You never know what will happen

Yesterday it rained, hard.  It was an inside day.  My before school "traffic duty" was in the cafeteria, trying to keep the peace.

Mostly that meant stopping little boys from chasing each other.  

It was time to line up and three kindergarten boys were shoving each other.  I went over to them and told them to keep their hands to themselves.

One of them kept messing with the kid in front of him.  I said, "Hands to yourself," and I positioned myself so he knew my eyes were on him.

He looked up at me and asked, "What is your name?" like he was ready to report me to management.

I said, "Mrs. Davis, what's yours?" 

He might be in my class someday.  I need to make friends while I can.

During reading, we came upon one of our vocabulary words for the week, "conservation."

I asked what that meant.  One of my students said, "It's when two people talk to each other."

I wrote conservation and conversation on the board and I said that I saw why he got them confused, but they are two different words.  I said what each meant.

The student, who isn't a native English speaker, said, "That tricky *&%@#!"

Only one other student picked up on the swear word.  His eyes kind of bugged out of his eyes and I couldn't react (sometimes I actually miss my face mask).  I had to hold it together so I didn't alert anyone else.

Also, we had a pretty epic bloody nose, but no one threw up!

Focus on the good

Yesterday morning my friend Michelle sent me a text.  Included in its message were the words:  You can do it!  Focus on the good!

Everyone needs cheerleader friends like Michelle to text them in the 7:00 AM hour.

I hadn't slept well and felt grumpy, but I noticed the pink puffy clouds over the mountain as I walked into school.  I was trying to focus on the good.

I had traffic duty, which I have a love/hate relationship with because it takes my time, but it also gives me chances to chat with the kids which I enjoy.  I tried to focus on that part.

We had a rehearsal for our 3rd grade culture program which is coming RIGHT up and we're NOT ready for it.  (At all.  Not at all.)  It was in the gym and it was chaotic.  One of my students asked if she could go get a drink.  I said no.  A few minutes later she got up and ran away.  She is a runner anyway and just last week I had to call the office because she was on the lam.  This time though, she made a beeline for the garbage and threw up in it.

I was so proud of her for thinking to use the garbage!

I forgot all about trying to focus on the good.  I just was that grateful.  She is my fifth(!) student to throw up this year (but who's counting, right?) and the first one to have the presence of mind to use the garbage.

Later, I remembered how I was trying to focus on the good and I patted myself on the back for feeling so optimistic about the garbage thing.

It's the little things, you know?

It was a hard day, which is always the case when I am tired and they are too.  I had rearranged the desks and one student told me that it gave him more room to run around.  He wasn't wrong.  I kind of forgot about focusing on the good and then after school, I remembered.

Here was my low bar focus on the good:  we all survived the day.

High fives all around.

(And I may rearrange the desks again.)

Encouragement

Yesterday was another teacher work day.  I've heard more than one parent complain about teacher work days, because we have more of them than they want.

We have more than I want too.

We are doing online LETRS training, which is a reading program.  It is useful and also the days are SO long.  I was in my classroom and every chance I got, I would go into Janelle's room to chat.  I just needed to walk around for one thing.

I was not made to sit at a desk all day.

Also, at some point in the afternoon, I realized, "I am REALLY cold."

I noticed it was 63 degrees in my classroom!  Which isn't great.

So I went home cold and weary (time change!).  And then I remembered something that happened on the way to school that encouraged and lifted me.

Before leaving home, I texted Janelle that I would get Swig (Miriam was out of town or I would have picked her one up too).  I placed my order at Swig and it used up one gift card so I fished out another gift card.  I told the girl working, "I'm a teacher so I always have several of these cards."  They are the teacher gift of choice and I'm not sad about it.

She said, "What do you teach?"

I said, "Third grade."

She said, "I loved my third grade teacher!"  She went on to tell me his name and why she liked him so much.

People remember their 3rd grade teacher.  I want the memories to be good ones.  The Swig drive thru:  you never know when you'll get inspiration to keep on trying.

Weekend

It was a just what the doctor ordered sort of restful, but also get stuff done, sort of weekend.

And I got behind on dishes and they'll be waiting for me when I get home from work today.  Adam and Mark made this delicious tri tip, mashed potatoes, roasted squash,  and roasted asparagus dinner on Saturday night and the dishes have been trying to catch up ever since.

(My low bar lifestyle:  I'm not about to wash something that can wait its turn for the dishwasher.)

Yesterday I reset all the clocks.  I know I have a lot of clocks and I know that is my fault.  Still.  I just wish we could keep the same time!  (Also I get sleepy.)  I told Adam that I wished there was a company that could come in and change all your clocks.  I said, "I would pay them $20."  

I don't know if that is a successful business idea, but Adam came up for a name for the company:  Thyme.

So if anyone wants a business where you don't make much money two days out of the year, there you go.

It was nice to go to church after being away.

It was nice to have Emma over.  We played Qwixx.  I made a new recipe for potato ham soup that was really good and I made a mochi gluten free cake (from a Trader Joe's mix) that was not good at all.

I keep trying.

  

Grateful Friday

It's Friday!  This week has been a short work week for me, but has not felt like it!

I'm grateful for what I'm hoping is a quiet weekend at home.

I'm grateful that I got to take a fabulous trip with Adam.

I'm grateful that spring is nigh.  The weather is holding onto winter somewhat, but that can't last forever.  A change is as good as a rest and I like when the seasons change.

I'm grateful for the funny things my students do that delight me.  2/3 of them are boys, which sort of sets the stage for the class.  They are rambunctious and physical and loud.  The girls are outnumbered and quieter and usually more civilized.

I have a reading intervention group of four boys every afternoon for 15 minutes.  It's one of my favorite times of the day because of the boys' outsize personalities.  They are all competitive and if I promise a game the last few minutes of the time together, they work really hard.

Yesterday we played a game called oink.  You get a card.  If it has a word, you read it and get to keep it.  If you get a card that says you fell in the mud, you have to give all your cards back.  If you get an "oink," you get to steal a card from another player.

The words all contained oi/oy vowel teams.  When the word was ahoy, I told them my pirate joke:

"What is a pirate's favorite letter?"

They all said, "Arrrrrrr."

I said, "You'd think it be R, but it be the C."

They cracked up.

I pretty much slay in 3rd grade and that is the only place my jokes are very funny.

Another word was toilet.  That also was somehow hysterical to them.  Then every time one of them got to steal a card, they picked toilet and the one who lost it mourned and tried to get it back.

3rd grade boys are not like regular people.

I'm still grateful I get to spend my days with them.

Here we go

I felt like a ping pong ball all day yesterday.  I went from situation to situation.  I said a lot of, "OK, I'll have to figure that out."

There was the pile left behind by the sub, that is a whole thing.

My iPad that I use in my document camera situation was completely dead and needed to be recharged before I could use it.

I had students demanding answers, "How many Lexia units do I still need?"

I had no idea.

I (guess what?) had a new student start yesterday who (guess what?) didn't speak any English.

My microphone wouldn't work and the computers were all shuffled.  One student's had a name tag on his computer and that student isn't even in my class and nothing made sense.

Everyone was either naughty or extra naughty or kind of naughty like they'd all returned from a birthday party where they had too much sugar.  I did my best to wrangle and contain.

Grades are due Friday.

I drove home in a snowstorm.

It was a lot for a girl who so recently was living a life of warmth and leisure on the Gulf Coast.

My students hugged me though.  They missed me.  I missed them.  Other third graders from other classes, who I don't even interact with on a regular basis said, "You're back!" and "How was your trip?" and "I went to California once."

Being a school teacher is always hard; it almost always feels worth it.

Rude awakening

Yesterday we woke up in Mobile, Alabama and went to sleep in Pleasant Grove, Utah.  

We went about our day in the same lazy way we had approached every day on our vacation.  We had a leisurely breakfast and went for a walk.  We went into a huge cathedral and walked through its garden.  We walked to the Spanish Plaza Park.  It was all very lovely.  

The night before we'd watched the documentary The Descendants on Netflix which was all about the descendants of some Africans that were captured and brought illegally to Mobile on the Clotilda.  It all should have been illegal anyway, but bringing these slaves was illegal because it happened in 1860 and bringing slaves to the United States was illegal after 1808.

It was a really interesting documentary, especially since we were in Mobile.  After our walk, we drove to Africatown, where the descendants still live.  We saw the cemetery that was also in the documentary.

Adam had found a store he thought I may like.  It was a Christmas store, so we stopped.  Mostly, it was not tacky stuff, but all crammed together in ancient glass cabinets with faded price tags, it was a lot.

And some of it was just so bizarre.

Amazing this stuff isn't just flying off the shelves.

We wandered around longer than seems reasonable, since we weren't interested in buying anything, but it was just so absurd that was captivating.

From there we continued on our way.  We had a leisurely lunch/dinner at Cracker Barrel and then started realizing what time it was.

We were cutting it closer than we should for our flight.  

Adam kept saying we were fine; we were in plenty of time.

As we got closer to New Orleans, there was increased traffic and slow downs.  I was increasingly nervous, but Adam wasn't concerned.

"We're fine," Adam said.

We stopped to get gas and the pump didn't work and it took time.  

"We're fine," Adam said.

We returned the rental car.  We got on the shuttle that takes you from the rental place to the airport.

"We're fine," Adam said.

And then we sat.  It was 5:00 PM and we had a 6:00 PM flight.  The longer the shuttle sat there, the less fine I felt.

"I'm starting to get worried," Adam said.

So that translated to me feeling a lot of worried.  Adam said, "We'll either make it or we won't.  There's no use worrying about it."

Sometimes I wonder how we are the same species.

We sat for ten full minutes of anguish and anxiety as the shuttle didn't budge.  Adam said, "I can't believe how long we took at Cracker Barrel."

Adam said, "We shouldn't have stopped at that Christmas store."

I started considering sub plans in case we missed the flight.

We finally headed to the airport and it was the most circuitous and slow route and I was dying.

And also praying.

Adam was TSA approved, so he said he would hurry and let them know at the gate that I was coming.  He said, "But I won't get on the plane without you."

It was 5:30 when we finally got to the airport!  We hurried and security was pretty empty but also SO SLOW.  Adam hurried through and I was waiting behind the least rushed people in America.  The little conveyor belt next to us stopped working, so they merged those people into our line and no one (except me) was in a hurry.  I finally made it through and my phone started ringing and it was Adam.  I said, "I am through security!  I am coming!"

It was the second closest gate to security and despite everything, I was in my seat at 5:40.

It was kind of amazing and also felt like the vacation was over.

Adam and Thelma's 40 minutes of high anxiety.

So now I'm off to school.  Ready to wade through what was left behind by my sub and ready to see those cute faces again.