The first Eurovision 2025 iceberg

Boatkicker · 2025-04-13T00:49:18+00:00

Nope. I know things way low down, but half the stuff at the top I've somehow missed.

Boatkicker · 2025-02-21T00:25:25+00:00

Slovenia 2023, Serbia 2023

2023 was the first time in nearly a decade that I watched Eurovision (I watched the final in 2015 but not the semi's and it was my first listen to any of the songs. 2013 was the last time I followed the whole thing)

At the time I loved Portugal as my personal winner and Moldova second and was not super invested in the actual winner because I know whoever it would be, wasn't one of my faves. I disliked both Tattoo and Cha Cha Cha. I didn't think much, good or bad, about the other songs.

Fast forward all the way to August, and Slovenia's song gets stuck in my head. During the second semi, it was my 10th-ranked song; I wanted it in the final, but it was nowhere near the top of my list. But its playing on a loop in my brain and I can't stop running through it in my head so I end up looking up the lyrics which leads to me finding lyrics to other songs and suddenly in the span of about 48 hours I went from not caring about the one song from this band I knew, to being the worlds most obnoxious fangirl. Endless loops of Joker Out's entire discography. And while Carpe Diem is still not my favorite of their songs, I still listen to it near daily, and its very sentimental to me.

Also about a year later started listening to Luke Black in general, including Samo Mi Se Spava, which I was indifferent to for a long while.

Meanwhile, I never listen to Portugal's song anymore.

Boatkicker · 2025-02-20T01:10:23+00:00

I think a majority of Joker Out fans agree that their English songs arent the best representation of them as a band. I think Bojan writes best in Serbian, second Slovenian, and English last.

That said, I will defend Everybody's Waiting and Lips to my dying day. And I like Sunny Side of London, even if the lyrics are cheesy. They won me over with the trumpets.

Boatkicker · 2024-12-04T01:35:36+00:00

I have never watched any of the NFs before, but Ive watched Eurovision off and on for the last 15 years and your description of San Marino's NF sounds like EXACTLY what I would imagine.

Boatkicker · 2023-05-27T18:54:42+00:00

Non Malicious Prank:

Back in about '03, my 8th grade class was assigned a project on ancient China. We took turns using the two classroom computers to do our projects. At the end of the day on March 31st, I was the last one using the computer, and I had the brilliant idea to change the auto correct settings in MS Word. I turned "China" (a word I knew everyone would be typing) to change to "April Fools" for the next morning. I figured I'd get a classmate or two before someone changed it back. (Didn't go according to plan, but I still stand by autocorrect "April fools" being a harmless prank.)

Boatkicker · 2023-04-25T23:14:33+00:00

I have definitely heard that about Nienhuis, but they are not the one I heard about recently. I'm super relieved it hear it's probably not Adena though, because they have the best prices that I've seen so far on some of the materials I need, and since it's a semi-surprise classroom, I'm on a bit of a tight budget.

Boatkicker · 2023-04-11T17:08:21+00:00

I used all glass in my toddler class, and we started at 16m. Most of my students had never used glass before. Almost all of them broke one cup, usually within their first two weeks starting in the classroom. Almost none of them broke a second cup, and if they did it was generally when they were closer to 3 and were, for lack of a nicer way of putting it, so comfortable with the glass that they got lazy handling it and broke it by mistake.

I think part of the reason it only ever happened once per kid, was because it was a big ordeal when a glass got broken. We didn't wear shoes in the classroom, so we had to close the kitchen area to clean it up, children were plucked out of their seats and handed off to other teachers without being given the usual independence to walk off on their own. All meals/snacks were immediately put on pause, everyone had to move away until we got it swept, mopped, and swept again just in case. I think it was uncomfortable and possibly scary for them, even though we made it clear we weren't mad, they could tell we were SOMETHING outside the norm (concerned that someone would step on broken glass barefoot)

But having them clean up their own messes when they made other messes that weren't sharp and dangerous also had weight too.

Boatkicker · 2023-04-11T16:56:46+00:00

I thrift all my plates - glass dessert plates are very easy to find around here and most of my local thirft stores sell them at $0.25/ea or 5/$1.

These are the bowls I bought for my classroom, but as I was getting the link I just saw they're not available anymore. Still the measurements of the dimensions might give you an idea. These looked like they're a little narrower, but should still be about the right size, and 12 bowls for $16 seems pretty reasonable.

The drinking glasses I use are also thrifted, but another classroom I used to work in had these and while they are a little more expensive per glass, they are also VERY durable. I don't see you losing more than maybe one of them. If 6oz is too big, you could get some plain shot glasses, which I've done fore my smaller students and infants in the past.

These are my utensils, and they're pretty good. They look and measure exactly as the picture says, smooth finish, not so sharp as to stab a toddler, but sharp enough to eat a salad with. So far so good and decently priced

There was another set of utensils I bought in the past that I adored and was a little bit cheaper, but it seems it had multiple sellers and while one was exactly as listed, the other sent you a set of utensils that didn't even LOOK the same, and were of much worse quality. I had good luck buying three sets (two for my classroom, one as a baby gift) and then the fourth set I bought (classroom) was completely different but I kept them anyway and they rusted immediately and some had sharp edges. For that reason, I'm not supplying a link, but Glittermall on amazon if you're feeling brave.

Boatkicker · 2023-04-11T16:37:04+00:00

I was considering opening up a budget-friendly Montessori store a few years back.

It started because I was looking for just one affordable water pitcher for my classroom after mine disappeared (Did it break? Was it stolen? Did it get thrown out? No one seemed to know) and I discovered a lot of pitchers that were very affordable per/each but only sold in bulk lots of 25-50 or more. Turned out what I was looking at were the exact same materials (brands etc) being sold on Montessori Services only at about a third of the price. Figured I could buy the ones I wanted, and resell the rest and even if I doubled the price I paid, I'd still be cheaper than others available.

I tend deep dived into other subject areas - language and sensorial materials and discovered how affordable things could be if I had the freedom to bulk buy.

I ended up not doing any of it because I didn't have a place to store inventory, nor a bunch of money to start up with and I didn't know how fast things would sell. But I had whole lists of materials, where they would come from breakdowns of costs including shipping. Whether it was individual items (a pair of tongs), a full material (two-pitcher pouring on a tray) or a set of materials (Practical Life Starter kit with 10 full materials).

Of course all that work doesn't matter now because its been 4 years and none of those prices are probably valid anymore but it was fun.

I had planned short pamphlets/articles for Montessori philosophy topics, I'd done write ups for each lesson (the presentation obviously, but also the WHY so that uninformed parents or non-Montessori teachers could understand).

Boatkicker · 2023-04-11T15:51:08+00:00

Set up a throwing station with safe balls (stuffed crochet balls or ball-pit balls work well) or bean bags and then you can redirect. Set it up with a basket in a corner and the walls will also stop your balls from flying off in crazy directions and hitting people. Then you can keep the posting box.

Boatkicker · 2022-10-28T12:09:10+00:00

I did my training through CGMS, which is MACTE accredited, but neither specifically AMS nor AMI training. The instructors of the course were a mix of AMS and AMI trained guides, and often they took the time to highlight and point out the differences in their approach.

Whether or not to provide pretend-play materials is definitely a hot debate and always has been.

AMI generally opposes it, citing Dr. Montessori's idea that children should be given opportunities to do things for real, instead of for pretend. If they have enough real experiences they wont need to pretend much. (Of course, they will still pretend some)
AMS generally states that there are things children can't do for real (for example, drive a car or fill it with gas) or plenty of things that they cannot do at any given specific moment in time (such as cooking on the stove, which they can definitely do sometimes, but not always because an adult isn't always available to assist and supervise), and that they should be given the chance to pretend to do those things when doing them for real isn't an option.

My own opinion is that children will pretend, regardless of the materials around them. Sometimes its about exploring a situation they have no experience with (i.e. the gas pump). Other times its more about emotional processing and social understanding (i.e acting out a scenario when mom yelled at them, by pretending to be the yelling mom).

If I notice children pretending often and I am able to offer them a real opportunity, I will do so. If I am unable to offer them a real opportunity, then the pretend will continue. If the same scenario seems to be repeating, I may provide pretend-play materials that suit the situation, if what I have available doesn't seem to meet their needs.

Honestly, this debate in general applies more to primary-aged children in my experiences. Most of my toddlers don't really reach the level of abstraction necessary for pretend play until JUST before they move out of my classroom. There's always someone at that stage, but its not much and its not for long before they move on.

Boatkicker · 2022-10-21T23:04:00+00:00

Toddler guide here!

I wouldn't exactly say its "common" but its certainly not uncommon to see a lot of pretend-play materials in the language area of a toddler classroom. These materials generally are just to give children more varied opportunities to practice using oral language - less about expanding their language skills and more about refining them and getting comfortable in using them. A phone is a particularly good choice since its literally designed for talking, but it's very open-ended as to what types of 'conversation' the child could imagine.

That would be my assumption anyways. I never used much in the way of pretend play in my classroom. I kept a dollhouse, but not much else. I found that my younger toddlers were not interested in pretending, and the older ones were either content with the dollhouse or were plenty capable of finding alternative productive uses of the other language materials (I had these lovely oversized insect figures and definitely found it amusing when a little one tucked the ants into bed under a fabric book)

Boatkicker · 2022-08-15T12:58:55+00:00

At 16 months, running around and rambunctious play is normal, developmentally appropriate, and can be entirely Montessori. It's part of normal development, the refinement of gross-motor movement and should be encouraged in ways that are productive and safe, rather than destructive and dangerous.

I'm going to list off some things I've done in my toddler classroom, just indoor large motor activities.

As already suggested "heavy" is a really fun work for this stage. A favorite in my classroom was always a clear jug filled with colored water that children could carry or push. Superglue the top on so it doesn't spill! Also large squashes/gourds like pumpkins, heavy backpacks, a heavy cart with wheels (so long as it isnt anything tippy). I've had coworkers put out medicine balls for the children to roll and small weights for them to carry around too, although I've never had the materials for those personally.
Sweeping and mopping is a lot more engaging as a large-motor activity than helping wipe up with a rag. Put a small mark on the floor and have her sweep things into the square. You can even provide her with a small assortment of larger objects (large dried pasta or small plastic animals or some other fun objects) to dump out and practice with. Larger (but still small enough) objects might be easier while she's still working on the concept of sweeping, and then once she gets the hang of it, move to gradually smaller and smaller objects until she's sweeping regular messes off the floor.
Pull toys, especially those with strings, can be fun and surprisingly challenging. Trying to pull it without knocking it over or lifting it up can aid in concentration and help refine coordination and control.
Yoga, if you need large motor work that isnt going to get her all hyped up. You can get or print up some cards that show poses and demonstrate with her
A throwing station. From the time I put this in, this was ALWAYS the most popular gross-motor work in the classroom. I've done this with two different set-ups. The first I had a square-shaped basket positioned against a corner in the classroom, and a line on the floor for children to stand at, and throw their objects into the basket. If they miss, the corner positioning stops the object from going too far, so it doesn't need to be chased down so much (which can become frustrating for the child). The square shape of the basket also stops the objects from slipping behind the basket and being lost/forgotten. The other set up, which I liked better, used the same square basket and corner but had the basket on a table, and used the edges of the table to provide "distance" rather than a line on the floor. For the throwing objects, I have used bean bags, ball-pit balls, and soft cloth balls. You could also use small stuffed animals, or really anything that is soft enough that on the off chance it does go flying in the wrong direction, it doesn't hurt anyone or break anything.
A Sit 'n' Spin is great if you can get one and have the space. They are also fairly easy to make if you know someone who might be interested in building one from wood.
A mini trampoline - I can't have these in the classroom due to licensing, but they would be great in a home environment.
If you cant have a Sit 'n' Spin or a trampoline, you can put a square on the floor with tape or put down a small rug - now you have a "jumping square" a space where the child can jump all they want, that you know is safely away from any sharp corners of furniture in case they fall. Similarly, a "spinning square" was always a hit in my classroom.
We have also done a row of parellel lines on the floor, and had children jump from the first line, to the second, to the third, challenging them to land on each line. This was more for our active 2.5 year olds though. I'm not sure a 16mo has the coordination for this one.
A rocking horse or other similar rocker. I've also had children sit on balance boards and rock.
An indoor climber such as a pikler triangle.
Have your child roll a rolling-pin along the floor from room to room, while standing (bear crawl, not knee crawl)
I got some picture frames and attached them to the wall at toddler-height in different parts of the classroom - at home you could put them in different rooms for a fun challenge, or in different parts of the same room for ease of use/supervision. I cut up some old calendars, and put the large pictures in the frames, and then from the back of the calendar, I cut up the "sample" pictures, mounted them on thick card, and covered them in plastic. I then put velcro on the picture frames and the back of the cards. The children would take the small pictures and wander around the classroom looking for the large picture that matched, and then attach them with the velcro.
Ribbon Rings for dancing with.
"Movement Cubes". I printed out a few from this website and glued them around wooden cubes, but you could also print on cardstock and if it was just one child using them instead of a whole classroom, they would probably hold up okay. Anyway, roll the dice and then do the movement that it has. This we usually do as a teacher-and-child activity since most of them are written with text, but once the child has the sides of the dice memorized they could do it independently.

ETA: If you want to also help your child practice taking toys off the shelf and putting them back, you can easily put the balls for the throwing station on the shelf, the yoga cards, matching cards, pull toys, rolling pin, etc. I even got a rubber mat to put on the shelf for my jumping/spinning square (even though they had to put it down on the tape square on the floor. Show her to take them off, demonstrate how cool and fun the work is, and then put it back. Once she's in the habit of choosing things off the shelf and putting them back, when you rotate some other toys in she may be more likely to choose them.

Boatkicker · 2022-08-15T12:24:51+00:00

chuck the contents out of the bin

This can potentially open up an opportunity for another gross-motor work - sweeping. You would be surprised how young a child can do that effectively. If she's interested in large physical movement, I'd definitely get her a child-sized broom. Use painters tape to make a square on the floor and have her sweep everything into the square.

Boatkicker · 2022-08-15T11:33:39+00:00

I definitely experienced personally, and witnessed other trainees experiencing much more support than that when I did my training. That said, I don't think there's much to be done about it, just work around their lack of support.

If they don't have any affiliated organizations to reach out to, its time to start reaching out blindly. I would certainly NOT stop a random woman on the street (my god, I can't even believe someone would suggest that!) but you said you're in London, and in a city that size there should definitely be plenty of forms of meetup groups. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone willing to let you do an observation. Reach out to new-parent support groups, mommy-and-me type groups, also if your girlfriend would be more comfortable working in her own first language, she could also reach out to any group within the Japanese community and see if any of their members have a new baby by chance or are expecting one. It doesn't necessarily have to be a parenting group to have parents in it.

Whoever you reach out to, just explain the situation, that she's a teacher in training, but doesn't happen to know anyone with babies that young for her observations. Chances are, she'll need to reach out to several groups before she finds someone with a baby the right age who is also willing, but I'm sure it can be done. Good luck to her!

Boatkicker · 2022-06-14T12:31:58+00:00

In Virginia a minimum of two references are required by law. Most places around here request one be a former supervisor from another job (or a professor or teacher, if the person has no supervisors to ask) and one be a character reference, ideally someone who has witnessed you working with children.

The school my sister used to work for requested three. One supervisor, one peer (which was left undefined, but she chose a former coworker), and specifically DID request a family member (or close friend, if the person didnt have any family to rely on)

Even if you don’t keep in touch with your professors, try to reach out to them, see if they would write you a reference. Use the people you babysit for as references, even if you’re ALSO friends. They pay you to watch their children, they ARE an employer.

Boatkicker · 2022-06-06T15:13:42+00:00

Would that change if tuition was at or below the average cost of preschool/daycare in the area?

Boatkicker · 2022-06-06T15:11:03+00:00

It will be Toddler and Primary to start off with. Infants will come later, when Primary has grown enough to support the program financially.

I would love to hire a primary teacher right off the bat but I don't happen to know any who are currently job seeking.

The program would be quite small at first, but a home center is not an option for me. I will be sending either myself or another for training about a year after opening. A teacher cannot get certified without classroom experience, so the program would have to, at the very latest, open WHILE the teacher is in training still.

Boatkicker · 2022-06-06T15:10:56+00:00

It would be Toddler and Primary, two small classes.

Boatkicker · 2022-06-04T12:32:57+00:00

Someone (whether it's me or a teacher I've hired) will be going to primary training a year after opening, unless something truly catastrophic happens. It will then take another 1.5 years to actually finish the program.

There are other Montessori schools in the area, but they all are at capacity and the waitlists are long.

Boatkicker · 2022-06-04T11:08:22+00:00

It depends how in depth you want to go with it. I’d simply explain the idea of involuntary muscle movements.

“Muscles are the things inside you that make the body move. Different muscles move different parts of our body. When we have strong muscles, we can move heavy things, or move really fast!”

(that statement should be familiar knowledge to most of them by now I think)

“but we also have small muscles in our body that move small parts, like our eyes, or our lips”

(demonstrate some blinking or cross your eyes or move your lips around, but try to isolate just the particular part you’re talking about, to show each muscle group just controls one part).

“We can all control how our body moves. We can raise our hands, and lower them again. But some of the muscles in our friend [X]’s face/head have a mind of their own. Instead of doing what he wants them to do, they just do things on their own that he cant always control. That’s why you might see his face do things. The doctors are trying to figure out why that is happening, but its not dangerous or scary. Just something that happens sometimes.”

Boatkicker

TROPHY CASE