Shutting My Brain Off

I just realized I spent my entire evening preparing materials for school. I printed, laminated, and cut out materials. I suppose I accomplished a lot. My brain needs a break. I've had a lot of students out sick this week. Well, one is perpetually absent, one is at a funeral, and the rest were sick. It is tough to keep them all caught up on their work. Some won't be able to make it up. It's a bummer because they just fall further behind.

I stopped by the store on my way home to grab a few groceries. This Friday is our Friday to make lunch for the staff again. We are ordering pizzas. Which makes everything SOOO much less work. We do have to bring a dessert. It was strongly suggested/ordered once again that I make Special K Bars. I wasn't sure I had enough chocolate and so I bought some. I also picked up a couple of snacks to make it through my training tomorrow.

The students are being released at noon. Teachers will be attending professional development. The only super annoying part of this is that most of us just took a class on the topic. What we are being taught is material already covered. It feels like a massive waste of time. I am not sure why they are making everyone attend. This training is on the new science standards our state has adopted. Our district has not officially adopted them as of yet, but the school board is expected to approve them. The poor Art, Music, P.E. teachers, support staff, and special ed. staff was required to attend. Today once we covered what we'd already learned we discussed important grade level things such as what dessert to bring Friday.

It has been pouring down rain the last couple of days. I dam failed northeast of here and a town is flooded. Many people locally had their basements flood as well. The rain melted a lot of snow really fast.  So It is a mess. The playground is just an endless series of puddles we have to discourage students out of wading through. Lunch recess was cancelled today due to the rain. We can be outside in blowing snow, but must draw the line at rain.

I had to write a few notes to parents today. I've had to really crack down on behavior. I am trying to emphasize being prepared for third grade. Some of these kids are dealing with some tough home life issues. I have to remember they need more structure than any of the rest of the kids. What is amazing here is our school counselor is not pulled as much to other tasks. She helps a lot with student issues. Well, I need to shut my brain off and go to bed....