At last. The holiday starts. Well, not officially, I suppose but even so, it feels wonderful. Wonderful to wake up and go back to sleep again. Wonderful to be sitting idly at my computer when I am usually rushing around at school. Wonderful to know that there are sixteen more days of this.
So, I think it's going to be a long bath, a nice leisurely breakfast with a pot of real coffee and a ponder over which recipes to try!
Bliss!
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Friday, 4 April 2014
Friday
And we're here. We've arrived. Last day of the term. I'm so tired (and I've had a good night's sleep) but the weariness is mental as well as physical and nothing a few days of idleness won't sort out.
My friend is here and sleeping sweetly (I hope) in the guest room. I hope my moving about won't disturb her too much as I get ready for school as our hours are very different. She's a late bird and I'm the early one!
There's very little planned at school. We had a lovely assembly yesterday for a teacher who is getting married over the Easter break. We have a little tradition - each year group makes a card, prepares a little 'thing' (ours was two wooden spoons dressed as a bride and groom) and do a little 'something' (a rhyme, song, etc) for the blushing bride-to-be. Well, as D is fairly new working at the school, she had no idea and was totally surprised. Very sweet!
I was out of class in the afternoon looking at books - that was very interesting and, I hope, useful too in the longer term too.
And now it is the last day of what has been a very difficult and exhausting term, Yay!
.
My friend is here and sleeping sweetly (I hope) in the guest room. I hope my moving about won't disturb her too much as I get ready for school as our hours are very different. She's a late bird and I'm the early one!
There's very little planned at school. We had a lovely assembly yesterday for a teacher who is getting married over the Easter break. We have a little tradition - each year group makes a card, prepares a little 'thing' (ours was two wooden spoons dressed as a bride and groom) and do a little 'something' (a rhyme, song, etc) for the blushing bride-to-be. Well, as D is fairly new working at the school, she had no idea and was totally surprised. Very sweet!
I was out of class in the afternoon looking at books - that was very interesting and, I hope, useful too in the longer term too.
And now it is the last day of what has been a very difficult and exhausting term, Yay!
.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Thursday
Good morning. Another quick one today but I don't like to miss. I hope everyone has a great day and that the air quality where you are is OK and doesn't cause too many problems.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Wednesday
Here we are, Wednesday already and three days to go before a much needed break.
Today is packed with Easter stuff. Making Easter biscuits, making Easter cards, finishing off another card, finishing off other stuff, fortnightly visit to the library, nice day really.
Yesterday went OK. My SCITT student came in. SCITT is School Centred Initial Teacher Training and what happens is that a post grad student is linked to a school for the whole year of training with half a term in a 'second school' in a different key stage. We are my student's second school so he is with me for the next half term. It'll be nice to have him around and I do enjoy mentoring anyway.
This, of course, means a lot of paperwork but not as much teaching for me so it's swings and roundabouts really! It will all pan out, I hope.
Today is packed with Easter stuff. Making Easter biscuits, making Easter cards, finishing off another card, finishing off other stuff, fortnightly visit to the library, nice day really.
Yesterday went OK. My SCITT student came in. SCITT is School Centred Initial Teacher Training and what happens is that a post grad student is linked to a school for the whole year of training with half a term in a 'second school' in a different key stage. We are my student's second school so he is with me for the next half term. It'll be nice to have him around and I do enjoy mentoring anyway.
This, of course, means a lot of paperwork but not as much teaching for me so it's swings and roundabouts really! It will all pan out, I hope.
 |
| We had quite a nice sunset last week and I drove home hoping that it wouldn't change before I got to my camera. It did, but not too much. |
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Tuesday
 |
| My lovely old bear, Tubbalina (see below for reason for posting) |
Happy April Fools' Day to all my readers. This blog is very boring, it's an April Fool free place. Well, I have to have somewhere: school will be overloaded with all the old classics, won't it?
Mts Clark, you've got a fly on your nose.
Mrs Clark, you've got something on your back.
Mrs Clark, your hair has turned blue . . . (all bona fide examples)
To which the stock response is 'Oh, no, has it/do I? What shall I do?' or similar! I'm good at dismayed voices! Until the irritation sets in and the more perceptive ones stop double quick!
Fortunately it is Tuesday so it will all be over by playtime when my non-contact time starts.
Yesterday was a long and very busy day. I was extremely pleased with the way the class worked - we were doing some work in literacy, labelling the above photo of beloved old teddy bear with an adjective/noun label (or, in the case of the more able, an adjective/adjective/noun label) and they did jolly well. I printed out the photo, cut round the bear leaving just a small bear shaped border and stuck it in the middle of a sheet of white paper and it worked very well. Maths was good too so in the afternoon we all relaxed with some history based videos with Magic Grandad. Such a shame to think that some of them will be obsolete when the new curriculum starts. It is frightening how many resources will just be thrown away, including huge files of resources teachers have gathered over the years. Frightening and very, very sad. Ah, well, I can use the Tubbalina photo again as she (and I) just fall within the new timescale for Year 1 history.
I think I'm nuts. I have a friend coming over this evening. Just for a chat and I'm looking forward to it very much but I never usually have anyone over on weekdays. I just hope I can stay awake. Yesterday, when I got home, I sat down and went to sleep and woke about 45 minutes later . . .
Right - well, the planning is done, I just have to look over the maths and then I can have my bath and get ready. Lots of time this morning which feels great. And just four more days.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Monday
There's not a lot of time this morning so this is just to say it's been a lovely weekend with lots of kitchen fun! Hope today is just as good.
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Sunday
I woke at my usual time (just before 4:00) to find that, of course, it was just around 5:00. Nice to have a lie in!!!
It can't be cold outside: the bedroom window is open and there is no chill in the room. Yesterday was lovely and sunny but not quite warm enough to sit out comfortably. It wasn't helped by quite a breeze most of the time. So I didn't get my snooze in the sun but never mind, there will be plenty of those before the year is over.
I had a good day. In the morning I made bread and biscuits (for my friends to take with me while they are away for the weekend) and then later on I had a bash at Jack's 'Car-brie-nara' which was very nice indeed. The only change I would make would be to add some value grated 'not Parmesan' for extra cheesiness. The recipe is online here.
Also I found a recipe for no kneed bread which takes around 20 to 24 hours so, of course, I couldn't resist that, just to have a go. It's now right at the end of the process, in the oven, so I will know how it has worked in - ooooh, about half an hour or so. It started off more as a batter than a dough and, after standing all day and all night, made a very, very soft dough, quite difficult to handle. Given that I use Thermione for kneading anyway, I'm not sure it is worth the effort but I will reserve final judgement until after the acid test - eating it. It's supposed to taste wonderful and have an open, artisan-y texture. Watch this space.
Later on I made the first in a few batches of soda bread for my friend, Al, who is coming to stay and who can't have yeast. I love soda bread so needed to get it into the freezer fast or one of the two loaves would have disappeared.
Today I'm having a go at Jack's diet cola chicken which is simple and sounds scrummy. I'll do cheg for Beth and we will have it with a salad and, hopefully, some delicious, fresh bread! If it doesn't work I guess we will have soda bread instead, so we can't lose, can we?
I also want to try her crackerbread which is basically flour, water and salt. If it works (and it ought to) then I shall make a pile for Al.
Happy days. Just a shame about the planning!!
It can't be cold outside: the bedroom window is open and there is no chill in the room. Yesterday was lovely and sunny but not quite warm enough to sit out comfortably. It wasn't helped by quite a breeze most of the time. So I didn't get my snooze in the sun but never mind, there will be plenty of those before the year is over.
I had a good day. In the morning I made bread and biscuits (for my friends to take with me while they are away for the weekend) and then later on I had a bash at Jack's 'Car-brie-nara' which was very nice indeed. The only change I would make would be to add some value grated 'not Parmesan' for extra cheesiness. The recipe is online here.
Also I found a recipe for no kneed bread which takes around 20 to 24 hours so, of course, I couldn't resist that, just to have a go. It's now right at the end of the process, in the oven, so I will know how it has worked in - ooooh, about half an hour or so. It started off more as a batter than a dough and, after standing all day and all night, made a very, very soft dough, quite difficult to handle. Given that I use Thermione for kneading anyway, I'm not sure it is worth the effort but I will reserve final judgement until after the acid test - eating it. It's supposed to taste wonderful and have an open, artisan-y texture. Watch this space.
Later on I made the first in a few batches of soda bread for my friend, Al, who is coming to stay and who can't have yeast. I love soda bread so needed to get it into the freezer fast or one of the two loaves would have disappeared.
Today I'm having a go at Jack's diet cola chicken which is simple and sounds scrummy. I'll do cheg for Beth and we will have it with a salad and, hopefully, some delicious, fresh bread! If it doesn't work I guess we will have soda bread instead, so we can't lose, can we?
I also want to try her crackerbread which is basically flour, water and salt. If it works (and it ought to) then I shall make a pile for Al.
Happy days. Just a shame about the planning!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)