Passing notes

I remember when I was in grade 2. We were writing innocent jokes and messages, passing them around the class, trying to stifle our giggles. We thought we were so funny and clever, until we got caught and my best friend dobbed on the rest of us.  I spent all afternoon sitting outside the principal's office, my nose red from crying. He took pity on me as it was my first offence and I got off lightly. Other kids had to go home with red strap marks on their legs.  Such a shame, seeing as we were all having such fun. We certainly learnt a lesson that day, but I don't think it was the one that the teachers had in mind.
The students of the Brian St Learning Centre have started passing notes around too. One student in particular is obsessed with it. She just can't stop herself writing pages and pages of special notes to people. It is really wonderful to see her spontaneously working so hard and seeing her pride in herself. This is her note to me:

"I know how you are. You are good and happy. And the best thing of all is you."

I have a growing collection of these notes on my desk and I love to read through them when I'm feeling down. They never fail to cheer me up.

Other notes that have been passed around here lately are musical notes.  Both girls have joined Just Brass
- a local music initiative by the Salvation Army. We now have a percussionist and a cornet player in our midst.

I haven't filmed the Snork Maiden on the drums yet because she only has a rubber drum head to practice on at the moment. Once we get her a snare drum watch out!

So that ticks off two subjects - English (written expression) and Music.  Oh, and maths too from working out all those tricky drum rhythms and timings.
We've had a change to our PE program. Goodbye Kids Cardio after five happy years and hello to tennis at Silver Grove.  J is a great teacher who fits in tennis classes for home educated kids between his regular classes for preschoolers.  The girls are really enjoying the lessons and have made some new friends too, so that's a bonus.

Moomintroll had her first ballet exam this week. She was in a line of three girls, so had to do many of the exercises and dances on her own (usually they are done in pairs). It didn't seem to bother her though, and she enjoyed the experience.  Now they are setting their sights on the final performance for the year and she is beside herself knowing that she'll be dancing in The 12 Dancing Princesses.  The Snork Maiden may be an Outlandish Creature in a ballet inspired by William Morris' writings.  Did you know that besides being an amazing artist he was also a writer?  I didn't.  I consulted Mr. Wikipedia and discovered that Morris was so prolific and famous as a writer that he was a huge influence on C.S Lewis, James Joyce and J.R.R Tolkien!  There you go, you learn something new everyday.  I have downloaded three of his books from Project Gutenberg and can't wait to begin reading.  What I'm really looking forward to though is the set design for the Morris ballet. Mr H from the girls' ballet school is a superb artist and creates wonderful sets. His Medieval Scene backdrop a few years back was amazing.

one of my favourite Morris designs - The Strawberry Thief