Spring into Wattle

Gone are the long,

wet,

rainy

and windy days

of winter.

Here are the fresh,

blue skies...

the scatterings of bright flower beds

and the warmth of the sun.

It's Spring!

And that means...

Wattle Day!

Break off a sprig or two of

Australia's native flower.

Brighten your day with their bright colour.

Cheers to Spring!

Fields of Yellow

I love yellow flowers.

I always have.

They are so bright....

... so happy!

They make a room warm and happy.

So, today is perfect for me!

It’s Yellow Flower Day!

Daffodil Day!

Daffodil Day is the

Cancer Council’s

biggest fundraiser.

The bright yellow flowers

encourage us to think

of a brighter future

a future without cancer.

This year is the 25^th anniversary of Daffodil Day.

Not only will these flowers

bring happiness to a room,

they will also bring hope

and research money

to fight cancer.

Happy Daffodil Day!

Gold Field - Go For It

Right, you lot.

I've taught you everything

you need to know...

so today...

Go for it!

Free choice!

Your art has to represent something

from the Gold Fields.

You can use

watercolours, paint,

charcoal, ink, pencils

or oil pastels.

I'd love to see you use

more than one of them!

That was the instruction.

This is the result:

 Mining camp tents

 Stone buildings

Old homes

The famous gold nugget-

which the kids all wish

they could find!

Miners heading to the

goldfields

Miners boiling water

for a cup of tea 

and miners at a general store.

Imagine how our

room looks now!

Pen Lines

Today you have to colour in...

with pen,

I told them.

They didn't take many

photos back then,

I told them,

They drew pictures instead,

I told them...

with ink...

And so they drew with ink....

Using lines to create detail

and shadow.

And they did really well...

And... because they studied

original Gold Field era art

they learned so much

about homes, clothes,

mining equipment and

life on the Gold Fields.

(Sneaky, aren't I!)

Bushrangers About!

Beware!

Bushrangers About!

This artist has featured

on a few of the art posts.

She frequently earns our

"Artist of the Week" award.

The kids are getting

so confident with their

charcoals.

Of course,

we are still working

on our spelling!

This was a fun and easy

art lesson for the kids!

Eucalypt Twist

Painting time.

A weakness of mine...

But, with bold colours,

texture and simple shapes...

You can't go wrong!

The kids were allowed

to get dirty with these...

Dabbing blobs of paint

onto the page

and using fingers

to create a textured look.

The room was instantly brighter

once these were

hanging on the wall!

Draw me an Egyptian Pharaoh

A new term

A new topic

We are learning about the

Australian Gold Rush now.

The kids get an intro into Gold

through the Egyptian Pharaohs.

These are their

Pharaoh drawings...

I liked the face

on this one...

The kids love art.

These two have funny eyes!

Elephants

When we were learning about Thailand

we looked at pictures and videos

of elephants.

When we stumbled on a

fantastic image of a

black and white

computer generated elephant

the kids wanted to replicate it.

So, we did...

Black paper

white and grey paint

Ours are not as good

as the original,

or course

but the kids liked them

I'm not too sure...

I'd like to go back and

layer up with

oil pastels...

The kids have shown me

that they believe

in their ability now.  

"We can do it. 

Why can't we give it a go?" 

That's their belief -

 I can't really ask for more!

It's been a very long time

since I heard:

"I can't draw."

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Ok, I've got no Internet...

sad story - 

but it doesn't warrant attention...

I know that today is a very important day

for some...

but...

not for me.

So, should I post something?

Should I try to get online?

I did try at work...

but it didn't work

so, I should have given up...

But, no...

So, I went to my middle sister 

and she kindly let me on her computer...

lucky

because she is the 

middle child in our family

and today is important 

to her.

Happy Middle Child Day!!!

(I am a little jealous!

when is Eldest Child Day?)

Pished

National Beer Day!

5/8/11

So, Beer Day either started with

 a bunch of mates sitting around

coming up with reasons for drinking...

or for a real reason...

Incredibly, it wasn’t a group of mates!

In 1933, in the United States, there had been a prohibition on beer since 1920.  for 13 years, it was a dry country.  (I can hear my brother-in-laws and my father choking on their beers right now.  13 years without a beer! 

Or a wine, for that matter!)

President Roosevelt ended the dry spell.

He signed a law stating

that beer could be sold again,

as of the 7^th of April, 1933.

The alcohol content could

be no more than 3.2%.

Imagine the line ups

at the breweries on the 6^th of April.

Once midnight struck,

they could legally

buy and drink beer!

Cheers!

And, that...

Dear drinkers...

Is how New Beer’s Eve

came about, now followed

with a hair of the dog on the

 7^th – National Beer Day.

Being that people the world over love beer,

other countries took up the

 drinking celebration and so –

International Beer Day was declared!

This day was first

celebrated in August 2008.

You don’t have to donate anything...

You don’t have to buy anything...

There are no sad stories of

misfortune or hardship...

You just have to drink!

Boobs Out

Boobs Out!

(@ )  (@)

It’s World Breastfeeding Week!

Imagine, more than 170 countries

are celebrating Breastfeeding Week.

To me, breastfeeding was what happened

when you had a baby...

No questions.

I didn’t realise that women were being shunned...

That they were huddled into dingy rooms

or smelly bathrooms,

feeding their babies.

I didn’t know that breastfeeding

was something to be ashamed of...

Or embarrassed by...

I clearly remember an advertisement

 with a lady eating a hamburger

while sitting in a public toilet cubicle...

The ad. was saying

that if adults don’t want to eat in a toilet

...the babies of the world

wouldn’t want to, either!

 

Breastfeeding provides babies

with everything they need...

Surely we all know that.

Other bonuses...

There’s no washing or sterilising...

There’s no cost.

It makes sense.

Luckily, the educated people are teaching the

uneducated that breastfeeding in public is fine.

Breastfeeding no longer needs to

take place in public toilets!

 

Some women are unable to feed

their babies from their breast...

Sometimes, it just doesn’t work.

Some babies are removed from their

mothers and can’t access breast milk...

Some babies lie in hospital beds

and their mothers are forced to attach

 pieces of plastic over their breasts

in order to express the milk their baby needs...

Some women are able to donate their milk,

allowing other babies access to breast milk...

And some women are

lucky enough that breastfeeding

 comes easily and naturally.

 

Breastfeeding mothers,

 this is your week!

Get out there...

Get your boobs out there!

Logo

Welcome to Cerebral Palsy Week!

I didn’t know much about cerebral palsy...

And after reading about it

I’ve realised that it covers

 just about every problem you could imagine.

It can cause problems with

physical movement, learning,

sight, hearing, speech and spatial awareness. 

Cerebral palsy sure puts in an effort to be horrid!

Luckily, it’s 2011 and cerebral palsy no longer

 means institutions or limited expectations.

Cerebral palsy sufferers are healthy

in all other ways –

they are just people stuck inside a body

that refuses to work the way we would expect it to. 

Cerebral Palsy Week reminds us to recognise

the achievements and strengths of people

with cerebral palsy (CP),

to understand and accept their CP,

but not limit them because of it.

My baby nephew will more than likely

develop cerebral palsy.

 After the initial surprise, I learned that CP

is the most common form of childhood disability. 

Every 18 hours, a child is born

who has or will develop CP. 

That’s one in 400 babies. 

Between 600 and 700 babies

are born with CP each year. 

That means, that in the 18 hours

around my nephew’s birth,

another 399 new babies will develop CP.

CP is not contagious.

It’s not a disease.

It won’t “go away”.

It’s not hereditary.

It doesn’t get worse...

the symptoms might change,

or they may become more obvious later in life,

 but they don’t get worse.

The good news :

Most people with CP can expect

to be healthy over their normal life span.

They can learn. 

They can do anything they like –

they may just have to fight harder to get there.

And, most importantly, they can love. 

They can care.

And my nephew will be loved.

So, he may need glasses...

He may need hearing aides...

His speech may take some effort to understand

He may have epilepsy...

And learning may be a struggle...

...But maybe not.

We have to wait

until he’s bigger to know for sure.

Regardless, it’s Cerebral Palsy Week.

It’s time to celebrate the strengths...

The achievements...

The success...

...Of those with CP.

Enjoy your week!!