Weekly Report

Hello and happy Monday!

Well, in true end of the school year fashion, I’m holding on for dear life which means sometimes the blog goes to the bottom of the “to do” list.

I shared Friday’s post late, and today I’m finally putting the finishing touches on this post. I’d hoped to finish it last night, but we got home late from a long weekend of volleyball, and then I hit the ground running this morning with state testing!

I haven’t shared a Weekly Report in a bit, and I wanted to start the week off with this post, so here we go…

This is only my second “Weekly Report” post, and I think most use it to capture reading, eating, prioritizing, obsessing, recommending, and treating…

I’m putting my own spin on a few of the letters:

Reading:

I was on the library wait list for Meet the Newmans, and I added it to my Kindle a few weeks ago. I finally started it, and I’m about halfway finished with it. I’m really enjoying it!

I needed a new book to listen to, so I just did a search on the Libby app, and this one popped up…bookshop and London…I’m sold! This has been a great read so far too!

Enjoying:

Spring! I love how the grass is green, and we have pops of colors with flowers.

The front yard refresh is coming along.

I will say that the springlike weather is out the window…It’s been in the 90’s today, and that was too hot too fast! I know it’s almost Memorial Day weekend, but I’m not ready to be hot yet.

Packing:

Over the weekend, when I was drafting this post, I was thinking about how I’ve become a pretty good packer. One thing about me is I hate packing, but now I’ve “mastered” the overnight packing situation since we’ve gone out of town for one night pretty often with Hadley’s volleyball season.

I’ve had these clear travel pouches for years (almost four years to be exact!), and they come in so handy.

I use two of them the most often…one for my skincare…

…and the other for travel size items. I love that they are clear, so I can easily see what’s in them or what’s missing.

The larger one with handles, we’ve used to carry all the family chargers in when traveling, so it seems like there are sizes for all kinds of things.

I’m also still loving this silicone mat/pouch combo for travel. I bought it a couple of months ago, and it’s been so handy. I put my curling iron in it, and then it also sits on the counter to protect the counter from heat.

Ordering:

More phone chargers because Hayden can’t seem to keep up with his!

And…more facial towels. I’m officially hooked on these towels. They are soft, absorbent, and biodegradable. I feel so much better using a fresh new towel after washing my face as opposed to a wash cloth.

Recommending:

Remarkably Bright Creatures…both the book...

…and the movie! Sally Field was simply amazing (Lewis Pullman was too!), and I love how accurate the movie felt compared to the book. I know it’s one I’ll watch time and time again.

Teaching:

Y’all, we still have ten days left of school, and I’m trying to finish up Macbeth with my English 2 students. I do love this play, and we only have Act 5 left to read, so the end is in sight (for Macbeth and the school year)…

I’m also reading Night with my Adv. English 1 students. We only have a couple of chapters left to go. This is such a powerful memoir, and it certainly fits the unit focus of Survival, but I wish we didn’t end the year on such a serious note.

Pretty soon all my classes are starting their final projects to wrap up the school year. First, we have to get through state testing on Wednesday and Thursday!

I hope your week is off to a great start.

Hello and happy Friday!

All I have to say is TGIF! We’ve had a busy week with many late nights, and while school has been fine, my students were definitely acting like this is the last week before spring break (which is usually the case), but unfortunately for all of us, we still have one more week left before break!

Anyway, as always, I’m linking up with Andrea for this week’s Friday Favorites…

…to share my…

I’ve seen this “Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T” on Tik Tok and Insta, and thought it would be a fun blog idea. I think usually it stands for…reading, eating, prioritizing, obsessing, recommending, and treating.

I’m going to put my own “spin” on it, and for this report, I’m going to focus on…reading, enjoying, purchasing, obsessing, resolving, teaching.

Reading:

I’m listening to The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, and I’m flying through it. I downloaded it last Saturday, and I only have about an hour left in the book. It’s so good…and I love the Kentucky/Lexington references.

It’s a rarity, but at the moment, I don’t have anything downloaded on my Kindle to read. I’m hoping to download a few books this weekend!

Enjoying:

I’ve been enjoying the sunshine and fresh air this week. This past weekend truly felt like summer, and this week, we’ve had more springlike temps. We’ve opened the windows, and I’ve driven with the sunroof open as much as possible. Of course, all good things must come to an end (or at least be paused), as today’s weather is chilly and gloomy!

Purchasing:

Just this week, I realized I needed to get my act together and purchase a few things for the kids’ Easter baskets.

Hayden is getting a t-shirt and baseball cards, and I’ve already purchased this tank for Hadley.

The rest of these items are in my cart (and some are on sale thanks to the Amazon spring sale)

Flip 7 – I always try to add a game to one of their baskets (or something for them to share) that we can play as a family, and I’ve heard this game is fun.
Beef sticks- I still don’t know who Mr. Beast is but teens talk about him, and apparently there are some Jack Links beef sticks with his name on them!
Car items are fun now that the kids have a car….Car putty looks like something they could use based on the times I’ve been in their car. haha
Air fresheners – Hadley just mentioned that the ones they have in their car are now basically scentless, so these will come at a good time.
Medicube– Anything skincare is a good bet for Hadley, and we’ve talked about trying these Medicube toner pads. Maybe she’ll let me try them too!
Fidget balls– These magnetic fidget balls are perfect for Hayden’s basket…and like Hadley’s Medicube toner pads, I’m interested in trying them too!

Obsessing:

Ummm…how cute are my new hats? They are from Moink Custom on Etsy. For quite a while, I’ve wanted a neutral smiley face hat, and even Amazon was no help. I like to wear hats, but sometimes I don’t want to were a hat with sports logo. The “I need a minute” hat is from an idea I saw off another hat that was sold out on a website. I thought it would be a good one for vacation…or really any day. haha

The color and puff paint are perfect on both.

Resolving:

This week, I made a resolution to walk 20 min every day. I’ve kind of been in a funk, and I figured if I could commit to 20 minutes of fresh air every day, that would certainly help!

I made a “reminder” note on my phone, and I went ahead and typed out the rest of the days in March, and I’ve checked the box after my walk each day. Now, some days, I’ve also had time for an actual workout, but mostly this week, I’ve committed to walking. And…most days, I’ve walked longer than 20 minutes.

This week really was hectic, so some days committing to walking meant that as soon as I got home, I walked rather than having downtime before one of the kids’ activities. Other days, I was walking at 8PM to get the walk in. Anyway, I’ve looked forward to these daily walks, and it’s how I’ve listened to so much of my book this week!

Teaching:

This week, my English 2 students finished up unit 3 which means it’s time for them to write their end of unit paper. We’re focusing on elements of argument as they are writing a persuasive letter. Before they began their brainstorm, I put them into groups to read five sample letters. One of my “teaching tricks” is to assign groups based on the playing card I give them. I needed five groups, so students were in groups based on hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades and then aces/jokers were a group.

They read through five different sample letters, and the last letter they were given, they had to use the rubric I will use to grade their letters in order to assign that letter a grade. One of my pet peeves that they hear all about every time they write a paper is when they tell me they’ve lost the rubric I gave them…and I tell them I won’t grade their paper without a rubric.

So, now they’ve seen the rubric, used the rubric to score another paper, and have it to guide them as they write their essay.