<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>AGNIESZKA PRODUCTIONS ~ Films &#38; Blogs &#38; all things creative from Agi K</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk</link>
	<description>A creative enquiring mind with a pronounced sense of justice, a kind heart, an irrepressible joyous dynamo of productivity, home educated with her little sister (who happens to have Down&#039;s syndrome)</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:13:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Agi K film club, building the hackintosh and it&#8217;s my birthday!</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2284</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2284#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:13:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2284</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today is my birthday. Whipeee! I want to thank you all, for all for your support of me and what I do, your encouragement, comments and feedback, for sharing of my films, for following me on facebook, twitter and spreading the &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2284">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_2309" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 237px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2309" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2309"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2309" title="Agi K filmmaker" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ag-directing-227x300.jpg" alt="" width="227" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">www.agnieszkaproductions.co.uk</p></div>
<p><em><strong>Today is my birthday.</strong></em> Whipeee! I want to thank you all, for all for your support of me and what I do, your encouragement, comments and feedback, for sharing of my films, for following me on facebook, twitter and spreading the word, your advice, and your donations!</p>
<p>(((drumroll))) AGNIESZKA PRODUCTIONS filmmaking fund has received <strong>£216 </strong>in donations this year! <strong>Thank you all so much.</strong> I have also earned money from dog walking and from running two <strong>*filmmaking workshops</strong> and a few tabletop sales. My family have contributed the rest and with the money we have nearly bought all the bits to build our editing suite!</p>
<p>Still required:</p>
<p>£220 for 32GB RAM</p>
<p>And WD red hard drives @£85 each</p>
<p>Blu-Ray DVD writer as a cheaper alternative to storage @ £90</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong></p>
<div id="attachment_2312" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2312" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2312"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2312" title="Agi K film club" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ag-directing-large-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">www.agnieszkaproductions.co.uk</p></div>
<p></strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Celebrations &amp; Jubilations!</strong></p>
<p>So, after all the difficulties I&#8217;ve been having trying to edit with imovie on a computer that keeps crashing&#8230;you will understand just how completely ecstatic I am to tell you that         &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.<span style="color: #ff0000;">AGNIESZKA PRODUCTIONS dedicated editing suite is nearly up and running! </span>And the next 2 episodes of this years &#8220;My Little Sister&#8230;films&#8221; will be made using it! Once we have the extra RAM and hard drives and tested it, and will be released later this year.<br />
Also theres a spectacular preview of how great it&#8217;s going to be at end of this blog for you- I have a music video that I made testing it out, with new effects including fire explosions!</p>
<p><strong>How did we get our dedicated video editing suite?</strong></p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2293" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2293"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2293" title="Building the computer " src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Building-the-computer-1-300x246.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="246" /></a>My Dad is great, he believes that everything is possible and said: &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry that we can&#8217;t afford the computer we need, we&#8217;ll build it ourselves!&#8221; That is how we do everything, all the information is out there, if you know what you want to learn, you just need to get on and learn it. Which is one of the ways I&#8217;m &#8220;home educated&#8221; some people think I sit down and &#8220;do&#8221; lessons like in school, but it&#8217;s nothing like that, it&#8217;s like this, you get inspired with a dream, you work out what you need to do to make your dream come real, then you start learning what you need to know, keep believing in it and work at it. There are constant distractions but the work is &#8216;to not to get distracted and stay focused.&#8217; That&#8217;s what my mum says to me and helps me with, she says &#8220;home educating&#8221; me is like riding alongside a wild horse.</p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2294" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2294"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2294" title="building the computer " src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/building-the-computer-2-300x236.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="236" /></a>Anyway Dad inspires us with how he can do just about anything he puts his mind to, as well as working fulltime. So he just started researching and watching youtube tutorials. That&#8217;s us listening and watching one whilst we built it bit by bit! Once we found out what we needed we bought all the bits separately, looking around for the best prices, some second hand, even though this was a bit risky it all seems to work okay so  far. Well I say &#8216;we&#8217; &#8211; I actually mean my Dad; with me and Magdalena watching him and watching the funny tutorials (yes seriously some of the people giving them make them very humorous!) Me and Magdalena passed him bits and then stayed very extra quiet whilst he worked out how to do the next bit. We couldn&#8217;t afford to change all the software, so we paid a great computer hacker (Rampagedev) from the U.S.A. $50, to recode the motherboard so that it would run the apple software, so now we have a &#8216;Hackintosh!&#8217; It&#8217;s impressive what we&#8217;ve managed to create out of second hand parts and doing it ourselves.</p>
<p><strong>For techies!</strong></p>
<p>My Dad helped me with this bit! We have put in a 6-core i7 processor, a GTX670 2GB graphics card which makes rendering much faster and an SSD hard drive which means the computer reads and writes information really fast when working on a project. We have 32GB RAM which we are waiting to double to 64GB. We have started to put in some WD red hard drives for storing footage and will need to get more of these as a library as they fill up fast. We want to get a Blu Ray DVD writer too as this would be cheaper for storage. We got two screens second hand from ebay which means we can have all the editing on one screen and the preview on the other.</p>
<p>Here is my first film I&#8217;ve made with it,experimental editing with FIRE effects!</p>
<p><iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2vB20sO-9Rs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<a rel="attachment wp-att-2311" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2311"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2311" title="Agi K film club" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ag-may-workshop-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>*<strong>Filmmaking Workshops</strong></p>
<p>In May, I led two filmmaking workshops in our community centre, (which was the first introduction to <span style="color: #ff0000;">Agi K film club <span style="color: #000000;">which I will be running monthly</span></span>). There were two workshops, one in the morning for under 7 year olds, and one in the afternoon for 10-13yrs.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2308" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 4px; margin-right: 24px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; float: left; display: inline; max-width: 100%; height: auto; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Magdalena dressing up" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Magdalena-dressing-up-209x300.jpg" alt="" width="209" height="300" /></p>
<p>They were both great fun and took lots of preparation and planning!  I made a <a title="the video for advertising" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D5axr9Wr5A" target="_blank">video</a> of Magdalena dressing up in different costumes to advertise the event and work out which colours worked best with a green screen. Mum and me and Magdalena laid out lots and lots of fancy dress costumes and props, they loved dressing up and choosing the effects and green screen backgrounds. Here is the video!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gEf4mssKoOg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2310" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2310"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2310" title="teaching music video workshop" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ag-teaching-music-video-workshop-300x180.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="180" /></a>In the afternoon, it was a little more advanced. I let everyone choose and create their own effects, showed them editing techniques. I listened to their ideas, so that everyone&#8217;s ideas were incorporated into the video. At the end of the session I did a Q&amp;A where everyone took it in turns to ask questions and give feedback. Then we showed the video to friends and family. Here is the video we made:</p>
<p><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JiZnqqbJ29E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
I am ever so sorry for such bad quality! I did so much editing onto it afterwards, that each time I re-edited it, it became less and less good quality.</p>
<p>Have you ever thought something was impossible and then found a way to make your dream come true? How did you do it? Have you built your own computer or anything else? Have you come up with interesting ways to raise money for your projects? Any other comments, suggestions, advice I love to hear your thoughts!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=2284</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dog Walking</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1774</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1774#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:45:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1774</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dog walking Me and Magdalena really, really, love dogs! Ever since I was tiny we&#8217;ve always wanted a dog. Our neighbours have a collie called Joe, (me and Magdalena always called him Joe Dog) ever since I can remember, he &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1774">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1><strong>Dog walking</strong></h1>
<div id="attachment_2265" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 235px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2265" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2265"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2265" title="Agi &amp; Dolly&lt;3" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Ag-DOLLY-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Me &amp; Dolly. It was really cold so Dolly was wearing a coat <img src='http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  also the black things on her lead are poo bags</p></div>
<p>Me and Magdalena really, really, love dogs! Ever since I was tiny we&#8217;ve <em>always </em>wanted a dog. Our neighbours have a collie called Joe, (me and Magdalena always called him Joe Dog) ever since I can remember, he was a puppy around when I was born, and I used to curl up next to him when I was a baby, and so I&#8217;ve grown up with him, he&#8217;s now 9 years old and I&#8217;m 10. I still love him loads! Whenever I get the chance I play with friends&#8217; dogs and when I was little I used to beg mum and Dad for a dog. Some of the reasons why we can&#8217;t have a dog are:</p>
<p><em><strong>1) we live around </strong>loads<strong> of sheep, so I wouldn&#8217;t be able to let the dog off loose in the garden.</strong> </em></p>
<p><em><strong>2) we travel a lot, so it wouldn&#8217;t be very nice for the dog to have to stay with other people all the time </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>3) It&#8217;s quite a lot of work, and I already have a guinea-pig &amp; 2 rabbits, also the dog might chase them.</strong></em></p>
<p>So&#8230;Now you know that ever since I was little I&#8217;ve wanted a dog, but instead of going into &#8216;victim mode&#8217; I&#8217;ve come up with an idea to take other people&#8217;s dogs for walks! At the moment I take the pet shop lady&#8217;s dog for a walk, &#8216;Dolly&#8217;. I take her for walks weekly for an hour or so, and its very fun, by the end of our walk we&#8217;re breathless and I&#8217;m laughing! I also get some pocket money from the lady I walk Dolly for. I&#8217;ve been putting it towards rabbit food and my filmaking fund&#8230;I&#8217;ll post an update on the equipment and what&#8217;s happening with the next films on my birthday blogpost next Tuesday!</p>
<p>So if you&#8217;ve always wanted a dog, then why not walk someone&#8217;s dog for them? Do you know anybody who can&#8217;t get out of their house much who has a dog? If you walk someones dog, or would like to, then please comment below! You&#8217;re doing them a favour, and you&#8217;re having fun at the same time, that makes the world a friendlier place.</p>
<p>Now, here is my latest music videos!<br />
The first one I&#8217;m going to show you is a lyric video (not my normal type of video huh?) I just had an idea&#8230;and well I guess I put it into action!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B-nPcbyO3pk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Enjoyed it? I hope so, It took forever!<br />
Whilst Isabella is away at music school, Magdalena misses her loads. Sometimes at lunch she will climb off her chair and flee upstairs, when I go after her, I find her in Isabella&#8217;s bedroom, in her bed.<br />
Saying: &#8220;I miss Isabella, I want her come home.&#8221; So the other day I suggested we made a music video for her. Magdalena wasn&#8217;t too sure, because it&#8217;s quite tiring for her making a music video, because there&#8217;s so many clips. And for the video I wanted to do (to Isabella&#8217;s favourite song) it didn&#8217;t have any words, just audio, so I thought we could do animation (which takes forever). To convince Magdalena to do it, I said I&#8217;d paint her face. She chose from her face paint book, and chose a butterfly, this is me painting her face:</p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2269" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2269"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2269" title="Magdalena butterly facepaint 2" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Magdalena-butterly-facepaint-2-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><a rel="attachment wp-att-2268" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2268"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2268" title="Magdalena butterfly facepaint" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Magdalena-butterfly-face-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Magdalena loved having her face painted and choosing the colours.</p>
<p>She described it as &#8220;nice&#8221; and felt &#8220;tickly.&#8221;                                                                                     So here is the video!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3aNHALppDT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1774</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Myth busting Down&#8217;s syndrome with My Little Sister</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2216</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2216#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 May 2013 18:17:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[*&#8221;It&#8217;s a myth that Down&#8217;s syndrome makes you loving and compliant, Magdalena is very sweet but not all the time and nor am I, and we don&#8217;t always get along as I will show you in this film&#8221; - Agnieszka &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2216">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address><strong>*&#8221;It&#8217;s a myth that Down&#8217;s syndrome makes you loving and compliant, Magdalena is very sweet but not all the time and nor am I, and we don&#8217;t always get along as I will show you in this film&#8221;</strong> </address>
<address>- Agnieszka Kolaczynska, My Little Sister&#8230;Episode 3 Part 3</address>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2229" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2229"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2229" title="Agi and Magi :)" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AG-AND-M-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>Hey guys! I&#8217;ve had <em>lots </em>of technical difficulties releasing this film &#8211; but I can now announce that <strong>My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 3 is now out!</strong> This film includes an awesome hair dance on the trampoline,  learning to take turns when cooking, and a wheelbarrow race (which becomes quite a competitive one!) And lots more! In this episode I wanted to show some of the daily challenges and difficulties when me and Magdalena <em>don&#8217;t </em>get on and how we deal with it.   So, I won&#8217;t keep you waiting much longer, go ahead and watch the latest episode of My Little Sister:<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7RZ_MZp33JU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>*I felt it was important to do some mythbusting of a different kind in this episode. Most of my films so far I wanted to show you what a fulfilling and great life we have with or without Down&#8217;s syndrome. Down&#8217;s syndrome is not what decides how great or not great our life is. I wanted to show you what we love about each other and what we love doing, what we love about the world we live in and how we learn from each other, making each other&#8217;s lives have more meaning. This episode I wanted to bust a different kind of myth, I wanted to show some of the difficult times, to show you just how frustrated we can both get with each other. This was important to me as I have come across many people who presume that Magdalena is an angel (or even that I am!) That she is so good and never argues or misbehaves and they assume she was born that way! Well I think it&#8217;s important to let everyone know that Down&#8217;s syndrome or no Down&#8217;s syndrome, Magdalena has the same emotions to you and me, she can be kind and generous, she can be angry and upset, she can be jealous&#8230;She does get frustrated when she can&#8217;t keep up or communicate what she wants to say or understand&#8230;It always amazes me how people think that having Down&#8217;s syndrome could somehow make you loving or compliant. There are lots of extra challenges to having Down&#8217;s syndrome. And a lot of these cause Magdalena to express deep frustration and loud cries of confusion and this can make life unpredictable and difficult amongst all the joy and all the love.</p>
<p>Can you relate to any of the difficulties me and Magdalena sometimes have trying to understand or get along with each other? I would be interested to hear what areas of life with your siblings you find difficult, and how you deal with it comment down below <img src='http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=2216</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Swallows, Diamonds, The Croods, Nature&#8217;s calendar, London and Spring!</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1801</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1801#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 May 2013 19:15:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1801</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello there! Me and Magdalena have been out in the garden looking for signs of Spring. Have you spotted any signs of spring yet? We live 1200ft up in the hills of Wales, and Spring is just arriving here, although &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1801">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1808" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 160px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-1808" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1808"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1808" title="crocuses" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/A-M-2-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">First signs of spring - the crocuses are out!</p></div>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 31px; line-height: 46px;">Hello there!</span><br />
Me and Magdalena have been out in the garden looking for signs of Spring.<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2176" rel="attachment wp-att-2176"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AA-Blossom-225x300.jpg" alt="" title=" Blossom" width="225" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2176" /></a>Have you spotted any signs of spring yet? We live 1200ft up in the hills of Wales, and Spring is just arriving here, although when we were in London last week, the blossom was out everywhere! Which just shows that even though the UK is a small island, it shows how even small differences in climate can have a big effect on nature, which is why Nature&#8217;s calendar is tracking differences in nature all over the UK from year to year, to build up a picture of how climate change is effecting nature. So, have you spotted any of these where you live yet? Hyacinths? Daffodils? Crocuses? Wood anemones? Oxeye daisies? Rowan buds? Ladybirds? Nesting birds? If you have any of these or any others then please leave a comment below, and head over to <a title="nature's calendar register/login" href="http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/survey/login.htm?return=%2fTemplates%2fNC_UserControl.aspx%3fNRMODE%3dPublished%26NRORIGINALURL%3d%252fsurvey%252fmyrecords%252ehtm%26NRNODEGUID%3d%257bFBD1C1C9-B41A-4E9A-867F-DDA291D457B9%257d%26NRCACHEHINT%3dGuest" target="_blank">Nature&#8217;s Calendar to fill in your sightings!</a> Your sightings are very important, as they contribute to important scientific studies and in the last 30 years things have dramatically changed.<br />
In this short video, Kate explains why we so urgently need everyone&#8217;s recordings:<br />
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gvm4Db2qs3U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
So head over to <a href="http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/survey/">Nature&#8217;s calendar to enter your sightings</a>.<br />
We are lucky to have swallows and swifts nesting in our barn and we get excited when we see them return around this time of year, did you know that they fly all the way to Africa for the winter months? So it feels enormous when we see them return from thousands of miles of flying across seas and mountains and deserts,through storms and heat and rain. It&#8217;s amazing and the way they dart through the air is beautiful to watch. Have you seen the first swallow yet? If you have you can tweet your first sightings and where you saw them to Sky Jewels &#8211; <a href="https://twitter.com/Swallowsighting">@Swallowsighting </a> and tell them about your swallow sighting!<br />
Also, as promised from my last blog, here is the music video that me and Matilda made dancing on the rooftops amongst the chimney pots of Old London Town last week, I felt like Mary Poppins!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WOSpvnYZMJw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
View more on my youtube channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/onedwgan/videos?view=0">my YouTube channel</a>!<br />
<div id="attachment_2177" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2177" rel="attachment wp-att-2177"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/contact-a-family-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="Simon from Pigtown" width="300" height="225" class="size-medium wp-image-2177" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Simon from Pigtown Theatre Company leads a drama workshop based on the film we watched with Kate from contact a family</p></div>Magdalena had a new experience last weekend, as the support group my mum runs went along to <a href="http://www.cafamily.org.uk/">Contact A Family&#8217;s</a> family film screening day.<br />
It was brilliant, because they hired out the cinema so we had it all to ourselves! lots of families with children with different disabilities were there. It was great not having to worry about disturbing other people, and it meant that we could laugh and giggle! Magdalena <em>really</em> enjoyed the film &#8211; <a href="http://www.thecroodsmovie.com/">The Croods </a>. It was great for us to all go to the cinema together as a family, Magdalena had never been before and we weren&#8217;t sure how she would react, but she loved it and laughed out loud at the funny bits it was special and a rare thing all being able enjoy the film together. She loved that her friends Logan and Ida came too and that they were able to sit together. The two Kates from Contactafamily made it a relaxed friendly day, we had such a nice time so if you see they are putting on a family film day near you I highly recommend it. It was great!<br />
Afterwards, Simon, from <a href="http://pigtown-theatre.co.uk/3.html">Pigtown Theatre Company</a> led a drama workshop based on the film we had watched. Magdalena really enjoyed it and helped her to express and assimilate what she had watched.</p>
<p>There are lambs everywhere on our Welsh hills at the moment, and we love to see them frolicking, we had a surprise though when we went to our piano lesson a few weeks ago and looked in the barn&#8230;watch this 36 second clip to see what we saw!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I8dwT1uTNQI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
It&#8217;s meant to be a heatwave tomorrow&#8230;Yipee! If there was a colour for <em>today</em>, it would be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White">white</a> because it&#8217;s so bleak and mum-chance&#8230;<br />
I love to read your comments below! Bye for now! Next episode of My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) out on 21st May!<br />
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4787131/?claim=mvw6fgyesj4">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>Agi</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1801</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An afternoon of flying, a band called BILL &amp; a couple of new music videos</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2135</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2135#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:29:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is going to be a blog with lots of music and lots of videos and photos! My friend Matilda came over for the day, and we decided to make a music video outside to Florence + The Machine&#8217;s fabulous &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2135">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is going to be a blog with lots of music and lots of videos and photos!</p>
<p>My friend Matilda came over for the day, and we decided to make a music video outside to Florence + The Machine&#8217;s fabulous Dog Days Are Over. Look out for wild horses!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lmre3WKaiLY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>We had so much fun making it, we spent the whole day jumping about in the woods, although we only ended up filming a couple of scenes there! Here is the behind the scenes and bloopers:<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RQeaYavd8PE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>I have also recently uploaded my best music video yet, beating &#8216;Sober&#8217; (my favourite which has been at the top of my music video channel since I set it up. Now &#8216;Radioactive&#8217; has taken over its place! I tried lots of new editing techniques on it. Do you think it&#8217;s my best? Comment below! I ❤ <a href="http://www.imaginedragonsmusic.com/default.aspx#!news">Imagine Dragons</a><br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OuGSKmbAMR0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>A couple of days ago, the sun was shining, and I suddenly had a great idea, I hit the record button, and started to fly! Can you spot my Babcia (that&#8217;s Polish for Grandma) peering out of the window? I must have looked quit odd jumping up and down the<br />
lawn, I probably looked like a bouncy fishfinger!<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CVOuV8CngQY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Every music video I make, with Magdalena or my friends, or by myself, Magdalena is always there watching me recording with my green screen in my bedroom, or with my tripod outside in the garden. She loves watching me making my music videos, and will often give me positive comments like: &#8220;wow! Great effects Agnieszka&#8221; or &#8220;nice colour!&#8221; But sometimes she will advise me on my colour scheme and greens screen backgrounds or even what I&#8217;m wearing by saying &#8220;not that colour, that too dark&#8221; or &#8220;not that top! Other one!&#8221; Magdalena knows her own mind and can be very persistent!</p>
<p>Have you heard of the band <a href="http://www.grasshopperrecords.com/BILL.html">BILL</a>?<br />
Well, all I can say is they are an amazing band!<br />
I love how they describe themselves:</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Our singer has Down syndrome.</strong><br />
<strong> Our drummer has long hair.</strong><br />
<strong> Our bassist has two X chromosomes.</strong><br />
<strong> Our guitarists have distortion pedals.</strong></p>
<p><strong>BILL are a rock band&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>Bill has an amazing voice, and I really enjoy their music! My favourite song is <a href="https://soundcloud.com/grasshopperrecords/all-my-heart-and-all-my-life">All My Heart And All My Life</a><br />
<strong><em>How did I discover BILL?</em></strong><br />
Well, Bill&#8217;s brother John contacted me via my website, saying hey my brother has D.S. too, we like your films and keep up the good work- and he gave me a link to BILL&#8217;s website.<br />
Bill and John are another pair of great siblings doing great work together! Just like <a href="http://www.judithandjoyce.com/">Joyce and Judith Scott</a> are who I mentioned in my previous blog. Do you know any other brilliant siblings working together? Comment below!</p>
<p>We have just bought BILL&#8217;s CD. The band is great, powerful lyrics raw and driving rhythms <a href="http://www.grasshopperrecords.com/BILL.html">BILL.COM</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.grasshopperrecords.com/BILL.html"></a>BILL has quirky, compelling videos to their music on their website, I love the photos too!</p>
<p>On the subject of photography, I have just recently taken a collection of colourful photos that I will be posting to my photography page soon, here are my 2 favourites!<br />
<a style="color: #ff4b33; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" rel="attachment wp-att-2144" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2144"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2144" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Copyright AGNIESZKA PRODUCTIONS" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image11-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" /></a><a rel="attachment wp-att-2143" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2143"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2143" title="Copyright AGNIESZKA PRODUCTIONS" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image10-300x167.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="167" /></a></p>
<p>I have a music video ready to upload on Saturday, it&#8217;s to Rhianna&#8217;s song Diamonds Look out for it! To get you excited here are a couple photos from it. I will tell you three things about it.</p>
<p>1. It is filmed on the rooftops of a London flat block<br />
2. It stars my friend since forever, Matilda (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmre3WKaiLY">as seen in Dog Days Are Over</a>)<br />
3. You need a head for heights to watch some scenes from this video</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2150" title="Copyright. Hugs :)" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image13-300x168.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="168" /><a rel="attachment wp-att-2149" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2149"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2149" title="Copyright. Me :)" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image12-300x167.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="167" /></a></p>
<p>I was also mentioned in <a title="What about the siblings? " href="http://www.britmums.com/2013/04/special-needs-round-up-what-about-the-siblings/  " target="_blank">Britmums Special Needs Round-up</a> &#8220;No round-up about siblings would be complete without including the very  talented young lady Agi of Agnieszka Productions whose sister ‘happens  to have DS’. She makes incredible, award-winning films which you will  love.&#8221; The round-up gives links to lots of sibling stuff!</p>
<p>One of the great things about this blog and the films I make, is that I get to meet and hear from so many interesting and inspirational people and families, and I learn so much. Thank you to everyone who writes to me!</p>
<p>I recently felt very touched when I was sent a message via my contact page from Gary, who has given me permission to quote from his email.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;As the brother of my sister Kelli  who has Downs Syndrome I so appreciate what it is you have done and are doing. I am now 62 years old and Kelli is 56 now. Not much was known about DS in those days as the Dr. told my parents that Kelli would only live to be 7 or 8 years old, she sure fooled them! They also told my parents that the best thing to do would be to put Kelli in an institution, my mom and dad weren&#8217;t having any of that! In fact when the rest of us kids grew up and moved out my mom and dad went to the state institution and brought home Connie, another girl with DS and foster parented her for 20 years! You see they didn&#8217;t want Kelli to be without a sibling at home after we moved out&#8230;She has since her birth until this day been such an important part of our family and has taught us all so much. I wanted you to know that many brothers and sisters out there appreciate their siblings with DS and also the education that your efforts are giving to the world&#8221;</em></p>
<p><span style="color: #000080;">Thanks so much for all of the great encouragement for my filmmaking through the personal emails via my contact page, comments on this website, liking and commenting agnieszkaproductions facebook page and the kind donations towards my filmmaking fund. I will soon have enough funds to start buying some of the components for a dedicated video editing suite. </span><span style="color: #000080;">I will keep you updated! Remember the next episode of this years &#8216;My Little Sister&#8230;&#8217; will be out on the 21st May.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 31px; line-height: 46px;">Look forward to hearing your comments!</span></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #993366;">Agnieszka</span></h2>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=2135</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3, Episode 2</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2123</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2123#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2013 07:11:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2123</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The New &#8216;My Little Sister&#8230;&#8217; Film This episode shows Magdalena coming to terms with the death of our pet rabbit. This has been a constant theme through 2012, (he died in December 2011) it has been really hard for her &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=2123">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>The New &#8216;My Little Sister&#8230;&#8217; Film</strong></p>
<p><div id="attachment_2126" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2126" rel="attachment wp-att-2126"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lucy-Liquorice--300x225.jpg" alt="" title="Lucy &amp; Liquorice " width="300" height="225" class="size-medium wp-image-2126" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">our new rabbits Lucy and Liquorice, we visited their mum and chose them and waited until they were old enough to come and live with us.</p></div>This episode shows Magdalena coming to terms with the death of our pet rabbit. This has been a constant theme through 2012, (he died in December 2011) it has been really hard for her to understand that he isn&#8217;t coming back and she has felt deep emotions about his death. Even since we have had our two new rabbits she still talks about &#8220;Billy-White&#8221; most days, we have to stop everything and talk about it before she will move forward with the day. She loves watching the &#8220;My little sister&#8230;&#8221; films as she says he lives in them.<br />
Also Magdalena has been learning to jump, practising for a whole year, every day! And we went iceskating! We are still singing, dancing, playing our instruments with a new trumpet and cornet. Magdalena is putting what she has learnt into practice and telling me her opinions quite strongly, sometimes this is very funny! Magdalena loves books and we read to her and with her everyday lots, she knows more and more words and starts describing her experience of the world in words that are poetry. We love the words she uses, they conjure up wonderful images, listen carefully and enjoy her openness and thoughts. Look out for snails, cuddles, baby rabbits, butterflies and no I don&#8217;t fly off to space, but with our Billy-White dying it is easy to see why she thought I might.<br />
<strong>My Little Sister (who happen&#8217;s to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3, Episode 1 </strong> we are aged 6 &#038; 9 or 10 in it.<br />
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VtDCwNXs0co" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Next episode out here on May 21st!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=2123</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Plastic elephants, Judith Scott, Sayaka Ganz, World Education Games and Cleaning up the ocean with Boyan Slat</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1657</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1657#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:49:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1657</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; It&#8217;s been very rainy and cold here, and very dearn, with snow still lying on our hills. I&#8217;ve also been a bit poorly, so me, Mum, Magdalena &#38; my older sister Isabella decided to get creating. We love singing &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1657">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span></p>
<div id="attachment_2038" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2038" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2038"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2038" title="image" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image8-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">We made these colourful elephants out of old plastic milk bottles. Magdalena loves playing with them making up imaginary &#39;wonder&#39; lands</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been very rainy and cold here, and very dearn, with snow still lying on our hills. I&#8217;ve also been a bit poorly, so me, Mum, Magdalena &amp; my older sister Isabella decided to get creating. We love singing along to lively music when we make art together. We like using junk to create with. A lot of our world&#8217;s waste is made of plastic and so it makes sense to turn it into something useful or beautiful.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_2035" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2035" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2035"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2035" title="image" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image7-300x188.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="188" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Magdalena making a wonderland with her elephants with coloured cloths,driftwood and wool.</p></div>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2020" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2020"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2020" title="image" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image2-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>We also covered plastic tubs in scrap photocopied paper to make and old wrapping paper to make useful containers and made a bouncing bird puppet from an old water bottle. The star was the shape on it&#8217;s bottom and we just cut around it and wrapped it. This puppet makes great shadows and Magdalena loves playing with it, we cut into some plastic florist&#8217;s wrapping paper to make a tail that flutters (and tickles!)</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2016" title="image" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image-300x221.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="221" /></p>
<p>I also covered an old plastic horse and Magdalena covered an old mouldy bath duck. Can you see the old plastic milk bottles that we cut in half? The handles become the trunks of the elephants. My mum saw this idea from another home educating mum, Tracy. The other half of the bottles make excellent glue and paint pots.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We were inspired to use wrapping and covering techniques after looking at <a href="http://www.judithandjoyce.com/" target="_blank">Judith Scott&#8217;s</a> brilliant sculptures, Judith Scott transformed objects into colourful magical art. On her website there is a link to a film about her work. She &#8220;cocoons&#8221; objects and has created amazing pieces of art. They are bold and seem to talk with so many shapes and textures and colours to them. I love the large pieces in particular. She also happen&#8217;s to have Down&#8217;s syndrome like my sister.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2022" title="image" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image4-221x300.jpg" alt="" width="221" height="300" /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.sayakaganz.com/" target="_blank">Sayaka Ganz</a> is another amazing sculptor who makes the most beautiful emotional sculptures of animals, out of old plastic. Click her name to see her artwork, it really is incredible: Sayaka says this of her &#8220;Reclaimed Creations&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Creating energy and harmony out of discarded objects&#8221;</p>
<p>Watch Sayaka at work making this incredible life size and realistic sculpture of a horse all made out of found plastic:<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VjY7FDpmqjU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s amazing how something ugly or broken can be made into something beautiful or enchanting There&#8217;s more about her work on the link below:</p>
<p><a title="Sayaka Ganz's amazing recycled plastic horses!" href="http://hifructose.com/2013/02/19/sayaka-ganz-graceful-sculptures-made-of-recycled-plastics/" target="_blank">SakayaGlanz&#8217;sRecycledPlasticHorses </a></p>
<p>Do you like making sculptures? If so, what sort? Comment below</p>
<p>One last thing, on the talk of plastic, is I found a very interesting project. 19 year old Boyan Slat has made a plan that could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic from our world&#8217;s oceans. Do you think this plan is possible? Listen to him talking here:<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ROW9F-c0kIQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
When I heard Boyan talking about his project I felt happy to hear somebody talking about solutions to the huge environmental mess that people have created. I was so shocked to see the image of the bird&#8217;s stomach, how could so much plastic possibly fit inside? I hope this project works, and more people from my generation put their minds to creating solutions to the problems we see around us.<br />
<div id="attachment_2061" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-2061" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2061"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2061" title="2013 world Spelling Day" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-world-Spelling-Day-300x283.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="283" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">1st in Wales 6th in U.K. 15th in World out of 5 million students-World Spelling Day 2013 </p></div></p>
<p>Oh and I entered the World Literacy Day again for fun, which is an online spelling competition with 5 million children from 200 different countries taking part. When I was asked by the reporter last year if I would enter again I hadn&#8217;t thought about it,well I thought why not it&#8217;s very enjoyable as it&#8217;s live and very fast! I have still not been taught any spellings or had a spelling test, ever.  I do read <strong>A LOT</strong> and I do love the sounds and meanings of words and as you know I am always writing and I think spellcheck gets you to recognise when you are spelling something wrong too.</p>
<p>Spring is on it&#8217;s way, and look who&#8217;s come to welcome it for us, arriving Easter weekend! A beautiful wild rabbit who visits our garden every morning (we think he must be an escapee who has survived in the wild) He has joined &#8216;Corak&#8217; the crow in the wild animals who are quite tame who like living with us:</p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-2028" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=2028"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2028" title="&lt;3" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image6.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="640" /></a></p>
<p>Have you had any surprise animals visiting you this spring?<br />
Look out for the rabbits in my next episode of &#8220;My little sister&#8230;&#8221; coming out 21st April! </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1657</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Importance Of Words: The R-Word and Jane Elliot</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1963</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1963#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:51:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1963</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first time I ever heard The R-Word (in case you didn&#8217;t know the word I&#8217;m talking about is &#8216;retard&#8217;) was on the train. There were a bunch of high school kids opposite, &#38; all but one were randomly taking &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1963">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-1967" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1967"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1967" title="SpreadTheWordToEndTheWord" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SpreadTheWordToEndTheWord1.jpg" alt="" width="673" height="246" /></a>The first time I ever heard <a title="The-R word.com" href="http://www.r-word.org/" target="_blank">The R-Word</a> (in case you didn&#8217;t know the word I&#8217;m talking about is &#8216;retard&#8217;) was on the train. There were a bunch of high school kids opposite, &amp; all but one were randomly taking pictures outside of the window. The one who wasn&#8217;t taking pictures said: <em>&#8220;That&#8217;s so retarded.&#8221; </em> I asked mum what the word meant, I could tell it was an insult, or a word to put somebody down, and to make what they were doing sound worthless. And also I knew that it was offend full, because a girl replied back: &#8220;Shut up&#8221; The real meaning of the word is &#8216;<strong>Retardation</strong>&#8216; is meant to mean &#8216;the act or result of delaying.&#8217; But people have started using it as an insult. Unfortunately it&#8217;s very commonly used as an insult in America. And sadly it&#8217;s becoming common in the UK, too.</p>
<p><a rel="attachment wp-att-1969" href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1969"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1969" title="Self Portrait of my eye" src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Ags-eye-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>I want to try and explain the hurtful effect of using the R-Word as a put-down or insult to you. Because people have said to me: &#8220;What does it matter? It&#8217;s just a joke.&#8221;  Well to those people who don&#8217;t have a intellectual or developmental disability maybe it doesn&#8217;t matter, they probably haven&#8217;t stopped to imagine what impact it would have on them if they had a lifelong condition, and the name of that condition was commonly used as an insult all around them. So here is my example to help those people imagine what it might feel like, and hopefully get them to stop using the R word.</p>
<p><em>Imagine you had brown eyes (like me) and you were walking down the street and you  were waiting at the bus stop. There are two girls also waiting at the bus stop and you overhear their conversation: &#8220;Ugh that boy who fancies me phoned me up for the millionth time last night!&#8221; the other girl replies: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know why you put up with him, he&#8217;s so brown eyed!&#8221;                                                                                                                     The bus pulls up and you get onto it, the bus is delayed because of a car thats been stopped in front by the police. There are two men behind you who say: &#8220;I&#8217;m going to be late for my shift. This is <strong>SO</strong> brown eyed&#8221; you sit down next to young man who is on his mobile: &#8220;Sorry I was so brown eyed this morning, I forgot to ask how it went. I&#8217;ll be back soon just going to grab a coffee.&#8221; A girl opposite realises she has boarded the wrong bus, and gets up and runs for the door, tripping over a boy&#8217;s foot, the boy mutters grumpily: &#8220;Brown eyed!&#8221;</em></p>
<p>None of these insults have been directed at you. But you have always had brown eyes, and you always will have. How would you start to feel about yourself and how others view the worth of brown eyed people?                    <span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; line-height: 24px;"> </span></span><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kTGo_dp_S-k?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<address> </address>
<address><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; line-height: 24px;">If you still don&#8217;t believe that it &#8220;doesn&#8217;t really matter&#8221; whether people use the R word as a putdown or not. Then research this, that my mum told me about; she said that when she was doing her teacher training, she learnt about Jane Elliot and the discrimination experiments she did to demonstrate the impact of using words negatively or positively. </span></address>
<p>Jane Elliott in 1968 as a response to racism in U.S.A. when <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57lotnKGF8">Martin Luther King</a> was assassinated tried an experiment to teach her students about racism.</p>
<p>She divided her class by eye colour and on the first day praised all the blue eyed children, and gave them privileges but ignored the brown eyed children and criticised them. The next day she reversed the roles with the blue-eyed children being picked on while the brown eyes were praised. On both days, children who were treated as inferior started to behave and believe that they were inferior students failing in their tests and other work.</p>
<p>See here &amp; watch the documentary &#8216;A Class Divided&#8217; and find out more including teaching resources here: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/" target="_blank">Jane Elliott and a class divided</a><br />
What you read and hear is powerful and really goes in! You tell yourself that you&#8217;ll just forget about it &#8211; but quite often you don&#8217;t, it&#8217;s always there at the very back corner of your mind and you&#8217;re trying to squeeze it out through a pin prick of a hole in your mind, but it just keeps bouncing back. So when I came across <a href="http://jumpmag.co.uk/">Jump! Magazine for girls</a>, a few months ago, I was pleased to read something which didn&#8217;t make you feel lacking but instead made you feel good and positive to be who you are! </span></p>
<p>So when I was contacted by the editor and asked to write an article about Down&#8217;s syndrome for the magazine, I was delighted!</p>
<p><strong>You can read it here:</strong></p>
<p><a title="My article :)" href="http://jumpmag.co.uk/odd-socks-for-world-down-syndrome-day/" target="_blank">jump!Mag.com/odd-socks-for-world-down-syndrome-day</a></p>
<p>I highly recommend <a href="http://jumpmag.co.uk/">Jump!Magazine</a>, because it has interesting and intelligent articles, great female role models, NO adverts! and a great ethos: &#8220;<em>Fluff free and Bieberless</em>&#8221; I think it&#8217;s so bad how the average girl&#8217;s mag in the supermarket is all pink stuff, make up, One Direction &amp; celebrities and stuffed full of adverts aimed at making you feel worthless unless you have their product. I think when girls read those magazines it makes them want to be something they don&#8217;t look like, or have something they can&#8217;t. A lot of girls then feel depressed. I think it must be really hard for girls to get away from all these pink magazines, they are EVERYWHERE!</p>
<p>Even walking into the supermarket they&#8217;re right in front of you, with big bold headings and bold pink covers.  I also think that how right next to these pre-teen and teenage mags are magazines for woman and men with really rude covers and photos, I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s good how both sections should be put together! And all those images are not just going into people like my age&#8217;s heads, but little children&#8217;s too. It&#8217;s not just magazines that are making us feel like we should be something else, it&#8217;s also the advertising on websites everywhere, from somewhere social like Facebook to somewhere you just want to get some lyrics for a song from!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1963</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Snow, rice pudding, Andy Goldsworthy &amp; a quiz for you!</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1898</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1898#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:43:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1898</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello! I hoped you all enjoyed My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1. Episode 2 coming out on the 21st of April! It&#8217;s very snowy here in Wales at the moment, and we&#8217;re snowed &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1898">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hello! I hoped you all enjoyed My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1. Episode 2 <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1934" rel="attachment wp-att-1934"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image34-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="Copyrighted" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1934" /></a>coming out on the 21st of April! It&#8217;s very snowy here in Wales at the moment, and we&#8217;re snowed in, which is quite fun because me &#038; Magdalena have been sledging a lot. I&#8217;ve noticed how much more me and Magdalena and I can be trusted to go out together, like last year we couldn&#8217;t go sledging by ourselves incase something happened, but me and Magdalena this year are able to go sledging by ourselves for 15 minutes with mum watching from the window. Its such a great feeling, doing things with Magdalena just by ourselves.<br />
But of course, it is really fun to do things with mum around and watching, because we can all share our joy together.<br />
Here&#8217;s the first in a seasonal series of bite sized portions of Magdalena &#038; I out and about. I&#8217;m calling these minute snippets of our lives: Mini &#8216;My Little Sister&#8230;&#8217; this one is about sledging, it&#8217;s taken my camera skills to a whole new level, watch as the camera joins us on the sledge ride <img src='http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wgnJZgiFNiU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Me and Magdalena have been making ice sculptures after we watched video of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy"> Andy Goldsworthy</a> which is really inspiring:<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AT3lveJmjY8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
I love the way how nature is so wonderful, and I love how Andy Goldsworthy workes with nature and turns it into something more incredible and more wonderful than before. I love how he doesn&#8217;t use any man made materials, and my favourite piece of art that he has created is where he lies down on the grass just before it snows or rains, and then waits till it has stopped or the ground is completely covered, then he stands up and there&#8217;s an amazing print of his body. </p>
<p>I think the great thing about his artwork is that its so inspiring &#038; addictive! I&#8217;ve been looking through his book and after reading it through and looking at all his pictures I was desperate to get outside and try out some of his ideas. I love how he works with whatever he finds and gets us to look in a new way when we see it. I like the way he uses the weather and light and how everything changes all the time, it makes his artwork exciting.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1908" rel="attachment wp-att-1908"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image26-223x300.jpg" alt="" title="Walking through the snow" width="223" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1908" /></a>For dad to get to work, he has to walk through 4 foot drifts down our steep mile track, which is very hard.<br />
When he walks back from work I go to meet him, and I hope one day Magdalena will be able to walk with me as well! Me and Magdalena had a fun walk around the garden together, and we made an ice palace:<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1930" rel="attachment wp-att-1930"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image32-300x190.jpg" alt="" title="© Ice Sculpture " width="300" height="190" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1930" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1931" rel="attachment wp-att-1931"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image33-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="© MOSS " width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1931" /></a><br />
It&#8217;s amazing how when things are covered and surrounded by snow how you look at everything anew. I love taking photos of nature and especially things in the snow! And remember, if you have a snow setting on your camera, be sure to turn it on to avoid blueish photos.</p>
<p>5 good things about the snow:</p>
<p>1) Sledging with Magdalena.<br />
2) Feeding and watching the birds.<br />
3) The bright light of the snow that continuously streams through the window.<br />
4) We get lots of cosy time together.<br />
5) It&#8217;s great for making films!</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve just finished making a snow music video, to a <em>brillaint</em> band called <a href="http://www.ofmonstersandmen.com/">Of Monsters And Men</a> I hope you enjoy the music video!<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s694i1r83Fc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
When we come in from sledding, me and Magdalena love to eat rice pudding. Rice pudding is really warm and yummy, an ideal treat to eat after playing in the snow! Here is the recipe for rice pudding:</p>
<p><strong>Rice Pudding</strong><br />
3-4 portions worth (depending how big your bowl is &#8211; mine is huge!)<br />
You&#8217;ll need:<br />
Pudding Rice<br />
Milk<br />
Raisens/sultanas<br />
Nutmeg (fresh is much nicer, grate it yourself)<br />
Cinnamon (grate this too from cinnamon sticks)</p>
<p>Put half a cup of pudding rice into a pan, wash it thoroughly (you&#8217;ll be surprised how dirty it is!) then fill the pan with water up to just below the rice. Then add milk so it fills half the pan. Put the pan on a high heat. Add a handful of raisons/sultanas.<br />
Then grate some fresh nutmeg so it covers the top of the milk. Then add a teaspoon or so of cinnamon.<br />
It takes half an hour on a high heat, and an hour at the least on a low heat. Stir every so often, and watch out as it sticks fast! Add milk and water every so often when its dry, and when it runs out of liquid.A really delicious snack for cold days. Alternatively you can just leave this to cook in the oven in a casserole dish. I like cooking on the stove as its quicker, and tastes more &#8216;light.&#8217;<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1902" rel="attachment wp-att-1902"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image24-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="rice pudding" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1902" /></a></p>
<p>Do you like rice pudding? Do you like making scupltures? Have you been sledging this year, and if so who do you like going sledging with? Your sister, your brother, your friends, your dog maybe?! Haha the last ones a joke &#8211; but maybe some poeple do go sledging with their dog or cat! Comment your answers down below.<br />
Before I go, here is a quick quiz for Magdalena&#8217;s friends and anyone else who wants to try, can you guess the footprint?<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1921" rel="attachment wp-att-1921"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image27-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="Secret prints!! :)" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1921" /></a><br />
What handprints are these?<br />
1.<br />
A) Adult handprints<br />
B) Alien handprints<br />
C) Dragon handprints<br />
D) Child&#8217;s handprints</p>
<p>2.<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1922" rel="attachment wp-att-1922"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image28-300x177.jpg" alt="" title="TOP SECRET!! :P ^_^" width="300" height="177" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1922" /></a><br />
 Is it:<br />
A) A Fox<br />
B) A Cat<br />
C) A Dog<br />
D) A Rabbit</p>
<p>3.<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1923" rel="attachment wp-att-1923"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image29-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="© Footprints of...............SEEECCCREEETTTT!!!!!!! SHHHH!!!!!!!! :P" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1923" /></a><br />
Are they:</p>
<p>A) Childs footprints<br />
B) Cat&#8217;s footprints<br />
C) Dinosaur&#8217;s footprints<br />
D) Bird&#8217;s footprints</p>
<p>4. Now the last! This one is for anyone, from 1 to 100! Can you spot the statue? And can you spot the little leaf I drew onto the picture? If the picture is too small, click on the image to make bigger.<br />
<a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1924" rel="attachment wp-att-1924"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image30-225x300.jpg" alt="" title="The Statue &amp; The Leaf :) Can You Find Them? If so, WHERE ARE THEY? Comment down below ;)" width="225" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1924" /></a></p>
<p>Look forward to your answers &#038; comments down below,<br />
Bye for now!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1898</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1</title>
		<link>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1856</link>
		<comments>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1856#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:21:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Agnieszka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog about my home educated life with my little sister who happens to have Down's syndrome]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1856</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The post you&#8217;ve all been waiting for, for a long time!! So now I can officially announce: My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1 Boy, haven&#8217;t I been waiting to write that for a &#8230; <a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?p=1856">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?attachment_id=1861" rel="attachment wp-att-1861"><img src="http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/image21-224x300.jpg" alt="" title="Agi &amp; Magdalena " width="224" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1861" /></a>The post you&#8217;ve all been waiting for, for a long time!! So now I can officially announce:<br />
<strong>My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1</strong><br />
Boy, haven&#8217;t I been waiting to write that for a long time! Okay so best now keep you waiting, I&#8217;ve left you waiting long enough!! Here is My Little Sister Part 3 Episode 1! Look out for belly dancing, sandcastles, treasure in the sink, horse riding, and a visit to the library&#8230;.Enjoy!<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c5oCl5IwtoY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
I hope you enjoyed My Little Sister (who happens to have Down&#8217;s syndrome) Part 3 Episode 1! I certainly had a lot of fun making it although, not to mention how frustrating some bits were to edit, and putting up with the computer crashing &#8211; whew!<br />
Please comment down below as I&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts and your favourite parts!<br />
The next one is coming out on the 21st of April, the second on the 21st of May &#038; the third on the 21st of June<br />
Write soon!<br />
Agnieszka </p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.agnieszkaproductions.me.uk/?feed=rss2&#038;p=1856</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
