Unbelievable

It was an incredible day, proceeded by an incredible day.

Thursday, we had an “emergency, optional” staff meeting.  We were told there would be no more assemblies, no more field trips, no more staff meetings.  No more gatherings larger than class size.  But there was a buzz in the air.  You knew something was up.  I was guessing we would be in school for about 2 more weeks.

Than Friday happened.  Throughout the day 4th grade teachers kept getting emails and watching Facebook posts.  Word spread that other districts were shutting down.  Then somehow, word was spread that we should send the Chromebooks home.  (Yikes!)  The district sent out people to help us cut zip ties on the chargers, and Anne, Ivan, and other school personnel came around to help as well.

Things really were buzzing now.  We tried to keep the students out of the loop for now.  We decided to tell them we were going to let them try taking them home for the weekend.  We thought it would be for a few weeks.  After lunch it was a bit crazy.  I passed out the Chromebooks and wrote down who had which computers.  Then I did a quick lesson so they would know how to email me.  But that’s all.  Then over the intercom the principal came on to tell the kids they were going to take them home for 3 weeks.

The place went crazy.  It was a kid’s dream come true.  I made sure they packed them in their backpacks safely, then walked them out.  It was nuts.  I don’t think anyone was believing what was happening.

I had two students enter the talent show. Billy was going to sing a High School Musical song (you remember Billy?) and “Mario” was going to sing a different song.  Well, Billy isn’t known for following through on things.  When he first tried out, Billy was going to play guitar and sing with his friend “Andy” and “Shupac”, who was going to learn the violin the night before.  Needless to say, THAT didn’t happen.

Fast forward to today.  Mario forgot to bring his music for the show.  He has been talking about this for weeks, even asking if he could sing the song in front of our class sans music.  He was definately the stronger of the two students, singing wise.  Billy has been looking forward to the event as well, and even remembered to bring his CD.

Billy was the third act up.  He got out on stage, the music started, and he actually sang!  It wasn’t great, but he was doing it.  But then. . . he forgot the words.  The music kept playing, but he wasn’t singing.  You could see him thinking about the words, keeping the beat with his head bouncing up and down slightly, his eyes looking up, trying to look into his brain for the words.  But he just couldn’t find them.

But to his credit, he kept his composure.  He didn’t run off stage crying.  He stayed up there, trying to get back into it.  A couple of times he even put the mic back up to his mouth, only to pull it back down.  The teacher in charge finally pulled the music down.  The school gave Billy a round of applause.  They were really nice.

Billy walked off stage back to where the performers were sitting.  The principal and I went over to him.  He seemed alright.  A bit disappointed, like he couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t think of the words.  I congratulated him for going up there in the first place.  I was really proud of him for trying, and for the first time actually wanted to give him a hug.

*****

We had a retirement party for my principal today after school.  There were a lot of people there, and it was good to see friends I haven’t seen for a while.  The video was good, so was the cake.

Report Cards

It’s report card time.  We get a minimum day the Wednesday before report cards are due to get our acts together.  I usually need to start a couple of days before and input some grades into my grade book and figure out the grades.  I think it’s pretty difficult to fill out our report card.  There are so many catagories, so many specifics.  It’s mind numbing.  Then there are the comments.  By the time I spend an hour on them, I feel like I’m in a daze.  I brought my iPod to listen to, and every once in a while I need to stand up and walk around.  Looks like it’s going to be a long day at school.