Celebration

At the end of last term, I was left with a feeling of rushing towards the Christmas holidays and kind of collapsing into it. I didn't feel that I took the time to reflect with the children on all that they had done, or celebrate it. I made a note in my planner to do it differently next time and, with the half-term break next week, I set this afternoon aside for 'Celebration and Reflection'. I wasn't quite sure what I meant by this, but this is what we did.
We made muffins (what else!), a little early for Valentine's Day, but yummy nonetheless.

We filed any bits and bobs of written work into the large, years' files I keep (there wasn't a lot, which felt discouraging) and then we sat down with tea and candles and my planner and talked over what we'd done, making a note of it as we went. Soon the list was bigger than the box I'd begun it in: French, copy-writing, science kits, ice-skating, new friends, poetry tea-times, read-alouds and more. We rounded off with one 'old-favourite' poem each.

We were all surprised at how much we had actually achieved in these dark, cold, and energy-deficient weeks. Comparing the list to the objectives I had set for the whole term, I could see that we are well on track in almost all areas and a little bit more getting out of the house in March will see us through. Taking the time to reflect gave us something to celebrate and marked another milestone on our journey.