Brighton! *Oh I Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside!*

I love summer, and Brighton is the perfect accompaniment to a summer day out! Admittedly it did rain a little throughout the day, but it didn't stop us enjoying the lovely little lanes shops and the sea life centre. I got myself a couple of bargains, including an owl doorstop, a wooden polka dot heart and a floral detailed straw sun hat (for £2!)... but more of that later! Here are some of the creatures that I met in the Sea Life Centre...

A happy little mudskipper

Spot the seahorse...

The ocean tank... this photo reminds me of The Little Mermaid

Japanese spider crab - still only a baby (and still perdy big!) these fellas can reach 12ft!

Camouflage...

Spider crab

Lobby-lobster

Little Lego diver in the entrance

A Sneak Preview of My Classroom!

I'm incredibly excited about teaching in September and I've been a busy little bee sorting out my blank canvas of a classroom te get it all ready! I want my classroom to be vibrant, engaging and exciting and a place to celebrate the children's successes so I've got my creative side out and tried to inject some colour and fun into the displays...

The literacy display features a tree and an owl. It's an interactive display and the "wow" words that children come up with can be written onto speech bubbles and added to the display as a word bank for their writing.

The "wow" words owl is yet to be named - any ideas are welcomed!

This is my class behaviour management reward chart...

Each day children can earn a cupcake to put onto the cake stand...

And when they reach the top they are treated to a whole class reward! :D

I've set up a "Superstars" wall where the exceptional work that the children do can be displayed and their successed celebrated for the week.

The first science topic will be light and shadow... and I've planned in for the children to create shadow puppets.

We're going to be looking at the book "Gorilla" by Anthony Browne, which will lead onto our topic on endangered animals.

Maths vocabulary display.

Of course I had to get some polka dot bunting in there somewhere too! So I've draped my whiteboard with it :D

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week - Part Three!

I love the Old Town Street Party, There are some stalls and live music, performances and fun for the whole family! This year saw in some rather grim weather throughout the day so the evening event wasn't quite as busy as previous years, but it was still good fun.

There were fresh locally grown vegetables for sale...

delicious fudge and sweets...

Tush and Pat were cooking their famous "fishermans rolls"

and entertainers juggling fire...

Aaaargh! What a motley crew! My family get quite enthusiastic each year about the Hastings Pirate Day... and this year was no different! Last year Hastings held (if a little briefly, damn you Penzance... I'm not bitter!) the world record for the most pirates in one place. We didn't go for another record breaking attempt this year however, we did a worlds first instead! We were part of the worlds first human skull and crossbones!

We pirates all mustered on the beach where the shape had been mapped out for us to fill... then the helicopter flew over and took aerial photographs...

My cousin's husband was the official photographer for the events and was at the top of the cherry-picker to capture the moment! Unfortunately I couldnt track down a copy of the aerial photograph, but it looked brilliant!

The rest of the day was filled with piratey fun - here's Will Turner sword fighting as Captain Jack Sparrow looks on...

There was a brilliant band playing the stage in the afternoon, called the Sex Pirates... They were great fun, and you couldn't help but dance along to their shanty-based tunes with a twist!

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week - Part Two!

Every year on the Tuesday of Old Town Carnival Week, is the Crown Lane Bike Race. The premise of the race is that you must ride the "Butcher's" bicycle up the incredibly steep hill, from the bottom to the top, without lifting your bum off of the seat. To make sure those behinds are firmly on the seat the whole way, you have to sit on a 10 bob note and if it isn't there at the top then you are disqualified.

One of the best events of Old Town Week... in my opinion... is the pram race. The pubs enter a team into the pram race and they have to go around each of the 22 pubs in the route having a drink in each pub, answering questions and doing forfeits... all whilst dressed up and pushing around their themed "prams".

Bugsy Malone...

Alice in Wonderland...

Greek Gods...

Banana Splits...

Rubber Ducks...

Lego...

It gets a bit of a squeeze down George Street where easily thousands of people congregate to watch the procession of prams in the narrow Old Town streets...

Hastings Old Town Carnival Week - Part One!

This past week has been an incredibly busy one for me! It's been the Old Town Carnival Week in Hastings and therefore lots of fun has been had by all! It's such a brilliant week, everyone gets involved to make the various events a success and it's a great excuse to get together with friends, old and new, and meet up with family too. Plus every event raises money for local charities so it's a win, win, win situation!

Towards the beginning of the week was the Tug-of-War, where lots of the pubs in the Old Town get their burliest teams together in a contest where the strongest team wins! The Filo won for the men's team, well done to you, and to everyone who competed!

Here's my new favourite dress! It's one of those lovely dresses that has a nice full skirt that floats when I twirl and It's from Peacocks - I grabbed in the sale for a bargainous £10!

I explored some of the hidden and beautiful passages in the Old Town with my mum as we had a nosey in some of the open gardens. There are some lovely little secret treasures stowed away in some of the little passages and back streets in that part of town.

Then there was the beach concert. It goes on for a few days and showcases some local favourite bands - luckily the weather was brilliant!

The view of the fishing fleet from the harbour arm.

Down by the sea... my cheeks are already looking a little rosey here, silly fool that I am, forgot to put sun cream on!

patiently waiting for his owner to come out of the antique shop...

I love the little Courthouse Street fun day...

Where else is there a piano in the street that passersby can randomly play! A couple came along, and the lady played "Happy Birthday" tune to her partner as it was his birthday, twas a lovely moment! Then this guy came along and played some amazing ditties.

The Courthouse Street fun day is concluded with the Seaboot Race, where people have to race the length of the street in fishermen's waders!

One of the regular entrants, and a local fisherman, reaching the finish line.

After the seaboot race has finished there is the Old Town Auction... Local businesses and shops all donate items which are then auctioned off to raise money for charities. I got myself a beautiful gold-framed oval mirror for £15! I also got a (very, very, very early) Christmas present for my dad - a trip out in a beautiful commercial fishing boat with a fisherman guide :)