School | But I Smile Anyway...

Frantic Friday! – #Exhaustipated

22 Sep 2017 73 Comments

by Ritu in Family, Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Exhausted, Exhaustipated, hectic, School

The weekend couldn’t come soon enough!

And I have another big week ahead of me so I can’t relax just yet!

You all know I have rather a lot of duties in school this week, with two classes, and subject responsibilities, and the Governor role too…

And I am coping, honestly!

Yes, I am tired, but I combat this by falling asleep earlier.

If I don’t read my book then fair enough.
If I miss my fave show on Telly, no worries, it’s recordable.
If I don’t make the lunches, they can be done in the morning.
If I can’t be as hot on my blog and reader, I just have to cope with it.

Can I give you an example of one of my days this week?

Obviously, I wake up at 6am and have to make sure the kitchen is tidy, lunches packed, school bags ready by the door, feed the cat and birds, shower, have breakfast, read my emails and browse my reader, answer notifications and check my other Social Media, holler for Hubby Dearest and the kids to get up, then when all are ready, we finally leave!

7.50am Get to school.
8.00am Settle down in nursery for the morning.
8.45am Let my nursery children in and spend time interacting and observing them. Meet a new parent and child, showing them around the environment.
9.40am Get called to attend my Reception class to be part of the ‘My First Class’ photo that our local paper takes, and submits into a big supplement of all the reception classes in the area.
10.00am Other teacher leaves to do a home visit with one assistant, leaving me with the other assistant, to field drink times and outside play.
11.10am they arrive back in time to take kids back in for fruit and story.
11.25am Off to a Reception parents meeting, which should last 30 mins.
12.25pm Meeting overran by half an hour so yamming lunch down my throat as have a meeting with a fellow new Governor, to book in some training.
12.45pm Realise I was meant to be in the classroom letting the afternoon nursery children in! Thank goodness Wednesday is the day my team teacher and I are together!
12.50pm Spend time with children, observing and interacting.
1.20pm Off to set up for some planning time.
1.30pm Scheduled Progress meeting for children with possible SEN issues in Reception class.
2.35pm – It overran again. Try to do some paperwork before…
3.10pm back to Nursery to help supervise the end of the session as the afternoon kids can’t sit or stay quiet or understand instructions!
3.45pm once all kids are picked up, head back to planning area to meet with Reception team to discuss the plans for next week.
4.15pm Back to Nursery to discuss next weeks plans with my team teacher.
5pm Finally leave work.

Then it didn’t end there – got home and had to make sure homework was done, dinner was eaten, birds and cat fed and cage cleaned. Quality time with the pets too. Also assisting Hubby with packing for his Boy’s weekend away. Ironing. Made lunches. Blogged… Collapsed to sleep just after 10pm!

So, do you get why the weekend is so welcome? And this was a week where the Reception class were only in for half days!

Next week, we start the Reception children on full days, which involves staying with them for lunch too for the first week, which means Monday and Tuesday will be full on! Wednesday I am with them too, to cover my Partner Reception teacher, then I have planning time in the afternoon. Nursery on Thursday and Friday, with a Governor’s meeting on Thursday evening too, and the children are having their first individual school photos on Friday, which is always fun with the Nursery children!

Oh my days, I need a real holiday!!!!!!!!!!

Friday Fatigue!

15 Sep 2017 53 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Happy, School, tired

Two weeks almost done…

And the kids aren’t even in full time yet!

Switching from Nursery hat to Reception hat is surprisingly tough, you know!

Even though these two years are in the Early Years Foundation Stage, they are both very different in terms of developmental milestones a child hits.

Nursery at 3-4 years old is a time for building confidence, looking at their personal, social, and emotional development. For us, with our extremely mixed cultural demographic, it is also a time for teaching spoken communication in English, and fostering understanding of simple concepts. The children need to learn how to play together, talk together, take turns, learn patience and perseverance.

Throughout the year there is emphasis placed on counting, and learning the sounds of the alphabet through play, and recognising their names too, with hopefully, attempts at writing it.

Reception at 4-5 years old, is a time to just consolidate these things above, but there is a high expectation to really build the academic learning foundation too. These children should be writing sentences by the end of the year, counting fluently to 20, and doing simple addition and subtraction. Oh, and hopefully they should be reading simple words and sentences too!

Within both groups we need to give them experiences to enhance their learning of the world around them, culture and community and technology. They need to experience ways to create in different ways too.

So, what impact does this have on me?

My expectations for each group have to be different.

I need to remember not to push my babies too hard, and to make sure my older babies are stretching themselves enough!

The nursery children are doing a couple of hours in the morning then the afternoon session are doing two hours. We have worked on settling them, and showing them how to keep busy, trying different things.

The reception class are still doing mornings only. They are learning about structure, and listening, and exploring their new environments.

But this doesn’t mean lots of free time! No!

We have to assess each child individually, to see where they are at the start of their academic life.

In Nursery it is for our records. In Reception it is for the National Base Line.

Yes, I can sit with a cuppa and go through my paperwork. But I am running back and forth between the two classrooms to confer with my colleagues. The path from my class to the printer is wearing thin.

And that teacher tiredness encompasses all in my profession, not just me!

And I attended my first Governors meeting too, which was actually not as daunting as I thought it would be!

I arrive home and the Mummy hat goes on. Dinners for the kids are already cooked by my dear Mother In Law, so that is great! But homework, housework, laundry, all still need doing. Making the lunches for the next day, and feeding myself and Hubby Dearest also takes priority.

Then I finally sit and can write for my blog! Ritu’s ‘Me!’ hat finally on!

My novel has a little bit left, but with the tiredness I am experiencing, I don’t want to try and finish it without a fresh brain!

So when I am yawning, and craving asleep before 10 pm, I am not fighting it at all!

Do you blame me?

Right, I’m off to finish my week!

Enjoy your weekend Peeps! I’m planning on enjoying mine!

Injury Report #2584

08 Sep 2017 109 Comments

by Ritu in Humour, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Humour, injury, Ouch, School

Yes, I’m back after quite a while this time with another injury report.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that my middle name should be clumsy.

From burns, to trilling up, sitting on chairs awkwardly to hitting my head in strange places… there is always something silly I’m doing!

Well, why would I change things?

Yesterday, at the very beginning of the school day, I was setting up the classroom and managed to step down from somewhere, and land on my foot in a weird way.

I twisted it, and the top, and outer side was very tender.

Spent the whole day icing it, and trying to keep it up where I could, but that’s not easy with 40 new nursery children to settle and comfort!

Plus I was at school until past 7.30 pm for my first Governors meeting!

Got home and settled my own two to bed before really looking at it, and giving it a soak..

IMG_20170907_213237_663

Oh yes…definitely swollen and sore!

OUCH indeed!

I swallowed some ibuprofen and slept well though the night. It’s amazing how good a sedative the exhaustion of teaching is!

It’s still sore today, but I’ll have to manage!

And the kids are in for longer today…EEK!

Wish me well, and have a great Friday Peeps!

Thank God It’s Friday!

Back To School Blues – #MondayBlogs

04 Sep 2017 92 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Back to school, Back to work, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, New challenges, School

Can you believe it?

Six weeks have flown by, filled with weddings, writing and more writing! But it is time to head back through those hallowed doors of my school, ready to start another year of teaching.

I am slightly apprehensive, this year. There are a few changes to my professional role. Some of you may remember. I mentioned it before the end of term.

This year, I am not just responsible for the Nursery class. I will be teaching two days a week in Reception, and three days in my beloved Nursery. Additionally, I will be taking responsibility for the School Council, Eco Schools, and Healthy Schools with a colleague of mine… AND (there’s always an AND!) I am officially on the board of Governors too!

Phew!

Today will be filled with preparation and planning. The children start back on Tuesday. And my first Governors meeting is on Thursday evening.

And along with all this new stuff, I still need to be wife and mother, and write my blog, and finish my WIP!

I am not going to get myself het up about anything. Instead, I’ll handle things in my own Ritu-style – with a smile.

If I am not as vocal, or I miss posts from you, I apologise in advance. I shall try my best to keep up with everything, but I can’t promise… This is where that clone machine would come in handy! I have loved being free to read and write more the last month and a half. I know I won’t have that luxury now, but I won’t give it up either – don’t worry!

And I will eat cake.

It’s tradition to bring some cake in on your birthday, so I have a huge supply (not home baked this time, I was a tad busy!) ready to distribute to my colleagues.

So, I shall leave you to your business, and I’m pretty sure that by the end of the week, I’ll have something to report back to you about how my Teaching life is shaping up!

Spidey’s Serene Sunday – Part 128

30 Jul 2017 27 Comments

by Ritu in Spidey's Serene Sundays, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Calm, Quote, School, Serene, Spiderman, Spidey, Spidey's Serene Sunday, tired

“The trick is to enjoy life. Don’t wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead.” – Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Wise words that Spidey found today!

It is all to easy to wait for that special time, when you are convinced certain things will happen.

We can wish our whole lives away, waiting for Friday, for the holidays, for the day some publisher finds our writing and makes us an overnight author sensation (just me?).

But what about all the days in between?

There is so much to be grateful for each and every day, some things are small, some huge, but each and every event in your life play a part in slowly forming the person you are destined to become.

We need to learn to take each day as it comes, appreciate the day to day things, then when those special days come, they will feel all the more special because you have been so busy enjoying life that you forgot to focus purely on one thing.

Have a blessed Sunday Peeps!