E-Bay song

JA will kill me for actually bothering to post this but here we go! I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought it was hilarious. It reminds me of my dad and his current obsession with E-Bay. He's even offering to take things off my hands and sell them for me such is his love for this web-page.
So, click here and then press play. Be prepared to chuckle!

Street Art

We were all sent a link today by one of my colleagues directing us to a great web site on alternative street art. I thought it was pretty amazing so click here to check it out.

By the way, everything is going well at the moment even though we're back at work! However, there is something to be said about working a 3-day week!

End of term fun

With half a day left I thought I would share the activity that caused most excitement in my class today. Not a DVD of the Simpsons or my wonderful Christmas worksheets, but Penguin batting. Sounds inhumane I know, but the penguin does voluntarily drop itself from the cliff and survives the actual hitting.
Have a try and you'll find that it's quite addictive. My best score is 555.3 metres!

CHRISTmas or Xmas?

As a teacher you look forward to the end of term and so I began handing out my Christmas worksheets earlier on this week. With one particular class of 13 year olds I had a mixture of mathematical Christmas co-ordinates and Christmas wordsearches.
One student was working though the wordsearch and stopped suddenly. They looked at the sheet and called out, "Jesus, what's he doing there?"
Unbelievable! What is Christmas coming to?! It brought a fair bit of discussion for the remainder of the lesson but sent home the message that we must battle through the commercialism and busy-ness (?) of this time of year to push the real meaning of CHRISTmas.

Embrace

It's almost a whole month since I have been able to post something so I thought I would take the time to mention the Embrace concert JA and I attended last Friday. It was my first concert visit at the MEN Arena. An impressive venue but the sound quality was not as good as places like the Apollo.
Anyway, the boys were brilliant and were very humbled to be playing infront of ten and a half thousand people. They tend to get audiences in the region of 2 thousand so this was a big step up for them. I realise now that in the last year I have been to see my five favourite bands and this was a great way to round off that year.
If you do want to try them out, check out their 'Out of Nothing' album and I'm sure you'll be hooked.

The end to a great show!

Silence is broken, the news is out!

Well, it really has been ages since I posted. Part of the reason has been that life has taken over, school has been so hectic with the run up to Christmas and also because I have been struggling to stay awake at night, ( once I get home from school!)
The reason for this you may be asking yourselves. Why does a healthy 27 year old teacher need a nap when she comes home from work, after tea, after the bath and then to the night sleep? Basically I have been napping, eating, sleeping and teaching for the past 8 weeks.

Well... I am pregnant!

Yes, the time has come again for my body to do strange things, only this time the pregnancy is progressing nicely and hopefully our family will increase by a small miracle by the end of June 2006. We have been very cautious with our feelings and emotions, as well as our plans as we are still recovering from our last failed pregnancy, but we are told by our midwife and all of the wonderful people who poke and prod me that things seem ok.

So for now ok is good enough.

We got to see him/her ( I think he is a boy) last Wednesday and he was moving his legs, I thought he would make a great replacement for Roy Keane, Jamie isn't so sure.

Now that I am passing past 12 weeks, I feel so much better with the random tiredness subsiding as well as the nausea. Bring on the Christmas shopping now I have the energy!!


Apart from that life has been pretty ordinary.

I took 41 children to the cinema to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I have subjected every class I have ever taught to the reading of this book and me ranting on about the great fiction that I read as a child. It was a joy to sit and watch their eyes as they twinkled with delight as Aslan appeared from the tent, they could only imagine what he looked like from the book, it was cool to chat over lunch, is the book better? Were their predictions of characters etc correct?
I remembered why I became a teacher, why it is amazing to work with children and why I get up and go to work every day.

Today as we were making Christmas decorations I was sitting with a group of 8 children. They were discussing Little Britain. It is often really interesting to listen in on their conversations but today it was fascinating.
S:I think Little Britain is racist, what do you think J?
J: Well, if it was it wouldn't be allowed on telly cause that's wrong.
S: But people are allowed to have their own opinions.
J: But on telly, they have to be fair and right.
P: I am not sure if they are racist but I think they make stereotypes.
S: Oh that thing we have been learning about when we say all women are weak and all nurses should be girls.
J: Oh I remember, yeah maybe they are not racist but they are definitely stereotyping.

Wow. What a conversation from eight 10 and 11 year olds. I think they may, when they are older, consider writing to points of view!

Well, that is all from me, no doubt we will keep you informed about how things are going, however this blog is not going to be a pregnancy journal, if it begins to sound like one let me know and I will rethink what is going on in my head!

Have a good week to you all, not long now until Christmas, a time when many of us can take extra time to spend with family and friends and enjoy all that this amazing Christian season has to offer.

A Little Story

As you can tell there has not really been much going on on this page for which we both apologise. However, I thought I would share a silly little story from my day at school:

During my bottom set Year 8 lesson, one pupil who has Special Needs (William) began crying as his support teacher left him and went and sat with someone else. I asked him if he was ok and through his sobs I heard him say, "Miss thinks I trumped!" I wasn't quite sure how to take this so left it until the end of the lesson.
When the class left, his support teacher came to speak to me about William. She said that he had recently been trumping a lot in lessons and that the smell is unbearable (like rotten eggs apparently). The Support Teachers had told him that when he needs to trump he is to go outside and relieve himself there! During today's lesson, she claimed, he had let one slip. When she confronted him about this he denied any wrong doing to the extent that he said she could have done it! As a result of the bad smell she had left him and this had caused him to start crying. I was truly thankful for now being in the know!
Two days later, when I had the same class again, I was standing at the front explaining what we were going to be doing. Mid-sentence, William's hand shot up. "Mr McCulloch, I have to go outside to trump." Sounding shocked I let him go. The whole class at this point fell completely silent as they wondered if they had heard correctly. We all watched William go outside, close the door, relieve himself and come back inside. At that point we all just burst out laughing at a very surreal moment. Thankfully William saw the funny side too.

Could it be?!

I have to say that I have just experienced a very surreal moment. Three lads were standing outside my door after break claiming they had seen me on the internet. I admitted that I did have a website but when they mentioned it was of a video clip I looked puzzled. They said I was in a small room dancing in front of the computer. How strange, but no it was not me.
So I moved on to my next lesson thinking no more of it. After the lesson the same three boys appeared. Sir, we have the web address do you want us to show you? Yeh, go for it.
Then, right in front of my eyes I appear, dancing, topless. Something here was not right! My form crowded around in disbelief at what they were seeing. Mr McCulloch, is that you? No it certainly is not but it LOOKS LIKE ME!!!!
So, after all of this, click here and see for yourself!

Weekends Away

We returned from a lovely weekend away yesterday determined to do this kind of thing more often. We just spent 2 great days with my parents and Dave and Nic in a lovely cottage in the Cotswalds.

JA and I left school as close to the bell as possible in order to shoot off down south on Friday night. Although it took us 4 hours to get there as a result of the traffic we all managed to catch up by the fire (see below) and play our first ever 6 player Settlers! It took a while to explain the rules but it was well worth it. Well done mum on winning your first ever Settlers game (even though I had to tell her that she had accumulated enough points to win!).

Saturday saw us visit Stow and Burton-on-the-water (a mini Venice apparently). Even though it was pretty wet we enjoyed checking out the beautiful buildings and mulling through the many craft shops. Oh, and stopping off for plenty of tea!

After a lovely afternoon enjoying the area we made it back to the cottage for a nap and a chance to sit by the fire (again) and read the paper. A quick visit to the fish and chip shop provided us with the necessary energy to begin our second Settlers game. This time I'm glad to say I was victorious!

Before bed JA managed to sample to tremendous roll-top bath in our room! (ooh, how the other half live!)

After a nice lie-in we all sat down for a wonderful Irish fry setting us up for the trip home. JA and I decided to call by Stratford-Upon-Avon on our way back but unfortunately we were rained out. We did however visit Shakespeare's birthplace and the Swan Theatre. We will definately have to make time to go back again soon.

So after getting home on Sunday at a decent time (and hearing United beat Chelsea!) we felt really relaxed and ready for the start of the week. So thanks mum and dad for inviting us on this lovely weekend but it is something JA and I must really try and do more often.

Happy Families!

My class really are ok.

Well just before half term some of you may have read my rant on my class.
I take it all back, yes they can be naughty and continnually push boundaries, but today, the day after Halloween I was showed with trick or treat goodies including wobbly jelly eyes and spiders legs.
It was also a girl's eleventh birthday, so she brought in some of her cake for me and when I was on playground duty I was showered with grapes, strawberries, riveta cheese and chives and other goodies. My class know the way to my heart must be through my mouth, that or when I am eating I am usually quieter.
Anyway, a postcard arrived from the Dominican Republic as one of my 10 year old sunseekers is currently there at the moment, and a child stayed behind at lunch to tell me that she is going to be an auntie and her sister is going to call the baby Kian. ( She thinks that is a good Irish name so I would like it)
Well apart from all that today I taught Literacy, Numeracy, Science, PSHE, P.E. amd visited the school library to change our books and talk about the book I am reading. ( The Penultimate Peril, latest in the Lemony Snickett series).

Today was a busy one, but I was reminded that my class are ok and that they do treat me well even if they want me to look like Miss Piggy with all the food that makes it on to m y desk by 3.30pm.

End of Half Term

Well, it's Sunday night at the end of another half term. Typically tonight JA and I won't sleep too well as our heads will be full of the things to come this week. I actually woke up this morning thinking about what I was going to teach tomorrow. Sad, but at least it has only happened once this week!
We've actually both had a great week off so I thought I would give a quick rundown of its highlights:
Saturday to Tuesday we were in Belfast visiting family and generally having a chance to relax.
A view across the loch/Irish Sea just up from the Patterson household.

Honey the family dog out on a late night walk.

The three lovely Patterson sisters.

Tuesday night of course saw us at the Athlete concert (see previous post) which was followed by a lazy Wednesday spent in Manchester city centre ending with a trip to the cinema to see The Legend of Zorro. Thursday was spent around the house catching up on cleaning/ironing etc before we made it to my parents to help out with the reception after the Didsbury Lectures. This gave me my chance to have a wee chat with N. T. Wright, or Tom as he introduced himself to me! I have to say he is a really nice bloke who was very easy to chat to and always had some little story to go along with the topic of conversation.

Friday approached quicker than expected so we finally got some school work done before making it out to the Jenkins for some curry and Settlers action. JA won and has insisted that I include this!

Saturday allowed us to do a little more work in order for us to enjoy our evening with the Brower-Latz's in Manchester along with their friends from the U.S. It was nice to get to meet them and show them our fair city but I have to say a Saturday night is probably not the best time to show it off (there's plenty more being shown off if you know what I mean!).

Anyway, here we are today after a visit to Emmanuel this morning, a viewing of The Interpreter this afternoon and a coffee with the Jenkins this evening.

So, all in all we have had a great week and enjoyed its variety of activities. We realise we are lucky in getting these breaks and won't take them for granted! And to finish, I have no idea why anybody would really be interested in hearing all of this but I suppose that whats blogs are for in a way. If this one wasn't so good maybe the next one might be!

All you teachers out there - enjoy the eight week run up to Christmas.

Disclaimer: Julie-Ann it should be said worked every day since Tuesday although this was not explicitly mentioned in the above post.

Regular Tourist

JA and I went to the Apollo last night to see Athlete in concert. We both thoroughly enjoyed it although JA wasn't too happy about the four hours of standing around!(Gregster, where are you my concert pal?!) It also didn't help that we had some big dude behind us that seemed to be able to sing as loudly as the boys without the use of any amplification. It was reminiscent of being in a football ground!
Well, Eif and Esther are there tonight and I'm sure they will also have a great evening.

Click here if you would like to hear a recording of one of Athlete's concerts earlier on this year.

Happy Birthday Sandra!!

You got one too?!?!?

Just an opportunity to wish our friend Sandra a Happy Birthday. She never appears to be in our geographical location when it comes to this particular day. So, we have decided to mark this day on the internet for all the world to see (not that we think that the whole world checks out our blog! Thanks to the four of you that do!)

Not quite sure about her age but let us concentrate on the celebration instead! Enjoy your first birthday as a mum and hopefully Lev's handwriting is legible in your card.

Don't eat too much cake!!!

Parents Evenings and Parenting

This week was my turn, yet again to fill my 34 sets or groups of parents in on how their children were doing now that they are in their last year of Primary education. The usual questions arise, do you think ...... needs a tutor? What level do you predict for Numeracy? What do you think of .... school? How can I make my child listen to me? I am trying the super nanny naughty chair what do you think? I can't seem to make.... listen to me can you help? I am getting the whole Kevin the teenager thing at home. What is he like at school? You know, just the usual.

But my last appointment at 7.25 on Wednesday was slightly different. It began with the usuals as I knew that this mum had just had her fourth daughter last year and I have taught her other three so we were discussing if I could last long enough in teaching to teach her last.
She then quickly remarked, "sure you will soon be teaching my grandchild!"
" What," I remarked, " you have a daughter older than C?"
" No, C is 20 weeks pregnant on Friday."

We then continued to chat, C is in Year 9 and 13 years old, she will be 14 by the time the baby is born in March. She is attending Stockport's pregnant girls school and has started her GCSEs early as she is so bright.
So what is so bright about getting pregnant at 13? ( especially as I have been trying for the past 14 months without success at 27 years old, but that is by the by)

Well, I have invited C and the new baby to come to school to talk about Sex Ed and life as a teenage mum, I await to hear if she wants to come.

It is amazing to think that 3 years ago C sat in my class and I taught her English, now she is learning about nappies, feeding and parenting. A real stark contrast and steep learning curve in such a short time.
Good luck C and all you teenage mums out there, your teachers still think of you and wonder what the future holds for you and your children.

Autumn

JA and I went out for a nice stroll yesterday afternoon in Fog Lane Park. It's amazing how much change you see at this time of year. These pictures don't compare however to the Edmonton version of 'Scattered Leaves' but it looked nice nonetheless!
It all looks good right now but I'm not looking forward to raking up thousands of mouldy leaves from our from lawn in a few weeks time!

I'll pay a tenner to anyone who would like to rake these up in a few weeks!

Grease is the Word.

Today, I took 41 children to a local theatre to see our feeder secondary school's production of Grease. I have to say when I as a child and teen I was never allowed to watch or listen to the music, and after today as I was squirming in my seat I now know why. One boy sitting next to me said, "what does, 'knocked up' mean? Mrs. McCulloch" another remarked as we were walking back to school that he thought it was wrong that the actors were pretending to smoke cigarettes. Well that was a moral lesson and a half.

The major thing that watching my ex pupils made me think was that, 'my goodness some of my pupils are in Year 10 now, singing and dancing their hearts out', and here I sit... their ex primary teacher remembering the feeling of being in my school productions. How weird!

Well I still think the music is great if the story line is a bit dodgy.

Saturday Afternoon Coffee and Chat

After Grad today Jamie and I had the chance to met up with two of our closet friends.
It seemed like weeks since we were able to catch up and check up on what we had been up to. They are so busy and we are inflexible with when we can meet, so today was a real treat (and a laugh!)
Jamie and I are really appreciative of our friends may the be near or far.
Know that you are thought of often and cared for.

Sleep well European friends, those of you who are further away, enjoy your day and all it holds.

Graduation

Mark Payne having his moment.

'Hallelujah' Mark! Guess what he said when receiving his certificate?!

The recessional.

Look at the ridiculous crest stuck below the organ pipes! What do you think?

Well, I have no idea how many Graduations I have now been to but I witnessed another one today in the lovely Whitworth Hall. Even though I didn't really know many of the graduands I still couldn't help but share in the joy of their achievements. The variety of people that made their way up the stairs to the platform will all share a different story as to their journey there today. It is emotional in a strange detached way.

I was also present for the fact I had been asked to play guitar for one of the choirs anthems. Nerves are always present before I play anywhere but today this was compounded by the fact I was the only instrumentalist for the song, I was standing on the podium and the rehersal had not gone as planned! When I learnt the song on Thursday night I continued to practice for the next two and a half days. The problem, however, was the tempo I had kept in my mind. The practice soon revealed I was playing very differently from the way the choir had prepared! I spent the next 15 minutes in the back hall going through my intro just to make sure we started at the right tempo!

I have to apologise to Julie-Ann as I was not great conversation for the next hour as I continued to run through the song in my head. Thankfully when my time came I remembered the timing and actually enjoyed the experience!!

Overall my Dad's first experience of leading Graduation ran relatively smoothly. I'm sure he's pretty relieved now and will hopefully sleep well tonight!

Second Open Evening of the week

Well tonight was the turn of Hazel Grove High School to show off their wares to me as I did the obligatory tour whilst Jamie was busy wooing the Year 6's to choose his school.
I have been in 2 secondary schools this week and I want to let you know this.
Despite what we see on our televisions or read in our newspapers, the young people who I have met this week do not strike me as unruly, disrespectful or out of control. Granted, these children were probably chosen to be ambassadors for their school for a reason; I did meet lots of other pupils who were not especially chosen, and I was amazed to see the interaction between past and current pupils with the staff. The positive relationships and banter was so apparent.
So what am I trying to say?
All of you parents out there...... I don't believe that secondary education in the 2 secondary schools I visited this week is that bad and I need to remind you not to believe all you hear or read in the media. Oh, and you secondary teachers out there... keep up the hard, invaluable work you do!

Got it?

Maybe you might want to check out HGHS's website! http://www.stockportmbc.gov.uk/secondary/hazelgrove/

It's an amazing blogging community

Yesterday I found out that more people I know are involved in this strange blogging phenomenon. People who at times seems to scoff and suggest that we bloggers have too much time on our hands!!
Well, I would like to, for the record, point out that it is nothing to do with having too much time, but a strange addiction to catch up. I find myself so bogged down with daily life and stuff, that I struggle to write that card or pick up the phone and call.

So, this may be a small way to keep all of you out there, who invest in me as family or friend or (family of a friend) informed on what I am up to, thinking about or whatever.
I will never be able to tell you about some great intellectual book I am reading as I seem to spend my life reading kids books. ( I am reading a great Ibbotson one right now called the Island of the Aunts, a great story full of strange animals and wacky old women) or join in on some philosophical question, ( as I rarely have time to think about what's for tea?) but I will fill you in on the what's going on in my life ( which is code for classroom, study or infront of my laptop!)


My amazing blogging community... keep on reading.


PS. Someone today suggested that I go part time at work. What a wise friend. I will think about it!! (wink wink)