Still only Saturday!

I think I'm almost feeling itchy from too much time. Don't tell anyone!

So I finally truly slept in. Went to bed about 11.30, slept until about 10.30. DIVINE.

From 11am until just now, 2pm, I have been working. I have a checklist of all the things that I have to finish by tomorrow. The list is not long, but each task is a lengthy one. Here they are, in no particular order:

--Plan lessons! (For week, and also plan generally for the month)
--Print out grades
--Do progress reports
--Finish Chapter 3 outline for math class
--Alley Pond follow up questions for science class
--Lesson plan for science class
--Fill out timesheet for AmeriCorps
--Check/grade homework

And in these three hours, I have at least started all of these except the chapter outline (which I started two weeks ago and have not bothered to finish)! Hurrah for me!

I finished checking homework and printing grades. I'm nearly done with Alley Pond and the timesheet. I made a progress report template, just need to make copies and then fill it in. I'm about halfway done on the science lesson. It's part of a group unit plan; we decided to do animal adaptations. I will do one on the senses.

Planning for my week and month will take some time. I think I will have them do a brochure writing piece, since the report of information was supposed to be in a brochure but I didn't notice that until too late. All the students either did a country profile or "biography." For this one, they will all do the same thing. I'm leaning toward a biography of someone they admire (a different person than their report). Will that be boring?

I also need to come up with the bulletin board theme for December. I have all next week to get it done, and I would much rather take my time and start on Monday. I suppose I can do one more holiday-themed one. It's a little boring and cliche, but hey, I've got to get something up. Might as well as take advantage of the time of year. To make it not religion-specific, I can have them write about the things they will do over winter break. Oh, and we can start by brainstorming a list as a class. Things like, open presents, play in the snow, sleep in, play with friends, watch tv, go on vacation, gather with family, count down the New Year. Then they can pick and choose, or add their own.

So that means I can put off the other writing piece for a week. That means that this week I can continue reviewing the writing process, 4-square format, and writing clear sentences and paragraphs. I could do that synonym lesson I found a month ago, to help the kids use more interesting words than "good," "bad," and "nice."

So now it's a little past 2pm, and I certainly need a break. Maybe I'll read or something. I won't leave the house today, since yesterday was so crazy and I spent so much damn money. I'm sure I'll get more work done before the day is out. And definitely a lot of work for tomorrow.