A Day In The Life: Monday 17th November

I love both reading and writing 'day in the life posts'.  Naturally nosey, I like glancing at what others do in their days (I'm always in awe of how busy and effective people are!), and it's quite fun to reflect on what my day-to-day holds too.  So every so often I like to do a good 'here's what I did' post.  Here's my day from Monday, November 17th:

 5.15am: Alarm goes off.  It's so dark at the moment (really starting to feel wintry!), it's all I can do to blink myself awake at five in the morning!  Quick stretch, ablutions and change, before heading downstairs to give the katzen their first breakfast and have a nice glass of water.  I eat breakfast when I get to work - making food and coffee this early doesn't quite compute!

My standard school outfit - classic and comfy!



6.00am: Leave house, walk to station, catch one then another tube across town.

The Jubilee line at 6.20am is a quiet place!  Perfect to tuck into a book or the paper.
 7.00am:  Arrive at school.  This time is ideal for ad hoc meetings, photocopying, hoovering up some marking, setting up for the day and having breakfast (of course!).

Mmmmm, desk-fast.  Coffee and muesli.
8.00am: The boys arrive and we have some form time - we chat, take books from the library, catch up, play card games.  Usually we'd have an assembly but it's been moved, so we get an extra long form time!

8.40am:  It's review paper week so I start getting the boys set up for their creative writing paper.  I'm exited to see how they do!

8.50am:  While the boys write their stories I am invigilating (and giving our tonnes of tissues - the joys of cold season!).  It's a great chance to write a few notes home - I send about a half dozen to dozen a week to keep parents in the loop on our adventures!  Perfect task to work on while keeping the boys calm and happy.
I love choosing new stationery every term or so!

9.50am: We finish up the papers and get them filed.  Then the boys head off to break and I hit.....

10.00am: The marking!



Haribo helps improve sentencing, right?
10.35am: After a silent session for reviews, we have a nice, loud, active maths session.  Blackjack, anyone?

11.10am: Monday is my main day for planning and marking, so I spend the next hour in the ICT suite making resources and filling in my planner.  So lucky to find pockets of time in the day for this!

12.10pm:  I popped to the office to see if my packages had arrived and then headed down to lunch - a spot of macaroni cheese and a big old helping of salad, YUM!

Christmas presents arriving :)
1.00pm:  Back to the planning and marking.

'Challenge lists' for our reading focus.

And more marking - gold stars agogo!
2.05pm:  English with my 5s - we are working on debating at the moment - such fun!

3.15pm:  A nice chilled RS lesson on the Bible.

3.50pm:  It's my turn to do 'shakey handy' duty - bidding all our Middlies a good afternoon.  I love times where I get to check in with the boys.

Monday is my earliest finish (along with Friday) - Tuesday through Thursday I tend to stay until 6, 7, or 8, but on Mondays and Fridays I'm often done by 4.30 or 5.  That's still nine or so hours, and definitely feels like hometime.

4.45pm:  Jump on the tube home.  Arrive to a cross Poppet - she gets very indulged with attention over the weekend, so she does NOT like Mondays! 

Where have you been???

6.15pm:  After a quick sip of water and some supper for the cats, it's back out of the door to the grocery store.  Luckily it's close by!

Yay!

I bought *so* much Christmas stuff.  I did remember milk!
7.20pm:  Home, and attempt a selfie while unpacking the shopping.

Failed utterly - Leela was not having it!

7.30pm:  My Dad used to make Dundee cake every Christmas, and this year I've decided to try.  First attempt tonight!
It begins!

Oh-so-many-dishes....

Yay!
While this is going on I also check emails, mark a bundle of mental maths scripts, send about a dozen Junior League emails, catch up with Matthew, read a couple of papers on division and generally whirl about.

Fry is getting sleepy...
11.30pm:  It's finally time to wrap up for the night....close down the house, have a cup of decaf and curl up with a good book.  Another Monday done!



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Great Books for Children aged 8 -12


There are many brilliant things about being an English teacher.

One of the very best has to be sharing a love of words, of books, of language.

I'm a voracious reader, and that's very much something I like to share with my students.

I currently teach two classes for English, focusing on readers in KS2.  Recently they have asked me for some suggestions on what to read next, so I made them some bookmarks full of quality reads!  In the real world I trimmed these and laminated, and gave each child a copy to have with them next time they are stuck for a read.  I thought I'd share them here in case they were of use to someone else with a bunch of bookworms!

Mrs R’s Challenge List (c. 8-10)
How many have you read?  How many can you read?
Carrie’s War – Bawden
How to Train Your Dragon – Cowell
The Tales of Despereaux - DiCamillo
Artemis Fowl – Colfer
The Borrowers – Mary Norton
The Demon Headmaster – Cross
Matilda – Dahl
A Bear Called Paddington – Bond
Swallows and Amazons – Ransome
Flour Babies – Fine
My Naughty Little Sister – Edwards
Finn Family Moomintroll – Jansson
The Adventures of Tintin – Hergé
The Queen’s Nose – King-Smith
Holes – Louis Sachar
Stig of the Dump – King
Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren
Mister Magnolia – Blake
Goodnight Mr Tom – Magorian
Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder

Mrs R’s Challenge List (c. 10-12)
How many have you read?  How many can you read?
Skellig – Almond
Wolf Brother – Paver
Millions – Frank Cotrell Boyce
Keeper – Peet
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Aiken
Eating Things on Sticks – Fine
The Witches – Dahl
Sparks – Kennen
Once – Gleitzman
Friendly Matches – Ahlberg
Journey to the River Sea – Ibbotson
Charlotte’s Web – White
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Lewis
The Arrival – Tan
Private Peaceful – Morpurgo
The Hobbit – Tolkien
Truckers – Pratchett
The Little Prince – de Saint-Exupery
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - Rowling
Ribblestrop - Mulligan

Note: these are not meant to be exhaustive, but are more a stepping stone in a readers' journey.  I'd say most of the titles could be enjoyed by both age groups, but a few of the books on the older list might be a little too advanced in theme and approach for younger children.

I'll be making new 'challenge lists' (my classes are competitive and love anything competitive!) next term.  Which books would you add?
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Hello!

As ever, September has been a busy, busy time so far.

Work and life always seems to ramp up a gear as the back-to-school frenzy descends, and it's been an exhausting, exhilarating, busy, beautiful couple of weeks.  Usually I tend to hibernate a little at the weekends and evenings in September, but this year I've been determined to stay busy at school and away from school.

Here's a little of what I've been up to recently:


There's always time for Poppet-Cat!  Lots of late night snuggles for this lady - she'd gotten so used to having me home over summer, I think back to school has been a bit of a shock.


As well as our regular coffee and movie dates, Shona and I have also been branching out.  Last night we went to Silent Disco (always a fave of mine!); it was hilarious!


The first rule of brunch club?

You eat a lot of brunches :)  Just lovely to have time to catch up with the girlies!


Fry continues to melt our hearts with his sweet nature.  Every morning he now deploys his squeaky little miaow to ensure he gets Claire cuddles before I head to work.  And every evening too.  He's just the most lovely, calm, polite little thing!


Last weekend I made it over to Bristol for lunch, shopping and cocktails with the gorgeous Naomi and Steph - just brilliant to catch up!


Christy and I are reliving our teens by rereading VC Andrews' ridiculous Flowers In The Attic series.  And watching the Lifetime movies too.  So. Much. Melodrama.


While this is a busy work season for both of us, Matthew and I are also enjoying being newlyweds, and are always looking for windows where we can hang out.  Sometimes this means sharing a cab home from work so we can catch up and chat before separate evening plans!  This was London last night, glimpsed as we journeyed home.  Love our city.


Leela has been her usual silly, purrful, hilarious self.  My favourite times with her are when she sneaks into the living room solo when I'm reading and we just curl up all cosy.  She's such an energetic wee thing, it's lovely to catch that mellow side of her!


The Scottish referendum has been very much front and centre in our thoughts (I'm Scots-English, and either way the call would have potential major changes ahead for our family).  Ultimately, Scotland voted no, by a narrow majority (55%/45%), with one of the best voter turnouts I've seen in modern times in a democratic nation. 


Tea.  Always tea.


I also managed to squeeze in a very fun Mexican cooking evening with Old El Paso (more on that soon!).  Delicious!

So that's my month so far.  Phew!  Add in school starting and the Junior League year kicking off and it's been a barrel of busy so far.  How are you all?
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100 Happy Days: 86 - 90


A gift from Matthew....
 ...and a chill with Popps.


Homemade iced coffee!


A good book and a train journey.


A beautiful wedding - the last we attended as guests before our own!



A day of batch cooking - filling the freezer ahead of school beginning next month!
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100 Happy Days: 81 - 85


Yep, so Poppet has figured out how to invade the study through the window...


On Day 82 I had my lovely bridal shower.  Such fun to have a giggle with some of my favourite girls!



Day 83, stir fry, and new chopsticks to eat it with ( I won them during one of the shower games!).


Day 84 I popped into school to do a little class read-aloud research.


Day 85, the wedding work continued!
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100 Happy Days: 66 - 70


Chocolate cake + caramel frosting = nom nom nom.


On day 67, Shona treated me to tickets to see Kristin Chenoweth at the Royal Albert Hall.  The concert was exceptional.  Then we had crepes and chats.


When I opened the box of school themed cookies one of my sweet boys had given me at the end of term, I found this!  I love all the little in-jokes I have with my class.


Yep, I think the candy bar will be pretty well stocked!


Although you might not guess is, Leela loves to invade in the mornings for cuddles and fusses!  I love how her little nose smudge makes her look so serious all the time!
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100 Happy Days: 61 - 65


When we returned from Cheltenham we headed for Sunday lunch at a friends' pub (Aldo & Jo) with two university friends of mine, Tim & Alasdair.  Delicious lunch, good chat, and a fuss with Mr Darcy, Jo's lovely doggie, into the bargain.  The sign made me giggle - Candy is Jo's name for me (she's Chips ;)).


On Day 62, the Tour de France came to our neck of the woods.  As in, our actual road.  My pictures were far too shoddy to share (those guys are fast!), but I did snap this one of a rather handsome chap!


I also went for a wee potter around B&Q, looking for new plants for the garden :)


On day 63, Fry was fascinated by wrapping ribbons.


Whereas I was smiling once more at my name-to-be.


The last day of school brought tears and smiles and flowers....

 ...and Poppet claiming another box as her own.

Day 65 was the first day of the summer holidays.

Look at that rain!
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