What Would You Do With $1500 from White House Black Market?

If you have been following my social media accounts you probably know I won a rather large contest last month. I was chosen as the Mapleview Mall Muse for the month of October. I submitted many photos on Instagram of myself in black and white outfits and I am so thankful I was chosen.What does this mean you ask? It means I won a lot of money to spend at White House Black Market! This is such a lovely store with so many classic pieces, I have just started to shop using my prize money. Here is a quick tour of my shopping experience and my wish list collage of items I can't wait to purchase when they come in store. If you live in the Greater Toronto Area and have not been to Mapleview Mall you must check it out, excellent store options, and a beautiful environment make this the perfect mall. The staff at White House Black Market are amazing, I thank Robyn for her help. Enjoy these pictures and let me know what you would do with this amazing prize.

My collage wishlist is below look how gorgeous these items are, the first red dress is convertible, and this circle leather skirt is so amazing. The leggings shown have a velvet panel down the side so I really hope these are coming in store.

Just Lovely...

I love this organza floral skirt because it is so light and lovely on. This was a perfect day for this shoot. I softened the photos every so lightly in order to give these pictures a more dreamy-like feel. My wonderful partner I work with everyday was nice enough to help me with these pictures, and she has quite the photography talent. Thanks Lee Ann!

Shop
Skirt- Piperlime (here)
Sweater- Joe Fresh (here)
Scarf- Ricki's (here)
Bag- Express (here)
Shoes- Aldo (old, love these)

Kindergarten Update (Leaf Inquiry)

We started an inquiry all about leaves, this has been going on the last two weeks but this week we had some fun creating with nature. We started this inquiry because we noticed lots of our students were bringing in leaves from outside during outdoor time, and from home. This week we read the story "The Leaf Man", went on a nature walk and then tried to create our own leaf creations. Take a look below and keep reading for some other fun ideas we tried this week.

The first thing we did was create a sketch of what we wanted to make with leaves, and some of our SK's made a list of items to look for on their nature walk.

Here we are on our nature walk, we made at least five stops as we travelled around our school. Here we are picking up some small twigs.

When we got inside we go to work! We brought in many leaves, twigs, sticks, maple keys and rocks to create with. Again this activity needs a lot of white glue.

Look at what we created in the picture below and above.

We finally got some small easels for our room, these come in very handy when we are doing our guided reading. Here a student is writing a sentence using the words in the book we have been reading all week. We only meet for 10 minutes a day, and the students love it.

Lee Ann is the creative one in our partnership, she decided to use the clock for an even more educational purpose. Great idea!

We made patterns using the coloured gold fish this week, I love how the students all did something different and decorated their fish in their own unique way.

We tried a new game this week. With even more encouragement this game will be a success.

Students love this bean game. They love to feel the beans, and then look for the letters in their name.

Shades of Red

First off, can you believe this is an Old Navy dress? The buffalo plaid pattern is so lovely and perfect for Fall. I paired it with a burgundy open blazer and this amazing felt floppy hat I showed earlier this week. 

Shop:
Dress- Old Navy (not in stock online)
Blazer- Aritzia (here)
Boots- Ardene (on sale for $10)
Bag- Marc Jacobs (here)

Necklace- Stella and Dot (Rebel)
Bracelets- Stella and Dot, Joe Fresh
Rings- Stella and Dot, Old Navy

Modani Furniture- Reflecting Your Style

I was recently inspired by Modani Modern Furniture to create a mood board of a living room infused with my own personal style. I was asked to choose a piece of living room furniture from  Modani's line and then accessorize the piece with accents that reflect me. This was such a fun task, I tried to create a Parisian inspired living room, with fun feminine accessories. This gorgeous Modani sofa  is the centrepiece of this living space. The black and white chevron rug paired with the gorgeous Modani floor lamps add some extra interest to the room. The wall prints are so feminine and I admit these are similar to what I have in my master bedroom ( I had to 'girly' it up). This was such a fun project and please look at the Modani Modern Furniture Stores site for many more incredible pieces of furniture.

Floppy Hat

I avoided the floppy hat trend for quite sometime, until I found this one. I was at my parents house for a late thanksgiving dinner this weekend, and this was the perfect outfit to wear. The fall colours around the neighbourhood are so beautiful and it was so fun to shoot this look.

Shop
Hat- Smart Set (here)
Scarf - Garage (similar for $25)
Shirt and Shoes- Joe Fresh (here and here)
Jeans- Old Navy (here)
Bag- H&M
Rings, Necklace, Bracelet - Stella and Dot (love this and this)

Kindergarten Update

This has been a busy two weeks in Kindergarten, here is some of the learning that was going on.

We have been very interested in shapes lately, and here is a student drawing the shapes that she knows, the students love drawing!

We went to a local farm, and we got to take home some gourds! The students explored shapes and sizes, and were very fascinated by the feel of the gourds. We talked about why the gourds were bumpy and spikey.

We learned Tic-Tac-Toe this week,  this is a great game for taking turns, and when we do our tabletop games many students were choosing this game.

We had cooking in Kindergarten, we made apple sauce and you can see from the next few pictures it was a lot of fun to cut apples and then wait for a few hours while the apples cooked. We then shared our apple sauce and everyone tried it. Some students even wanted a second serving.

Our question of the day board is finally up and running, this was our first question last week after we had gone to the pumpkin patch. The students love to come and answer the question, and we discuss our answers at the end of the day. We count how many students answered on each side, and which side had more and less.

We made turkey eggs for Thanksgiving! This was a hard craft, and I don't know if I would do this one again. We painted hard boiled eggs and decorated the eggs when dry. Use lots of glue if you want to do this craft.

Even more fun was painting leaves. Our students love to bring in leaves and we have been reading the book "Fletcher and the Falling Leaves" this week. We were playing with the leaves in the class by dropping them and watching how they fall.

We made moon sand this week! Students had the choice to come and help, and the ones that came did a great job.

Pattern blocks are always a big hit in our room. We have been very interested in shapes and patterns.

This is our letter box game, we have many objects in our letter box, and we put out letter placemats. Students roll a die, then they need to find an object that starts with the letter the die showed, and place it on the corresponding mat.

We made patterns with fish crackers, this was a HUGE success.