Silver Sea.

One of the nice things about living here is that I get to drive through beautiful countryside on my way to work and nearly always get to see the sea (weather permitting). The weather had been a bit better today with sunshine and showers so the children were able to run around outside even if we did cut the afternoon play short when the heavens opened. I left work at 5.30 as usual (that's over 9 hours in school every day) and was rewarded by the sun lighting up the bay and turning the sea silver. There were even some patches of blue sky and later I glanced through the window to see bright pink clouds over the fields.

Severe Weather Warning.

Phew. Day 1 and I'm cream crackered. Started the day in the pitch black when the radio gently woke me up at 5.45. Luckily it is not cold though a chill went through me when the weather man on the radio uttered the words 'severe weather warning for the ..... south-west, very heavy rain expected.' And it did rain all day long, the poor children were stuck in our classroom hut for the whole day even having to eat their packed lunches in the classroom. Having taught half the class when they first started school in the reception class we were quite familiar with each other. Even the children that had been in the other reception class knew me from shared assemblies and streamed phonics lessons in Year 1. So when I asked the children to put their named clothes pegs on card clouds showing different emotions most of them opted for proud or excited with only 3 on the sad cloud. Only tears from one little lad who kept showing me his 'hurted finger' and saying he missed his mum. Let's hope he feels better tomorrow.

Still the same weight which is not surprising seeing how many sad-face days I had but I have felt more in control of my eating. We are so busy at school there isn't time to eat and I had to snatch 5 minutes to simply sit and breathe at the end of lunchtime before getting back into the hurly burly of the classroom.

Yesterday I couldn't find any woodlice in our very wet garden so I had to scrabble around in the Secret Garden, in the pouring rain, this morning. I think I found 3 woodlice who are now in our display so not too many worries about escaping wild life

What Weekend ?

Wahh! another whole day spent doing school work. At least I have been working at a relaxed pace and taking the odd break to do a bit of my puzzle or even watch tv. Finally, finally my files are sorted and even though I haven't printed up all my daily plans I know what I'm doing this week. I keep telling myself that this level of work is because it's a new class and a new year. Hopefully within a week I'll have all my systems set up and everything will be organised. Mind you I don't know how long I will be teaching full-time. It could be for a week or two, a month or two or longer.
It rained until the afternoon when it would have been nice to get outside even if there wasn't any sun. I took a very brief walk this evening simply to get some fresh air and take a few photos.

The foals, Ben and Doris were lying around in their field. I think that Doris' fringe looks really sweet where the sun has bleached it to a ginger colour. Can't stop, need to print up tomorrow's plan and maybe watch some more tv before going to bed to spend the night thinking about everything I need to do.

Where Did The Sun Go?

Today has been mild and mainly hazy. I optimistically hung some washing out only to have to run and save it from a passing shower. My day has been spent doing yet more school stuff. That's the way it will be for a while. My main achievement as been to sort and clear my box of folders so that I can file stuff away instead of having one big pile of papers and no idea where things are.
A very brief interlude outside though I was still cutting out little laminated pictures for school. The butterflies are now congregating on the sedum which are beginning to open. This light pink variety is my favourite. It took me quite a long time to track it down as the varieties normally found in the garden centres are the dark pink/red ones.

Where Is My Fish Tank?

Finally my classroom is ready for the children - sort of. A peek inside my cupboard would reveal that after an initial clear out and tidy I ended up by dragging back in all the empty boxes and unsorted things to be dealt with later. As usual we find at the last moment there is a delay on a stock order and certain materials are in short supply. I had to resort to raiding around just to find coloured pencils for my new class as we don't know when the new stock will arrive. The laminator in the staff room has been burning hot (literally) as we are now encouraged to laminate every label and book cover that we make. I have been also been raging around the place looking for a plastic minibeast/fish tank that I know was in the science stock cupboard before the holidays. It has probably been thrown away in one of the grand clear outs that have been occurring recently which is quite annoying as I spent a lot of time a few years ago searching catalogues and the web for a decent straight sided tank with a secure ventilated lid. That way we could keep all sorts of minibeasts in the classroom without having them escape. I'm still going ahead with my plan to keep woodlice as part of my autumn display but it will be in a much smaller, scruffier open top tank. As science coordinator I'm going to try and get another one of those tanks asap because I know that I will use it at least.

The day has been absolutely glorious, very warm and sunny as I kept dashing across the playground from my class to the staffroom or the main building.

Being 'data' orientated I kept a pictorial record of the weather over the 'summer' holidays. It is rather noticeable that it has been wet and/or cloudy for most of the time. One sunny day at the start of the holidays, 2 in the middle and then the sun didn't show much until 2 days before the end of the holidays. This is why we Brits are forever concerned with the weather and fly off to warmer climes whenever possible. I've just decided that I'll use this chart idea in class and the children can fill in the weather each day. I like to do a lot of visual data handling using information that affects the children because checking if you've had your turn yet to hold Lovely Lion (a big soft toy) is really important and far more relevant than using some made up sets of data..

Back Into Work Mode.

Swathes of rose-bay-willow-herb (fireweed) along the road home.

Our Indian summer continues. It was nice to wake up this morning with a golden sunrise streaming through the windows. I've had a busy day at school. We started with a general catch up of what everybody has been doing and then into school stuff. I can't believe we've already sorted the dates for our Christmas schedule - parties, school play, dress rehearsal, Nativity at the church etc. We had time in the afternoon for classroom sorting and I feel I'm beginning to get somewhere. It was comforting to see that other people are at the same stage. I always think that everyone else is completely organised and that I should make more of an effort. When I was a supply teacher in lots of schools the 'best' classrooms were those whose teachers 1-didn't have children and 2- stayed at school until at least 7.00 every night. That's not a good home/work balance. I have reminded Peter that week nights are allocated to school work and films or games of scrabble are now for the week-ends.

I had to make a quick trip into town after school to go to the bank and the library and pick up a few more items for my class; a pop-up laundry bin for the children's painting aprons, 2 clear plastic salad bowls for the children's fruit as our old plastic baskets do look rather scruffy and some jelly like numbers that look great on the windows. Sometimes just a few nicer items can perk up the whole look of a room.
I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the good weather lasts into the weekend so I can be in it rather than just looking at it.

Last Day Of The Holidays.

The fine weather continues. Of course it would be like that seeing as the holidays are now at an end. Apart from missing the good weather I'm almost impatient to get into school to finish sorting out my classroom. The children don't start back until Monday but I'm not sure how much of the next 2 days will be taken up with staff meetings and training sessions and how much will be left for us to get on with those 101 jobs that need doing. Peter and I went out for a walk in the local lanes this morning. Everywhere there are signs of autumn. The rose-bay-willow-herb has lost its pink flowers and is smothered in an explosion of fluffy seeds looking like cotton wool spread across the hedgerows.
This hot dry weather is perfect for silage making and the lanes are busy with contractors' vehicles rushing backwards and forwards with their loads of cut grass.

The 2 fields along our drive are being gathered in. We watched one tractor racing up with an empty container, with these guys speed is of the essence, unfortunately the lad then turned too wide causing a mismatch between himself and the cutting machine driver and the whole process had to stop while he repositioned himself (probably to a few choice words).

Peter had to go off to Exeter to see the optician as it does look like one of his eyes will have to have more laser surgery to bring it up to scratch. At least we don't have to pay any more as you get life time care with this company. I did do some more trimming of the hedge and then decided that I would relax and enjoy this final afternoon of the summer holidays sitting with a book and a cup of tea up in the scree garden. Up early tomorrow and back to work!