Froglet

The TDL is fairly epic but I have two weeks and only intend working in the mornings of the first one so hopefully lots will get done. I’m up late this morning though so I may not get to it… Most of it is organisational which will stand me in good stead next term though. I bread the first Richard Osman one and liked it but don’t know that I’d rave about it. I’ve been finding reading hard recently so am hoping for something fairly easy to get me going again.

Do you mean to unlock or just ‘wiggle’ To be honest, blu tack would be preferable to some of the things which have been stuck to my carpet recently! I love this idea and the bottle one especially. Are the Velcro strips to stroke or to do something else with? I’m guessing both the soft and the spiky sides would work?

Welcome JJ! I too am a list lover and have a beautiful notebook where I plan out my weeks (with mini lists!) to help manage the overall to do list! My problem is sticking to them - I seem to get so distracted by other things which are necessary and important (as well as the less necessary and important ones!) that I often don't get to do what was on the original plan. I do agree though that we could do with learning from Toad. I sometimes try to plan in a time buffer so that I don't get stressed when things don't done in time. I also sometimes put on my list something vague like 'craft time' or 'outside time' but don't specify what so then I can be spontaneous with what I feel like doing but also don't just find myself doing jobs the whole time. I've also taken to carrying round what I think of as my 'random notebook'. Odd thoughts pop into my head at all sorts of moments, usually of things I must remember to do which are already on a to do list somewhere. I need to write them down to get them out of my head but actually rarely need to look at them again. In fact, if I ever do look back at a page I am often quite worried at the number of places my brain seems to have jumped to!

Hi all, I am looking for inspiration! My class this year is very very different to classes I've had before. I want to create a sensory space where children can re-regulate but also a good space for me to provide learning activities for them to access an alternative curriculum. I am lucky enough to have an alcove/area to one side of my classroom which I want to use for this but need it to be no/low cost as the only budget is from my pocket. There are several children in my class who need to fiddle and fidget and need support with sitting on a chair. Some 'tappers' (have got a ridiculous number of broken pencils already), some who need big/heavy movements - lots of throwing of things and pulling out of heavy boxes of books goes on. Some ideas I've come up with already: - nuts and bolts hot glued to make 'spinny' fidget toys - bags filled with magazines to make heavy things to be lifted from one place to another - I've seen a lovely idea using a pool noodle to make a moving footrest using a pool noodle - I'm thinking about using pipe lagging but am not sure how to attach to chair legs at the moment - strips of soft/furry/stretch fabric for fiddle toys. Any ideas/suggestions at all very gratefully received. I want to use half-term to re-set and re-group and come back with new strategies and fighting fit!

It is a two week half-term break for me - am really looking forward to it! I'm planning cooking (veg box arrived on Friday so I'm now planning broccoli and stilton soup and a beetroot risotto. I feel like some kind of bread might be on the cards too and definitely an apple pie as I have half a fruit bowl full of apples which are a little past their best. I have a new book to read - the second in Richard Osman's Thursday murder club books. Also I really want to do some autumn decorating at home too. There might be a teensy bit of a school TDL too... Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Lots and lots and lots of rain here - some roads are flooded, the river and canal haven't reached me yet although if I were going to school this week I'd have to go a different route. Stay safe everyone!

I've just realised the date! It was the lovely Sunnyday's birthday last Thursday. So sorry I missed the actual day - I hope you did something lovely for you, had good company and good cake!!

I would say also though though that sometimes the ‘out there’ solution that doesn’t meet the intended parameters is actually the one that works (with just a little tweaking!)

Well, if I’m honest it’s been a bit of a week. Nothing dramatic just very longs days and an overwhelming TDL. But it’s the weekend, time to rest and regroup. I have a friend coming for tea tonight - no idea what I’m going to feed her. Suggestions welcome! I have a significant birthday coming up very soon - people keep asking what I want to do for it - I have no ideas about that either! I am reminiscing though - I discovered The House of Eliott on TV and am watching that - does anyone else remember it? Hope you’re ok too Sunnyday.

Definitely! Speaking as someone who is both SLT and a class teacher having your ‘Why’ to hand is really important. Plus I was also say be prepared for your SLT to ask you lots of what can feel like ‘nit picking’ questions. They are seeing things from a whole school point of view and will be aware of stresses and strains elsewhere that you may not have. The nitpicking doesn’t mean they don’t like the idea they are just making sure it can happen.

Sending you a hug.

Wow! Sunnyday that is loads! Louby glad it’s been a slightly less eventful week for you. My week has been one of long days and one tricky situations so I’m pretty tired. I had been trying to get my school free Sunday back but in h interests of not killing myself today I think my goal is more to get back to a good starting point for Monday. I did have a glorious yarn delivery arrive yesterday so I’m enjoying that!

Oh goodness you two! I hope you’re properly dried out soon! It’s been a ‘week with challenges’ for me. Ended well though - friends round for dinner last night - I tried making a ‘Tres leches cake’ for the first time and think I’ll do it again. Then today I went up north with all the rest of my family to meet my newest nephew for the first time. Lots of cuddles and so lovely to see my older niblings too. Especially when I was greeted with ‘Aunty Froglet come and play on my swing!’

Glad you're doing ok, hope Mr S has a better night tonight. The Bishop's badge seems to be a fairly local thing - churches and parishes nominate people who have made a contribution to their church for a really long time or innovated in some way. It was a lovely service - the cathedral is beautiful and the music was stunning. What was unexpectedly lovely though was that my previous school was a church school and their church had nominated a few people so had various people to support them. There were lots of familiar faces who I hadn't seen for ages so there was lots of waving and smiling! Right now I'm back home cooking a new to me dinner (Mexican stuffed patty pan squash), finishing bits of school work to prepare for next week and contemplating the ironing!

Glad you've had a week that's been a bit better Sunnyday, hope the jabs went ok today. Louby sunflowers, strawberries and bees sounds perfect! Well, my first couple of weeks have been tiring but good - why is it I always forget just how much a school day can take out of you?! I haven't really stuck to the planned routines I made and have already done some very long days at school but I'm doing my best not to be too hard on myself about it. I have a fantastic new colleague who I think will really make a difference. My newest nephew finally arrived on Thursday morning - almost two weeks overdue! He is doing great and we have had the loveliest smiley photo of his big sister meeting him for the first time! I've had a cold this week so have spent most of today on the sofa dozing. I was going to do schoolwork tonight to get a school free Sunday but I think I'll probably be better off going to bed and getting up early tomorrow. I'm out with my mum and dad tomorrow - his church have nominated him to receive a 'Bishop's badge' and the ceremony is at the cathedral tomorrow afternoon. Apart from that and a bit of cooking nothing much else planned!

Funnily enough that was exactly what my sister in law said yesterday when someone asked how she was - 'still cooking, hoping we get to tomorrow so we don't have the youngest child in school'!

Holiday sounds wonderful FM! Lots of lovely memories to think back to in the darker days of winter.

Happy Friday, happy September! Quiet week here. I haven't got half (any!) of the TDL that I'd planned to done. I do, though have a beautifully tidy house! ;-) This weekend is really just about nothing special. Am awaiting the arrival of my latest nephew (due today), working on a new pair of socks and a new book. I'm having my hair cut this afternoon - am hoping to be brave enough to have a lot cut off although I'm not good with hairdressers! I want to try and work out a weekend routine that I can follow well during term time allowing me to get the work I will need to done but at the same time stay on top of housework and relaxing 'work' - I may be being over ambitious but I'd really like to get to October half-term without the exhaustion and house mess to sort out that is the usual way of things! Have a lovely weekend everyone and enjoy starting back everyone that is going to - I love the start of a new year.

Oh, I do hope your sister is recovering properly soon. Onwards and upwards definitely. Take care!

So, it's the last week of the holiday and I'd told myself that I'd do some school work every day this week just to make sure I'm ready for the new term and fit in all those other last holiday jobs (hair cut etc). Yesterday I spent the entire day with a horrible headache which wouldn't shift no matter what I did. Today... I decided that I absolutely had to clean out the cupboard under the sink as well as wax my walking boots which were cluttering up the dining room. That has meant that I have finally 'done' the dining room. I have a pile of things on the stairs which need to go up to my yet to be sorted spare (dumping things in) room and one by the front door which are to go in the car to go back to school. The dining table also has an assortment of school work on it too which doesn't really have a home at the moment. It belongs at home but one of my goals for next year is to be able to properly put school away at different points so that it is out of sight/out of mind. That may need to wait a little as I suspect the solution to the problem requires further sorting out. I do love it though - keep walking through the room just to take a deep breath and smile at the achievement! I also really want to bake something but have no idea what - am finding myself ridiculously hungry this week although that might be because I'm getting up earlier... Hope you're all ok.

That sounds great. Coming from a family of engineers I think everyone would have been out there! My brother invested in ground source heating and our family WhatsApp group got regular photos updating us on trenches and installation progress! I have had a gentle week of meeting friends, crochet, making a chocolate cake and reading some more books. Plus some more sorting - I can’t explain how satisfying it is! Today my plan is to make sure that all those projects are finished. I might go for a walk on Sunday and then next week I am going to be going through my school TDL making sure I’m ready for September! Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Nothing like playing with fire!!! 😄 I am sticking safely to all things autumnal at the moment and have been browsing crochet pumpkin garland patterns! I have had a lovely week - finished knitting a pair of socks, did some more work on the bag I'm making, started another book. It's so good to feel I have the brain power to read new to me books again - have read an Agatha Christie Poirot book, John Wyndham's Trouble with Lichen (which is an old favourite) and have just started one of Joanne Harris's 'St Oswalds' books which I thoroughly recommend! I have made cherry and almond cake, vegetable curry and dal, greek couscous salad for lunch and done various bits of freezer restocking (chilli, barbecue chicken in a marinade, the dal, tuna pasta sauce), have been for a little walk most days and done masses of work sorting my dining room. I can't even begin to count the number of gift bags I threw out. I am gradually working my way through piles of school stuff that I brought home to sort out. The room doesn't look masses better at the moment but I know it is and it 'feels' better. I am making some of Nancy Birtwhistle's eco cleaning potions this weekend and continuing with more of the above. I had some plums in my veg/fruit box last week so am scouring recipe books for something to do with them.

Great to hear from you. Enjoy your time away!

The schools I have been connected with in recent years have a uniform that is pretty generic. Sweatshirts/cardigans with logos are available and are 'preferred' but the policy makes it clear that a plain one in the school colour is fine. Trousers, skirts, polo shirts are what is standard 'uniform' from the local supermarket. We always seem to have loads of spare uniform which is either lost property or things children have grown out of which parents give back to us. We give it out as needed.

I recommend chocolate chip cookies!

That’s a good idea. I’ll explore. I suspect many of them are completely out of date - education is such an ever changing beast!