Fruits of your labour

Dzien dobry Year 9,

As you can see, my Polish lessons are paying off and I am reaping the fruits of my labour. Thanks to Duolingo, I can now say a fair few new- and in some case strange- phrases. My favourite so far has to be: 'Ona jest kotem i ja jestem kotem' ...I'll let you and google translate work out what it means. 

I hope Week 2 of lockdown has got off to a good start and you are continuing to be productive with your school work. Teachers have started making calls to your parents over the last few days to check how you're all getting on. It's been really lovely to hear of all the things you are up to. I've even heard that some of you are doing more work at home than you usually do at school, which is fantastic! Just remember that it's OK to take a break too. 

Unfortunately, the longer we're in lockdown, the more tempted I am to raid the cupboards for snacks during my breaks from work. I'm acting more and more like this girl every day...

 Thankfully I didn't give up chocolate for lent, otherwise I would have failed miserably. I've never been so glad to find my stash of Christmas chocolate waiting for me in the back of the cupboard. Safe to say, this guy didn't last long...

If you are one of those pour souls who did give up chocolate, or sweets for lent- hang on in there! I promise you that the 'fruit' of your labour is coming and there is light at the end of the Quarantine Tunnel! Seriously, there really isn't long left now and you will have passed the ultimate test of self-restraint and will-power if you succeed. Imagine how good your Easter chocolate is going to taste in a few days time? 

If you remember from assembly, my 'Lent Challenge' has been to do 100 sit-ups, or 100 squats a day. Well, it turns out that I have had no excuse not to do that over the last couple of weeks and it's been getting a little repetitive. They say exercise is key to a healthy mind and the experts aren't lying. If you've been doing Joe Wicks' Workout every day, then you're doing a great job. I've heard that some of you are even doing it twice a day! I've been trying to mix things up a little to avoid getting bored. Today's work out promises to be a challenge...but I'm hoping a fun one!

It'll take 30 minutes and all you need is a pack of cards (and some good motivational music on in the background).

If you're doing this in a group, you each take a turn to take a card from the pack. 

Your card is dependent on the activity you all complete. Here's an example of the activities you might do below...

Hearts: Push-ups 
Spades: Sit-ups
Diamonds: Squats
Spades: Lunges


Your first card you draw might be the 4 of Diamonds. In that case, you (and anyone else taking part in the workout) will need to do 4 squats. 

What if your card doesn't have a number?

Good question. Face cards are as follows...

Jack: x11
Queen: x12
King: x13

And the one you don't want to pull out is...

JOKER: x 15 Burpees

I've got my cards ready to do mine later. I'll be sure to give them a good shuffle first. After all, I don't want that joker to pop up!

As well as exercising, I put my DIY skills to good use this weekend and put up a new noticeboard in my kitchen. Hopefully it looks straight...

 I also used the cardboard box it came in to start my 1,000 piece puzzle. Turns out, it's harder than I thought it would be. It took us around 2 hours just to get the edges done...

Amongst all of that, I've also been staying in touch with family and friends over Whatsapp, Houseparty and Zoom. With plenty of extra time on their hands, my parents have been busy sorting through things they have accumulated over the years. This is some of my top-notch work that they sent me the other day...

I'm glad I didn't grow up looking like 'Dobby the House Elf' and to confirm, I can now write the number 3 the right way round. See, I told you education is good for us!

#Allinthistogether

If you're lucky enough to have relatives and friends who you can video call, definitely make the most of it. But, just spare a thought for those who might not have access to the internet. With an elderly neighbour who is in isolation and a grandma that doesn't have access to the internet, I started looking into initiatives for helping those who might be lonely during the lockdown. I came across this website below who are asking people to write letters to those in need. 

https://lovefortheelderly.org/letters

If you do decide to do this random act of kindness, or you've already done something similar, I can promise that you will reap the fruits of your labour. There may even be one of my top-of-the-range fruit badges in it for you when you return from school and possibly a comically-sized exotic fruit if you're really lucky. 

Ironically, in a time when we are being kept far apart, some of us have ended up coming 'virtually' closer together via social media. I certainly enjoy watching some of the videos that people have been making to cheer others up. I thought I'd leave you one of my favourites that's just gone viral. Can you and your family do any better? If so, get in touch and let me know!

Lastly, whilst it's been lovely talking to your parents, it would be even better to hear from some of you via email- believe it or not, I'm missing seeing all of your wonderful faces every day. So, if you've got a great idea to share, or just want to drop me a line to say hello please do!

Stay safe, stay happy and remember to keep reaping the fruits of your labour. 

Miss M x

Bored? Try not to be.

Congratulations Year 9!

You've survived your first full school week of lockdown and it's officially the weekend! 

Even though 7 days have passed since school closed, I'm sure you agree that it feels like longer. Some of you may be wondering, as I am, how you are possibly going to fill time during the weekend and the Easter holidays with less school work to be completed and significantly more time on your hands. 

The truthful answer is that some of you extroverts are going to find it tough not being able to go out an see your friends. For those who are more introverted and prefer your own company, then this might not be such a worry. Either way, it will be a chance for us all to have a fair few lie-ins and catch up on some rest and relaxation...unless you have younger siblings who like to wake you up early, or you're like Mr and Mrs Matthews who have two tiny babies to keep them occupied. 

As a young Miss Moore, being an only child and living in a time when the only fun thing you could do on your mobile phone was play 'snake', I would always have to find things to amuse myself during long holidays.

I remember constantly whining to my Nan: "I'm bored!". 

Her reply would always be the same: "How are you bored? There's so much to do, why don't you draw a picture?"

... Safe to say, I drew A LOT of pictures.

***Now, this is the point of the story where Miss Long gets her imaginary violin out in the Head of Year office to acknowledge my tragic childhood growing up without siblings***

What I'm trying to say is, be creative with your free time. Here's an idea to keep you occupied, and the added bonus is that it helps to improve your English skills too. It's called Black-out Poetry.

Step 1. Find an example of written text in your house (e.g. a magazine, newspaper)
Step 2. Find an article that you would like to use. It can be about anything and it's up to you how long or short this is.
Step 3. Take a pencil and start circling words you like that might sound good together. They don't always have to flow, but sometimes it helps. You'll get better at this as you go along. 
Step 4. Take a black biro, or black pen and black out all the words you don't want. Keep punctuation in where possible.  
Step 5. Read back your poem made up of the words and punctuation that are left on the page. 

Here's a couple I've been working on below. Top Tip: It definitely works better when you use a pen with a thinner tip.

As you can imagine, a lot of the articles are relevant to the virus 'that-shall-not-be-named', so the poems I ended up creating have a similar theme. My favourite reads:

      These frightening days keep apart     

       loved ones.       

       A city fallen silent.        

      isolation.      

       Human contact banned.      

       New bonds, skills.      

       Talking, read.       

       Vital moments of connection        

       encourage        

       them.       

       When we emerge        

       strong. None of us should       

       feel alone.        

If you have a go at this, send me a picture your finished version so I can pop the best ones on here. If you're feeling even more creative, have a look at the examples below, or visit the website to get more inspiration...

https://powerpoetry.org/actions/5-tips-creating-blackout-poetry


Whilst we're on the topic of creativity, Miss Hibbins-Durkin is also hoping for your help. Her grand plan, as a symbol of celebration, is to create enough bunting to decorate the school with when we return. All you need to do is send in your messages of kindness to khibbinsdurkin@slaesian.surrey.sch.uk All of these messages will then be posted on bunting and put around the school.

 The more messages, the better it will look, so get to it Year 9- don't let me down!

"Time Out " In

If you're a theatre enthusiast like me, you might have had a few events booked that have now been cancelled. I was meant to be taking my family to see 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' next week, but it's sadly been put on hold for now. 

Instead, I've been making good use of my NETFLIX account and I've also heard great things about the new Disney +. 

However, if you're already bored of the same old TV shows, you should consider this...

'Time Out' (temporarily rebranded 'Time In') are a pretty good magazine/website that reviews things like current films, theatre shows and music events in London. Here's the link to their website if you want to check it out...

https://www.timeout.com/london/news/the-national-theatre-is-going-to-stream-a-free-play-every-thursday-night-032620

To help us all out with lockdown, they've recommended The National Theatre Youtube Channel. Due to all of their performances being on hold, they have decided to stream some theatre shows on 'youtube' over the next few weeks on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUDq1XzCY0NIOYVJvEMQjqw

Interested? Here's the schedule: 

April 2 ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Richard Bean, starring James Corden. Read our review.

April 9 ‘Jane Eyre’, adapted by Sally Cookson. Read our review. 

April 16 ‘Treasure Island’, adapted by Bryony Lavery. Read our review.

April 23 ‘Twelfth Night’ by William Shakespeare, starring Tamsin Greig. Read our review.

Additionally, the National Theatre will be rolling out National Theatre Collection study resources to pupils now learning at home.

 So, if you're interested in doing GCSE drama (which I know a lot of you are), tune in and get watching! 

You could even set yourself a task of drawing the set design/making performance notes if you're really bored. If you do, send what you've done to myself and Miss Cella- we'd love to see what you've been up to in preparation for starting your Year 10 drama course next year. 

In the meantime, enjoy the sun in your free time while it lasts and make sure you keep yourselves healthy. As always, if you need me, you can 'virtually' find me marking, planning lessons, responding to emails, streaming James Corden in 'One Man, Two Guvnors', watching Netflix, reading, doing yoga, cooking, learning Polish and creating black-out poetry all with a cuppa in reach in the same spot in my tiny garden below.

And remember, if you're bored...try not to be. 

Miss M x

In Other News...

Good morning Year 9, 

I hope 'Quarantine 2K20' is going OK in your households so far and that you haven't had too many rows with siblings, or parents over who gets to eat the last biscuit from the tin (or, in my case, after losing every single game of scrabble I play...which, as an English teacher, is extremely frustrating!). I don't know about you, but with everything going on and after the news of the 'lockdown', I've been watching a lot more of the news recently. Now, whilst it's important to stay regularly informed, seeing all the negativity can become quite scary and it certainly doesn't do our mental health any good. 

With this in mind, I'm going to dedicate this second blog post to 'other news'; mainly the positive kind. Because, whilst we might be living through a pandemic, there are still things being celebrated all over the world. Personally, I've taken to reading 'The Happy Newspaper' and 'The Good News Network' (see below for links).  

https://thehappynewspaper.com/

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

A particular favourite article of mine on here is: 

Jimmy Fallon Asks Twitter to Describe Their Quarantine in Six Words—and the Results Are Hilarious

My Tweet would be... "Binning Scrabble if I lose again" 

And there is my first quarantine challenge to you: If you were to sum up your time in Quarantine in six words, what would you say? Send me your suggestions (kmoore@salesian.surrey.sch.uk) and I'll post the best ones. 

Last Friday, when Mr Kibble addressed the staff for the last time before school closed, he spoke confidently about how something 'positive' will come out of this storm. Now, whilst it might not seem like it yet, I too believe that this will happen. Maybe not now, but in the not-so-distant future, we may find ourselves living in an even better world. I even stumbled across a quote in the book I'm currently reading, which I think sums it all up perfectly. 

"...Once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure. in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what the storm's all about" - Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore.

Whilst I'm on the topic of reading. I thought I'd share with you some of the books that came through the post yesterday that I'll hopefully get a chance to read, or re-read over the next few weeks. 

You will have heard the famous saying from all of your English teachers at every parent's evening ever..."Make sure you're doing enough reading at home". And I know a lot of your responses are something along the lines of: "But Miss, I hate reading!'" Well, now's your chance to change that. 

So, my second quarantine challenge to you is this: read one new book between now and the end of the Easter Holidays...unless you're a slow reader- then, in that case, I'll give you until the end of quarantine! Here's one book that you should be able to read online that my 91EI have been doing as their class reader...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

http://www.metropolitancollege.com/curious.pdf

As well as starting a reading list, the Polish lessons have begun. I can't say I've learnt much yet as my workbook is currently empty, however the DUOLINGO app is helping me out a lot. I'd highly recommend it if you're thinking about a new skill to learn.

On top of marking and planning lessons over the last few days, I have been getting all Year 9 tutors to send me in messages of encouragement to you all. First up, is Miss Hopkins with a message for her RUA tutor group...

"I just wanted to check in and see how you are doing. I hope you are starting to get into a routine and managing being at home. I hope you are finding ways to keep physically active, don't forget how good it is for our physical and mental well being. With being the sporty people you are, some of you may have come up with some great ways of exercising - please do feel free to post what you do on the Salesian PE twitter. Let me know if you need anything. Take care of yourselves, stay safe and stay active."   Miss Hopkins 

Miss O'Neil has also been putting her creative skills into practice. Here's a painting she has been working on...

Now before I sign off, as promised, here is the first student to get in touch with what they've been up to. This is Alex, "flipping her way through quarantine"... **Fingers crossed the video works**

What have you all been up to? Remember to keep sending stuff in to my email and I'll get it up on the next post. 

Stay Safe; Be Healthy; Think Happy.  

Miss M x

A 'New Normal'

Year 9, 

Well, what a difference a week makes! Just seven days ago, I was stood in a classroom with (the vast majority of) my lovely 91EI English Class reading 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' and discussing the importance of metaphors and now I'm practicing social distancing whilst sat at my laptop trying to get to grips with the prospect of home schooling you all from my living room. 

For some of you, this might seem like the start of the longest school holiday ever. After all, the sun is currently shining and you're probably keen to get outside (or for some, the prospect of turning the Playstation or Xbox on has become all the more tempting). However, we are all trying to establish a new sense of 'normal' and that's probably going to take a while to sink in for some of you. In this adjustment period, it's really important that you try to create a structure to your day. Trust me, I know it's tempting to lounge around in your PJs all day, but you need to stick to your normal routine as much as possible. That means, getting up fairly early and getting showered and dressed before starting your school work for the day, just as you usually would. Otherwise, if you get too used to having unstructured days, returning to school will be even harder than it is after having the 6 weeks off in the summer holiday! 

Right now, your teachers are all working hard to produce online resources for you all and adapting lessons so that you can understand them whilst at home. So, make sure you give them a little time to get used to their 'new normal' too. Remember that we're not all as tech-savvy as you teens are! 

Whilst this blog is not all about me nagging you to do your school work, it is important that you understand how much power you have now been handed. If you were in Mr Gower's last assembly on Friday, you'll remember what he was saying about how you are all going to be in competition with other Year 9s across the country when you all return to school to start your GCSE courses. During this time of home learning, it will be very clear to see who has been rigorous with this and who has perhaps spent too much time on their gaming skills and Tik Tok posts. 

If you don't believe me, then take a look at the forgetting curve below, that shows how easily we humans forget things if we don't keep them ticking over in our brains...

So, the moral of the graph is...practice little and often, and with any luck, by the time you get back to school, you won't have forgotten everything you have learnt so far! 

NOTE: If you are having any problems with accessing things from home, or you're struggling to understand something, then you can always drop me an email and I'll be around 'virtually' to help you out. 

"OK, Miss Moore! We get it, we need to keep learning... What other interesting things do you have to say?"

I suppose it's about time that I got onto some fun stuff, because I know a lot of you will be worried about what you're going to do whilst practising your social distancing! 

Look after yourself

It's important that you take some time out to get some fresh air. If you're lucky enough to have a garden, then use it! If not, then try and get out to an open space (whilst keeping 2 meters apart from others of course!). You never know, you might even spot some wildlife on the way. Here's a deer that I met in Richmond on Saturday. Him and his mates clearly have no 'ideer' about coronavirus, as they were travelling around in packs of 2 or more...

Learn a new skill

Over the coming weeks, there is no doubt going to be plenty of time for you to learn things that you never thought you would. I for one never imagined that I would have time to learn how to slack-line (basically, a fancy name for tight-rope walk) and yet here I am attempting it for the first time yesterday and failing miserably...

Don't worry, I'll keep practicing.

As well as this, I'm planning on learning Polish as best as I can over the next few weeks. So to all of you who are Polish speakers in the year group, you can look forward to testing me on this when we're back. I'll keep you posted on how this is going over the next few weeks... Wish me luck! 

Now, if I can put my mind to learning a new skill, you most definitely can too, as your brains are younger and spongier than mine is. So, I want to hear all about all of the things that you are getting up to. Send in photos, videos and creative pieces of work that you are proud of so that I can display things on this blog for all of us to see. This might be a meal you've cooked, a dance routine you've learnt, a video of you speaking a new language, a project you've undertaken, a book you've read...the list goes on. I'll aim to showcase as many of your pieces of work as I can a week, so what are you waiting for? Start sending in your skills to kmoore@salesian.surrey.sch.uk and be the first to have your work broadcast. They'll also be prizes awarded when we return to school for the most creative and impressive work. 

Now, before I sign off, in true Salesian spirit, let's remember those in our Year 9 community and indeed our wider school community that might be struggling with the situation that we find ourselves in. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers to help guide them through this difficult time, until we all find a 'new normal'. 

Don Bosco, as always, pray for us. 

Miss M x