Stress

This week has been a busy one.  I can tell that I'm dealing with stress as my kids start to comment on how I'm never home and I have to spend a day home with them sick.  I feel selfish for wanting to go into work although I enjoy my day home snuggling and working when I can.  I'm amazed how much time I do put in even when I am suppose to be taking time off.  My 4k parents don't seem to take a day off of communicating with me about something.

Wednesday I was trained in SIMS.  SIMS stands for Student Intervention Monitoring System.  It looks like a good way to track RTI and all the interventions that staff members are trying.  It collects ALL the data in one place.  I'm only a couple hours into this program, but I can already see some positives and negatives.

Thursday, our 4kers had their first ever Rhythms Night.  I was so proud of my kiddos.  They did a fabulous job being brave in front of that huge crowd. They were well behaved and they shook their little bodies giving the audience a good show.  We heard many laughs, lots of compliments, and a huge round of applause.  It really felt great. Afterwards, I got to spend a little time with my co-workers enjoying the release of today's stress.  On my drive home after a long day, I had an excellent conversation with a fellow friend and co-worker.  Many topics were school related and what is stressing us at the moment, but it felt good just to talk it out with her.

Friday, I took a large group of kids, staff and adults on an all-day field trip. I normally don't have kids on Friday so this was quite an adventure.  We went to the children's museum in Eau Claire and the Eau Claire Children's theatre for a Live show of Dora the Explorer.  It was a great day where things went very smooth.  The children had lots of "new experiences" today.  My leadership skills were stretched and I was exhausted (and proud) by the end of the day.

Saturday, I read an article about How to Manage Your Stress from the Education Update put out by ASCD.  "Everybody has stress-both good stress and bad stress.  It's a simple fact of life".  This week has proved that as I was stressed, my own kids were stressed, and even my 4K kids were feeling the stress.   "The key is learning to cope in a healthy, calm manner".  I'm not sure I've figured out how to manage my stress appropriately yet, but I do feel better tonight knowing that I am being productive.