As a prelude to the Easter break we had our termly staff meeting on Friday.

We spent the morning in various activities, dicussing open and closed questions and various ways of making sure the children get the most out of their days at the museums. One 'team building' activity was dividing into two teams and making a moon shelter to protect 4 people from dangerous UV rays using three garden canes and an oversized dustbin bag. The point was a bit lost as two of the new EAs have dropped out before starting and the remaining one couldn't come until the afternoon as she was supply teaching in the morning, moreover two of the regular team were also not there (one on holiday, one supply teaching) which left a very small team to team build. So we problem solved by interpreting the lunar landscape - we used lunar boulders(chairs and a table to support the H frame over which we put the slit open bag, while the others decided that they were huddling in a crater and had strtched the bag over the top and weighted it down with rocks. Each team suggested that in real life we would have sought the other team out and pooled resources.

In the afternoon I taught the others the new Florence Nightingale outreach and we had the regular business of the meeting.

Then on Sunday, I did my final workshop of the term at Normanby Hall where I taught butter-making. Last year the 30 places (2x15) were all taken and people were being turned away. This year (possibly due to the miserable weather, possibly due to being the first proper open weekend of the season, or possibly due to the £2.75 each taking it over the £5 mark for two children) there were very few takers, just 1 (an adorable and bright 2 year old called Harriet) in the first session and 6 (mixed aged 5 to 12) in the second. Because I had bought the cream I let them make a reasonable quantity of butter each so instead of taking the 1-2 ounces each of last year, they all went home with a substantial pieces around the 6oz mark. But it was not the money-spinner for the museum that it should have been - in fact it will have lost money, which is a shame.

Now I shall take my butter-milk and use it to make today's bread, and I shall eat the first slice with the tiny butter-pat I brought home with me yesterday. Then I shall use my left-over four pints of cream to make several large tubs of ice-cream.