making pyramids

This term I am doing mathematics education as one of my subjects and, as I mentioned the other day, this means I needed to do some Geometry lessons with some children. On Saturday, we spent some time doing some 3-Dimensional object classification - making pyramids and prisms from nets and making connections - deciding what attributes each object has and which of them are pyramids.

It's always a lot of fun to do practical teaching activities with children as it is a nice change from writing essays. I actually think the girls learned something, all while they were having fun, which is pretty good news to me! 

Now to ace that assignment!

time

If there is one thing that I have always struggled with it has been time management. I often will have a huge deadline coming up and just ignore it until the last minute and end up stressed out and exhausted ensuring that I get everything finished on time. Yes - I always do get things completed, even when I manage my time poorly but this is not the point.

One big thing that I learned when I was off on my teaching rounds it was time management. This is something that I have vowed to continue to do and am doing very well at thus far. I am currently overloading at uni. This means that rather than completing the normal prescribed study load, I am doing an extra subject so that I can complete my degree earlier than I would have otherwise. I am able to do this because I don't work, I have very self-sufficient children one of which is at school full time and the other goes to kindergarten. I also set myself goals that MUST be completed. I keep a big cork board with my study planner and time table on it - I also keep a diary...

 

This is a fresh one for the new financial year.

I am finding that managing my time means that I am much less stressed at the end of the day, because I know exactly where I stand with each upcoming deadline and I know that I have used the time that I have had to work on each thing to my best ability. You can't do much more than that! Achieving my daily study / housework / sewing / fitness / kid oriented goals really puts a smile on my face.

Here are some photos of what I have gotten up to today in my well managed time.

Oliver and I made apple leather using Kate's instructions. He thinks he is a master chef and he loves to spend time helping out in the kitchen. I love to cook, so his desire to help me makes morning activity time quite easy to organise.

I worked on calisthenics head gear for the little miss. I have actually almost finished all of her costumes for this year. Hooray!!

And good old lesson plans for assignments. I actually love the kinds of assignments that I have to plan lessons for rather than just write an essay - they seem so much more relevant.

Anyway - back to it!

What are your tips for managing your time?

planning for maths

I swear this is uni work...

I'm planning for a maths education assignment this morning preparing lesson plans and trying out ideas for studying pyramids and prisms. Most importantly I am looking for FUN activities that will help these children learn the properties of pyramids beyond "it is a pyramid because it looks like a pyramid".

I found it really difficult to find a good, easy to understand set of instructions on how to make an origami pyramid for a warm up activity. One for us beginners who are more adept at folding fabric and making it hang correctly than using paper to make... well... anything.

Thankfully I found a great video over on Storm the Castle.

Looking forward to using these little pyramids to engage my learners.

blogtober 23rd: missing

Yes, I've been missing the last few days of Blogtoberfest. I have desperately wanted to post, but had computer issues, university assignments, and I decided to change my photo editing software because perhaps the previous software had something to do with the first excuse.

I have returned, I still have lots of assignments to work on and complete. One of which is a big, annoying and incredibly confusing research report that I am sure you don't want to read about. But thankfully life goes on, in a few weeks these subjects will be over and new ones will begin and I am gaining more knowledge about the profession that I will hold one day in the not so distant future.

I did promise to try to de-stash some patterns this month, and with only seven days remaining I really do wonder whether I will get another item sewn up with all of my other commitments. But I do want to start. I have two patterns that I would like to get sewn up in the near future.

Both of these patterns are yet to be opened and I am intent on doing so before the end of the year for both of them.

One is Vogue v8365 (I can't find a link to the pattern anywhere!). I am not really a shorts person generally. I don't know why, but I just think I look weird might be my height. Don't even get me started about how ridiculous I look in 3/4 pants! Anyway, I was looking through my stash of patterns and this one I had prepared with fabric chosen and everything in the folder with it ready to go. So I will divulge the desires of past-Amy and make up these shorts. Probably in view A. Short shorts are always more friendly than ones that finish just above the knee.

The other pattern is the Claire Cami Dress by Serendipity studio. This pattern has five different lengths to choose from from cami, tunic, short dress etc. I will probably (once again) head to the short option. It is getting close to summer.  I'm really looking forward to wearing one of these dresses actually.

Thirdly, and not pictured, I want to make another Anna Mini Dress. I love a good summer mini-dress and I made the longer length last year and I never wore it because it was at a silly length for me (and I made it too big). This pattern is obviously third on the list because I want to finish something I haven't started before first.

Well, its time to go make the lunches...



What photo editing software do you use?
Do you look funny in knee length shorts too?
What is your favourite Summer clothing item?

Blogtober 17th: wordless Wednesday

Snowed under by books.