Making Up For Lost Time

I feel like a bad blogger.  Sorry for not updating all weekend!  I'm thankful for the long weekend though!  Did you have today off?  We did and we needed it.  After coming back from three weeks of Winter Break, everyone needed an extra day to rest.  Our first week back started off great!  I think it was like the first day of school all over again.  Everyone was so excited to be at school.  I reviewed rules and routines with my little angels.  Well, then Tuesday hit and we were all comfortable with each other again.  Behavior issues started up and I wasn't sure the week would ever end.  Friday felt like the longest day ever.  But, here we are at the end of a three day weekend.  The weekend has come and gone faster than Friday seemed to go.






I can't promise I'll be a better blogger this week.  It seems like this is the week for meetings, my first formal observations, a field trip on Friday, grades are almost due, and it is our first official week of drama club.  I may be a new teacher, but I believe there is no better time to establish and advise a club.  The students and parents are excited too!  We had over 50 students sign up!  It is going to be a huge production!


My goal is to snap some pictures this week. I hope you have a great 4 day week!

When disaster strikes

What a week! Students still have not come back from Winter Break. They've been home for three weeks now.

Monday and Tuesday were snow days. When teachers went in Wednesday morning, we found what looked like a waterfall in one classroom, rain coming out of the ceiling in another, and the library flooded. We're in a very old building, so I'm not so surprised that five pipes burst during the worst freeze in years.  

Teachers have been working together the last few days to document damage, clean up, and relocate effected classrooms. One teacher lost everything and our modest school library lost half the books. The building had to be sprayed with chemicals so that mold does not grow.

As awful as this all has been, it's been great to see the staff come together.  We worked together to set up a classroom for the teacher who lost everything. We made it as comfortable and familiar as possible.  It's going to be difficult for those students to come back to all of their work ruined. Hopefully we can get the students to support and help each other as the teachers have been doing.

Where Have I Been?

I cannot believe it has been almost a full month since my last post!  I'm so sorry!
Those last two weeks before break we're crazy busy!  I fully intended to write as soon as break started, but I received a rather unpleasant gift from my students-the worst cold of my life!  It made for a rather miserable break.  I guess I needed the time to relax and recharge, though.  Anyway, two weeks of break and I'm almost back to 100% health.  We have a professional day Monday and students start back on Tuesday, unless we get a snow day!

It's time to get back into school mode.  Here is a glimpse back to the week before Winter Break:

We went to the zoo two days before break began.  Crazy? Yes, we might have been.  We returned to school with all the students and they had a great time.  It was a successful trip!  Plus, we learned about elephants and rain forest animals!

On the last day of school before Winter Break, a local private high school sent a class of Sophomores to our school to do holiday activities with the kids.  They began the day making these cute paper bag reindeer.  Then, one of the highschoolers dressed as Santa and each student received a wrapped gift.  It was really impressive the thought and care put into the event by the high school students.

While the rest of the school watched movies in the afternoon, my class went on a "secret" mission walking trip.  More on that tomorrow!