I only allot so much energy expenditure for a week ... and this week I used up at least a year's worth lol. Friday was field day at school, which is fun but exhausting.
Most of my students need someone to run each race with them so that they don't create their own route :-) In my class, there are 3 adults (me and my 2 paras) and 9 kids so we usually have to run *every race* 3 times each. Not only run the race but also almost literally drag a student with us. Needless to say, the day ends with the adults collapsing (and the kids, too).
This year I not only had my two awesome parapros to help out, but also my ex-student teacher (who just graduated) who is incredible and my ex-parapro (who also just graduated) who is also incredible. The A/PE coach hung out with us for the water races, too. Add to that three parents who came in to help out and this field day was, by far, the least exhausting so far - but still tiring :-)
Helping to make this field day less stressful than field days in the past, we ran the races separately (just my class instead of putting my kids on teams with third graders) this year. This let us go at the kids' own pace without the chaos of tons of kids yelling and running around them (it's already a very over-stimulating day for my kiddos to begin with!). I really think that the kids got more out of it and had more fun - and as a bonus the adults weren't quite as exhausted when it was all over!
We played with bubbles, then did tug o' war with 3rd grade several times and once with just my class. Then we played on the playground a little before playing kickball.
Rather than join 3rd graders for the big kickball game, we played "one-base" kick ball with just us (I roll the ball to a student, they kick the ball and run to the one base - next student kicks and runs to base while the first student runs home - I don't tag anyone out, they just run - very simple rules that teach the first basic concept of kickball/baseball type games - we also do it with T-ball sometimes) and the kids had lots of fun.
Then, while the relay field was empty (b/c 3rd graders were still playing kickball), we split into two teams and ran the ball-in-the-bucket race and the frog-on-a-paddle race, then we just had an all out "everybody run at the same time" race :-) I think that was the highlight of the day for many of my kiddos.
We went in for a popsicle and potty break, then came back out for the water races (again, before the other kids got to the water-race area so we could do it at our own pace). Brandon REALLY enjoyed the sponge race - well, not so much the race as the sponge :-)
A little time on the swings and then field day was over for us with NO ONE melting down!! That's a first!! A completely successful, fun, enjoyable-for-all field day! We came in, had lunch and rested while watching a movie before loading the buses and heading home.
Saturday was Barrow County's Special Needs Family Fun Day. It was at Extreme Tumbling and the kids really enjoyed the trampolines and the foam pit! 
There was also a clown, a DJ, a "who-hair" booth, nail and face painting, "fishing" pond, puppet show, lego table, fossil-digging, a firetruck and a jumpy-castle. I was in charge of the sensory obstacle course. Two of my students and one former student showed up, in addition to several other families from the county. Of course, rather than sit and watch the festivities, I jumped in the pit and castle with my kiddos and did the "cha-cha slide" with/for Seth (holding him and "puppet-ing" him through the dance steps lol). But let me tell you - getting out of a huge pit of foam is NOT EASY! So I just hung out there for a while and watched the kids have fun lol.
Then I took some cool photos of the "big kids" who tumble at the gym practicing some of their stuff (aka flying lol).
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