Winter Break Day 5

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Ummmm... what can I say about this horrible yet terrific day?? For those of us who are consumed with Christmas responsibilities and activities, this is the second day of rest that we have experienced. If you are like me and I know that many of you are because I talked to you and saw your pictures on Facebook and Instagram (add me at Facilitating Chaos on any of these social media outlets, I’d love to connect with you), you spent that first day in your pajamas... ALL DAY. If you are not like me and you actually did stuff on that day, then I applaud you. 

But, let’s go back to day 5 of Winter Break, which is the day you feel relaxed enough to begin to tackle the things that you have put off  since the summer months, the day that you actually feel like being productive, the day that  

Well, on day 5 of my Winter Break we actually decided to take a short, impromptu trip. I wanted to use my teacher bag to carry stuff around while on my trip and so I went to pick it up from the place that I discarded it a week ago. As I picked it up and looked inside, IT HIT ME!!! Winter Break was halfway over (insert Home Alone Scream here)! My next thoughts were of the things that I left behind at school (namely my plant that I am sure will be dead when I get back to school). And then I began to spiral...

Then, I took a deep breath, used self-talk to calm myself down and told myself that most things (I couldn’t commit to saying everything) would be fine. This is only my second real day of break. I need to truly use this time to recharge and relax. I will worry about school on the 8th day of break. 

On the eighth day of break I will begin to reflect on the general improvements that I can make to make my class run smoother, such as: are there any procedures that need to be revised? Any areas such as transitions or warm-ups that will improve the flow of my class? 

All procedures will need to be revisited with the students when they come back from break because they magically forget everything during the 10 days of vacation. So revising and implementing new procedures is a great idea in order to prepare for when the kids return is a great idea. Continually focusing on revisiting and revising classroom management procedures is one of the most important things that you can do help to facilitate the chaos. 

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