Index cards with letters. Will use them in my one-to-one classes.

According to Last.fm my 2011 was filled with Arcade Fire (old and
new), Vampire Weekend (mainly the iTunes session, and 'A-Punk' more
than the others), Bat for Lashes ('Glass'), Fang Island (the whole
album, but 'Treeton', intensely), Moby (well, just 'Extreme Ways' and
the 'Mistake', as they became lodged in my ears at different moments
during the year), and many others. Most prominent, though, for me were
Future Islands (the whole of *In Evening Air* is inspired, but I think
'Tin Man', if I had to choose just one track) and TV on the Radio
('Wolf Like Me' got me through many a bike ride and session at the
gym). If I had to choose one group to be my group of 2011, Future
Islands would be it. The description of J. Gerrit Welmers, the lead
singer, by Zach Kelly of Pitchfork is perfect: "At times wailing like
a cross between Tom Waits and the Sea Captain from *The Simpsons*
(nicely exemplified at the stirring peak of 'An Apology'),
occasionally adopting a strange British patois to augment a sort of
sing-speak, Herring's presence is over-the-top in just the right way."
It was a good year for music. I'm wondering what 2012 will have in
store.

Played a great game with my one-to-one students: we stuck letters to the floor with sticky tape, randomly, and then raced around spelling out words. The children loved it. And I had a blast too.

At home, relaxing.