Fast and Furious

It was a good thing I made two sub plans for yesterday because our school was two hours late due to the wind and blowing snow. They called it the night before. Actually, Thursday morning it wasn't too bad. I was able to see pretty good and the roads were fine for Mrs. L and I to head to Mankato at the time we'd originally planned.

The first teacher we observed was a 1st grade powerhouse. Wow she has a lot of energy! She must've spent a ton of time at the beginning of the year going over procedures and expectations because her classroom ran like clockwork. Mrs. L and I took a lot of notes and had a great time observing her. In the afternoon we observed a 3rd grade classroom for Writers Workshop and I didn't get as much out of it as I'd hoped. The lesson was only about 15 minutes instead of a half an hour (the teacher spent more time on her small reading groups) and she doesn't do a true Writers Workshop. Both teachers invited us back again, so maybe we'll see what they're up to on another day.

My students love the sub, Mrs. L (she subbed for Mrs. E a few times this year). I didn't have any 'bad' notes from her, so the day must've gone well! They said if I'm gone again, I should have the same sub. Good to know!

Yesterday I found out there's a historical speaker at MLHS next Tuesday, as in, two school days from now. It's my favorite speaker of the year, Arn Kind, who dresses up like whatever period of history he's talking about. No matter the topic, he's awesome. I talked to Mr. E about it and he said if we can get enough drivers, we can go! So today I talked to as many parents as I could and I think we only need a few more... just space for 6 more kids! Thankfully I kept my permission form from last year, so I quick changed the dates, printed them off, and sent them home today before all the kids left.

It was also a crunch time today since we had a field trip at Immanuel Gaylord this morning. The science museum did a talk on Solids, Liquids, and Gases. It was very interactive and had a lot of fun demonstrations with dry ice and liquid nitrogen. There was a time when the speaker had the students waft the smell towards their noses (never sniff science stuff directly!) and every single one of the 5-8th graders looked at me and did the wafting thing by their noses. It was hilarious! They knew it already because we go over that on the first day of science!

We got back in time for a late-ish lunch at school, and after lunch most of the parents picked up their 5-8th graders to head to the Lakefield tournament. I had one student stay until the end of the day. She had late work to do, so she worked quietly at her desk while I did the same. I did get quite a bit accomplished. Now I'm shoving my stuff in my car and I'm headed down to watch some basketball. Hopefully I won't be too late for their 4pm game. The boys play at 7pm; I don't think I'll stay for their game, but we'll see.