When in Wemindji...: Okay, NOW I'm a real teacher!

Report cards are in the can!

Thank you. Thank you. Please hold your applause.

After a bumpy start with what I will politely call a flawed system, my report cards were started and finished today! I am very proud of the work my students have done and how far they have come since August. I know there is TONS more to do and it's going to be a hard road to travel, but we can do it :)

I know I say it often but my teaching partner Stacy saved my sanity tonight. Staring at a screen that a) kept resetting and losing my marks; b) confused me with its codes and c) made me feel like I had done nothing right up to this point had me stressing. That's putting it mildly. So a big thank you to Stacy for bringing me back down to Earth! As usual!!!

What else has happened this week.. Well I had a challenging week with some particular student behavior and I am going to gather some pillows and maybe a sheet or something to create a make-shift quiet area behind my desk in a corner for some of my students who require a cooling-off area away from the class. While we have a lovely staff member in the school who really works miracles with my students who have deep emotional issues, I would like to provide my students with a place within the classroom for them to escape and learn to self-regulate their impulses and emotions.

Our Halloween party was a success and we won the door prize contest which was awesome!! PIZZA PARTY! My class was so excited they were jumping and screaming! Or maybe that was all me... anyways!!!

I got distracted and made about 8 gallons of hummus last night. I guess I wasn't thinking too much when I dumped the entire 2kg bag of dehydrated chickpeas into 3 large pots and started the soaking/boiling process. So, I made a bunch, gave some away and froze the rest! Hummus does actually keep quite well in the freezer so that's good! I will have garlicky breath for months - sorry guys!!

Things I miss:
- Little Caesars (the pizza, crazy bread and dipping sauce - triple threat, my heart aches!)
- movie theatres
- grocery stores
- dollar stores
- Starbucks Grande Sugar-Free Vanilla Soy Lattes
- Dollarama (I miss them so much I wrote it twice... oops)
- Staples
- LCBO...
- anonymity
- my mother's Yorkshire Puddings
- Bobo
- Christmas lights
- my classroom printer ink in colours blue and yellow (1 month to get more)
- Apple stores (my "off" button is broken.)
- trees with leaves
- cream cheese that doesn't cost $8
- sunlight
- global warming
- Juicy Fruit gum
- Traffic lights
- my family
- my friends

Things I LOVE:
- living here
- my new friends/family
- the community
- seeing/learning new things everyday
- my job
- the excuse to buy things in mass quantity (I am not a hoarder, this is normal here!!!!!)
- EVERYTHING ELSE!

**note: I do not know why some of my words are hyper-linking to ads, sorry I did not okay that!!