The One About The Fire Drill

So we had a fire drill today.  Normally we are prepared, the teachers at least.  They tell us the day and general time so we can be ready.  Today that wasn't totally the case though.  We knew it was coming but hadn't been told a time.  I, however, being somewhat nosey in the know, overheard them prepping for it when I was in the office on break.  My kids were in Library and there was about 5 minutes left.  I hustled upstairs to get them and hurry back to our classroom so we could be totally ready to go.  However, life (the kids), had other plans.  It seems several of my friends were having a serious case of "I can't figure out what book to check out so I'll just walk around the Library a couple of dozen times picking up and putting down random books while my teacher attempts to hurry me along".  I'm sure you've experienced something similar.

So, I'm checking my watching, tapping my foot, and hopelessly trying to get them to just grab a book already pick the perfect book.  I decided to send those students who were ready back to the classroom, at the end of the hallway, and wait with the indecisive ones.  Usually we return to the classroom after Library and have snack while they peruse their books, so I had them get started on that.  There I stand, in the doorway to the Library, simultaneously watching the kids returning to the classroom and still (why, I don't know) attempting to hurry along the stragglers.  There were only 3 left, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.  We were going to make it!  Then the fire alarm went off.  Yep, you knew that was coming right?  My one little friend who inevitably get freaked out by the alarm, no matter how many times we hear it, was a straggler.  So now, I'm calming him down while rushing with him and the others down the hallway amidst the classes pouring out of their rooms to evacuate, trying to reach my other friends so we can all leave the building.  Lucky for me the 2nd Grade teacher, a good friend, absorbed by kids from my room into her line and I caught up to the end of that time on the exterior stairway.

I'm still frustrated and flustered but I think it's going to get better.  Then a 2nd Grader falls down a step or two.  Nothing major, just enough to slow us down a bit.  Then 2 of my friends decide now would be the perfect time to wander off from my line, all the while discussing the books they have from the Library.  Yep, the stragglers who evacuated with their books, giving me grief again.  Argh!  I mean this is only something we practice once a month and discussed ad nauseum during our Fire Safety studies.  Needless to say we were slowed even more by this.  By now I'm just thankful there isn't a fire because we'd be toast.

So, who knows how long it took the building to be emptied, but I can't imagine it was a record time.  Oh well.  Ever have one of those days?  Ever have one of those drills?  Luckily it didn't set the tone for the day and my mild grumpiness soon passed and we were back to normal.  Still though, it was the longest 10 minutes of my day.    

The One About A Cyber Monday Sale!

Hey!   Well, I've been away for a bit.  Enjoying a much-needed break from everything.  Enjoying the holidays and time with my family.  I wanted to take a quick break from the break though to let you know that I am throwing a sale in my TPT store this weekend!  TPT is having a huge Cyber Monday + Tuesday sale and I've decided to participate.  This Sunday, November 25 through Tuesday, November 27 everything in my store will be 20% off!  Combine that with the TPT promo on Monday and Tuesday and everything is then 28% off!  So, stop on by and see if there is anything you like!  Click on the button on the left to visit or find me here!  I'm hard at work on some things for December but I'll get to that at a later post!  Now, back to your family, shopping, and turkey leftovers!  I'll be back later!  Happy Thanksgiving!

The One About Absence

So you know I was out for two days with a sick kid. Wow, it never cease to amaze me how being out for a day or two can really throw your classroom for a loop!

I mean, don't get me wrong, I had a great sub, I was über prepared, and my kids are great. But still. Getting back into the swing of things these past two days has me exhausted. I my defense though, this was already going to be a busy and crazy week. See, it's the week before a week-long Thanksgiving vacation. Add to that the fact that tomorrow is a 1/2 day (woo hoo!) and it's also our Grandparents'/Special Person's Day and the week gets wackier. As if that weren't enough, yesterday we had practice for tomorrow's big routine all afternoon. So it was effectively a 1/2 day, teaching wise that is. So, all in all it was technically a 3 1/2 day week. Of which I missed 2 days. You do the math. That means that my day and a half was exponentially crazier than was originally planned.

Oh well though, such is life. Don't get me wrong, it's been a great week, just crazy. I had originally planned on spreading my Thanksgiving activities over the course of the week. My absence changed that. Therefore we spent nearly all of today on Thanksgiving projects. The kids had a blast, learned a lot, and I had a great day too. A win all around.

I'll get around, hopefully soon, to posting about our Thanksgiving fun. I have to get my pictures uploaded to the computer first. But for now I'm going to call it a night early. I'm beat. Tomorrow's going to be busy so I need to be as ready as possible. I definitely see a trip to Starbucks and two shots of espresso in my morning! Night!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Refurb & Reboot

*Disclaimer*  This post was written yesterday but before publishing our Internet went down!  All todays are technically yesterday and all tomorrows are technically today.  There, now that all of that is solved and a little more complicated: on with the post!  :)

Hey!

Welcome to my blog.

I better acquaint myself I'll start by giving you a (hopefully) brief history of this blog.  As you can tell from the left-hand sidebar this blog isn't new.  However, this is only the 3rd post.  Well, only the 3rd post of the new and improved blog!  Tada!  (That was supposed to be accompanied by fanfare, did that come through?)

See, I began blogging a few years ago personally and loved it.  You can find my personal blog here.  I loved it so much I decided to start a classroom blog.  My original plan was to have it be a communication tool between by students and I and the parents.  We'd share what we were doing in class.  We'd share pictures.  We'd share anything else we could think of.  Kind of a window into the classroom so to speak.  Every now and then I would come in with editorial/advice posts to talk to the parents.  Sounds great right?  I thought so too.  But, as I'm sure you know, life gets in the way and posting became irregular, defeating the purpose of the blog.  The following year I began it again, with a vow to do better.  And I did, for a while.  But then life got in the way again.  Once again I decided to start over, I mean 3rd time's a charm right?  Wrong.  Life really got in the way then and I shut the blog down altogether.

By now I was heavily into following teaching blogs and getting ideas from and inspired by other awesome teachers.  My mind's wheels began to turn again.  Maybe a resurrection was in store for my dearly beloved blog?  Then I joined Teachers Pay Teachers and got further involved in that world, loving every minute of it.  I made a firm decision this past summer to revamp and restart my blog.  Turning it into a teaching blog like so many of the greats out there that I follow (see blogroll on the left!).  Alas, life (and maybe a bit of laziness?) occurred and it was put off.  But now, my dear friends (if you're still with me), is the time!  To start anew.  To bring back the blog with its reinvented purpose!  Plus I'm home with a sick baby so I have the time.

So I deleted all of the old posts (save for the two you may have already noticed).  It was sad, but necessary to move forward.  I kept the other two because they were special to me.  One explains my obsession with frogs, my classroom's theme and the other is something I wrote a while back about grading.  I wrote this for parents and it got some great replies, here on the blog and in person.  My principal even emailed it out to all parents because she thought it was good, more good reviews.  Not to toot my own horn (woo woo) but to explain a bit.

So that brings us to the present day.  My hopes for this blog are to share my classroom, what we do, what we're about, and the fun and exciting things that happen on a daily basis.  I also hope to share the things I create at TPT with you.  There are so many great teaching blogs out there I modestly hope to add a little something to that world.  My personal life may slip in a bit, but we will see.

But enough about me, if you want to learn more head on over to my blog.  So, I hope you'll stay with me and that you enjoy it!    Let's go!