Recapping November

Once again, I only met half of my {November Goals}.

 I tend to be overly ambitious all the time, which means a lot of things are piled on my list.  They don't all get done.  That's okay.

Goal 1: Finish teacher guide for The Sword of Summer

Goal 2: Create chronological order sort for The Sword of Summer

Goal 3: Bellagio Fountains and Gardens

I want to see the fall designs!

Goal 4: Haunted Ghost Tour (?)

There are two different options, one in Las Vegas and in a neighboring ghost town.  It'll depend on price but I really want to do this!

Goal 5: Get Christmas cards done

I want them done and mailed out in a timely manner this year.

Goal 6: Participate in the thankful blog challenge

That one is self-explanatory, I want to try to find one thing each day to be thankful for and share it publicly.


Well...when I look at my list this way, I didn't do so well.  I did conquer a second book (Ava and Pip) so there's that.  We didn't make it to a ghost tour or the Bellagio, but we did a digital pub crawl and rode the High Roller at the Linq, puppy sat, attended a princess party (two coworkers' daughters were turning four and seven), celebrated Thanksgiving with his family, and had a vendor event here.

Perhaps I'll be more realistic with December:

1) Write Christmas cards.  Address them.  Mail them. 
2) Finish our class read (The Lightning Thief) because we've been working on it since August.
3) Wedding dress shop (12/13 and 12/27)
4) Attend professional development (12/12? I think it's that day and I know it's paid)
5) Actually visit the bank
6) Go through some of the junk mail that's accumulating at a rapid pace and have a shredding party
7) Keep the children as sane as possible.

Done...finally!

It took a bit of time, but my teacher guide for The Sword of Summer is finally done and available {here}.

The matching chronological order sort, which my students use to check their comprehension, is available {here}.  

My goal is usually to get a novel guide out within days of finishing a book, but I've been a little distracted by these helpers:

Sydney, who we're pet sitting for the weekend:

Crookshanks, who likes to help me type:

Waffles, who is very excited about her new toys:

I love them. I just don't always love their help. Thanks Chloe for letting me work with minimal distractions!

Thankful November, day 13

First and foremost, I'm thankful it's Friday.  Even though it was only a four day work week, having Wednesday off (in honor of Veterans' Day) threw everything out of schedule.

My students are getting antsy for a break and the number of write ups is increasing. I've got a parent-teacher conference this morning, but luckily I'm optimistic.  This parent is honest enough to know her son can be a stinker, but I approached it as a problem solving meeting so we could figure out some strategies that will help him be more successful.  The student is also coming to the meeting, which I think is important.  He needs to be accountable for his actions, but also know we're on his side and want him to do well.

I'm thankful for the weekend.

 B has a bye week for softball, so we're trying a new restaurant and ice cream place with some of our friends (and bridal party).  Tomorrow brings a joint birthday party for some of the cutest three and seven year old munchkins.  Sunday we're participating in a cut-a-thon:

Nothing major (don't worry mom!), just getting hair cuts and supporting a good cause.  I also plan to finish my teacher's guide and chronological order sort for The Sword of Summer to post on TpT.  Fifty pages and counting!

I'm thankful for my coworkers and their activism.  One penned an amazing letter that's going viral.  Because of that letter, two more were on PBS last night.  They did an amazing job of not placing blame, but rather talking about how these teacher shortages and money mismanagement is impacting them personally.  I'm quite proud and eager to see how the school district and union respond. I'm thankful my admin is totally on board, otherwise that could be uncomfortable at work.

What (or who) are you thankful for today?