Term Three has just begun as of today, and that means a new theme or general topic we’ll be starting as well. As it’s an even numbered year, we’re back to teaching Energy as our theme for the term again. Electricity, solar and wind power, energy conservation - stuff like that. Also, I’ve got the fun task of putting together a few weeks or work based on Toys.

Yep, that’s right. Toys.

Toys use energy, too, remember. Most of them nowadays rely on batteries and electrical energy to run, of course, but that’s not necessarily always the case. We’ll fiddle around with some Lego Technic kits and stuff, check out static electricity by rubbing balloons in our hair, might possibly make some kites, and make balloon powered cars and rockets. Lots of fun stuff there. Potential energy, kinetic energy… lots of fun.

If I get time, I might even put a few of the activities up here from time to time as well - let you see what the kids can get up to.

For now though, this song fits in appropriately with our current Toys theme, although maybe not so much the Energy theme. Too bad there, though. It’s a great little song and more often than not the kids enjoy it too. Every now and then one of them pipes up to say their dad may have sung it to them too when they were ‘little kids’. It’s written by Tom Paxton, but here’s Peter, Paul and Mary singing it. Mind you… they have a bit of fun with the ending!

THE MARVELLOUS TOY

When I was just a wee little lad, full of health and joy,
My father homeward came one night and gave to me a toy.
A wonder to behold it was, with many colours bright
And the moment I laid eyes on it, it became my heart’s delight!

Chorus
It went ‘zip’ when it moved and ‘bop’ when it stopped
And ‘whirr’ when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.

The first time that I picked it up, I had a big surprise.
For right on its bottom were two big buttons that looked like big green eyes.
I first pressed one and then the other, and then I twisted its lid
And when I put it down again, this is what it did,

Chorus

It first marched left and then marched right and then marched under a chair
And when I looked where it had gone it wasn’t even there!
I started to cry and my daddy laughed for he knew that I would find
When I turned around, my marvellous toy, chugging from behind.

Chorus

The years have gone by quickly, it seems, I have my own little boy
And yesterday I gave to him my marvellous little toy.
His eyes nearly popped right out of his head as he gave a squeal of glee.
Neither one of us knows just what it is, but he loves it just like me.

It still goes ‘zip’ when it moves and ‘bop’ when it stops
And ‘whirr’ when it stands still.
Neither one of us knows just what it is, and I guess we never will.

Chords here are in D, but you can transpose them wherever you wish, I suppose. I fiddle with a capo on third fret and play in C instead.

D / A / D / A / G / D / E / A /
D / A / D / G / G / D / A D / A

Chorus:
D / A / D / G / G / D / A / D

‘You don’t have to brush your teeth - just the ones you want to keep.’ - Author Unknown

‘A good friend is cheaper than therapy.’ - Author Unknown

Had my first tooth pulled today.

Now, I haven’t been to the dentist in about sixteen years. Never a filling, never a toothache. Once I had the braces removed I pretty much abandoned all interest in ever setting foot into another dental clinic of any sort again. And until February, I didn’t.

Now, sixteen years is not bad, I reckon, for looking after your teeth on your own. Not bad at all. At least, until a few of them started to fall apart on my while I was eating about a year or so back. I pondered the problem for a few weeks as I continued to find little bits of enamel in my dinner, but before too long they seemed to stop disintegrating, and even better, they didn’t ache or hurt. So I ignored them.

Then I noticed another threatening to do the same. So I bit the bullet (pardon the pun), and wandered into the local dentist clinic I hadn’t set foot in for the better part of sixteen years. I wasn’t even on their records any more!

They couldn’t fit me in for about six months, so I wandered down the street to the next clinic and asked about a check up.

‘When was your last one?’ they asked.

‘Aw, really early nineties?’ I answered.

‘And you still have your teeth?’

They fit me in and I had a check up. Short story was, two had to be pulled, and three had to be filled. I thought that was a pretty good score considering the time between visits and my irregular brushing. So I made the appointments and finally had the first last week to put three fillings in. Unfortunately, then they noticed there were two more fillings to be done and a third tooth to be pulled. Bugger.

So I wandered in this afternoon to have the next appointment. Fill another tooth, and pull the first one out. I wasn’t too concerned now about the filling and the needles - they’ve improved since the last time I had one in my mouth, but the extraction was concerning me if I’m honest. I asked him to talk me through it, but I figured I’d only feel uncomfortable and hear the odd crack and splintering sound. Any aches would come after the happy juice had worn off.

Short story again, it came out before I realised it as I didn’t actually feel it come loose. Yes, I felt the wriggling and levering and rocking stuff as my head rolled from side to side, and at one point I was concerned he would stretch the corner of my mouth too far and it would get the dental equivalent of a hamstring tear, but it was quite a simple procedure.

I wandered out able to talk with no pain and only half a box of tissues jammed in the hole in the back of my mouth.

So I wandered into the shopping centre for a quick browse because you don’t drive into town with petrol the way it is without making at least some effort to make it worth your while, eh?

Which is when I ran into one of the kids. Not just any kid from school, the little feller from the basketball team. By the way, they lost the grand final the other week. It’s a shame, but you don’t win them all. If you did, you’d have no reason to play, eh?

Now, most kids when they see a teacher will do one of two things. Wave with a slightly awkward, nervous smile, sometimes with a slight hint of guilt, or look the other way and hope to hell you haven’t seen them. Well, this kid’s different, at least when it comes to me, I suppose.

He ran half way around the plaza to catch me, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, to rabbit on about the things he’d just bought with his family and we wandered back to the checkout. After all, we hadn’t caught up with each other for, aw, twelve whole days. Twelve days is almost forever when you’re twelve, eh?

‘What are you doin’ here, Mr V? Shopping or something?’ Note the hint of boredom in the word ’shopping’, clearly something he thought wasn’t high on the list of ‘cool reasons to walk around the plaza’.

‘Actually, champ, I just had a tooth pulled…’

The sudden look of caring concern and the subdued voice asking ‘did it hurt?’ just made my day.

Better than a panadol, that was.

The month of June has just drawn to a close, and once again it’s a bit of positive news regarding my webcomic School Spirit, the hobby that spawned from the primary school musical I wrote, which in turn eventually spawned this blog. While June wasn’t the strongest ever month in regards to number of viewers, it was only a handful off. For the second time running, and the second time ever, it has gathered in 4000 views across a single month, which turns out to be an average of about 130 views a day, and about 900 views each week. While for four years of input, effort and continual regular production these numbers may not be fantastic (it can frustrate you when you see relatively new strips pop up and apparently gather these sorts of figures - and not be as good as yours - my opinion, granted!), it means the strip is moving along now on its own, which is a bit of good news, eh?

July begins today, and while I’d love to see it continue to grow each month, I’ll be happy to see it break through that 4000 mark a third time running. Let it settle a bit before I start entertaining thoughts of 5000, eh?

Back with more over the next few days, and this time focusing more on teaching and education themes again. Holidays have just started and reports and parent / teacher interviews are all done now, so there’s probably more time to share around again.

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