Happy Friday Eve

At least I’ve said it on the right day this week!

Teaching:

It was a crazy day at work today! On my walk up the hill I passed the BC Hydro trucks and sure enough I got to school to find a partial power outage. My class thankfully had lights, but no heat. All day long the power came and went. The kids loved doing everything old school, but it did give more stress to the day.

We managed to get through printing n, music, practice of place value, and an art project as well as playing outside in the sunshine at the end of the day.

Exercise:

I came home and got right to it. I did my 1:25 plank, a ten minute Fat Burner workout from the lean machine and fourteen minutes of yoga. The fat burning workout should have been called the jumping jack workout as it seemed like that’s what made up 80% of it!

This is the first day that my knee hadn’t hurt, and I just hope I didn’t overdo it with the workout!

Shopping:

I stopped and grabbed my first ice cream of the year tonight as they had new flavors to try. I am trying to just have ice cream once a month so I won’t go back until they have new flavors I want to try. I had their banana fudge caramel walnut which was amazing and a pumpkin brittle chocolate ganache which had amazing brittle, but they still need to work on the base as it was a little grainy for my taste. It was satisfying and seems very sweet after not eating sugar lately.

I met up with my friend Liane from work to hit Costco tonight. We have been doing this once a month and it’s fun to go with a friend, though somewhat expensive so far!

Tonight was better! I picked up several items of clothing, but ended up putting them all back. I also picked up an instant pot for $70, but ended up leaving it too. I mostly just bought things that were actually on my list or were regular good things for me. The only new thing I bought were these potatoes that my friend says are good and quick to make. It would’ve nice to have something a little more instant in the house.

Now it’s time for bed!

Have fun!

AJ

TriviaTuesday

It’s been a busy day!

Reading:

Just before I forget.. I finished a good book last night and started the second in the series this morning. The first was called The Chocolate Duchess by Sidney Jane Bailey. This is complete fluff, but it was fun.

Teaching:

The kids were fine. We got through long I in phonics, a little bit of place value practice, library and a science experiment on why birds fly in a v when migrating.

I really noticed today that some of the kids are noticeably better at things now than they were before Christmas break. It’s great to see.

I was also super happy to see that four children have already moved onto the next level in home reading. Yay! I had a feeling this group would move fast if I could just get the program for them.

I spent my prep and some time after school making an inventory list of our guided reading books. I’m going to use mine to keep track of what books I use with what groups.

Exercise:

I drove over to a nearby River and ran there with Dennis and Sarah. This got my car moving (I had to jumpstart it again yesterday) and got my run in:). It was actually quite a quick run as we were racing the daylight.

House:

My gas fireplace turned itself off again yesterday and wouldn’t come back on so my cousin came again tonight to fix it. I wish I had been more organized and had something on hand to clean the glass. I tried vinegar, but I don’t feel like it did anything:(

Trivia:

There were just four of us for the first round.

What we knew in the first round:

Who are the goalies for the Canucks this year?

Dipieteo, Holtby, Demko

Which province produces the most milk in Canada?

Quebec

Where was the Dodo bird from?

Africa

When was the penny discontinued in canada?

2012

The second round was all music. It went from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s.

The Kahoot round was tough!

In the final round we knew:

What movie won best picture in 2020 Oscars?

Parasite

Who played the son on Happy Days?

Ron Howard

What is the official language of Egypt?

Arabic

What is the previous name of Mumbai?

Bombay

What element used to be called quicksilver?

Mercury

Spell commitment

In the song Beer for my horses, what do the men drink?

Whiskey

What are the first six words of Dancing Queen by Abba?

You can dance, you can jive

We are sitting in third place overall right now. It’s really bugging me that one of the guys on the team in first always has his phone out though. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it’s bugging me!!

Have fun!

AJ

Finally Finished

Another normal day. If my knee didn’t still hurt, it’d be great!

Teaching:

We had a good day. All but one of my students is doing their home reading🎉🎊. We got through a lesson in printing the letter r, our first lesson on place value, and worked again on our line art, though we unfortunately didn’t get that finished😞 We still celebrated by going outside to play in the sunshine.

When looking at the home reading program I saw that one of the girls in my class recorded her reading at 11:31 last night. Doesn’t that seem a little late for a six year old to be up? She said she was washing her hair when I asked her about it. Hmmm, I so couldn’t do that!

After school I stayed to finish prep for next week.

I couldn’t believe I got to walk home in daylight! No rain really helps the light situation!

Exercise:

While my hand really only complains during my daily plank, my knee is still talking:(. I tried to take it easy again today by doing only upper body and abs for my workout, and an easy round of yoga. It’s better than nothing, I keep telling myself. It is bugging me though that I’m not anywhere near what I usually am for mileage:(

Knitting:

For a project that I thought would take one day, my sweater sleeves instead took five days. I finally finished them today and I will probably wear the sweater tomorrow to test them out. I have moved onto a slouchy toque for one of the ladies at trivia. My plan is to use two charcoal remnants and hope it looks good!

Well I need sleep!

Have fun!

AJ

Happy Friday Eve

Not a bad day overall.

Teaching:

We got through most of what I wanted to. We started the day with another book about migration and students finished up their page of drawing four animals that migrate. We had to look up to learn that ladybugs and jellyfish don’t migrate.

After recess we had gym where we did relay races that the children got to design and then we did a January poem. I really wanted them to perform, but I gave them time to colour their poetry title page instead. They were squirrelly.

After lunch and silent reading and guided reading we had a visit from Fin and started talking about what we like about ourselves.

We ended the day with playing outside in the sunshine:)

I got asked today if I want to have the fuzzy carpet removed off my classroom walls. This carpet is original to the building, so about forty years old and you can’t staple into it. However, my class would have to move out of the room for at least a week. I also don’t know how long I would have to wait to have my whiteboards and smartboard reinstalled after the project was complete. I have to give my decision in the morning, but just don’t know what I’m going to do yet. Any advice???

Exercise:

I left at 3:30 so I could get home for my 4:15 run. Of course Dennis was texting that he was already here when I was walking down the hall to my condo. It was a quick change and headed out for a 4.19km run. It was actually about 4.59, but it took my watch forever to connect:(

I did manage to pick it up for the last 200meters. This is something I heard about doing on the MTA podcast and thought I would try- the idea of picking up my speed at the end when my legs are tired. I hope it does something positive for me!

I also did the NourishMoveLove 10 minute low impact HIIT workout and 8 minutes of yoga.

I’m happy with myself for today.

Knitting:

I have spent the evening taking apart my sleeve and have finally begun to reknit. I realize now that I didn’t keep record of what I did on the first sleeve so this may be interesting🤪

TV:

I’ve been enjoying watching the Canadian baking show again though it sure does make me want to try to bake everything they do. Where are the hordes of people when you need them???

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday

It was just another day.

Teaching:

I started the day by giving prizes for the kids who did home reading last night. I had eleven kids read on RAZ Kids last night and am hoping the four prizes I gave away will inspire the others.

We tackled the long e today and most of the kids did great! The students really seem to have turned a corner on their vowels since they came back from winter break.

We did a wonder wall! I have been wanting to do this for a few years since I saw it on Instagram and with our new unit about animals in winter, this was the perfect time to set it up. We talked about shallow and deep questions and I was pretty impressed that most of the questions were really thoughtful.

In the afternoon we started learning about migration- our first sub theme.

I left school quickly for my massage appointment.

Knitting:

I am still taking apart the sleeve:( I had better wear this sweater a lot once it is fixed!

Trivia:

Who was the co star to Lucille Starr?

Desi Arnaz Jr.

Who is on the front of the Canucks jersey?

Johnny Canuck

Who is the host of the bachelor?

Chris Harrison

Who are the actors in Mad About You?

Helen Hunt, Paul Reiser

What city was in the poem Casey at Bat?

Mudville

In the music round, the categories were:

Bands of Colour

Single Named

Cowboy songs

Michael Jackson

Hits of 2018

In the Kahoot round:

Which author committed suicide?

Ernest Hemingway

Which country did Columbus sail for?

Italy

Which country is the most recent gold winner in Olympic hockey?

Russia

What was the name of George Clooney’s character in Oceans 11?

Danny Ocean

In the last round we knew:

Who played Doc in Back to the Future?

Christopher Lloyd

Who has stolen the most bases in baseball?

Ricky Henderson

What is the book of the New Testament that comes after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

Acts

What is Adele’s biggest hit?

Hello

Amazingly we won the final round and we were shocked!! Of course that meant I had to stay up later:(

Have fun!

AJ

Monday Again

How does this day keep showing up???

Teaching:

The best part of the day was getting my students excited about the RAZ Kids program we can now use for home reading. A lot of them have already started tonight which makes me super happy!!

We also got through music, gym where we played line soccer which I used to play in gym class. I guess a classic is a classic for a reason.

This afternoon we started our unit on Animals in Winter. This is one of my favorite units as there are some fun experiments to do.

We also had a stroke of luck and had nice enough weather that we got to go outside and play at the end of the day.

A pretty good Monday!

Exercise:

After a very long staff meeting, I came home and did my plank for the day and some yoga. I have really gotten into this little bit of yoga each day. I hope it’s doing something good for me.

Knitting:

I have been tackling the second sleeve of my grey sweater and I’m sorry to say it’s been no easier to take apart than the first!😖😖😖

Well that’s it for me as I stayed up way too late last night. Have fun!

AJ

Happy Friday Eve!

I’m glad that it seems as though my weeks are back to going fast!

Teaching:

We have been doing the Fin’s Friends program all year. This is a program by the Vancouver Canucks about character. We have been studying the book, What Makes Us Happy that is done by a grade 2 class in Quebec. Well the last project is that the kids get to create their own book using torn paper pictures. I like this because its good exercise of fine motor skills. Well this morning I gave time to finish the pictures we started yesterday and we have all but four done. I hope they get finished tomorrow so we can read our book!

The kids had music and I had a prep, but it was wasted because of a fire drill.

We finally got to a counting by 2s math page today. One side was a little tough because it went to 100 and we’ve only been going to 50, but we used an interactive hundred chart on the smart board first and most kids were able to do it with the help of that.

This afternoon we had silent reading/ guided reading. I’ve been really loving these lessons lately as the kids are soaking up the info really well. Today though I had my little guy who just cannot sit still. He is in constant motion. I can only imagine how horrible that must feel inside his body and unfortunately my district does no testing of kids for ADHD until grade three or four. If anyone has good ideas of how to help him, I’d love to hear it! I send him on lots of breaks to return things for me, etc. and we do lots of movement breaks in class too, but he is still wired.

Finally we started an art project on types of line. I love it when my art actually teaches a concept:)

After school I got the most exciting news! My principal came around to ask if I had been sent info about the home reading program. No, I’ve been waiting since March of last year🙄. Well she came again to ask if I’d be willing to be the school co-ordinator of this program. Sure. Within twenty minutes I had the email from the district and I will hopefully be setting up teacher accounts tomorrow🎊🎉

This also solved another problem for me. I had been asked who my low readers were and I had named three and sure enough now they want me to tell parents that they should have Lexia. I just don’t feel right about doing this yet. It’s only January of grade one, the kid struggling the most is a December- born boy, and they missed four months of school last year and have not had home reading at all this year yet. I don’t want to alarm parent unnecessarily. Well when I heard about the home reading program coming through, I’ve decided to say that I am going to put the kids on this, talk to the parents about the importance of doing this daily, and then see where they are at spring break. If they are still struggling, then we’ll look at a more intrusive intervention. I’m all about early intervention, but these littles haven’t exactly had normal yet in their school careers!

Exercise:

I made it home just in time for a quick run with Dennis. I felt bad about limiting him to a quick run to the mill again, but I didn’t want to push my knee too much. It turned out okay though as he was sore from skiing yesterday. I was beating myself up about my low mileage this week, but then realized I’m hurt and I’m still ahead in mileage than I was last year at this time.

This evening I also managed a one minute plank and six minutes of yoga.

I’m trying to concentrate on the good things I do and not be too upset at myself for the four chocolates I’ve had at work this week after I told myself I was trying to avoid sugar this year.

Knitting:

I finished my toque and I am so glad I went back and redid it!! The Just a Hat pattern is free on Ravelry and it was a quick and easy pattern to follow. I did it in Cascade in charcoal with a black Pom Pom. I did omit the last six rows of the pattern to account for my smaller size as I didn’t want it to be a slouchy hat. I also did it with 84 stitches, rather than 96.

I don’t have a lot of hats, so I have one more in mind.

Sorry about the poor picture- it’s winter and nighttime here.

My next project is a cowl for the teacher next door to me. I think I’m going to try marling for the first time.

Well that’s it for me.

Have fun!

AJ

Drama

I really don’t understand drama queens! I try to have as little drama in my life as possible, but seem people seem to try for as much drama as possible????

Teaching:

The tech worked all day, well except I can’t be lazy and now have to go poke the projector with my meter stick, instead of using the remote. Oh well:(

We tackled long a today in phonics and the kids really seemed to get it:)

We then played What Time Is it Mr. Wild in gym which they seemed to absolutely adore!

In math, we finally watched the counting by 2s video, though most of the children said it didn’t explain it any better than I did. We also played seven rounds of Around the World, though we have yet to get a winner.

This afternoon we had silent reading and a reading group and then Fin came to visit and we worked on a class book about happiness. We didn’t finish the class book because the pictures are made of torn paper. I just don’t know how to inspire one little guy- he puts as little effort as possible into everything:(

I ran home after school and went to my physio appointment.

Cooking:

I actually did some real cooking tonight. I had prepped all my food for the week on Sunday, but then noticed I had an avocado that was ripe so I made the Avocado pasta from Oh She Glows. It was so good! Very quick and easy too. Here is the Recipe but it’s really just cook pasta, blend garlic, basil, oil and avocado together and put over drained pasta. Yum yum!!!

Reading:

I keep forgetting to tell you about a series I just read. It would be perfect for next December. It is the Reindeer Falls series by Jana Aston. The three books are short novellas and were super cute. It is complete fluff, but lots of Christmas elements so it’s good for putting you into the Christmas spirit.

Knitting:

Well I decided to pull my Just a Hat completely out and start over as I didn’t like how tight it was. I am done the ribbing again and am onto the pattern. Hopefully I’ll have it done by the weekend!

Exercise:

I wasn’t planning to exercise at all today, but I want to try and do something everyday so I had thought some yoga would be good. I actually ended up doing the Nourish Move Love 15 minute Low Impact HIIT workout to warm up my muscles that were getting tight after my physio.

I also did 7 minutes of yoga by doing a Pinterest workout of Five Stretches for Poor Posture.

I am finding it quite amazing that I have just done six random yoga routines over the last six days and it has already helped with my psoas that has been bugging me for months. I gotta try to keep this up!

Have fun!

AJ

Trivia Tuesday

Well the second day was just as frustrating when it comes to my smart board, but at least the kids got some time outside.

Teaching:

My smart board didn’t work this morning so I had to quickly change around my day and we did Thursday’s printing of u that doesn’t require any tech.

We had more tech problems after recess during our math time so there went that lesson too. We did some practice of counting by 2s while moving, but couldn’t watch the video I had found.

Finally this afternoon everything was working so after reading time we watched “Squirrel’s New Years Resolution” and discussed and wrote about what we could make as our goals this year. The children actually did really well at this concept this year. Maybe I’m getting better with the examples?!?!🤣

Exercise:

My running buddies tell me I am obsessed with running and they were worried I was out there too soon after falling. I did feel much better today, except on stairs and hills. I took it easy and got 4km in through the driving rain and wind and dark. What a night to be out there!

I also did 8 minutes of yoga and managed to avoid all kneeling and hand moves.😜

Trivia:

After a quick shower and some icing of the knee. It was time for trivia. There were only four of us tonight.

In the first round:

Where was Ryan Reynolds born?

British Columbia

What were the male uncle names in Full House?

Danny, Jesse, Joey

Who was the author of Frankenstein?

Mary Shelley

What is the next number in this series?

3,12,24,33,66

75

What was Lady Gaga’s biggest hit?

Bad Romance

Who was the female agent number in Get Smart?

99

What was the name of the man in curious George?

The man in the yellow hat

In the music round the topics were “Boy” bands, “girl” bands, “money” songs, The Police, Hits of Summer 2012

Kahoot round:

How did Julius Caesar die?

Stabbed

Which company makes Hummers?

GM

What month is mentioned in The Temptations song My Girl?

May

I couldn’t stay around to find out what we got right in the last round as I wasn’t feeling well from my wings:(

All in all, a pretty good day.

Have fun!

AJ

Back to Reality

Well my lovely winter break is over! It was a great break! I read 7 books, ran 18 times (every day), and knitted 2 sweaters, 2 toques and a scarf.

Today was back to work and back to normal.

Teaching:

My kids were good in the morning when we wrote about our holidays, had music and played tag in gym. We unfortunately had an indoor lunch and my smart board wasn’t working so the afternoon was definitely louder. We had silent reading while I taught a reading group and then did a mini book about New Years Eve traditions. It is definitely not my favorite book as the words are tough for the kids.

House:

I left work right away as I had gotten a text from my strata manager that they needed to look in my storage locker. Needless to say there is water in my locker and most of those around me. They haven’t identified where the water is coming from; so I’m not sure what is happening next. I sure hope it’s nothing major!

Exercise:

I tried to do some yoga and exercise, but my hand and knee are super sore and swollen so it wasn’t very successful:(

Knitting:

I’ve been working on the “Just a Hat” pattern off of Ravelry. I like what it looks like and it was super easy. I’ve bound off, but now I’m thinking I want it a little longer:(. Now I have to figure out whether I’m taking it apart to fix or not.

Well that’s it for me, have fun!

AJ