Getting Warmer.

The thing that I was looking for was the Widows photo viewer which isn't part of Windows 10. A quick search found lots of enquires and solutions as to how to get it back on Windows 10. I had some time at work so I printed off one of the solutions so I might even be able to sort it out myself. There were also some choice comments about Windows 10. I'm not the only one who doesn't think this latest version is an upgrade and that's to put it mildly.

The morning weather forecast was most strange. The daytime temperatures were due to be around 9 -12C but then overnight the temperatures would rise to 12 -14C about the average for a July night not mid-winter! It was grey and very wet in the morning then only slightly wet and by the time I went into town after work it had stopped raining and yes it was getting warmer.

My morning was spent on Christmas things, wrapping some presents, making some special flapjacks for Peter with cranberries, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts and walnuts and trying out some ideas for handmade cards which didn't work out.

Then it was time for school. The children were having their Christmas dinner served by the teachers but this year I avoided the melee. It's not too bad but I don't enjoy turkey or having to eat fairly quickly in the middle of the day so I opted out for once. I spent the afternoon with a reception class. Because of the heavy rain they had spent most of lunchtime watching a dvd so I started the afternoon with a shorter phonics lesson, just going through the sounds and words they have been taught. After that they were free to draw or play with the Lego while I got a few children at a time to empty out their trays into their book-bags. Some of them had great piles of half-finished drawings to take home. At least that is something going home. I find it a real shame that the children can't take home any of their workbooks at the end of the school year. Instead all books are kept for a couple of years by which time who knows where they end up. That's because the inspectors do not trust in teachers' integrity or all their records of levels or marks. Instead we must be able to provide evidence ie the children's workbooks to back up our records. In Reception each child has a Learning Journal filled with work, photographs and quotes but again these can't go home. As to art work, so little is done and mainly for display that very little makes its way home. The children used to have sketch books which they started in Reception and then took up to their next classes but there is little time to teach art skills and the sketch books are no more.

After work I went into town, posted 2 parcels at the main Post Office which didn't have too long a queue for the 3  DIY counters (there is one assistant to finalise the postage labels). Then I went down to the cinema and booked tickets to see the new Star Wars film. Well there's no LOTR film and we did see the original Star Wars films when they first came out in London in 1977. As I wanted the extra comfy seats and not at the end of the row our tickets are for December 28th. Hopefully the film will be loud enough to drown out the rustling and crunching that spoiled our last visit to the cinema.
PS It's officially 14C at 7.30 pm.