Talk Time

KZW this term have had Talk Time. Each student has a designated Talk Time slot during the week and are encouraged to stand up in front of the class to share their opinions and experiences on topics decided by Miss Williams. Ella has been allocated Friday on the odd numbered weeks. Topics so far have included -

1. Holiday Happenings. Give a brief summary about your school holiday.
Ella took in her travel journal from the UK.

2. Something that moves. Bring in an object from home that moves. Describe it. What is it used for? Which room was it from? How does it move?
Ella chose her Ladybird music box.

3. Make an object that moves. Does it roll, bounce, spin or slide? Show everyone how it moves and describe how you made it.  
After a few suggestions, Ella decided on a shell and bead wind chime!

Next weeks topic is Favourite Canberra Icons. Select one and tell us three interesting things about it. I wonder what Ella will pick.....

Busy Making...

We've ben busy making costumes over the past few weeks. First project was to create costumes for Makhaya's Spooky Birthday Party. We walked out of the reject shop with witches hats and broomsticks and proceeded to Lincraft to purchase some black material to be transform into cloaks. A quick google search to find instructions on sewing a cloak and actually with minimal sewing we had two cloaks!


Andy took his two little witches to Makhaya's party (while I was recovering from a cold). Unfortunately Katy spent most of the party in Andy's arms and the other half of the party outside.  She was scared to death with many of the costumes!!

Meanwhile last week was Bookweek and Ella decided to go as Little Red Riding Hood. Great I thought...another cloak! Back to Lincraft for red material this time. Another google search and a few hours later involving much more sewing a red hooded cloak was successfully made. Katy and I attended the Bookweek parade at Aranda. It was great to see so many characters with Wally, Cat in the Hat, Fancy Nancy, Harry Potter, numerous fairies, witches proving to be popular and less so Rainbow Fish, Saucepan man, Peter Pan and Darth Vader.

Big Rider(s)

Just before we left Canberra for the UK, Katy was threatening to begin riding her pedal bike. Of course, we had no access to bikes there, so she lost her momentum. Today I decided it was time to try to regain that momentum. It was Ella's weekly hockey game, during which Katy usually lolls about on the sidelines protesting about accumulated boredom. It's a nice flat area down there, so I decided to take her bike down and practise. 

To my great surprise, it only took about 10 minutes of pedalling for her to recover her form, and by the end of hockey she was cycling like a pro. (Caveat: she can't yet start or stop, so parental guidance still recommended.) To say she was proud of herself is an understatement.

An equally momentous achievement occurred later in the afternoon when Nat, after months of searching, finally made a snap mountain bike purchase! The task involved visits to a number of bike shops, most of whom didn't even have a suitable bike for test riding. Since we no longer have a roofrack on our car, Nat then had to ride her new purchase back home, after which she joined Katy for a riding training session in the street ...