This day is one for the record books. I just can't believe it. I'm sitting at my desk laughing to myself cause I still just can't believe... maybe I should back up and explain our day.
So I get to school a little before 7:30 and I'm in sort of a crabby mood. No particular reason why I'm crabby-ish, just not feeling especially peppy and cheerful. Then I see a light on in my room already. Turns out, one of my students came with his older sister to school early so she could get help on homework. This means that instead of having a good half hour of solitude to get ready for the day, I have another person in my room that I have to keep an eye on and entertain/keep on track until the rest of the class gets here. Wonderful. My mood drops another few bars.
However, a few of the normally problematic memory workers came in and said their memory work without a hitch... but there was still one kid who wasn't even close to having Luther's Morning Prayer memorized by the time the bell rang. Normally when I'm not at the top of my game I can get back in sync by starting the school day, and by the time we're done with religion I'm feeling normal. But today was not a normal day... we were supposed to practice music at 8:35 in Mr. E's room. I even wrote a note on the board so I'd remember! I still didn't. Miss N came down to get us and it wasn't a big deal (but I was still in a less than good mood).
When we got to Mr. E's room, one of the 7th graders pointed out that I'd messed up writing the name of their assignment due today on the board. So they were all confused and worried because they'd never seen that worksheet before in their life and did I ever give it to them in the first place? But we got that sorted and sung our song and got back to our room without any further difficulties.
Read-aloud time. Religion went long since we got started late. We only had four chapters left in the book, always dangerous territory for getting other stuff done in the morning. So many cliff-hangers! As you might be predicting right now, we finished the book today. We read until it was time for reading buddies with the provision that people not finished with handwriting work on it while I read. That worked pretty good. Then we did reading buddies and took our spelling tests. By that time, I was back in a good mood (reading a good book does that to you).
It's just about time for lunch. My kids start to complain about being forced to practice soccer at recess. I make a deal with them that if they don't complain about what time we go out/have to come in, we can do soccer for the first half and whatever they want for the second half. Perfect. It's a done deal. In the lunch line, Mr. E tells me about this plan to have me eat lunch in his room while he eats lunch in my room. Partly to give me a break and partly so he can have a "heart-to-heart" with them. Hmm, suspicious. So I go eat in the 7th grade room. I guess Mr. E had a heart-to-heart with them too because they were being super nice and kept referencing how much quieter it was in their room than it probably was in my room usually. And they kept staring at me too. It was very strange. Mr. E came in and told me I should stay inside and eat my lunch cause he was going to take recess duty today. Woohoo! It was the first time all year I ate my entire lunch without getting up once. It was delightful.
After lunch we had our normal schedule... until the mix-up with hearing and vision screening. The nurse wanted to start at the top grades and work down, so my 5th and 6th graders were supposed to go at 1:15ish. However, they're with Mr. E at that time and I have his 7th graders. The nurse flip-flopped our papers and I thought everything was worked out. But no one came to get us at 1:00 when screening was supposed to start, and when we went to the gym, Mr. E had already sent the 6th graders down to get screened. No big deal, the 7th graders and I were at a really good part in our read aloud book (Schooled, by Gordon Korman) so we keep reading. In the end, Mr. E kept my kids for 15 extra minutes to get their full math time. I have his kids, but we don't get anything done (except read) because one of the girls left early for an orthodontist appointment.
My class was supposed to listen to more Native American presentations, but by the time they got back we only had time for one. The boys who get the antsiest for recess were supposed to leave at 2:00 for a birthday party, so they kept checking out the window to see if their ride showed up. (It never did. Well, until the end of the school day, that is.) The boy who presented did an amazing job! He did extra research, had everything laid out super nicely, and presented like a pro. And the class listened to him the whole time! Without complaining! The other day this boy showed me his Minecraft mod in which he'd created a Hopi village, complete with underground ceremonial rooms just like a real village would've had. Very impressive.
Recess was our normal four-square games. For once I remembered to keep in the kids who hadn't turned in spelling fixes, unfinished math tests, and memory work. Everyone got everything done! I even had time to play a little four-square with the boys. And then the bugs started biting. I thought I got stung by a bee! But no, it was a whole bunch of little black bugs, kind of like those nasty gnats, but smaller and more piercing right away.
And now, the pièce de résistance... for whatever reason, my class took forever to get packed up to go home. Half the people weren't in the room, the other half was off looking at a daddy long-legs spider we'd found earlier in the day or the almost ready to hatch monarch. When everyone is finally rounded up to pray, I see Mr. E from the corner of my eye knocking on our class door. And when he spots all of us with our heads bowed his eyes round in horror. "I just waved off the buses." Oops. My whole class missed the bus today. The funny thing is, Mr. E's class missed the bus two days ago because someone else waved off the bus without checking our thumbs-up chart. He chewed out that person... or should I say, lectured that person on always checking. And what happens next? Mr. E does the same exact thing.
Thankfully, there was no Nicollet busing scheduled for today, so half my class was getting picked up anyway. So only five students actually missed the bus. The bus makes a stop in Courtland before heading out to MVL and New Ulm, so there was a chance we could intercept them. Only four could fit in Mr. E's car which meant that I'd have to take some kids too. As I'm backing out of the parking lot, the school treasurer comes running at me, trying to give me a check I need to bring to the volleyball tournament tomorrow. I quick called out the window the information she needed and booked it to Courtland. We barely made it. The bus was trying to turn left on a busy corner, so I turned the corner and rolled down the window waving my hand like a mad-woman at the bus driver. He calmly listened to my frantic spiel. "We have some kids who missed the bus! Can they get on here? There's a couple more coming too!" He calmly nodded and opened the door to the bus. My little passengers (calm up to this point) immediately grabbed their gear and cautiously poked their heads out of my car to see if the road was empty before running to the bus. The traffic was so bad at that corner that Mr. E also got his charges dropped off before the bus had a chance to turn. Whew.
So. All's well that ends well. But really, isn't it funny that after the horrible start I had to my day and after all that Mr. E tried to do to make my day better, it still ends with my class missing the bus? In reality, I'm actually in a pretty good mood right now, much better than I was feeling this morning. And to top it off, it's Friday!
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