Thankful Thursday–My Cozy Bed

 

My husband is always at least warm and I generally am looking for another layer or two. Come bed time this leaves him with a single sheet and me wanting an electric blanket, hot water bottle and a couple of quilts. Knowing this, when my husband came across these sheets that are half fleece, half cotton he knew he has found a great gift idea for me.

I LOVE THESE SHEETS!

The folks at Split The Sheets are brilliant. Both the flat and fitted sheets are half and half. The pillow cases are one side with fleece and one side with cotton so you can choose. We have had the set we use overseas (king size) for more than seven years. He knows how much I love them that our Christmas in our U.S. home he surprised me yet again by having a set (queen size) waiting on our bed.

These sheets make me so happy. I love knowing that when I crawl into bed I won’t have to warm up my spot. I love the softness as I am snuggled in bed. I so appreciate that he doesn’t have so suffer with sheets that he would roast in to make me this happy. (And, there is the added bonus of always knowing who is hogging the bed since there is a line down the middle!) Also, it is possible to snuggle with each of you still on your preferred fabric. The only downside is that it is even harder to get out of bed.

Wordless (Ash) Wednesday

Swiftly Flowing Stream

Hmmm

Where did the day go? I was sure it was Tuesday, until I looked at the calendar, simultaneously realizing that our faculty meeting WAS yesterday, thus today’s not Tuesday. (But since I am many, many hours ahead of most of you – it’s still Tuesday there!)

The days are flying by, which I am thankful for as so often the time from January until Spring Break drags on and on. We are in our routines. There is so much learning happening everyday that it is a joy to step into the rushing stream each morning. By the afternoon I think, “Wow! Where did the time go?” as I plan for the rush of the next day.

Wordless Wednesday

If you are dying to know, look here.

Your Thoughts Before Mine

 

Report cards went home today. That is a big day in normal circumstances, but even more so today as it a completely reformatted report card on its way to being standards based.

This school was previously giving letter grades from grade 1 up. Yes, letter grades in elementary.

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We have know that the move away from letter grades was coming since early in the fall. I have been working with my kiddos to help them get their heads around this change. "It is about if you understand the concepts" I hear myself repeating.

This report card has a 3, 2, 1 scale. A '3' means you completely understand a concept / are meeting grade level expectations, or in student talk, "You nailed it!" A '2' means you are approaching grade level expectations, or in student talk, "You mostly get it." A '1' in any translation means you need bunches of help.

There are also 'learner attributes' with similar delineation, but using symbols instead of numbers - critical thinking being my favorite.

So, before I handed them their much anticipated sealed envelope I went through the new report card with them, showing a template on the projector and explaining each section. I then shared a Doc with them and asked them to make make a copy and share it with me. This Doc was an abbreviated version of the report card and their instructions were to pretend they were the teacher and give the marks they believe they have earned AND explain why they should get each mark.

I believe that both the educational piece (learning the new report card) and the reflection piece (knowing yourself as a learner) had much value. I haven't had any parent emails yet tonight, so that is a good sign. Conferences are on Friday and you better believe that I am leading with the student reflection piece!

Thankful Thursday

 

I am thankful for my Crock Pot! I can’t imagine life without it. There are at least two days every week that we walk in the door at just about dinner time. (Tonight is one of them. The picture is the chili that will be awaiting us.)

When menu planning each Saturday for the week ahead this website is my absolute ‘go to’ when I need a new idea for my Crock Pot.

Do you have any fabulous Crock Pot recipes you are willing to share? The parameters for our family are…

• no red meat
• cooking time at least eight hours (With unreliable power in the country I can’t use a time as the power will go off at least twice a day. Plus I am running my 110v Crock Pot on a converter and timers don’t do so well, even without the power cuts.)
• little to no prep (I don’t have time to sauté, etc. I can chop and dice as that can be done the night before.)

Wordless Wednesday