mom2sjm hits the PLAYground

[mom2sjm]

PLAYground

Assassins.  The world is our playground, right? Time to hit the PLAYground to get ready for my return to full-day/in-person teaching.  

 

P:  Plan/Prep meals (.5pts per meal)

play with my food (play around with it - try something new!).  plan and prep so there is a protein and a veggie in each meal.  need to boost my immune system!!

L:  Learn (3pts weekly)

prepare for back to in-person teaching in the midst of a pandemic.  focus - outside education.  research my current curriculum and look at ways to take some of my lessons outside.  think about/plan the details (materials, set up, campus locations, etc.). 

A:  Ambulate (1pt daily walk)

still recovering from my July 9th surgery so walking is my only approved exercise right now.  I do walk daily but usually I'm playing pokemon go and if you are familiar with the game you know it's a pretty chill walk.  my goal for this challenge is a daily 30 minute walk where I'm focused only on the walk.  my pace, working in some hills, etc.  

Y:  Yoga (1pt daily yoga)

daily darebee workout "3-minute seated yoga"  I think this is going to be good for me and I may even work it into my classroom this fall because so far the plan is to keep the students together all the time (cohorting) which means no moving to the different classrooms for specialists like we have done in the past.  we do have these active "brain break" things we do and I am planning to get outside for instruction as often as I can, but I like the idea of mixing in some yoga, something calming.   it'll go better for my students if I'm already familiar with it  

ground:  get grounded (1pt daily)
do something every day for my mental health, to keep myself grounded during this super stressful time.  journal, knit, puzzle, play pokemon go (!), calm.com, etc.  

[raptron]

Ha, perfect acrostic! 

[WhiteGhost]

Hooray for PLAY time  

[mom2sjm]

 

starting stats
148.5lbs

35.5% body fat

 

Did a test run of my goals the past couple days.  Think I'll be okay for A, L, and Y.  P and ground are the tough ones.  Did go shopping today and bought some veggies (and blueberries - because unless I have eggs not sure how I'd pair breakfast with a veggie.  amending the goal for that meal to protein with fruit).

[raptron]

Here we go! And blueberries for breakfast sounds delightful.

[ohlemontine]

I love the acronym! Lots of good vibes being sent your way, I cannot imagine the immense amount of planning and prep you have to deal with this year with everything being so crazy. I hope everything goes smoothly for you! Love that you will be getting your students outside, I feel like kids this year are really going to need it!

[Nyx, Daughter of Chaos]

I love the PLAY acronym! How are things going?

[mom2sjm]

On 8/7/2020 at 9:41 AM, Luxia said:

I love the PLAY acronym! How are things going?

 

Week one went pretty good - I earned 29.5 point!!  

 

Did very well pairing protein with a veggie at every meal except for today.  Took an all day Teaching Pre-K zoom conference that was very helpful, lots of good ideas.   Every day I did something grounding and my seated yoga (except for today, no yoga).  Walked sans pokemon go four out of the seven days, got in some nice hills and enjoyed the trails.  My husband and our boys are camping Friday - Sunday so I am taking advantage of an empty house and doing a SUPER CLEAN which makes me really happy (although it did kinda mess up my flow - hyperfocus mode!!). 

 

Next week I'm going to track my meals, see where things are at - I would like to lose some of this quarantine weight I've put on before school starts so I'm able to keep up with the preschoolers.  Our school did change to a remote start but there is a chance that pre-k will still be in person because it might fall under the childcare umbrella.  principal will let us know hopefully soon. I'm like "just a make a decision already so i can start planning!!!!!"  argh...  while I'm waiting for the official word my plan for next week is that I'm going to look at our science lessons because I think even remote or in-person there is a way I can make my lessons get the kids outside.  I have ideas!!

[mom2sjm]

 

Week 2 Recap

Okay.  Dip in the points - only 20 for the week.  Did not walk as much.  I did walk A TON but it was all Pokemon Go walking - it was a week where there were unowns in raid and it just became my obsession.  I did get all the letters so it was worth it

 

It was a stressful week because our principal finally announced that K-8 will start remote, but Pre-K (that's me) is full day in person.  Pre-K falls under the childcare umbrella so it can (and is going to) happen...  I'm very stressed.  I mean, I've been out for sure but I've not been in one place other than my home for 7 hours in a row.  not to mention I haven't needed to wear a mask for seven hours in a row NOR have I had 20 people in the room with me (for seven hours...  you see the pattern here).  So that kind of put me down the rabbit hole of stress and anxiety and despite the extra hours I put into being outside hunting for ULTRA unown, I also drank beer.  Lots of it.  And I ate grilled cheese almost daily (mmmmmm, so comforting).  

 

So that's how I ended up with 20 points instead of the 38 that are there for the taking.  

 

Not really sure my plan for this week.  Back to walking sans phone for at least 30 minutes daily.  No beers.  Look into this seed to salad outdoor science lesson that we might be able to do to start the year (our school does have a garden which will be up for grabs I guess given that we'll be the only grade in the building...).  I have a couple of outdoor scavenger hunts that combines numbers and colors that I could extend.  Now that the decision has been made I need to get serious about planning.  Plus now we have to figure out how to teach outside more but also like how to "go live" while out side (and inside for that matter) for the three parents that want full day remote preK.  Lots to think about!!

[WhiteGhost]

12 hours ago, mom2sjm said:

K-8 will start remote, but Pre-K (that's me) is full day in person.  Pre-K falls under the childcare umbrella so it can (and is going to) happen

That just feels so wrong to me.  

[Manarelle]

On 8/15/2020 at 9:07 PM, mom2sjm said:

Not really sure my plan for this week.  Back to walking sans phone for at least 30 minutes daily.  No beers.  Look into this seed to salad outdoor science lesson that we might be able to do to start the year (our school does have a garden which will be up for grabs I guess given that we'll be the only grade in the building...).  I have a couple of outdoor scavenger hunts that combines numbers and colors that I could extend.  Now that the decision has been made I need to get serious about planning.  Plus now we have to figure out how to teach outside more but also like how to "go live" while out side (and inside for that matter) for the three parents that want full day remote preK.  Lots to think about!!

 

Wait, so you have to have in-person, but ALSO remote? That seems like the worst of both worlds, for planning and stress levels. 

[mom2sjm]

On 8/16/2020 at 6:49 AM, WhiteGhost said:

That just feels so wrong to me.   

 

Not only that, but the child care umbrella also opens up the building for K-8 "camps" plus child care for essential workers (the staff coming into the building to teach remotely - some will, some will stay home).  So with the pre-k (that's 34 students/teachers), the specialists (5 teachers), plus the lunch crew, the janitors, the office manager, the nurse, the principal, vice principal, dean of students, admissions director, IT team, how ever many k-8 teachers decide to remotely teach from the classroom (20??), the child care providers for these k-8 camps AND the children of essential workers (plus all those kids in these camp/childcare "pods") that's ALOT of people in the building.  100 minimum I'd guess.  

 

On 8/17/2020 at 12:04 PM, Manarelle said:

 

Wait, so you have to have in-person, but ALSO remote? That seems like the worst of both worlds, for planning and stress levels. 

 

YES!!  So while we are teaching in person we also have to create a teams meeting so the 3 kids at home can see what's going on - because simultaneously while we teach we will be filming ourselves teaching in person (and interacting with the students at home AND the students in the classroom).  We'll need to send home in advance materials that we will be using in our centers so the kids at home have the same stuff.  and then there is some talk about pre-recording some videos for other stuff and/or having one of the teachers meet just with the remote kids while the other teacher is dealing with the in person kids.  It's a hot mess for sure.  I'm sure we'll figure something out next week during our in-service that will get us through the first two weeks of school (which are half-day for everyone to ease them into routine, thank GOD!!  it's going to be so crazy). 

 

School starts the 31st (my birthday!!!!).

 

[mom2sjm]

 

Yes - next week is my inservice week where I will be learning all sorts of things and collaborating with my team on our plan for pre-k this fall.  Excited and nervous.  Looking forward to seeing my teacher friends... from a distance   But!  I must recap week three before I get to week four...

 

Week Three Recap

22.5 points for the week

A little better but not the greatest.  Still not walking or eating as well as I should be.  But I did pre-order my lunches for september and went with salads so I am preparing to be better...  Ummm.  Focused on our schedule and came up with a plan for the full time remote kids - we are putting them altogether and in the other classroom where we have a more tech savvy team and their aide is super excited about it.  whew!!  dodged a bullet.  well.  until one/more of my students has to go remote for whatever reason, then I'll be playing catch up.  I'll get my first look at the finished classroom tomorrow since construction is finally done.  setting up a brand new classroom on top of everything else, it's going to be a busy week.  but I plan to get up a little early and crank out a neighborhood walk.  then on the way home stop at the park and do one more to clear my head.

 

I'm still trying to set up my son's home "classroom" area and we made some progress.  Put his schedule on my husband's calendar so he'll get notifications and hopefully will go and check on him often throughout the morning to see that he is doing what he is supposed to be doing.  It's his senior year of HS so it's important and I really wish I was teaching remote so I could be the one checking on him but, it is not to be.   I can still text

 

Ok people, we are in the home stretch!  2 weeks is plenty of time to make improvements!!

[Chesire]

Found you!  Glad to see you are able to be out walking and playing Pokemon again.  And what the what?! about in person and remote teaching at the same time.  Good luck!

[Manarelle]

14 hours ago, mom2sjm said:

Focused on our schedule and came up with a plan for the full time remote kids - we are putting them altogether and in the other classroom where we have a more tech savvy team and their aide is super excited about it.  whew!!  dodged a bullet.  well.  until one/more of my students has to go remote for whatever reason, then I'll be playing catch up

 

That makes much more sense than trying to wrangle kinds in person and on a screen. Sounds like you'll be getting lots of exercise this week with the classroom setup and walking. Don't forget to get some reset, too. 

[mom2sjm]

Week 4

21 points for the week

 

Ugh.  No walking this week.  Just working (but it did involve heavy lifting, ladders, going back and forth to staff room to do copies/laminating/prep - lots of exercise).  Tomorrow is a meet and greet day, the first official day is Wednesday so its a short week which will be a good warm up to back school.  My senior starts his year remotely on Thursday (now that's a short week!).  Even though I was working many hours it wasn't a totally stressful week because it involved organization and that actually calms me down.

 

For the rest of this week I'm going to focus on my eating (I drank too many sodas this week working and I need to not get back into that habit).  I really want to try and get in that after school walk too, especially while the weather is good.  Doing pretty good with the grounded and about 50-50 with the yoga.  

 

Yay!  Final week of the challenge - lets do this!!

[Manarelle]

8 hours ago, mom2sjm said:

For the rest of this week I'm going to focus on my eating (I drank too many sodas this week working and I need to not get back into that habit).  I really want to try and get in that after school walk too, especially while the weather is good.  Doing pretty good with the grounded and about 50-50 with the yoga.  

 

Hoo rah, you've got this!

[mom2sjm]

Week 5 Recap
14.5 points.  Not great but it was the first week of school.  Very, very busy.  Working many hours so walking and eating wasn't really happening.  I did do something daily for keeping grounded though and one day in class I did pull out some yoga moves   

 

Challenge Recap

107.5 points.  Level up!!  Yay!!  Overall I'm most proud of staying grounded in the midst of a stressful time as I prepared to head back to in-person teaching.  I've been back almost two weeks now and it's going okay.  We are still in a "slow roll out" so just half days - next week we'll be full day in person (pre-kindergarten).  Kids are pretty good about keeping the masks on.  We'll see how that goes once we go over the three hour mark.  distancing is not happening but we are trying.  my senior is off to a rocky start with remote which is frustrating as I am not able to be at home with him.  hopefully the husband unit will step up his game since he is now the stay at home parent...

 

Thanks to those that offered support and encouragement!!

[Elastigirl]

Well done on the challenge!

[Manarelle]

11 hours ago, mom2sjm said:

107.5 points.  Level up!!  Yay!!  Overall I'm most proud of staying grounded in the midst of a stressful time as I prepared to head back to in-person teaching.

 

 

That is definitely something to be proud of. It has not been an easy road, and you still nailed your goals. Congrats!