The Lowelife

The Caterpillar on the Grass
The caterpillar lived on a tree
One day he went out on the nice green grass
And found some food.
The End

Wizards do Magic
When wizards do magic
They turn somebody into someone else.
The End

Rain
When rain falls it helps your plants
When rain falls it lands on you.
The End

Puddles
When rain falls there are puddles
I jump in them
They splash all over me.
The End

I’m a Butterfly
I’m a butterfly
I fly all over town
I’m a butterfly.
The End

Merry Christmas
For Jews it is Hanukkah
But for Christians it is Christmas
Santa is jolly
Santa is jolly
I love Christmas.
The End

Halloween is Just Plastic
Halloween things are only plastic
Don’t be scared because it’s only plastic.
The End

I wanted to be in a show because my older siblings have all been in shows.  Being in a show seemed like fun because there were lots of people and lots of fun backstage.  Also it looked like fun to be on stage and to have a whole audience in front of you.

You have to be in grade two ballet to be in The Nutcracker, but I got to be in the show when I was in grade one because I wrote a letter to my teacher, Mrs. Bouman. My letter said, “Seeing as I can’t be in the Nutcracker, do you know of any other big show that I could be in?”  Then Mrs. Bouman wrote me back a note.  She said that she did need a small party guest and she asked if I could please tell her if I could be that girl. I was very happy.

I only had three rehearsals because it was my first show.  I also went to a costume try-on.  I tried on three dresses and the last one was the best for me.  My mum had to take up the waist because even that dress was too big.  My dress was pink with little roses and bows.  Before me, dancers Savannah, Brynn and my sister Hannah had worn that dress.

My first rehearsal was in costume.  It was fun.  I got to learn lots of things and the other kids that I was dancing with were very nice and I loved to play with them.  In the show, I was the youngest child in a family of four children.  My stage father was called Gord and my stage mother was called Alison.  They were very nice to me.

After the rehearsals, the show took place at Humberside CI.  I skipped and ran and watched the other dancers.  At the end of the party scene, my stage father carried me off stage and I had to pretend that I was asleep.  Before each show, one of the bigger girls did my make-up and hair.  They put up my hair in braids across the back of my head.  Then I waited in a line with my partners Sarah and Assantuah until all the audience was in their seats.  We snuck up the stairs leading to the hall where the audience was sitting and then we waited until the main maid came running toward the front of the stage.  Then we all ran down the aisle to the stage.  After each show, I took off my costume and my granddad drove me home.

After the last show, we all went to the dance school for the cast party.  There were lots of things to eat and drink.  I danced and played with the other kids.

I had lots of fun in The Nutcracker and I am looking forward to being in it next year.

In our household we have various annual traditions; one of them is putting on our own production of the Tchaikovsky ballet The  Nutcracker.

Every year at Christmas time this little 30 minute show takes place in the living room of our house. The cast is made up of four people, me and my three younger siblings Hamish, Clare and Nora. Our Mom is our stage manager and our Dad is our set designer and maker.

Casting the production is always a fun challenge because of course people don’t want to be the same roles over and over again. Even if they were perfect in a certain part they don’t want to play it again. The exception to this is my brother who is always happy to perform the part of  the Nutcracker.

Every year casting is always done in early September and we always try to start rehearsals around that time too. One challenge for us is that  our dance school  starts casting and rehearsing for their Nutcracker at the same time–and we are also in that production. The ballet school’s Nutcracker takes priority from October to December and then we pick ours back up again in the middle of December. At that point in time we have to start rushing to get our show choreographed and polished. On top of that we also make programs, costumes, hair pieces, backdrops, shortened versions of the music, props and treats for the intermission.

However, when it is finally ready to go it is definitely worth all the hard work that is put into it. But I must say that it would definitely not be the wonderful show that it is without the help of Mummy and Daddy. They do so much for us and our show every Christmas.

Our first show is always given to our grandparents and our uncle on Boxing Day. Despite our intention of it being a show it always turns out more as a dress rehearsal. Then we fix it up and perform it to various other people such as our dance teachers our next door neighbours and our music teacher. Every year the Artistic Director of our dance school, Mrs. Bouman, comes to watch the show. Our audience can be at the maximum five people so we wind up doing a lot of shows.    This is because the audience sits in our playroom where we store the living room furniture during the show. This makes the space quite small.

One good thing about doing our own Nutcracker is the immediate feedback that we get from the audience afterwards. It’s always nice to get comments (both positive and negative).

As we wrapped up our fourth annual production I decided that I wanted to make the fifth year perfect, but it already is such a charming production that I don’t think it needs anything more.

My sister,  my friends and I are all big Harry Potter fans.  When I turned nine, my dad taught me how to make wooden wands that we could use for playing Harry Potter. With some help from my dad, I made wands for my sister and friends. We also made wands for my two little sisters even though they had not read the books or watched the movies. They just liked shooting spells at each other. I have five wands and I really like them. I hope you enjoy your wands.

You will need:

1. A square ended bar of wood longer than you want your wand to be. I recommend allowing  5 extra inches for clamping the wood to your work bench.
2. A clamp.
3. A saw.
4. A  chisel.
5. A spokeshave.
6. A sanding block or sand paper.
7. A hot glue gun.
8. Paint.  I usually use an acrylic brown paint.

Method:

1. Start with your stick of wood and mark how long your wand should be on the piece of wood.  I suggest a wand of 10-15 inches.
2. Clamp your wood to your work bench and use the spokeshave to shave each corner and sides into a wand shape.  Make it as thin as you want.  If you want your wand to have a defined handle (see photo at right) don’t shave as much at the bottom.
3. Use your saw to cut off the end that will not be part of the wand.
4. Sand the wand until smooth.
5. Now you’re ready to decorate your wand.  If you want grooves, use your chisel.  If you want vines and lines, make these with a bead of hot glue.  You can also glue on wood shavings to make designs.
6. Now you’re ready to paint.