Hang up the phone

I don't make a habit of posting about school stuff here for a number of reasons, but I just have to share this one.

This term I've introduced a new (mini) programme for half an hour every Tuesday: Science of Sound.  It is my one bit of the week that I really get to indulge in teaching my two passions: music and science.  Last week we explored all the different sounds you can make just with your body.  Yes, we're talking 12 year olds, and so it did include the most spectacular belch and a mini-fart, but they weren't expecting me to then challenge them to do it again without any movement whatsoever.  Needless to say, this added to their conclusion that SOMETHING has to move in order for a sound to be made.

Today each group of three was given 2 tin cans, a hammer, a nail and a piece of string.  I simply asked them to use hammer and nail to put a hole in the bottom of each can and tie the string through the hole.  Would you believe it, within minutes, they had finished this and spontaneously, naturally started exploring all the possibilities of their string telephones, full of natural curiosity.  I had not told them what they were making or what they were to do with it, but they came up with sounds and ideas with them I hadn't considered.

This, to me, is what teaching is all about.  Authentic, innate curiosity.  Children exploring in their own directions.  My main job then was to toss in some questions and challenges (How might the sound be getting from one end to the other?  If you twang the string, how can you make the sound louder or softer, higher or lower?  Are there any circumstances in which the sound will not travel along the string?).  They bounce off this, solving problems, asking new questions, and truly experiencing and learning about how sounds are made, transmitted and changed.  I have never been so happy as in my noisy classroom this afternoon.

Topsy turvy baking

For most of my life I have been known for being less than successful in my home baking endeavours.  Or maybe less than reliable is more accurate, especially when it comes to cakes.  Burnt on the outside, sloppy in the middle.  Badly risen.  Many cake ailments have troubled me over the years, so much so, that my opinion of myself as a baker of cakes is not very high.

Today I have proven myself wrong.  I have baked a peach and butterscotch upside down cake and it is spectacular!  Light, fluffy sponge, sticky gooey butterscotch, all holding together nicely.  Hurrah!  You've got to love the Be-Ro cookbook...

New Blog: In Our Four Walls

We have recently purchased our own little bit of New Zealand - a section of land on which we will be building (or having built) a house of our own.  It's simultaneously very exciting and exceedingly daunting, and feels very grown up.

I've decided to start a separate blog - http://inour4walls.blogspot.co.nz/ - specifically dedicated to the project.  I'll keep posting here about everything else, as I will still have a life outside of the Big Build.  I hope...

Mountain views

Auckland is so flat in comparison to Queenstown.  Landing in this beautiful part of New Zealand I was starkly reminded of how much I miss having access to proper mountains on the North Island.  A few token mountainous volcanoes, but then it's hills and more hills in the top half of the country.  The craggy peaks and gorgeous snowtopped mountains around Queenstown and Wanaka are breathtaking.  It has been an absolute joy to be surrounded by them for a long weekend.
Driving through Kawarau Gorge was quite mind-bending too - it transported me right back home to Scotland.  It is so similar to the drive from Banchory to Glenshee, I half expected mum to be waiting at the end with homemade soup and bread!

But would I want to live down here?  I'm not sure - much as it is a stunning place to live, the South Island doesn't really have anything by way of exciting cities, the flipside of the lifestyle coin that is just as important for me.  Hmmm...

We have had a brilliant long weekend 'holiday' down here: sailing on Lake Wakatipu on the old steamboat TSS Earnslaw, visiting our good friend Jane at Walter Peak Station, spending time with our other good friend Laura in Wanaka, tasting lots of wine, eating good food, going to the cinema (I have GOT to find one like it in Auckland - a lazyboy for everyone!), skiing at Cardrona (thighs burning) and soaking up the sights.  It's been a good one.  I can't wait to come back down for our proper two week holiday in January.

Check out our holiday snaps here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddballproductions/sets/72157631672665704/