Mutation Begins..

Visit the Calobee Doodles Etsy shop and you’ll find two new listings for custom doodles. These two are for business cards or an 8×10 print, but I’m open to any type of custom design–logos, banners, you name it.

If you’re thinking about something seasonal, I’d love to design your custom holiday cards or stationery.  Holiday postcards are a low-key way to keep in touch during this busy time of year–you can even incorporate a family photo or two, with no need to use the same old templates everyone else does.

Contact me to talk about your next custom doodle!

Originally published at Calobee Doodles. Please leave any comments there.

Visit the Calobee Doodles Etsy shop and you’ll find two new listings for custom doodles. These two are for business cards or an 8×10 print, but I’m open to any type of custom design–logos, banners, you name it.

If you’re thinking about something seasonal, I’d love to design your custom holiday cards or stationery.  Holiday postcards are a low-key way to keep in touch during this busy time of year–you can even incorporate a family photo or two, with no need to use the same old templates everyone else does.

Contact me to talk about your next custom doodle!

Originally published at Calobee Doodles. Please leave any comments there.

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• Bear Duck Designs has some awesomely tech-geeky stuff in her Etsy shop – If I can’t have an iPhone, at least I can have iPhone magnets! via Indie Fixx
• Christine Berrie’s pop culture illustrations are so colorful and fun – I’m partial to the vintage cameras and the VW Bus. via Poppytalk Handmade
• XKCD’s Academia vs. Business – Sometimes I think this is my life in a cartoon strip.
• The suitcase sofa via shelteriffic – Gotta love design that is both clever and functional.
• Loving this home design at Design Milk – The natural wood tones, the bright, open rooms, clean lines and big windows… *sigh* Where do I find one of these in rural Maine, hmm?

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

Originally published at sixhours.net. Please leave any comments there.

Tim has class on Thursday evenings, so it’s just me and the babe tonight. Ellie miraculously fell asleep with no complaints at 6:30, so I have plenty of time to get some things done.

The new layout for Calobee Doodles needs some animation work, but I’ve almost finished putting the theme together in WordPress. I’m designing a quick Christmas card for mum to send out to folks this year, and hopefully it will include a holiday photo of the baby girl provided she’s feeling cooperative this weekend. I’ve been doodling here and there… nothing concrete, though. The ideas aren’t falling into place the way I like. I’ve also been digging through old photos for potential use in a magazine… hopefully more on that later.

But to be honest, I think I’d rather scrap it all and curl up and go to sleep. It’s been one of those weeks! I’m looking forward to a much-needed Thanksgiving break.

Oh! I’ve been musing, and I think it’s about time for a contest. I’ve yet to determine what I will give away, but stay tuned! I’m thinking big.

Originally published at sixhours.net. Please leave any comments there.

These two were fun to draw, and I thought it would be appropriate to share them!  Click below to download your free holiday desktop doodles:

Happy Holidays

Let it snow, man!

Originally published at Calobee Doodles. Please leave any comments there.

My SOSE university teacher (studies of society and environment) is very into simulation activities and games with students so they know how people feel or what the situation is like, or it shows clearly how things are connected. For example we had to research an aspect of the rainforest (I was 'bacterica'), briefly, and then come back to the class. Using our knowledge of this plant, animal or feature of nature, we connected ourselves up using wool, while standing in a circle. For example bacteria throws the wool to leaf litter, which throws the ball to fungi. etc. Then there were three people who represented Man's Influence.
One was 'logging companies' and they cut down the mahogany tree, which ruined the canopy, which dried up the leaflitter which... etc. They did it by cutting the string where the Mahogany person was standing.

We had one where we were Aboriginal people and we formed groups representing the different Aboriginal groups. Using a task sheet we were given we had to interpret then draw the things that this group loves, for example the river, our tools, the animals, our spirits, the reeds, etc.
Then we went through this big written role play where things happened to us, like we 'saw some strange ghost like people', the people representing women were taken away to be 'companions', some of us died, our piece of paper was ripped up and taken away bit by bit, etc. The kids get a slight smattering understanding of how things they care for, their friends, got taken away. The kids would spend ages drawing their picture only to have it ripped up. There was a script we had to read. It was awesome.

I know there are some great ones showing poverty.

Yesterday friends and I designed one for refugees- we were going to have kids sit out on the tennis courts with a fence around them, have to build shelters, use yoghurt containers to get water from the furthest tap in the school, make toys out of tin cans, have everyone getting annoyed that they're in their tennis court so they can't play, no recess, and they have to line up at lunch for a small serve of plain rice. Then they could apply for asylum elsewhere, and get rejected, there was going to be a boat people scenario where they have to walk around for ages with their possessions, pirates would come and take their possessions that they thought would be useful in their new lives. Then they'd get put in a detention centre. All instructions would be given in another language...
it would be awesome!

But here's my issue. I'm planning a unit on eco housing. I'd LOVE some sort of simulation game to do with that. Or even a website game though that's not as good.

Any ideas how I could do it?

I have a student who struggles with writing. He has trouble spacing letters (both between words and even between letters in words. He can barely print properly, and with his spelling, it can be disaster to read if he's not attempting to write neatly. I can usually read his writing when he takes the time. Today when meeting with some of my reading specialists, one of them mentioned a psychological evaluation from last year on the student where it was suggested that a laptop be made available to the student to help him with communicating his ideas. I had no idea this existed, as it wasn't with his IEP when I started in the classroom.

So I want to try it with him. I just got two spare laptops from the principal for student use in the classroom since I didn't have any computers prior. I called him over before dismissal today to see what he could type for me. I had him type a few sentences. "My name is J. I am 13 years old. My favorite color is blue." He was interested and I told him that tomorrow we would try it with his morning journal entry instead of writing it on paper.

What I really want to see is if he will be any more motivated to communicate his ideas. He just hates writing. We were working on paraphrasing yesterday, and he can demonstrate the skill orally, but when asked to do it in written form, he will work, stop, and start when prompted.

Has anyone tried this with a student? How successful was it? For reference, my student is a 13 year old 5th grader.

Also, randomly funny bit from a student at lunch to her friend:

Student: You're spazzing like an armadillo!
Me: Do you know what an armadillo spazzing looks like?
Student: No... I know what an armadillo looks like though!

Hey guys...

If you were doing a high school English course (grade 9, applied) on Heroes, what would you include?

Any ideas for assignments, lessons etc is very much appreciated!

(It's for a native reserve and I've been given a book on "Native Leaders" to use/refer to)

Thanks :)

x-posted

… and he has a message for you:

Originally published at Calobee Doodles. Please leave any comments there.

So despite certain accidents, I actually managed to get a lot of work done last weekend.  I finished the first draft of a custom order for one of my favorite clients, polished off the Calobee Doodles Web site graphic and started on the layout, and doodled two holiday/winter wallpapers which will be available in the next few days. I’m thinking about making this one into a postcard as well:

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in between naps (the baby’s, not mine!)

Originally published at sixhours.net. Please leave any comments there.

Going over long A sounds in class, one of my students says "Wake and Bake Miss Johnson. Wake and Bake." I'm hoping at 7 he has not a clue what this means.

For those of you who have used or are using Investigations for their Math curriculum, has anyone ever used Geo-Lego for Picturing Polygons in 5th grade? I tried playing around with it but it seems very hard to figure out. I am not sure I want to introduce it to my students.

Today got off to a rough start. This morning after the usual routine of a change and a bottle, I started to clip Ellie’s nails and accidentally snipped her pinky finger in the process. It didn’t seem to hurt her, and at first we thought it wasn’t a big cut–a little blood, a little mama guilt, no problem.

Except her finger just kept bleeding and bleeding and bleeding… you’d be amazed how much one tiny finger can bleed. Several tissues, burp cloths, much gauze and three band-aids later, the second floor looked like the scene from a small disaster and I started to lose my calm, can-do front.

Then I imagined the headlines: “Baby bleeds out–death by hangnail.”

We decided to go to the doctor just to be safe (thank goodness for weekend hours). They were very nice about our new parent paranoia, even though by the time we got there, Ellie’s finger had stopped bleeding and she was obviously fine (if not grumpy with us for making such a fuss). We were sent home with instructions to keep it clean and relax. Ahahaha, I think that last part was a joke.

So the morning was not quite what we’d planned, but thankfully it got better. We chose to brave the rest of the day and make the trek to Ellsworth to the Gifted Hand Show to check out some handmade goodies from fellow Maine artists. I purchased a cute hat for Ellie from Worthy Goods and a surprise Christmas present from Atlantic Art Glass. I ogled the kids’ peasant dresses from Anabelfuzz and the intricate glass beads from Fern House Studio. I’m definitely a fan of online shopping, but there’s nothing like seeing an artists’ work up close and meeting the people behind the Web addresses. Maine is home to some very talented people!

After returning from the show, El and I hung out with our friend Danielle while Tim caught up on homework. Then we all crashed in the living room to eat pizza and watch Supernanny and celebrate our pinky fingers being (mostly) intact.

If tomorrow is as eventful as today was, I’m going to need a second weekend to recover.

Originally published at sixhours.net. Please leave any comments there.

It’s that time of year… shopping season is upon us, and it’s especially important for small businesses to get the word out about where to find the best handmade holiday gifts. Why not pretty up your shop with a look that’s fit for the season?

Originally published at Calobee Doodles. Please leave any comments there.

few weeks ago I had a heart-to-heart class meeting with my 5th graders. "Folks," I said, "I'm frustrated. It's very difficult to teach a lesson when I need to stop every few minutes and remind people to raise their hands or to stop their side conversations. I feel like I am always reminding you to stop talking."

We made a list of all the times when their talking becomes a problem, like when they're lining up to go down to Movement class or when they're supposed to be quietly working on math problems, when we're having a class discussion, when I'm telling a story or teaching a new concept.

Then we made a list of all the times when they feel like it should be quiet (taking a spelling test, walking in the halls, class discussion etc.) and times when it is OK to talk (group/partner work, lunch time, recess, clean-up during end of day, etc.)

I asked them what they thought they could do about it. They were very honest and said that they felt like they didn't have enough time to socialize with friends, and that since they use their recess time to play games, they don't do a lot of talking during recess. They wondered when they could have time in class to talk.

The solution we ended up with was 'Talking Time'. At the end of each period that I teach, they have a 5 minute break for talking. If, during class, a number of people are talking out of turn, calling out, or having side conversations, they use up one minute of talking time. If they're quiet and respectful for the entire lesson, they get the whole five minutes at the end.

The class was very curious what would happen if only one person called out? Could that person lose a minute for the whole class?

So, we also came up with a point system for the class. This is an incentive for the whole class - a chart on the chalkboard where I allow students to put up tally marks for positive behavior -- complimenting a classmate, being helpful, working quietly, etc. For my most frequent talkers, if they make it through the lesson without calling out, they put up a point for the class. If they do call out, no negative consequence... unless they rope their corner of the room into talking out with them. Thus, there is lots of positive reinforcement from their peers to quiet them down.

We've been trying this for two weeks now and it's worked beautifully for my class. They lost their entire five minutes *once* and that was a reminder to them that I'm taking it seriously, so they've been very conscientious since.

My favorite thing about 'Talking Time' is that when it starts I'll say "If you'd like your talking time, you may start it now,' and the kids who really need it take it, but those who are engaged in their work often keep working. Some kids use the time to read or draw instead. Often, they use the time to show their work to each other or ask each other for help. It's been great!
* * *

I’m feeling a little nostalgic. Last year at this time I was eagerly counting down the days until the arrival of Miss Elspeth and wondering what the future had in store. Well, the future is now, as they say. Here’s a snapshot:

Babies come with luggage, not baggage…
Then: Our living room had a fairly straightforward arrangement. Chairs, a TV, a lamp, a bookshelf or two–simple, functional, nothing fancy.
Now: It looks like a Toys R Us exploded. There’s a sippy cup in the middle of the floor, and I’m pretty sure it’s been there for three days. There’s this behemoth of a thing we call the Pack n’ Play sitting in one corner, although the name is misleading… it implies that baby might play in it. It should actually be called Baby’s Favorite Torture Device, because that’s what you’d think we were doing when we put her in it.

Handling someone else’s excrement is…
Then: Not happening.
Now: Any diaper that doesn’t require a new outfit or a bath on the part of either changee or changer is a good diaper, no matter how stinky.

The soft spot is…
Then: Eurghh. *shudder*
Now: I admit, I’m still squicked out by the soft spot. If you’re not familiar, it’s that part of the baby’s skull that hasn’t yet fused, leaving an opening covered by skin. If you happen to press on it (I wish you wouldn’t) it’s like pressing into warm Silly Putty… if that Silly Putty were made of your baby’s brains.

On the pacifier…
Then: Hadn’t said the word “binky” more than a handful of times in my life. Probably didn’t know what “binky” meant. Didn’t care.
Now: I say it a handful of times each day, usually preceded by “Where is the damn…” or “What the hell happened to the….” Binkies, like cat toys, have this nasty habit of disappearing to hold secret binky meetings under the furniture.

Laundry–I’m…
Then: Always drowning in it, but there’s hope!
Now: Always drowning in it, and there’s no hope in sight.  Considering nudism.

On sleep (or a lack thereof)…
Then: 6 a.m. is an ungodly hour. No self-respecting lover of sleep should be subjected to it.
Now: “It’s 6:15 a.m.? She let us sleep in! Wait, is she alive? Yes? WOOHOO!”

Alarm clocks are…
Then: A necessity if I want to get to work before 8.
Now: Still necessary, but we got a new one. This particular model totally ignores all user programming, is loud, insistent, and I’ve yet to find the snooze button.

When someone tells you that having a kid will change your life… take heed. Listen to them and listen well. Now, where is that damn binky…

Originally published at sixhours.net. Please leave any comments there.