You Just Know

It was a pretty good day, even though it snowed all day!

Teaching:

We celebrated 100 day today which means we have been at school for 100 days so far and have 80 left.

The students brought in a collection of 100 small items (Pom poms were the most popular this year) and we sorted them into different configurations. I always read the book One Hundred Hungry Ants to start the students off. It’s a great book and the pictures really make it!

We started a class book about “I’ve been Told This 100 Times”. Usually there are some really funny ones, but the best this year was “chop chop buttercup”. Next year we have already decided to do, “if I had $100 I would buy”. I think that would be super funny!

This afternoon we did stations with all the primary classes. I read three picture books to each group and had them vote on their favourite. It was funny that every class picked a different favourite. The stations were a little scary when the kindergartners got there and I saw what was coming up next year😳😫

Reading:

I got through a little extra of The Other Alcott today and only have 123 pages to do by Sunday:)

Exercise:

It’s been snowing most of the day and it’s a mess of slush out there so I went with a Lyndsay workout tonight at home. It was called leg burner and I had to do 75 reps each of the following:

Narrow squat, alternating reverse lunges, right donkey kick, right fire hydrant, left donkey kick, left fire hydrant, bridge, pulsing squat.

I definitely felt it!

Knitting:

The rest of the skein of pink and white twisted yarn has been proving difficult to use up. I tried it in a Cowl but didn’t like it. I tried a toque and didn’t like it. I finally found a baby sweater pattern and it has been going great! I am actually 2/3 done in a single night! It’s been a dark and wet night so the perfect knitting weather!

I’m off to bed now!

Have fun!

AJ

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Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all! It was a good day and made even better by not just being Friday Eve, but by being my Friday this week:)

Teaching:

My students were surprisingly good today, though I had the lovely present of having my most difficult student absent:). It made quite a difference in the class and so many people noticed it, even the children!

We did some printing, finished reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins and gave out our valentine cards. The children also had computers and we started some Kandinsky valentines art, but didn’t manage to finish it.

The day was made even better by getting the template for the grade one report card completed after school. My co-teacher and I try to get them done early as we are both much calmer if we have a clear picture of what we still need to cover.

House:

I checked the mail on my way in, but was surprised there was absolutely nothing. It was therefore a great shock to see my Breezy Wrap order right at my door. I have to admit I was excited to see what patterns I got this time and I wasn’t disappointed. I love that this product is useful, environmentally friendly, smells good and is cute! The size I bought this time fits my lunch sandwich perfectly! I am always so happy to get a sandwich for lunch and a cute wrapping just adds to my joy:)

Exercise:

It had started to snow again after school, but I still got out for a run. I figured I had better go if only to keep myself on track for my 100km this month. The run was definitely not as successful or as fast as they have been lately, but that’s my fault for eating too close to running. It got done though which is the important part!

I also managed to get my 200 squats and 100 crunches done today:)

Reading:

I have to admit I did a tiny bit of knitting while I listened to today’s chapter of Great Expectations, but otherwise I have been happily reading in front of the fireplace all evening. Ella Quinn weaves a very interesting story in Believe in Me. I like that it is different as the female lead wants to attend university at a time when this wasn’t done by women.

Well I’m going back to my comfy couch and good book:)

Have fun!

AJ

Do, Do, Do

I was sort of grumpy today and I’m not sure why. It wasn’t helped by being on the go continuously🙄

Teaching:

We rearranged the day to fit the important things we missed yesterday into today. We read more of Mr. Popper’s Penguins. We almost finished our penguin research books. We had a lion dance presentation. We wrote about the lion dance and then we went outside to build snowmen. It was neat to see the children work together to solve their problems (the balls were so big they were too heavy to lift).

Among all of this I was on supervision this morning, had to run Como Lake relay practice at lunch and then had boot camp after school. I think my bladder may have gotten the best workout of all!🤣

Exercise:

I hit L’s boot camp after school even though my body was feeling kind of tired already from the double walk to school this morning (lost my yak trax and had to go back to find them). We did: tricep extensions/ slider hamstring curls, double crunch with dumbbell, burpees/ stairs, banded lateral iso squat walk/ squat jumps, sumo squat to frogger/ pushups, banded iso squat front walk/ scaptions, single arm press with hollow hold/ , bicep curls/v-ups.

It felt like a good workout and I definitely felt the banded iso squat walk and jump squats the most!

I got home from school and made myself some pho and then headed out for a run with Sarah. We yet again did my familiar sidewalk, but it’s the only thing clear around here right now. It was a decent run and I felt better afterwards.

House:

My co teacher gave me a ride home today as I had told her I had two frames the size she was looking for. Unfortunately when I picked one up, I didn’t realize the frame was broken in many places so the glass slipped out and shattered all over my floor. Of course part went into my bathroom where I am mainly in bare feet. Does anyone know a foolproof way of getting rid of all those tiny specks of glass? There will definitely be slippers at all times for a while for me!

Reading:

I got so many books today and of course, none of them are the Bookclub book for this month:(. I have started on Believe in Me by Ella Quinn and am quite enjoying it.

Well I think I’ve earned my bed now!

Have fun!

AJ

Snow Day

Well the miraculous occurred- my third snow day in 33 years with the district!

Teaching:

I still had to make my way to work, but thankfully Lyndsay came with me! I would have been on my own as my principal didn’t show up for another hour! Then she said I had to stay all day, even though we had no kids show up! I was not a happy camper! She did finally let me go around recess time. I got stuff done though- three addition anchor charts made, the loose parts at least put in the empty drawer, my home reading assessment books moved to a more easily accessible spot, a box in my library replaced and labeled, and a couple of shelves gone through. Not bad, but if there’s another snow day tomorrow I’m wearing more clothes and taking food, in case I am kept there all day!

Eating:

On our way home, Lyndsay and I stopped at Green Mustache for brunch. We both had the walnut waffles with chia jam and cashew cream.

They were very yummy! I know I should have tried something new, but these just called me name. They also kept me full for the entire day!

Exercise:

After a lovely 1.5 hour nap on the couch, I got out for a quick run. I am very grateful that my city keeps one sidewalk plowed. I’m getting bored of the route but it’s better than not being able to run at all! I had another quick 35 minute run and it was great. I don’t know where this relative speed is coming from, but I’ll take it and I hope it sticks around! I did get snowed on pretty hard on the way home!

Knitting:

After a lovely agonizing massage, I have frogged and redone the knitted vest I started the other day. The pattern is lovely, but I am not enjoying the yarn which splits on almost every stitch😖. It’s a perfect match to the Great Expectations that I am listening to🙄

Well I’m off to watch the snowfall and continue knitting.

Have fun!

AJ

Something Different

Well I’m 33 years in this district, I’ve only had two snow days and today was no different than usual. While almost all districts around us closed down, we were open as usual.

Teaching:

Other than allowing for extra time to put on snow gear, the children actually managed to concentrate pretty well.

We did more penguin research this morning, then we learned how to add zero to a number and this afternoon we made our valentines bags.

They finally got the last twenty minutes of the day to play outside and they had a ball! The snow is really dry which is very different for us so it was quite amusing to see them try and try again to roll snowmen balls 🤣

Exercise:

The staff all cleared out pretty quick after school as it was calling for another 25cm of snow starting early. I got home to see the usual sidewalk was cleared and couldn’t help myself- I went for a run. I got 6.75km by doing a few loops in a couple of places as not everything was cleared. It felt good, until I got to Battlefit Class.

Tonight we did these 1/2 TGUs. It meant nothing to me, but seems to mean that we are working on getting up from the floor to a standing with a full press. We also did a lot of swings and then 50,40,30,20,10 of wall balls, KB swings and box jumps. It really helped when the instructor finally found a smaller ball for me to use for the wall balls. At the end we had to do lying overhead raise and then burpees and then sit ups and squat jumps. Overall I survived!

I am home now and going to dry my hair and then collapse into bed. I’m not keeping anything crossed that there will be a snow day tomorrow:(

Have fun!

AJ

Hey, Hey, It’s the Weekend!

I was never so happy as to see Friday arrive! I was all braced for snow, even wore my snow boots to work, and we didn’t get one flake🤣. I’m not complaining though!

Teaching:

I love how I mentioned a storage problem I was having to my mom yesterday and this morning I got to work to texted suggestions of what to do😍. We haven’t quite got the solution to how to store all these loose parts materials, but hopefully we’ll hit upon it soon!

My students were quite upset when there was no more penguin picture of the day (we ran out of types to look at), so today, we watched a penguin short video of the day. It was a great way to start the day:)

We wrote our Friday top ten list, had gym and tackled some more adding. This afternoon my students started building a home for Roz and Brightbill (The Wild Robot characters) with their big buddies. It was neat to see them all dive in!

Exercise:

After work I met up with L for a workout. It’s been a while and it felt great to get a good workout in. I have to admit I didn’t love going my cardio on the elliptical though! We did cardio intervals, then squat thrusters, squat jumps with overhead press, sit up with Russian twist and plank up downs, squat with front press and plank rows. It was enough for the first workout in a month!

Eating:

I had asked if L wanted to do dinner at the Green Mustache the other night, but it was too late, so we went tonight after our workout instead. I was really craving comfort food, and told them they should offer Mac n cheese! However tonight I had the chili which turned out to be really good! It’s probably the best tho g I’ve had so far and it was a big serving as I was too full to try one of their delicious desserts.

Knitting:

My movie date with a friend was cancelled so I’ve had a quiet night st home. I’ve been knitting the handwarmers. I thought I was done until I realized one was two rows shorter than the other. I couldn’t leave it and took it apart to add the two rows. Hopefully I’ll be done by tomorrow!

Well I’m off to ponder whether it is wrong to order grocery delivery when I live across the street from the grocery store???

Have fun!

AJ

Plan, Prep, Prep

It was a busy day, but pretty good overall.

Teaching:

Today got off on a weird start as I had a note in a student planner from one of my previous students. It just seems so weird, she is now old enough to be taking the mom role on the house as I remember her in grade one!

This morning we had some fun with story elements. After reviewing characters, setting, problem and solution. We wrote stories with a beginning, middle and end. However, we did these stories how my Nan used to play a game. Each student wrote on a piece of paper, “Once there was a —- who lived in —-“. They then folded the paper back and I redistributed the papers to a new person. Each student then wrote, “one day (and a problem)” on their new sheet. The papers were folded and changed hands again and the students wrote, “suddenly (and a solution”. We collected the papers up and read them out. They were certainly entertained by the zany stories. Some examples:

Once upon a time there was an army man who lived in a tent. One day he got lost in the deep sea. Suddenly the ball went into the net.

Once upon a time there was a penguin who lived on a rainbow. One day he got lost. Suddenly they found Santa Claus.

Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle. One day they forgot to go shopping. Suddenly everything went back to normal.

All of the stories were crazy and made no sense, but they just made the children laugh harder. I don’t think they’ll forget the parts of a story any time soon!

We also did some storytelling for math. I have found my students are much more engaged when the addition story problems feature themselves, so we did a few more practice stories before our worksheet. We had skateboarding, hockey, beyblades and one little girl requested it be about her family. Awwww!

This afternoon we tackled the penguin research again and it went well again. Telling the students that their work can’t be marked unless they come up with their partner really seems to have helped the partner work in the room. That is one of our goals this term.

Reading:

Finally after work, I went to the kids Bookclub. I was super excited about this one as it was on Artemis Fowl and I picked that book. We had a really good mix of people who loved it, liked it and didn’t like it. There were 18 students there today and we had good discussion!

It was back to prep for next week once Bookclub was over, though it did make for a nice break!

At home, I have started the book, One Plus One by Jojo Moyes. I’ll let you know what I think when I get further along. It’s difficult to tell how far I am as it’s a large print edition.

Exercise:

I knew there was no way I would be doing 9km tonight which was the Squad Runner mission, so I just went out for my usual around the park run. It was a nice run and I’m definitely happy with my times! 6:48, 6:51, 6:46,6:29, 6:58. It really seems to be helping that I start running before pressing start on my app. I can’t wait to see if I can push myself to be faster once the ice is gone!

This is where I ran in daylight, though today I ran in the dark:( There were still lots of people out though!

I also got my 200 banded squats, 50 bicycles and 50 leg drops done this evening:). I feel like this may be contributing to my faster speeds so want to keep it up!

Knitting:

I am working on some kid hand warmers to fulfill a class in HPKCHC. I’m hoping to see some cute hearts into them.

Well I’m going to go crawl into bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Sometimes I Wish I Was More Like My Brother

Well I survived the day and so did all of my students🤣

Teaching:

Today turned out to be a pretty low key day which was good! We did printing, practiced our addition skills, and did a directed drawing of a penguin. It was really cute as one little boy in my class had done a drawing this last weekend and he brought it in along with the name of the website, Art Hub for Kids, so today we put it up on the smart board and followed along. I let the kids take them home with them. The only thing I found was that it went a little fast for the kids, though boy were they engaged!

Exercise:

After school it was time for boot camp! We covered most of the body with doing: lateral lunges with a dumbbell press, one legged sit to stand off a bench, reverse fly/ plank pull through, side plank, swimmer/static crunch with scissors, row/bicycles, lateral step ups, and finally a half kneel to stand with a dumbbell press. I used dumbbells everywhere I could to try and not be a slacker. This evening I also did an extra 100 squats with the band. Enough for one day:)

House:

I was a good homeowner and went to the special meeting tonight about fiber optics. It was a good meeting to go to as it was quite short and straightforward.

Of course, before going I ate too many cookies worrying about going. Sometimes I really wish I was more like my oldest brother who is super social, can talk to anyone, never worries about anything, etc. I’m not sure I’m going to get there. At least I have a plan for what to do with the cookies so they won’t be available next time!

Well I’m off to bed to make up for last night!

Have fun!

AJ

Well That Was A Waste

I went to bed early last night, really early, only to be woken up not once, but twice by the fire alarm and got to go stand outside both times in -8😫😖

Teaching:

The most exciting thing yesterday was the morning when we used loose parts to build a character in Writer’s Workshop. It was great to see the children working together and co-operating.

They managed to co-operate in the afternoon to do their penguin research book too. Unfortunately, in between I spent a lot of time reminding about kindness and that they need to have actions they can be proud of!

Exercise:

I got home to the message that my running buddy had to work late so instead of doing a pyramid workout, I just went out for a 7km run. It went really well and I was between a 6:33 and a 6:55 min/ km so I am happy!

I also got in my 200 squats and my 100 crunches- 50 regular and 50 reverse.

Reading:

I finished my current book yesterday called French Kiss by Sarah Morgan. It was short and a nice read, but I have to admit the woe is me heroine isn’t my favourite!

Knitting:

Between my run and my very early bedtime I managed to finish my sweater. I don’t like the fit at all:(

I think this one is just going into the giveaway bag:(. The pattern is from Timeless Knits for kids and the yarn is Mary Maxim worsted weight. I think the best that can be said is that it got rid of four skeins out of my stash:)

Well I’m off to teach!

Have fun!

AJ

Short

Today was a typical day.

Teaching:

The children absolutely loved writing about the snow we had on Sunday, even though it wasn’t very much. It’s so cold here right now that it has stayed and turned into ice, which is very unusual for us.

We changed groups and made our group posters for the new month.

We also started our penguin research booklet. Today was the simple introductory sheet so we will see how students do tomorrow.

After school we had a very long staff meeting:(

Baking:

The truffles were a hit and there were none left after school:)

Knitting:

I’m not sure if I ate something wrong, ate too much or still have a bug but once again I am home not feeling well. I really have had enough of saying that! I was supposed to go to my workout class but instead I’m on the couch drinking tea and ginger ale and knitting the hood of my sweater.

I’m thinking about going to bed incredibly early!

Have fun!

AJ