I'm hanging in there...and a FREEBIE for reporting!

This is how I have been feeling lately, 
a little scary and little zany.
I hope people think I am a little cute too! 

I feel badly that I have not written a post in over a month. I have to say I am exhausted!  I am tired in a way I have never experienced.   I have already had to use sick days this year, and tonight I feel kind of achy and yucky too!  Why did I come out of hiding you ask?  Well, someone left me some lovely feedback on TpT and it reminded me that I might not be the only person who is writing progress reports in Ontario.  

Last year, right before the first reporting period (progress reports) I realized that my students did NOT understand what they were being evaluated on in the area of Learning Skills and Work Habits.  They had seen the words, responsibility, initiative, independent work, organization, collaboration and self-regulation, but it was crystal clear to me that they did not understand what those words meant.  I created a checklist of the learning skills and work habits in kid friendly language and started teaching my students what each of the skills/habits meant.  They gave me feedback and helped to refine the final checklist.  My students used it weekly to measure their own growth and set their own goals.  Although it was sometimes time consuming (we did it each Friday afternoon), I didn't regret using it, and the students would comment that they needed it to help guiding their goal setting.

I was thinking about writing progress reports today and had looked to see if there was anything new posted for learning skills and work habits, but when I googled it I found my own work!  Not even two hours later I received some lovely feedback from a Teachers Pay Teachers buyer (but the checklist is FREE) and thought, well there, I could post that in case someone else can use it...and thus my blogging block has been broken...at least for now.

Click on any image to go to TpT to
 download the checklist for FREE!

Wish me luck, I am off for a long weekend with my significant other for the first time in 8 years.  I am still trying to process all the events following my mom's death and my brother's cancer relapse but hopefully I'll find continued motivation to blog comes from the people who make it all worth it...the readers like you!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers and Happy Columbus day to my American readers.  I am thankful for another year with my daughter and the love of my life.  I am also thankful for the new friends I have made through blogging.  I am going to have dinner with one of my new friends tomorrow!  I hope your weekend is equally blessed.

Awesome Jack O'Lantern clipart from the super talented Krista Walden!