Up and Down and Up and Down

Last night, I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30. At ten o'clock Ross woke me up and guided me to the shower. And then I went to bed. And when I woke up, I was still exhausted. Go figure.

My attitude was better this morning, partially because I was looking forward to our prayer meeting. It is so nice to have a Christian community on campus. Debra- the lady who hosts the meeting- is such an on-fire and alive woman. Her joy is so contagious. I thank God again and again for her : )

After that, I headed to my classroom. When I got there, the door was open and a man was on a ladder peeking into the rafters of my room. Turns out he was there to fix the air conditioning. He asked me when the students came and I told him 15 minutes. He said okay and got to work. 15 minutes later, the ladder is still up and I have to go pick up my kids. I greet them and debrief them on the ladder and how we need to act safely in our classroom. When we enter, the ladder is gone...

The kids get unpacked and start eating breakfast. Suddenly, the principal has let herself into my room. She asks if I would like to move out of our room, because the air will not start working for several hours. I go over all the logistics in my head, remember going to Mr. Dunger's room with kids all over the floor and say that I really think it would be better for us to just stay where we are. She frowns, and insists that the second I change my mind I call the head secretary and alert her of our new location. I half-smile and send her on her way.

The kids and I get started on reading and writing when the a/c man is suddenly back in our classroom. He says that he needs us out. That he is not finished and that he can not work with us in the room. I sigh a big sigh and ask if he can wait 20 minutes so that I can pack and the kids can go to recess. He says yes.

I very quickly come up with an independent project for the students to do and begin packing our things. Not knowing how long we will be gone, I take everything. Science and social studies big books-math packets-spelling transparencies and practice tests. I run around the room giving students masking tape to label their pencil boxes, then throw all of them into a crate (the pencil boxes, not the children... ) It was crazy.

While the kids are at recess, I am lugging all of this stuff up the stairs and into our Gifted Resource room. By this time, I am disgustingly sweaty. It turns out that our a/c got hotter before it got colder.

So after recess my kids are lined up and we talk about how we properly walk up the staircase. Then we go up the stairs and into our "new" classroom. Nothing terribly eventful happened during that time, I just kept thinking that I was too new of a teacher to be expected this kind of spontaneous teaching : )

Lunch comes around. I have a meeting with our Program Coach about my two special boys. She says one is due for a reevaluation (which is good) and the other was just evaluated and is fine. I frown and tell her that I would not use that word to describe him. I feel like I have a task in front of me regarding this child. He is certainly not fine... After our meeting, the Program Coach offers me chocolate. She tells me to take "as much as you need." : )

With ten minutes of lunch left, I run to the restroom and then into my classroom to grab some paperwork. Hey, it's actually cold in here! I run upstairs, grab the big books and lesson plans, run to pick the kids up off the playground, go over the stairs routine again, lead them upstairs, they grab their pencil boxes and we walk back down the stairs to our room. All for the sake of consistency, and my sanity.

The afternoon progressed well with an effective math lesson and an introductory social studies lesson. In SS we talked about rules and laws, communities and citizens, and voting. I explained to the children that voting is very important. That soon adults will be able to vote for the next president of the United States and that we will be voting in our classrooms, too. Four of my African American students get excited and say "Mmhmm. I'm gonna vote for Barack Obama." And one little boy says that there are places people can't vote- like China. My goodness, my kids are actually pretty politically aware. (Don't tell Ross...)

So today was a chaotic success. Tomorrow should be interesting with Science Observation Centers in the afternoon. My mom, a parent volunteer and Mr. Dunger are all coming to help students use their senses to learn more about the world around them. You can pray about that, if you'd like : )