Productive

It was quite a productive day.

Exercise:

My colleague from work was supposed to run with me this morning, but I woke up to a text saying it was raining too hard. To be fair, it was running so hard that I drove to work and I was a little worried about what my hip would do, so it’s probably a good thing. Though I am really starting to worry about my mileage:(

This evening I did a NourishMoveLove workout. It was her new 30 minute yoga sculpt. It was a neat workout because it changed quickly and I did mindfully try to keep my pelvis lifted while I was doing it.

Maybe tomorrow I will get out for a little run in the morning as I am kicking myself for not getting one in this morning.

Teaching:

Today was a ProD day and it actually felt quite productive as my teaching buddy is working Fridays this year. We got our Teams set up in case we go virtual (I really don’t think we will be). We also got our TOC book written and reviewed our year plan and made some plans. Not a lot, but things we can’t get done when the kids are there.

The funniest/saddest story I heard today was that a little girl refuses to wear anything but grey leggings each day which she insists her mom or dad warms up with a blow dryer before she puts them on. The sad part is that the parents are actually doing this!!!

Family:

I grabbed Gus after my school day and we went for ice cream. I had the raspberry pistachio, but then they gave me a taste of the new raspberry cheesecake that I had requested. It was amazing!!! I just can’t imagine how I used to eat two scoops though as I was stuffed!

Well I’m going to go crawl into bed and read my book.

Have fun!

AJ

Ya I Get to go Home

I was so excited today when my run was canceled and I realized I got to just go home and stay home!

Teaching:

It was a pretty good day. We did calendar and I was happy I could regularly get to my little guy with poor fine motor so I could help him with his printing. We then had music. I had to go back into my class to grab something and it was interesting to see my awesome class out of control. Guess that’s what you get when a teacher has only taught high school and the kids are bored by your lessons. Do five year olds care about beat, meter, rhythm, etc? No. There is actually a collective sight when I tell them they have music 😦

We played with numbers and the kids are so funny. The simplest games entertain them. Each child has a box with number cards and they got to take turns naming which number everybody had to find and show them. They loved it. Sometimes little kids still amaze me!

This afternoon we had silent reading and I tested two more kids on their alphabet knowledge. I am really missing having my volunteer who usually does this all for me! We also had some catch up time and read a book about having a positive attitude. We ended the day with outside play, though it started to rain again with three minutes left. It was funny to see all the kids huddle under the tree as though the rain was going to melt them.

I can’t say I’ve done a whole lot. I have stretched and rolled and played scrabble and read.

Reading:

Have finished the book That Summer by Lauren Willig. I love her Pink Carnation series so was happy to borrow another of her books. This one was interesting as it has some mystery to it, but I did find the ending sad.

I also finished You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria. This book took me forever to read and I have to admit I didn’t love it and I won’t recommend it.

I have now started reading Take a Hint Dani Brown by Thalia Hibbert. It was once again a weird start, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt as her other book turned out so well after a weird start too. She takes the idea of a quirky hook to the extreme.

Well I’m going to go crawl into bed.

Have fun!

AJ

Busy!

I feel like all I have done all day is be on the go, but maybe that’s because I was limping so it took me forever to get anywhere.

Teaching:

It was not our best day because we had an inside recess and lunch because of the torrential rain. We got through a lesson on worrying, and a favourite leaf colour graph, but the rest of the day was administrivia and go noodle videos.

We were just told today that we could finally use our coat rooms, but mine is full of all the things I’m not allowed to use in my classroom:(. Right now I’m thinking we’re just going to stick with putting our bags and jackets on the back of our chairs.

Medical:

I decided to try a physiotherapist for my hip pain. It turned out it is actually my low back that is irritated which is in turn irritating the nerve that runs down the outside of your leg. He did dry needling and I have to go back for one more appointment of that and an appointment of laser. I sure hope this helps!

Shopping:

My evening ended with a trip to Costco for gas, playdo and pictures. Quite the list huh. It is unfortunate that I was quite full so I didn’t buy anything else and will probably have to go back again

Well I’m ready to go curl up in bed with my book!

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday

It was an okay day today.

Teaching:

We got through a lesson on emotions, some work on number words, and a mini book about Fall colours.

I am amazed at how slow my students are sometimes and how fast they can be at other times.

Exercise:

I had a workout after school. It was a pyramid run- 1 min, 1:30, 2:30, 4 and 5 mins. And then back down with a minute of rest between each.

I was tight to start, loosened up and then really had it clamp down at the end. When I went to roll, I was rolling my IT Band when a ball popped out on the inside of my calf. Needless to say I won’t be running tomorrow but will instead be rolling.

Trivia:

Tonight there were only four of us.

In the first round we knews

Who was the famous train toy?

Thomas the Tank Engine

What is the headdress worn by Jewish people?

Yarmulke

What is the first M in M&M?

Mars

The music round was tough! Bands with Brothers, song titles with big, song titles with little, Janet Jackson songs, and 1992 songs I really wasn’t much help.

In the Kahoot! round we knew:

Which was not an adjective? Quick, quicker, quickly, quickest

Quickly

What colour is not in The Wiggles?

Green

What is 9 and 3/4 as an improper fraction?

39/4

Which is not an Olympic Sport?

Artistic swimming

Who is the little girl in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?

Cindy Lou Who

Which company has a gecko as a mascot?

Geico

WHere is Mount Rushmore?

South Dakota

Where did the characters go in Romancing the stone?

Colombia

Well that’s it for me, time for bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Organizing

Teaching:

I would just really like it if I could get everyone in the classroom organized and be done with it! Today I had two more students join us so I have finally seen all students except one. I just wish they would all send all the supplies!! Every day I get dribs and drabs and I never feel organized:(

We got through calendar, music, math, journal, silent reading, science and outdoor play. My students have the playground this week so they are super happy! I say we got through all of those things, but most were abbreviated and not completed how I wanted them to be:(

Tomorrow we will try again.

I wanted to show you the self portraits we did on Friday afternoon. We did each part together and they are super funny. I am still waiting for two more kids to finish.

I left work really quickly to get to my massage appointment and boy did that feel great after the run yesterday!

Knitting:

I have been knitting the test knit?, but it seems extremely large and am thinking I should go down even more.

Well sorry it’s not that interesting.

Have fun!

AJ

Thankful Thursday

I think I’d better start thinking of what I am happy about as there are just too many things driving me crazy at work. The fact I can’t run due to the air quality isn’t helping either!

Thankful #1:

I have five awesome friends at work who help me get through the day. They have my back and they make me laugh and help me problem solve. Work would be unbearable without them!

Thankful #2

That I live now. I got to try four different treats from a gluten free, dairy free bakery today. While I found two quite dry, the pecan bar and the brownie were quite lovely. I don’t even want to think about what it would be like to have these allergies years ago!

Thankful #3

I got chosen for another Alicia Plums test knit. This is for a super cute lacy cardigan and it gives me the opportunity to go yarn shopping as I have absolutely no yarn that is Aran weight! Can you believe it?!?!

Thankful #4

I am starting to get organized at work. There is still a ton to do and each day is very busy, but I have to be up to date at some point. It definitely helps that my class seems quite well behaved this year:)

Thankful #5:

My Garmin sports watch. While I shouldn’t go out for a run when we have the worst air quality in the world and my feet hurt too much to workout, at least my watch keeps me on track and let’s me know that I’ve made my step goal before I even leave work. The walk to and from work help, but having it so that my students can’t get up, means I do all the running around the classroom. If nothing else, it must burn calories.

Thankful #6:

My new routine. I am absolutely loving putting down the phone and picking up a paperback before bed. I find myself looking forward to this time all day!

Well, I’m going to take my tired little body off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Sore Feet

Boy do my feet ever hurt from those shoes yesterday and boy can sore feet impact your day!

Teaching:

It was tough going to work today because I was tired and my teaching buddy is off on Wednesday’s.

We got through an All About Me sheet and another worksheet on rules. One little boy figured out that sharing toys was both good and bad because “normally we share, but during COVID it’s bad to share”. We ended up putting both a happy and sad face on that one. We also learned how to put papers into our duo-tangs and we read lots of books.

I bet the kids would say the best part of today was that they got to go outside for ten minutes between recess and lunch and ten minutes after lunch, but not actually for recess and lunch. Unfortunately they were trying to play hide and seek but there is nowhere to hide in our current playground zone:(. Standing still didn’t work so well🤣

The two bad parts were that they are refusing to refill my portable soap dispenser now and are insisting students use the wall dispenser. There’s just one problem- my students can’t reach it and if I put a stool there, I would have a stool in the middle of a walkway 🙄. Secondly, I went to put salt on my brussel sprout salad at lunch and the entire kid came off and dumped all of the salt on my salad. I wasn’t a happy camper!

Exercise:

I rushed home to clean my bathroom so I wouldn’t have to after my run.

Dennis and I did the first workout of the season- one minute hard and one minute recovery, repeat ten times. I hadn’t noticed the smoke in the air so much, until I started trying to run hard. Safe to say it wasn’t my best workout.

I also got a short weights routine in. My heart just wasn’t in it as it was already late evening and I hadn’t even sat down yet. Sometimes being committed to exercise makes it feel like I do nothing else after work.

Shopping:

Once again I have had a farmers market across the street from me since the summer and I finally made it there today, on the last day. It was very small as they were trying out a midweek Fall day, but I had wanted to try a new gluten free, dairy free bakery. I picked up some treats to try, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.

Well, I think that’s the sum total of my day.

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday

Well not a bad day, except my feet hurt all day!

Teaching:

We did some work on the class rules. I decided this year just to write out my rules and have a discussion around them. Normally I brainstorm, but because I have in mind what I want, it never feels authentic. This process seemed to work well.

We also did our first piece of hallway writing. The students write about all major events and I display it in the hallway and at the end of the year, I make a book out of it. The coolest thing is seeing how far they have come! Today we wrote about what we think grade one will be and what we want to learn about.

This afternoon we read Officer Buckle and Gloria and we drew pictures of safety rules. These guys weren’t as creative, but that’s okay.

House:

After school I walked home in actual sunshine, though we had another inside day due to air quality again. I got my dusting done and all of my plants watered. I also got the sewing machine oil cleaned up. It’s a good thing my brother called me this morning g looking for elastic!

Trivia:

Tonight there were five of us and it was definitely our worst trivia night so far. We just couldn’t pull it together. Some of the things we knew:

Where was the Twilight series set?

Washington

Who has played the most games for the Vancouver Canucks?

Hebron Sedin

Who is the CEO of Tesla?

Elon Musk

Which letter is the most common bigram?

L

Who wrote Of Mice and Men?

John Steinbeck

Who are the three Scooby Doo characters?

Daphne, Velma, Fres

Where did the Utah Jazz move from?

New Orleans

Where is Jackson Triggs wine from?

Canada

What is the second full moon in a month called?

Blue Moon

In the music round we knew:

Michael Jackson- Black and White

Trooper- Raise a Little Hell

Three Dog Night- Joy to the World

Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA

Outkast- Hey Ya

Well that’s it for me!

Have fun!

AJ

Run Over

It was a tough first day and I feel like I’ve been beat up or run over by a truck:(

My little people cane in the door and we started on the hour and a half that we would spend washing our hands today.

That’s the worst thing about the first day – it’s all boring stuff! We covered the Covid rules. We sorted out our supplies and they had music.

The worst part was when there was an announcement first thing this morning that children weren’t allowed outside today, at all, because of the air quality. The first day of school and these poor little five year olds had to stay in their desks all day:(

I broke out the centre bags for recess and lunch, put on the Go Noodle several times, and in the afternoon we went and did running and aerobics in the gym, just to try and survive the day.

Of course, just as we were cleaning up for home time, we got told dismissal was delayed due to wildlife. OMG! What else could happen?

We finally got the kids out the door and then had to sit through an hour of a useless meeting. I at least got some September/October duo-tangs made up (someone changed our supply order😖) and the individual student calendars cut out. (We are no longer allowed to do calendar together:(). After the meeting I got my name tags taped down (even though we were told today that we weren’t allowed to put name tags on desks), and the centre bags labeled and a sign up sheet created.

This is when the crazy busy starts, now that I actually have students. Wish I could have done some of this stuff last week!

I was very proud of myself for doing my floors when I got home because it was really the last thing I wanted to do! It felt very good though!

I am now going to go collapse into bed!

Have fun!

AJ

News

Well at 3:33 this afternoon I finally got a class. Too bad the work day was over already and the kids arrive at 8:45 Monday morning.

Can you tell that I was super annoyed?!?! Actually I was downright angry! People don’t seem to understand that there is stuff that has to be done before the kids come on the door.

I actually had small groups of kids today. Really not sure why they couldn’t all come at one time since they will be on Monday, but oh well.

I have been given a straight grade one class and so has my teaching buddy. While we will not be able to put our classes together, at least we can plan and prep together.

I asked to have one student in my class, but that was denied. 😖🙄😖

So far it seems as though I have several very confident girls and a couple of kids who never stop talking and a couple of boys who can’t sit still. We shall see how it goes next week.

Socializing:

I was angry enough that my friends at work dragged me out for happy hour. I wasn’t the only one who was angry and frustrated so it was a good thing that we got the chance to vent. I really do love working with friends.

Knitting:

Since coming home, I have been knitting in the hopes of being calm. I will try the top on tomorrow morning and then go from there.

Well, I’m going to go crawl into bed with my book.

Have fun!

AJ