Christmas presents.

Merry Christmas.

Thank you everyone who sent me a card.

Thank you Adam C, Brandon-Lee, Kierel, Mollie, Bradley, Emma, Emily, Chelsie, Jake, Darcy, Kyra and Ellie for your presents. Although teachers never expect to receive any presents, it is always nice to know that we are appreciated.

40 tonnes of gravel

On the first day of the Christmas holiday I ordered 40 tonnes of gravel. I ordered it in the morning and it was delivered in the afternoon. I asked them to send it in four, 10 tonne lorries. 20 tonnes were used for the driveway.

10 tonnes were used for my neighbour's gateway (part of the contract when buying the land).

Which leaves me a spare 10 tonnes for other paths, and repairs.

My schoolwork when I was 6 or 7 years old

I promised to post some of my old school work on my blog. I only have one school book left, because I threw the rest away. I regret not keeping more now, but I am glad that I have this one. The St. George work shows how important it is to think about your pictures...I did not have room for St. George's head!





I think this piece of work shows how we should all try our best. I was made to write it again, and did a much better job the second time around!

Magic or numeracy

Try this scary bit of magic (or is it?) I thought that this was very clever; at first I wondered if someone was doing something horrible to my computer, but now I have worked out how it is done. Simple really! Email me if you work out how it is done. Remember wisdom begins in wonder.

http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

Christmas Jokes

What do you call a polar bear wearing ear muffs? Anything you want. He can't hear you!

What did the little candle say to the big candle? I'm going out tonight!

What is Santa's wife called? Mary Christmas!

What do elves learn at school? The Elf-abet!

Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? A mince spy.

What is a crocodile's favourite Christmas party game? Snap!

What do penguins ride? Ice-cycles!

What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Snowflakes.

Why is it so cold at Christmas? Because it's in Decemberrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Tracking Santa

To find out about Santa and the North Pole visit

http://www.northpole.com/

Every year NORAD tracks Santa as he travels around the world. Click on this link to find out where he is. Just make sure that you are asleep before midnight!

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/tracking.php

Did you guess who the picture was?

Yes, it was Mr Lewis I was probably about 6 or 7 years old.

The pond is even fuller.

The pond has continued to fill, and has now overflowed the bank. I am going to be patient, and see if I need to fit an overflow next summer. It is too deep and cold to fit one now. If I have been good this year, maybe Father Christmas might leave me a remote control boat for me to play with on the pond.

The Muppets, It Feels Like Christmas.

These are the lyrics from one of my favourite songs, from one of my favourite films.

It's in the singing of a street corner choir

It's going home and getting warm by the fire

It's true, wherever you find love it feels like Christmas

A cup of kindess that we share with another

A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother

In all the places you find love it feels like Christmas

It is the season of the heart

A special time of caring

The ways of love made clear

It is the season of the sprit

The message if we hear it

Is make it last all year

It's in the giving of a gift to another

A pair of mittens that were made by your mother

It's all the ways that we show love that feel like Christmas

A part of childhood we'll always remember

It is the summer of the soul in December

Yes, when you do your best for love it feels like Christmas

It is the season of the heart

A special time of caring

The ways of love made clear

It is the season of the sprit

The message if we hear it

Is make it last all year

It's in the singing of a street corner choir

It's going home and getting warm by the fire

It's true, wherever you find love it feels like Christmas

It's true, wherever you find love it feels like Christmas

It feels like Christmas (3x)

Finished track.

When I got home today I decided to clear a bit more of our track with Katy the tractor. In the end I managed to clear the whole of the last 30 metres. There is now a track all the way round the willow field. This picture is not very good, since I took it on my mobile phone. I will try to take a better one at the weekend.

Here is the better picture as promised. Katy has levelled the track.

My special beach

This beach is near Ullapool. I love how peaceful this place is. The beach is made up of millions of flat stones, which have been rounded by the waves over thousands of years. I like to build sculptures out of the stones.



We often travel here from our campsite and buy fish and chips from a shop called 'Seefresh Foods'.



Rick Stein, a famous chef, visited the shop and thought the fish and chips were excellent. I have to agree, especially when you have them on this beach.

Our holiday campsite

This is the campsite in Scotland that we visit nearly every year. It is very quiet and peaceful. It takes us 14 hours to travel from Lincolnshire with our caravan.

Most people don't stay here when we go because of the Midges, but if you know how to deal with them they are only a little bit of a nuisance.

There is one pub in the village; its food was poor the first time we went, so we don't go anymore. There is a small shop which also has a cafe and post office, and a small petrol station which sells things in its shop. You can get a few basic things, but you have to travel to Inverness, an hour away, for your other shopping.

Some people would find this type of holiday boring, because there are no amusements, shops or tourist attractions. I enjoy the scenery, the wildlife and the peace, especially after a long noisy year at school.

The house on the bridge

Bridge House is said to be the most photographed building in the Lake District, and guess who took another one whilst he was on holiday in the Lake District this year!

It was originally an apple store for nearby Ambleside Hall, and was built over Stock Beck to escape land tax.

It is said that once a family with six children lived here in the two rooms.

In 1926 it was purchased by a group of local people who passed it into the care of the National Trust, which 20 years later they turned into their first information and recruitment centre. It is now a rather cramped shop for the National Trust.

Working in my pond

I have been working in the pond again this weekend. I have blocked the outlet pipe properly, and have now cleared a lot of the over-hanging and fallen branches. The pond is now over half a metre deep, and is filling up from a field drain. I am standing on a piece of concrete in the photo because it is deeper in the middle. The water comes to the top of my waders in the centre of the pond.

Our pond

This is our pond. When we bought the new land it had an old pond in the corner. I started clearing some of the old wood last weekend, and found the overflow pipe. I decided to block the pipe to see if the pond would hold water. This weekend it rained very heavily and you can see that the pond now has over half a metre of water in it. I hope that by allowing the pond to fill up we might get lots of wildlife.

Belmont transmitter

This is the Belmont television transmitter. We can see the top from our house. This picture was taken at night and shows the lights. The transmitter is the highest structure in the United Kingdom and Europe. It is 385m high.

Here is a picture of the transmitter in the daytime.

And another picture taken nearer the transmitter at night.

Clementine

This is the clementine tree that we grew in the classroom last year. Someone had a pip and we researched how to plant it on the Internet. We had to plant it in very moist compost and keep it very warm. We kept it on the radiator in the classroom.

We were surprised when it started to grow. I took it home over the summer holidays and kept it in the greenhouse. As you can see it is now very tall.

Learning the piano

I have always wanted to learn to play an instrument, and a few years ago started to learn the recorder with some of the children at my school. Since then I have tried the guitar, and then the piano. Sometimes you have to try things to find out what is right for you. I have decided that the piano is my instrument.

I am now having piano lessons, and bought this piano from someone at school. It is not perfect, because some of the keys stick. I have set myself a target; if I complete the first lesson book, then I can buy a new piano.

When you are learning new things you can sometimes think "I will never be able to get it right". I always remind myself:

"I can't do it yet,

but I will one day if I keep practising"

Art by Edvard Munch

I was talking to another teacher about a painting by the Artist Edvard Munch; he painted a famous picture called 'The Cry'. This one is a modern version of that painting. Edvard Munch used interesting textures and colours in his paintings. Notice how the colours flow like water and shades are smudged together.

Here are some of Edvard Munch's paintings.

A medieval feast

These two photographs were taken at Pembroke Castle. The life-size models are enjoying a medieval feast. Only the rich would have had such good food. Notice that the light would have come from candles and there is a big fire behind them to keep them warm.

Music would have come from a musical instrument like a Bombarde or Shawm.

Light patterns

These street lights are between Grimsby and Lincoln, on the A46 at Cabourne. The street lights make a pattern when you see them from a certain angle. I had taken a picture without a tripod, but the exposure was too long which made the image poor quality. What shape can you see? I think they make the shape of a seal.

Light sources

This lighthouse is at Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on the British mainland. The lighthouse makes light with a powerful bulb, but also reflects light with large mirrors.

Bullying!

Watch this animation.

How are the birds behaving at the start?

What happens when they see the big bird?

What happens when the big bird tries to make friends?

What happens at the end?

Shrek

One of my favourite films.

Be a wise old bird!

I like this poem because it reminds us that we can learn a lot by listening.

A wise owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard;
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Wisdom begins in wonder.

'Wisdom begins in wonder'

These words are from Socrates, a man who died around 400 years before Jesus. He became a philosopher when he was older, which means that he questioned the world around him.


He believed that if people asked questions they would become wiser.

Colour-blindness

I was talking to some children before half-term about colour-blindness. Here are some simple tests to see if you are like me. I am slightly red-green colour blind. This makes it difficult for me to tell the difference between some colours, like yellow and green on teletext.


If you are colourblind you should see the yellow circle. If you have normal colour vision you should see the yellow circle and a "faint" brown square. I can only see the yellow circle.



If you are colourblind you should see the yellow square. If you have normal colour vision you should see the yellow square and a "faint" brown circle. I can only see a yellow square.

If you are colourblind you won't be able to see anything but dots. If you have normal colour vision you should see a boat. I can't see anything but dots.

To find out more about colour blindness follow this link:http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=152&id=1700

To do other tests go to this web site: http://colorvisiontesting.com/

Cool information for kids.

I found this Australian web site whilst surfing the internet. It is all about children's health and concerns. It is very good and child friendly.

http://www.cyh.com/SubDefault.aspx?p=255

It can answer lots of questions, but if you feel sick or unhappy, it is important to tell your mum or dad, a teacher or another grown-up.

Dancers

None of the circles are moving, but when you look at the picture the two people seem to be dancing.