft sets, pens & pencils, books and more. That afternoon when she came home from school, Miss C went straight to the dining table, now heavily laden with shopping bags. I had thought I may run into issues at this point, now that the toys were there for all to see and for the temptation to be ignited. Because it was all very good for her to suggest such a charitable idea, but would it still be so easy to support when faced with shiny, brand new toys and the promise of hours of fun. ‘It appears however that I had underestimated her, yet again.’ She proceeded to inspect each item, giving a running commentary of its uses and appropriateness. She was filled with genuine excitement knowing that other girls her age would soon be giggling and smiling as they played skip rope or charades or crafts.

We sent them off and happy days.

However, my little shopping experience had re-highlighted an issue that has been on my mind for some time now (and it seems on most other people’s minds after the seriously impressive advert from GoldieBlox went crazy on social media this past week). The idea behind it being to fuel the minds of our young girls, to provide them with toys and creative opportunity that goes beyond the cliché of dolls and Barbies, ‘to disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers‘. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, you can watch it here.

Because, as I perused the aisles selecting gifts, I saw first hand just how selective the market for ‘girls toys’ really is.

I thought, just because my criteria (girls, aged 3-6 years-old) was set, did that mean I couldn’t buy the shiny hot wheels car, or a football, or the magicians set that had a picture of a grinning boy on the front?

Why did I have to limit my options to pink and purple?

Why did I have to stick to the glitter and beads, colouring pencils and secret diaries?

Why could I not choose the DIY Garden Set or the Real-Life-Telescope?

And why must they have pictures of boys on the packaging?

It was made personal when I saw the SuperSoaker Water Gun marketed as “the ultimate boys warfare”… – Pretty sure I spent hours challenging my brother with these growing up (and still do!) and ‘hey, I love my pretty skirts and makeup just as much as the next girl!’

The same goes for Miss Charlie, she’s no-little-princess-with-pretty-pink-bows-in-her-hair. She’s got a firing curiosity for all things science, DIY, animal related, creative, inventive and imaginative. Anything that holds the possibility of a “Why Question” is hers for the taking. And take it she will. Yet, despite this, she’ll also quite ferociously beg me for anything pink, sparkly and/or sticker related if given half the chance.

So, where does Miss Charlie fit in this demographic of carefully marketed toys?

I’m still unsure of this answer, because within the realms of the children’s toy market, I don’t like the answer implied. Luckily for me, I already found her Christmas present months ago. I took the chance when I happened across the perfect gift, knowing full well that I’d be left with little choice amongst the pink aisles when Christmas approached. What’s rather telling, and rather worrying, is that I had to take this necessary action. And so I’m left with these questions,

Why have we happily allowed it to become so black and white?

What is a ‘boys toy’? And who says girls can’t play with it?

Why do we let the powers of marketing sway our purchase choices?

More so, why do we give them the power to decide what our kids should play with?

And, why is (anyone) dictating what our kids should play with? Shouldn’t they decide? They are after all, the ones who will be playing with them!

Source

When I Was A Kid

Making animal shapes in the clouds… Peter Pan syndrome again.

Loving life today!

Economics & The Music Industry

A PopStar Wannabe

One afternoon last week as we dawdled on home from school, via the ice cream shop of course, Miss Charlie and I were chatting about money – dollars and cents and it’s value. It was a perfectly logical conversation to be having, seeing as she’d just finished a big Unit of Work on money at school and given that she gets ample opportunity to implement its application each afternoon when paying for her purchases. I’ll usually give her a couple of dollars, and throw in a random 0.60c here or there, and she has to work out how much change she’ll get in return. It proves to be a rather educative exercise considering that she can never seem to settle on the one ice cream and so each day it’s a different one and a different price. Variety is the spice of life I guess!

On this particular occasion Miss Charlie stumped me with a challenging request as she proudly pocketed the leftover change. And although I’m more than happy to contribute to her money-box savings, I did mention that she’s got a keen eye for “forgotten” loose change. Eyes of a magpie!

‘When we get home, can you please help me write a song?’

Of course I can, we’ll get started on it right away. She has piano and violin lessons at my house, hence the interest in music and her turning to me for assistance.

‘Yay! Let’s go to your place. We can use the big piano instead of my little toy pink piano. It needs to be a really good song. How soon do you think we’ll have it finished? Should we make it rhyme? I’ve got some dance moves to go with it. Do you think we should make it a happy or sad song? We’re going to be rich!’

Gosh, to be a 6-year-old again, full of creativity and busting at the seems to make it all happen without even the slightest hint of a doubt that it might not be possible.

Firstly, why do you want to write this song?
Secondly, why is there a rush on it?
Thirdly, I totes like the sound of some matching dance moves!
Fourthly, what are we writing/singing about? That might determine how we feel when we’re writing and therefore whether it’s happy or sad.
And lastly, wait, what. We’re going to be rich?

‘Because when I was with Mum and Dad we saw this amazing house that we like. But Dad said it was selling for AUD $5 million and that it was a little too expensive for us to buy. Even if I gave them my money-box savings!’

So I was thinking about it and practising my music really hard this week and I decided that I would write a really good song to sell on iTunes and YouTube. I’d sell it for dollars (definitely not cents) and make millions! Then I’ll give it to Mum and Dad so we can buy that house. But I think I need your help to make it really good. It doesn’t have to be ‘wow’, it just needs to be catchy and light and loud so that people hear it and can’t get it out of their heads.

iTunes? YouTube? Sell music? Make millions? How on earth does she know about things like this, she’s six! She’s subliminally caught on to everything that is wrong with our pop music industry! And I wouldn’t be so quick to turn down her money box savings either, she’s got half of my forgotten loose change stashed in her money box!

So, I only see a couple of issues with this here. Firstly, the pop music industry is a pretty tough one to crack into first go (even if it does suck). Secondly, it’s going to take a while to make our millions, especially if illegal downloads are anything to go by. Thirdly, I’m really not that talented. Incredibly flattered, even if it is blind naivety, but a pop star in the making I am not. Sadly.

That being said, in the interest of being a good sport, I shall facilitate her request. So listen up y’all.. I am now taking suggestions about how to be the next Katy Perry. Or to simply replace the existing. Did you catch her ‘sing’ at the EMA’s? Unfortunately I did.

You can drop an anonymous idea in the suggestion box (currently being used as a makeshift money-box) or you can leave a comment below. We’ve got $5 million to make, better get writing. Oh and also, I promise to credit all royalties where due. Not a word of a lie. See, and this is why musicians don’t make any money.

Do your kids get carried away with such great ideas? Do they also make it hard for you to support creativity and aspirations with plain old simple reality and physics?

And I’ll say it again: iTunes, YouTube. Sell music to make money? It doesn’t need to be good, just catchy?! Well this here is where the problem is at!

The Essential Coffee Ratio For A Perfect Coffee

The Essential Coffee Ratio

I would say that I have a love for coffee, but I think I must admit to it being an addiction. I first began drinking coffee when I was fourteen. It was my first job and the status of ‘dish pig’ in a café at $14 an hour seemed highly appealing to me. Before then I’d been slipped the occasional $50 from grandma (and made it last weeks and weeks) but always dreaded having to wrangle some cash out of dad before pleading to go to the movies with friends. The idea of financial freedom was it for me, it’s where it all started. Off I went every Saturday and Sunday to work from 8am to 4pm. To slowly introduce myself to the taste of coffee I would drink mochas, those horrible half cappuccino, half hot chocolate drinks. I then progressed to drinking a cappuccino and over time evolved to drinking a cappuccino in the morning and a macchiato in the afternoons. Such as the italians do.

After that first job as a very good but over worked and seriously under-paid dish-pig, I went on to forge a career for myself in the hospitality industry. Silly me, the over-worked and under paid problem was clear from the very beginning and it took me years to finally give up and move over to a more rewarding career. I guess I’m a slow learner! But I did learn a few valuable things in that time. Like how to manage a restaurant, and how to work with people you don’t like, and how to pretend to love customers even though you don’t. I also learnt how to make coffee. I discovered an important ratio. It’s a sturdy old reliable friend when in search of good places to keep on my ‘will return’ list.

25% coffee beans + 25% coffee machine + 50% barista = The Perfect Coffee

This essential coffee ratio reminded me of a note I wrote to baristas about the difference between a cappuccino and a flat white. Speaking of this ratio and places I will return to. I was discussing this method for getting the perfect coffee every time over my morning coffee at my favourite local café. It’s my favourite because it’s within stumbling distance in the mornings, it’s got a laid back vibe with friendly service, and they make great coffee. Which is saying something. I don’t come across many places that can get the mix just right. As with the ratio above, it’s not always easy to keep up a perfect average. With the slightest change in variable, your entire end product can be less than standard. But this café manages to serve it up every single time. So I go back, every day. Did I mention they remember my name and my order and know how to coax me into a fresh-out-of-the-oven muffin? Yep, they do. They’re that good!