Celebrate

My school day finished with a Google Meet Slice of Life Celebration. Beginning of the March I shared with my kids that I would be writing for a whole month and invited them to write a daily Slice of Life also. We learned about the writer's craft like how to add sensory details, how to use -ing phrases to start a sentence, or how to use made-up words or poetic language - whole myriad of little mini-lessons, some of them presented asynchronously through a digital platform during the distance learning time. The students chose one good slice to revise into an award-winning SOL. I was able to give feedback both on Google Docs and during individual Google Meets.

Today the kids brought little snacks  (pizza, chocolate, muffin, apple, candy), I brought a cup of white tea and cinnamon rolls (baked from scratch), nothing to share. We muted our microphones and the children took turns reading their award-winning slices. In the midst of the uncertain and crazy times, this afternoon was a bright moment, a beautiful writing celebration.

Today is the last day of SOLSC challenge. We have thirty-one slices on our blogs. We won't be able to read out loud our favourite slices to each other today. We can still celebrate. We can celebrate that we wrote, that we read, that we commented. We can celebrate that the we were here together, for each other, as a community. We can celebrate the resilience and growth and joy we have because of writing.

I shared a gift of ideas with you yesterday.
I wish to share some spring pictures with you today. Last Saturday my hubby and I went to my summer place for a few hours. The sea, the signs of spring and a cup of tea - peace. I hope som eof the peace carries to you through the pictures.

I have received abundant gifts of words from you this month. Thank you, my SOL friends!

See you next Tuesday!

Celebrate: kids making art

I have mentioned before how lucky I am to have a small class and the freedom to take my kids on field trips in the city.  On Wednesday we had a provocation for our new unit about lens-and screen-based art. Central idea: “People consider various factors when creating and viewing lens- and screen-based art.” We visited Tallinn Art Hall where we had a guide who explained the exhibition and then gave an art task for the students. Experimentation, creativity, play and process were the key words used. The enthusiasm that the students showed was incredible. They listened attentively, asked questions, wanted to photograph everything, and when the task was given, they went to various places to try out their ideas. The guide watched with a great smile as the students gave instructions to each other and found various angles to take photos. She took photos of the process and that itself was interesting for me to watch. My heart was doing a happy dance because not only was it a wonderful provocation for our unit of study but I could already see that the students were open minded and creative to try anything

Here are some reflections:
"This is where I am an artist and J is a model. We took stuff and put in different places. I learned that if you wanna be an artist, you have to be pretty creative. We were there about 1 hour and a little bit more, it was really cool, because there were really cool pictures about geometry and videos about performance art. And the art we did was performance art, so we were human sculptures. We did it by experimenting with objects, like if we put something here or something there. And we took pictures on different angles."

"Those are photos that we made in museum yesterday. Museum was called "Tallinna Kunstihoone" or in English "Tallinn Art Hall." There we had task to take photos of each other but we need to make this photos really cool or like interesting so this are my photos that I made of K. I was an artist and K. was like a sculpture. There I learned how to make really cool photos and photos that no one can make only you like you are the first person that make this picture!!!!!"

"We went to an art museum and saw models in videos and also paintings and sculptures. I liked having fun and I was a very bad or funny artist because my picture is so funny; and I also liked the process of making the model look nice. I learned that any art can be hard but during the process it is very fun. We were looking at all kinds of famous Estonian artists' paintings. Most of the pictures had geometry in them. It is done like this that one is the model and one is the artist. The artist puts all kinds of things on the model and then there is a photograph and we needed to make a picture at all angles. The place is called Tallinna Kunstihoone. It is a very inspiring place so you should go and visit it. There was also an art video were they experimented with a model and with a flower and with bread and all of the things changed spots later in the video."

Celebrate: as full as it gets

A week of two days of concept-based curriculum; a visit to an art exhibition twice (once with friends and once with the students); learning with the students; goal setting with the teachers; dentist; two photo exhibitions (animal photos from bloodless hunt and magical self-portraits in nature); finishing the week together with colleagues on a rooftop with a magical view of Old Town; cupcakes for Saturday morning; play dough rolling with nephew; buying the perfect suitcase; stopping to take a picture of a marshmallow field; some reading, some writing - full, full, full. This was a good week.
Lis tis all I can manage for this week's celebration.


An art exhibition "I have bored myself" by Asko Künnap

Views from the rooftop:

The marshmallow field:

Celebrate: some ideas take time to happen

"I showed the picture you posted on SeeSaw to my colleagues. The boys looked like two philosophers in deep talk, sitting on those armchairs in front of the fireplace, looking at each other, tea cups in hands and R. lifting his finger. My colleague wondered what kind of a school my kids go to when a photo like this is taken in a middle of a school day," a parent of a student smiles and tells me on Thursday morning.
"As long as the weather is good I try to have the writing workshop out of school. This time we experienced how writers go to unexpected places. I am so happy that M's sister invited it to the Art Doll House. Have you been there?" I explain and wonder.
"No, I haven't but I understand that I will probably go soon because apparently I have to buy a miniature knitted sofa for an unknown reason," a light laughter escapes her lips as she shakes her head.
We both look at her son who is already in the classroom drawing some comics.

Seven years ago I found the Art Doll House on a walk in the Old Tallinn. This magical place was filled with unforgettable handicraft art dolls, each unique with noticeable personality, probably becoming alive when nobody was watching, perfect to become characters in stories. Since then I started playing with the idea that I should take my students to this place. So far, for various reasons, it never happened. This year, because my class is so small and I have many lessons in a row with my students on Wednesdays, I can leave the school building during the writing workshop, and because one of my students is the daughter of the woman who owns the place, and the student's older sister invited us to visit, the long ago born idea became reality.
Before going on Wednesday a little thought flashed through my head, an idea to take some tea with me, in case we might have a chance to boil some water, but then I let the thought go.
When we arrived, the student's sister gave us a tour, and when we settled to write, she asked whether we wished to have some tea. So we looked a the dolls, listen to a ghost story, wrote in our journals, and drank tea.

I celebrate that the seven-year-old idea became a reality. 

I hope that some other ideas nesting in my mind will become reality too.

Wishing you an opportunity to visit an unexpected place to get inspiration for writing.

And I always wish you some time to drink tea with a friend.

Celebrate: the first two weeks

On Wednesday, when the weather was summery warm, I took my students, my smallest ever class of sweet kids, to a park, where they ran through a fountain, climbed up a spider web tower, and later ate cinnamon rolls. We stopped twice before reaching the park to write and wrote twice in the park. When I sat on a bench watching the kids, I felt immense appreciation for these kids, the job I have, and the opportunity to be in the park in the middle of a weekday. The first two weeks have been filled with appreciation every day. For years I have wished to carry the summer feeling to the school, a challenge hard to meet, and this year finally I kind of have managed it. I have purposefully slowed down, monitoring myself not to rush the kids. I haven't given tasks but rather voiced invitations to share, to create, to try, and they have responded so well, with joy and creativity beyond what I expected. We have written a lot together already, plus collected plenty of ideas for future writing, read aloud and individually, talked about poetry, sorted and labeled our classroom library (but didn't move furniture), created art, estimated and counted objects, played games. In the past I used to be hesitant to share the good things because of a strange belief that then the luck would turn. No more. I wish to share the joy I feel, and believe that it is a sign for the whole year, that gratitude creates abundance.

Celebrate: bookshops in London

When planning my trip to London, I knew I wouldn't have too much time to be the touristy self, with the workshops finishing at 17:30, leaving me the evenings and few hours on Thursday morning before taking the Gatwick Express to the airport. Weighing what options I had, I decided that visiting The Tea House and some bookstores might be the just right wish list. My family agreed that I didn't have to bring any souvenirs or gifts, some tea and maybe two books would be fine.
I prepared myself with names of some bookshops, checked out on Google Maps whether these were on the walking distance and that was it.
The only down moment in preparation was when I read in the workshop letter that "There will be no chairs, you may bring your own cushions, stools, blankets etc." Packing a cushion would seriously limit the space in the suitcase. How silly it would be to take a cushion from Estonia. I was ready to sit on the hard floor for the sake of books to bring back. This is until I read the letter again and discovered that it said "There will be chairs to sit on, but you may prefer to bring a cushion etc."

On the first day I took time to find my way around and visited the old bookstores in Cecil Court and Charing Cross Road. At awe and overwhelmed with the choices I didn't buy anything.

Cecil Court:

Henry Poard Books

Walking back I visited the Waterstones at Trafalgal Square.  When I was downstairs suddenly all the people left, and I thought the shop was closing, but one of the ladies there said that the shop would be open for another half hour until nine o'clock. Sooooo, many books. I decided to exercise self-control and didn't buy anything.

On Tuesday I walked to the Tea Shop on Neal's Street and from there down the Oxford Street and up Marylebone street to the Daunt Books. Originally I had taken this bookshop off my list as it seemed too far, yet with one of the teachers speaking about it with shining eyes I put it back as one of the destinations. Lots of walking and I arrived at Daunt Books fifteen minutes before closing. In the morning I had made screenshots of my Goodreads "Want to Read" list, so I knew what to ask for.
"It's my second day at works," said the young man there as he helped me to look for the books.
He kindly said that they will close the doors but I was in no hurry to leave and could freely continue looking around.
A beautiful shop with books sorted by countries.
When I had paid for two books (Haifa Fragments and The Artist's Way) and expressed my appreciation and a hope that one day I might return, the cashier wondered where I was from, and hearing that I had come from Estonia gave me a bookshop tote bag as a gift.

Daunt Books

On Wednesday evening after the Afternoon Tea I visited Foyles at Charing Cross Road. Four floors of books. I am not sure whether it was a reader's paradise (no end to reading material) or hell (impossible to make choices or read them all.) I bought Unpacking My Library: Writer's and Their Books and Stay with Me. People had shopping baskets that they filled with heap of books. I took several photos of books for my to be read list.
On Thursday morning I had a plan to visit the National Portrait Gallery. It opened at 10:00, so I thought I would return to Foyles since it opened already at 9:30. Four new books in my suitcase was already two more than I had planned to buy. The photography section pulled me in and a book about photojournalism and another about street photography convinced me that they needed to leave together with me.

Foyles at Charing Cross Road

Thursday afternoon at Gatwick airport I bought two more books: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Men without Women.  Happy me.