End of 2020

Today is the last day of school in the calendar year 2020.  One can only hope that 2021 is a big improvement over this year. I have a lot to look forward to in the new year. Here are just a few of the highlights to come:

• January 13th I start my cancer treatments so I can get rid of this stuff in my lungs
• in February I should be getting my corona vaccine
• there will be basketball at school so I have sports to score
• I retire at the end of the school year in June
• I plan to head to Disney World in the fall

For now I am just thankful that I will be spending the Christmas holiday with my family. I love time spent with my daughter and son.

More TV Christmas Specials

 Here are some more upcoming Christmas specials.

12.16	4:15	freeform	The Santa Clause
12.16	6:25	freeform	The Santa Clause 2
12.16	8pm	ABC	The Great Christmas Light Fight
12.16	8pm	AMC	National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
12.16	8:55	freeform	The Santa Clause 3
12.17	4:30 pm	AMC	Twas the night before Christmas
12.17	5pm	AMC	Frosty's winter wonderland
12.17	6pm	freeform	Home Alone
12.17	6:45	AMC	The Year without a Santa Claus
12.17	8:00	AMC	Polar Express
12.17	8:30	freeform	Home Alone 2
12.17	10pm	AMC	Scrooged
12.18	6pm	AMC	Polar Express
12.18	8pm	starz	Elf
12.18	9pm	freeform	Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018)
12.19	4:55 pm	freeform	Frosty the snowman
12.19	5:30	freeform	Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
12.19	9pm	NBC	A "Saturday Night Live" Christmas Special
12.20.	5pm	AMC	Polar Express
12.20.	7pm	ABC	The Sound of Music
12.20.	9pm	AMC	Elf
12.20.	11pm	freeform	The Year without a Santa Claus
12.21	6pm	AMC	Scrooged
12.21	8pm	NBC	Dr. Seuss' The Grinch the musical
12.21	8pm	TNT	A Christmas Story
12.21	10pm	TNT	A Christmas Story

Early December TV schedule

 I hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday specials on TV as much as I am.  Here are a few more days of specials to get you through the weekend.

12/3/2020	6:00 pm	freeform	Home Alone
12/3/2020	8:30 pm	freeform	Home Alone 2
12/3/2020	10:00 pm	AMC	Elf
12/4/2020	8:00 pm	AMC	Scrooged
12/4/2020	8:00 pm	TBS	A Christmas Story
12/4/2020	9:15 pm	freeform	How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2hr movie)
12/4/2020	10:00 pm	AMC	Fred Claus
12/5/2020	6:00 pm	TBS	A Christmas Story
12/5/2020	6:35 pm	freeform	Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
12/5/2020	6:45 pm	AMC	The year without a santa claus
12/5/2020	7:40 pm	freeform	Rudolph
12/5/2020	8:00 pm	AMC	National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
12/5/2020	8:45 pm	freeform	Frosty
12/5/2020	9:20 pm	freeform	The Santa Clause

12/6/2020	4:00 pm	freeform	Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
12/6/2020	5:05 pm	freeform	Frosty
12/6/2020	5:30 pm	AMC	Year without a Santa Claus
12/6/2020	5:40 pm	freeform	Rudolph
12/6/2020	6:45 pm	freeform	Home Alone
12/6/2020	6:45 pm	AMC	Rudolph's shiny new year
12/6/2020	7:00 pm	TBS	The grinch
12/6/2020	8:00 pm	AMC	Plains, Trains, and Automobiles
12/6/2020	9:15 pm	freeform	Home Alone 2
12/6/2020	10:00 pm	AMC	Plains, Trains, and Automobiles
12/7/2020	6:20 pm	freeform	The Santa Clause
12/7/2020	8:30 pm	freeform	The Santa Clause 2

ENJOY!

I'll be back on Monday to add to post the rest of the week.

More Holiday specials

Here are the latest updates to my list of holiday TV specials. I am looking forward to all the Disney Christmas specials starting with the sing-a-long Monday night

11/30/2020	8:00 PM	ABC	Disney Holiday sing-a-long
11/30/2020	8:00 PM	AMC	Four Christmases
12/1/2020	7:30 pm	AMC	The Polar Express
12/1/2020	8:00 PM	CBS	Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
12/1/2020	8:30 pm	freeform	movie - How the grinch stole Christmas
12/2/2020	6:25 pm	freeform	The Santa Claus
12/2/2020	8:00 pm	NBC	Christmas in Rockefeller center
12/2/2020	8:00 pm	AMC	National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
12/3/2020	6:00 pm	freeform	Home Alone
12/3/2020	8:30 pm	freeform	Home Alone 2
12/3/2020	10:00 pm	AMC	Elf

Holiday Specials on Television

 

I love the holiday season and I especially enjoy watching the holiday specials on television. The season gets started Thanksgiving night with a Disney Holiday special on ABC. Disney is also having a Holiday sing along on Monday November 30th and then another holiday special on Friday December 4th.

I am always looking at TV schedules to find my favorites so I will be posting some dates, times, and TV channels here.

This is the start:

Date	Time	Channel	Show
11/22/2020	7:00 PM	TBS	Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 cartoon)
11/22/2020	7:30 PM	TBS	The Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story
11/23/2020	7:00 PM	AMC	Elf
11/24/2020	9:15 PM	AMC	National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
11/26/2020	6:00 PM	FREEFORM	Home Alone
11/26/2020	8:00 PM	ABC	Olaf's Frozen adventure
11/26/2020	8:30 PM	FREEFORM	Home Alone 2
11/26/2020	9:00 PM	ABC	Disney's Magical Holiday Celebration
11/27/2020	8:00 PM	ABC	Santa Claus is comin' to town
11/29/2020	7:00 PM	ABC	Disney Prep and Landing
11/30/2020	8:00 PM	ABC	Disney's Holiday Sing a long
12/1/2020	1:00 PM	FREEFORM	Miracle on 34th Street
11/27/2020	8:00 PM	CBS	Frosty the Snowman
11/27/2020	8:30 PM	CBS	Frosty returns
11/28/2020	8:00 PM	NBC	Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 cartoon)
11/28/2020	8:00 PM	CBS	Robbie the Reindeer
11/28/2020	8:30 PM	CBS	Robbie the Reindeer - Legend of the lost tribe
12/1/2020	8:00 PM	CBS	Rudolph the red nosed reindeer

I will blog again more updates

Scarecrows

 Every October the town of Chester, NH has hundreds of scarecrows on display. As a fundraiser the town sells the basic shell of a scarecrow and then the townspeople use their imagination. Each year my daughter and I take the 1.5 hour ride up there and then drive around town looking for hundreds of scarecrows. It amazes me how creative people are. Here are a few of my favorites from this year.

and to get you in the Christmas spirit here is the Grinch and his dog Max.

I highly recommend that you take this ride. I have gone two years in a row and I will definitely be back next year.

Holiday Season

 

The Holiday season is upon us. I love this time (October to January 1st) we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. So many decorations go up and down in my house these 3 months. Right now all the Halloween decorations are up and have been up since October 1st. My favorite is my Disney Halloween tree which is pictured above.

Of course the one decoration that stays out all year long is my 365 day countdown to Christmas.

All of the holidays will be a little different this year with the Covid-19 still causing problems but I can still decorate my house and that always makes me happy.

I also enjoy watching all the holiday specials on television. Here is the schedule of some specials coming up this week.

On Thursday October 29th Syfy channel is having a nightmare on elm street marathon.

I'm waiting to hear when my favorite is on television this year, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

Anticipation of a weekend away

 Since this pandemic started I have put all my travel plans on hold. Well I am going t be brave and take a long weekend away. I'm sure the hotel clean the rooms thoroughly so it's safe. I just decided to go to the cape for a 3-day weekend.  I am going to take a personal day on a Friday because with all the added work and the stress of this hybrid schedule I need some down time. Every weekend I spend hours each day working on school work but not when I go away. I will take a complete break from school work. Now I am excited to plan my 3-days. The hotel is on the ocean in Yarmouth and I am getting an ocean view room. I still have a few weeks before I go but it's exciting to finally be planning a get away. I'm still not ready to eat inside at a restaurant so I will just do take out and eat at my hotel.  Now time to get back to planning. I hope everyone reading this post has found a way to relieve their stress that is related to covid.

School Life during a Pandemic

 Four weeks of school complete! What? Only four weeks. Feels like 4 months. I have not changed my mind about hybrid schedule - way tooooooo much work. I spend a minimum of 60 hours per week on school work, but I'm still glad I get some in person time with my students. 

The positivity rate is rising here in Massachusetts so I am a little concerned about going to school and being around so many different people (indoors). I don't want to get this virus. Thankfully Norton High has been staying healthy but now that I have put that in writing I have probably jinxed us.

I wonder what the students think about the new school model. Some have told me it isn't bad, but they don't like that all their friends aren't in school on the same day. (every other day) I just hope the students are behaving and staying socially distant when they are out of school.

Let's all stay healthy and get rid of this virus!!

Hybrid model

 so we have been in school for 9 days using the hybrid model. I have two things to say about the hybrid model, 1) I am so glad to see my students face to face but 2) This is too much work for teachers. I sent 6 hours both Saturday and Sunday making plans on top of spending 9 hours each week day. I'm afraid teachers are going to burn out very quick.

I have to focus on the positive, I get to spend time with my kiddos. Can't believe I haven't been in the room with them for over 6 months.

My Thoughts on Remote Learning

Here are my thoughts on remote Learning. I have both positive and negative points. Remember that these thoughts are from the point of view of this teacher.

Positive Points:

• I love the short commute which means I can sleep in a little bit. I get up at 7:20 each morning instead of 5:30
• I can go to the bathroom whenever I want. I don't have to wait until class ends and then worry about being late to my next class. This definitely helped me out with my kidney issues.
• I didn't have to worry about what outfit I was going to wear for the day. Since none was going to see me I just threw on shorts and a t-shirt every day
• I can eat lunch whenever I am hungry
• There was senior car parade. That was so much fun. I hope that is one Corona virus tradition we keep.

Negative Points:

• I didn't get to be with my students. I missed the everyday interaction so much
• We didn't get to have the Mr. NHS show. I love this show and the boys worked so hard to put it together.
• When a student wasn't doing work it was very difficult to motivate them via email
• So much more work than if I was able to teach in my classroom. I spent more than double the time making videos to explain the lessons and then making creative activities and some ordinary worksheets for students to practice and then finding ways to make online assessments to be sure the students understand the work. And the countless emails to students and parents who weren't actively engaged in the remote learning.
• This last negative point is the worst. There were NO sports. I LOVE going to the school sporting events. Thank goodness the stay at home orders didn't come until our boys basketball team finished their season. So sad that we missed Baseball, Softball, Boys volleyball, Tennis, lacrosse and spring track.

There are many other Negative points but I prefer not to dwell on too much negative.

Now we play the wait and see game as to whether or not we are in the classrooms in September. 

I think masks are going to be a problem. They are so HOT and fog up my glasses yet they are necessary to keep everyone healthy so I will always were mine.

Fingers crossed that a vaccine comes about sooner rather than later.