Slammin' in London

Hello all...

Bi-weekly update time.

It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks.  Last week we went to the gym after work Tuesday and Thursday like we usually do.

We went out on Wednesday with Ben and Laura, Luke and a couple of their friends to a book slam.  We had no idea what to expect when we went but it was really cool.  The MC was an Aussie comedian and she was hilarious. She did comedy bits to start and between each other the other acts.  The first act was a young male poet who read us some of his poetry.  The next was an author who read a chapter of her book "The Girl in the Red Coat".  Then the middle act was a young musician.  She had a lovely voice and the 2 young men she had backing her up were very talented as well. The author came back on after to read another chapter from her book.  Then there was a slam poet/singer from New York who was really impressive.  Her poetry was really deep all about her personal experiences.  It was a fun evening.

We had a lazy Friday night and Saturday morning.  Sam went out on the town with a friend Saturday night.  I went for a run around Tooting Common Park Sunday morning and then had an interesting afternoon outing.

Work that week was busy.
Sam started the week with a couple of different schools than she's usually in and spent one of those days in SEN (which is the Special Educational Needs program some schools have) where she worked with two boys with Autism, then she was at her favourite 2 schools for the last 3 days of the week.
I had a horrible week...2 new schools for me and in classes that were just a bit nuts.  I was in my friend's year 4 class Monday and I bow down to her for being with them every day.  It's a very tricky class. I was in another year 4 class for Tuesday-Thursday.  Their class teacher walked out partway through the previous week so they had had new people in every day since.  So I was in for 3 days and my first day started out with the Head Teacher telling me I needed to go sit in the staff room for the first 45 minutes of class so he can talk to the kids alone about their behaviour.  They weren't bad on Tuesday but got progressively worse until I left on Thursday.  Some really nice kids in the class, but also some just crazy ones.  Friday I was back at the school from Monday with both year 3 classes for half the day each.  It was one of my least favourite teaching weeks here this year.

Sam has been getting progressively more sick throughout the week, and I'm feeling a bit off too. I went to the gym Tuesday and Thursday I stayed after school and did a cardio kickboxing class with some of the teachers/staff.  I signed myself up for a half-marathon on April 12 around Putney and Fulham.  First one on my own!  Kinda nervous.

This week Sam had a hand-over day on Tuesday...She is booked for 2 weeks in a year 1 class right after break so she went in to meet the class and the teacher and get all the plans for the time she was in.  It's a lovely class and amazing TAs so she's looking forward to it.  Monday and Thursday she was in her favourite school, Wednesday she was in her other favourite school, and Friday she did a trial day at their sister school.  It was about 1.5 hours each way though, so even though it was a great school she decided to turn it down.

This week I was in my favourite school all week.  I was in Year 2 Monday and Tuesday, they were a bit crazy but a funny class.  Wednesday I was booked somewhere else...I got almost to the school then got called to go to my fave school, so then I was in year 4 in the morning and year 1 in the afternoon.  Thursday I as in my favourite class at the school, one of the year 6 classes. 
Friday was a bit of a crazy day for me...I was booked in for reception for the day.  When I arrived the head teacher was in her office with the PPA teacher and wanted me to join them.  They've been struggling to find a teacher to take over the year 3 class after Easter break for the rest of the year (I've been asked multiple times since half term break but it wasn't what I really wanted to do.  So we had a discussion about the trouble they were having and how she was hoping to let the parents know who would be teaching their kids after break before they left.  She was wanting the PPA teacher to take the year 3s and me to take PPA if I wouldn't take the year 3s. The PPA teacher has basically planned her entire term for the different classes so really didn't want to change.  So I told her I'd think about it until break (recess) and let her know.  I decided to take the year 3 class (school website https://williamdavisprimaryschool.wordpress.com/).  I'm a little overwhelmed right now but I'm sure it'll go well.  I stayed with the reception kids until lunch then was given the afternoon to start planning.  The staff at the school is amazing, the TAs in my class are wonderful.  I love the school too.  So I planned for the afternoon and then after school for a while.  A bunch of the teachers were going out to the pub beside the school after they finished at the school so they invited me to join.  I got Sam to come up and meet us too.  So we sat and chatted and had some drinks at that pub, then a couple people had to head out and the rest of us were starving so we headed down the road for some food.  So we went to this street food market and got awesome food and talked more.  Then we moved to a Rhum bar nearby and had another drink.  It was such a fun night.  They are great.

After we were exhausted and headed home.  We were exhausted by the time we got home and I had so much going through my head with all the class stuff.

Saturday morning we started to plan out our 2 week Easter Break.  We booked a trip to Cornwall for the second week off.  We have rented a car and have booked a place to stay near one of the best beaches down there.  We're going to go Monday-Thursday next week.  We were talking with one of our friends and she came into some free tickets to a rugby game at Wembley Park Stadium that afternoon.  So we got ourselves ready and headed up there.  We met Amanda at Westminster to tube up together.  Turns out the friend that had the free tickets is an old friend of mine, Sergio.  So it was really fun to see him too.  It's been about 6 years since the last time I saw him!  There were about 10 of us that went.  It was lots of fun.  Wembley Stadium is huge and our seats were 2 rows from the top.  It was actually a great view of the stadium and field.  It was the Saracens vs the Harlequins and the home team (Saracens) won.  It was a fun game.  A record number of people in attendance; 84000 people!

After the game we headed down and Sam and I went to Meghan's place to have dinner with Megs and her mom.  We haven't seen Meghan in almost a month so we had a lot to catch up on.  It was really nice.  Late night by the time we finished all of our talking.

This morning I got up and went on a big run (last big run before my half marathon in 2 weeks).

I will be tapering off now in preparation.  When I got back we had food and are now relaxing and figuring out our week.  I need to go into school a couple days this week.  Sam is going to come and help me set up my classroom tomorrow.

It's going to be a nice Easter Break.  I need to do a bunch of planning and organizing for school now, but the rest of the time is going to be a lot of fun.  We've got tickets to see Fast and Furious 7 on Friday with Ben and Laura.

  I'm so excited.  It's the last one. We're also having a huge Easter party next Sunday...games, Easter egg hunt, big dinner.  We're really looking forward to it.

Hoping everyone is doing well!  Almost Happy Easter to all! 

Thanks for reading.

We out!

Sam and Lisa