tismrwells

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  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    GIFTFACE!

    Having gingerbreaded myself out LIKE A SIR last week, I was rewarded for my efforts with some proper GOURMET jelly beans from a proper GOURMET shop. Thankfully, they are not pate-flavoured or such like. They are in fact all fruit-based HUZZAH!

    What odd combination of flavours that you've tried together WORKS?
    I mean things like cheese and chocolate or chocolate and chips, etc...

    Celery and bacon is my big one. Everyone seems to think it's daft but OHMYGODITISGLORIOUS.

    5 comments

    1 day 3 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    NERVESONEDGEFACE!

    Bloody hell. If you've just been watching this match, BLOODY HELL. Serena Williams, a player who has NEVER lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament EVER in her career, lost an absolute thriller to Virginie Razzano in the first round of Roland Garros.

    And it was an AMAZING match. AMAZING. I has totally on edge the entire time.

    Razzano was 5-2 down in the second set tiebreak, two points away from losing and then won five points in a row to win the second set tiebreaker. Then she immediately went up 5-0 in the third set... a bit of cramp, a bit of Williams coming in and playing better... OH MY GOD. Then it was 5-3, Razzano cramps up, loses a point for hindrance (i.e. shouting in the middle of a point) which was BARELY audible - BARELY AUDIBLE - and then after 8 match points, it ends on a disputed line call. RIDICULOUS. BUT BRILLIANT.

    God, I love watching sport. I'm such a tennis nerd. I can imagine none of you watched it so there you go. I just told you what happened so you can tell everyone else!

    What properly grips you?

    3 comments

    2 days 22 hours ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    ISTHERESOMETHINGINMYTEETHFACE?

    Gingerbread is this delicious... YES. Heart-shaped deliciousness...

    We're having a plant, book and bake sale at work on Wednesday after school and I spent Sunday and this evening making gingerbread sets for it. One of them is a set of Pacman and three ghosts and I have just made some Pac-dots tonight. There were going to be Mario coin but I think they went slightly wrong (and didn't show the groove in the middle very well...)

    But yeah, all for charity. I don't mind going the extra mile for that. It's all for Great Ormond Street, the hospital that looked after one of our children for most of her life until she sadly died at the end of last year.

    Busy day today though! Last week, our headteacher made a complaint about one of the swimming teachers so I had to step into the breach once again and teach the children... BY GETTING INTO THE WATER. And because I was wearing a yellow T-shirt, it went very see-through so now the kids know I have tattoos and think it's AWESOME. Yay. Street cred points. Whoop.

    After school, went to the gym and for a swim of my own afterwards. HOORAY! SWIMMING FOR THE WIN!

    Now time to sort out my gingerbread into bags. HOORAY!

    Who wants some gingerbread and what shape would you like it to be?

    11 comments

    1 week 3 days ago

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    MODERATEDOUTFACE.

    I spent most of yesterday evening and this lunchtime doing some profile children assessments. Now, in a nutshell, every class has to choose three children of different abilities and these are our benchmarks for the rest of the class. I don't tend to assess my children in this way when I do assess them but if we have to have our children moderated then I have to show that I'm at least DOING these assessments anyway. I am, I just don't know how to do them very well.

    We've been told not to use TOO much evidence because the moderators hate that. But if the idea is to have three pieces of evidence for each of the assessment criteria (and in writing, you have to have this evidence 'across a range of writing') then how is it I'm supposed to NOT gather too much evidence? I need a lot of evidence to cover that.

    I used post-its like an absolute demon yesterday and now three of my children's books are covered in post-its. They are gonna LOOOOOOOOVE that.

    I tend to do assessments on each child anyway. I go through their work and find examples of each criteria and just give it a quick highlight so that if anyone DOES ask me, I can just pinpoint pieces of evidence anyway. PLUS, it gives me a clearer indication of where each child is individually, as opposed to comparing them with one of three children in the room. SIGH. LE SIGH.

    Apparently that's not the right way to do it. Is there a right way? Well, answers on a postcard please. If I want to properly assess my children, then I shall properly assess my children. If I want to 'do it the hard way' then fine, I will. If anything, I feel as though my assessments are always justified. I'm not going to do it an easier way if it doesn't give me a proper judgement. I'm sticking to my guns on this one. STUBBORN WELLSY IS STUBBORN.

    How stubborn can you be?

    3 comments

    May 16th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    FRUSTRATEDFACE!

    You know what's really quite frustrating? The fact that I cannot actually remember how I learned to swim. That's why I'm getting frustrated at watch the Year 5s doing their swimming lessons. Not because some of them genuinely can't swim, but because... well... I can't remember being taught like they are.

    I was going to Center Parcs long before I ever went to swimming lessons. I had armbands, a life jacket (they have them for all non-swimmers to use at Center Parcs) and occasionally a rubber ring... and to be honest, having the life jacket in particularly allowed me to learn the swimming stroke that would help me to swim, without that inordinate fear of DROWNING. You know... cos drowning is a pretty bad thing all in all. I dunno how you feel about it.

    And although I feel justified in getting frustrated with children who can't even be bothered and children who say they've been swimming before and then refuse to get into the water, I can't be frustrated with watching those who are actually trying and really struggling to go anywhere because at least they're trying. For most of them, it is actually a case of listening, pure and simple. We now have four children in the "can swim" group and five children in the "nearly there" group and roughly 8 in the "at least they're trying" group.

    And 10 who just can't be arsed.

    And 1 who hasn't been in the water yet.

    Yup.

    Still trying to work out what I did at a kid. I think I basically skipped the early lessons quite quickly...

    On that note, I'm taking diving lessons this week! ^__^ HOORAY!

    What are you learning to do right now?

    4 comments

    May 14th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    SHORYUKENFACE!

    Anyone want to take a guess as to whether Dragon Punch is any good?

    3 comments

    May 13th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    PAPERWORKFACE!

    Oh my. Paperwork. It's a giant delight. There is a mountain of it at the minute and it never gets any smaller. If anything, they throw more and more of it at us and then think we'll find the time to do it. It's all well and good but today we came up with a reasonable solution and it was welcomed by everyone... and then thrown out of the window.

    SIGH.

    Never mind! Let's all plod along. Until the children start losing out completely, we shall get on and work our arses off.

    OOOOOH. What can I do my assembly on tomorrow? I reckon I need to throw in one of the Olympic values... I'm wondering which one to go with. I can't go with 'courage' as that's been done... by me.

    Hmmm... Since Finborough ended, there's not much to talk about! I could talk to you about how crap the comedown has been... but YAY DEPRESSION!

    Did you ever go on a residential trip with your school? I went away to Castleton in Year 5 and LOVED IT. We didn't do abseiling or rock climbing. We actually climbed a mountain instead. I say a mountain... It was Mam Tor, a 517m high hill but we got to the top and it was brilliant. We also stopped at Crich Tramway Museum on the way back, which was alright. We were ten, we got to ride all the trams and there was a small play area. Hey, why not!

    There was a zoo as well... I forget which one. I also forget all about the German exchange. WE ALWAYS FORGET ABOUT THAT.

    Any school trips then?

    5 comments

    May 9th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    BRIGHTTIEFACE!

    What's wrong with my tie???? Mr Wells fumes at your non-liking of my tie and shall therefore PUNISH YOU.

    Silly colleagues... XD Must dash! Going to play tennis with the children outside! HOORAY!

    What sport are you into right now?

    22 comments

    May 8th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    POSTRESIDENTIALFACE!

    Yep. I'm becoming something of a rarer sight these days what with all the GRAAAAGH-ness of Dailybooth right now. I won't bombard you with that though. You're all in the same boat; you know all about it.

    So what have I been up to? Well... firstly I was lamenting the fact that I missed my Boothday. My 2nd boothday no less! Ah well. Happy boothday. Throw some streamers, have some cake, let's move on.

    *is found later in a corner crying*

    NOBODY LOOOOOOVES ME :(

    Anyway. I have spent the last three days at a residential with 27 children in Finborough. I went last year and it was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This year? Yeah, it was bloody brilliant again ^__^

    There were a couple of issues though:
    1) RAIN. Lots of it. It caused the quad bike track to get flooded and the golf course nearby was flooded too... In fact, the adults went for a trip down to the bridge near the river and the canoes were floating away XD
    2) COMPLAINING. Lots of the children had this mortal fear of getting dirty. "It's muddy," they whined. "That's the idea," I replied. In fact, my favourite saying over the three days was "That's the idea" because they're so used to staying indoors and not going outdoors very much. It made me a bit sad really... but by the third day, they were still complaining. One or two were jumping in it like they'd never seen it before and LOVED it.
    3) FOOD. Thankfully this only happened once for me but on Thursday evening, the option of food was stew, stew or stew. Basically it was either congealed meat or congealed meat, all smothered in something... questionable. And the cook stared at me saying: "What don't you like about it?" - which prompted my length explanation about my fussiness with certain foods. She didn't look like she believed it but screw that. She gave me some ham and and potatoes and I ate them. I ATE THEM. BAH.

    However, I did get to abseil again, which was brilliant, and I scored 24/30 in the archery... which was 17 more points that anyone else scored. Including staff. Gutted I didn't get a bullseye but three 8s is pretty bloody good. Now I wish to find a place to do more archery. I didn't get to rock climb but I am booking a beginner's lesson in rock climbing soon at the local climbing centre.

    Also there was a puppy there. A PUPPY. A BORDER COLLIE PUPPY AND OH MY GOODNESS HE WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER. I wanted to steal him so badly. He was a big daft puppy though. He wanted you to play with him but he wouldn't give you the ball he wanted to play with. Most of the time, I just put my arms out to him and he ran up and started hugging and licking me. He nipped my ear a little bit once but he was a beautiful, beautiful puppy and I wanted him. SO MUCH.

    So... I haven't really seen or heard much from you guys lately! TELL ME EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.

    8 comments

    May 5th, 2012

  • tismrwells snapped a picture

    IGOTTABELIEVEFACE!

    What ya gonna do when they come?
    I gotta redeem!
    What ya gonna do when they come?
    I gotta relieve!
    What ya gonna do when they come?
    I gotta receive!
    You gotta do what?
    You gotta do what?
    I GOTTA BELIEVE!

    Those, people, are some sinister lyrics. Perfectly innocent on first listen and in fact... one of my favourite songs in any game ever made... and yet reading them and writing them aloud... well... yeah.

    By the way, ten points if you know the game the song's from. Twenty extra points if you still OWN it.

    Interestingly, we used the theme tune to this game for a school RE project in Year 11. It set up a film on what people believe in. We interviewed a fair few people for it, including people of different faiths, and set it up as a news report. Including weather. Which was apparently "raining down with plagues"

    Not my part.

    It was trying to be serious but it ended up being edited so hilariously badly that we got more credit for the humour than for the actual content.

    Games being used in school though? EPIC WIN.

    I am also making cookies right now. Pacman cookies. They are not Pacman shaped right now. They have exploded so much that I doubt they can even be construed as... well... anything. BAH.

    For want of a better term, do you do religion? I can't say I actually do really.

    14 comments

    April 27th, 2012