I have no photos to go with my story for Finding Fun this week, but I hope you will enjoy the first rose (and some anemones) as much as we have!
Carolyn suggested that we think about the fun of dressing up this week, and after missing a few of the series due to little things like car crashes and bank holidays, I was keen to get involved again - and it was the idea of paper dolls that really sounded fun to me!
I folded up some beige card strips and cut out chains of little people holding hands - one set with a crinolone-style skirt, another doing a bit of basic ballet, and one 'man-shaped' ordinary set. Then I got to thinking how much my little pupil had enjoyed the pirate map a few weeks ago, and I decided to share the fun of the cut-out dolls with her! I coloured my crinolined ladies rather roughly, and wrote on a piece of paper this classic (and frankly NOT very fun) exercise:
Pam has got a red skirt and a green top.
Lin has got a pink top and an orange skirt.
Sam has got a blue skirt and a yellow top.
Jan has got a purple top and a black skirt.
(Jan was the most stylish, in my opinion!)
The paper was delivered by a sheep toy (don't ask) and my usually reluctant pupil threw herself into the clues, sounding everything out phonetically (which she usually refuses to try) and labelling each 'princess' as she deciphered the clues. She then had to give each princess a hat, according to further instructions.
What this is showing me is that French-style, taking it all seriously, education, has affected even me. I was trying to push this reluctant little reader into the kind of formal exercises she'll experience in school, and she was pushing back, really hard! Well done her, really. We are now having a lot of fun, thanks to Carolyn and Finding Fun, and, lo and behold, my little individualist is beginning to learn again. Hurray for sheep, princesses and fun!