Childless Week, Part 1

Yesterday morning, my parents came and got Korra and took her to their house for the next week. About 5 minutes after they left, some friends arrived from Colorado to spend a few days with us. Mostly, we've been taking them to eat our favorite Atlanta food. We started with Highland Bakery and Brickstore Pub yesterday. Today we went to Krog Street Market and though we had plans to go out for dinner, we were still too full from lunch. 

Manual Labor

Today we went over to my brother's house to help him (and my parents) work on the deck he's been building. Korra moved and stacked bricks for over 2 hours!  

More deleting

I just deleted 5 years worth of parents' phone numbers from my saved contacts. It was cathartic. 

Poolside

To celebrate the end of the school year we had friends over for pizza and drinks at the pool. It was lovely. 

Done

I reminisced. I said my goodbyes. I packed my last box. I deleted my work email from my phone. It's officially summer break and the start of my Sabbatical. 

Last day of school

28 out of 45 kids showed up today. We are keeping them all together and taking hour long shifts to be in the room with them. Some kids are helping us pack and clean and move. By lunch, I was completely done packing, sorting, donating, moving, and cleaning. Now we just have 3 more hours in the school day. Hopefully the kids will start to get picked up in the next hour. Today has been the smoothest, calmest day this week so I feel much less exhausted and overwhelmed. I hope that means I can handle sorting through the piles of stuff I brought home. 

Delete

This morning I deleted all my classroom transition alarms and the behavior tracking app from my phone. Then I removed my school email address from my Google calendar. Tomorrow I'll remove the school email account from my phone. 

Pie in the Face

Today's "fun" activity was to pie teachers in the face. The kids enjoyed it. Mostly it was good fun. A few kids were mean about it. I am now very sticky. 

Korra's Awards

Korra's class had their end of year awards celebration at the Botanical Gardens. It was very sweet and Korra read a piece of she wrote that was beautiful. She really is a talented writer. I'm addition to getting the All As and Empowered Learner awards, she also got "Most Likely to Save the Earth" which made her very proud. 

PJs and Breakfast

Today the 6th graders (and teachers) are wearing pajamas and enjoying a hot breakfast cooked by one of my coteachers. Waffles, eggs, sausage, muffins, fruit. It would be wonderful if it wasn't for all these annoying and rude 12 year olds. 

Girl Scout Sundaes

Today was our last Girl Scout meeting of the school year so we made ice cream sundaes! 

Today is about Survival

The majority of the afternoon was supposed to be a students vs staff dodgeball game. It's raining. It's supposed to rain ALL day. So now we don't have anything planned for most of the day which means it's going to suck. A lot. 

Ideal Saturday

Korra and I went to Target (she used her new debit card to buy herself a pair of sunglasses and I got a great new poolside chair).

We watched the new Rescue Rangers movie (it was really cute). 

I walked to the library. 

I took a nap. 

We spent some time at the pool. 

We went out for burgers and milkshakes (and cheese fries!) 

And it looks like I'll be in reading in bed by 9!

The day got worse (but then it got better)

I survived the actual field day. It wasn't great but it also wasn't the worst experience in my 16 years of teaching, in part because it was a half day for students. 

During dismissal, I let the kids play balloon volleyball in my room and that's when things got really bad. One kid accidentally broke another kid's pinky. It was obviously broken and he was, understandably, freaking out. I took him to the nurse's office only to remember our nurse quit 2 days ago. So I had to call his parents, put an ice pack on it and then distract him. He's a kid who is always singing so I pulled up YouTube on my phone and we both sang early 2000s punk and emo songs at the top of our lungs until his parents arrived to take him to the ER.

Immediately after that I had a meeting where we needed to plan a couple end of the year things. 2 teachers got all sarcastically passive agressive to each other during meeting, which made it impossible to get work done as  well as incredibly awkward for everyone else in the room.

Oh, and during all this, I'm supposed to be finishing grading papers, parents are blowing up my phone because their kids didn't turn in their projects today and are now failing, Korra's class set up a market to sell things they made so I'm supposed to be there, AND the school is having a big block party in the parking lot that I'm supposed to make an appearance at (and that my kid desperately wants to attend). It was stressful and seemed to drag on forever. 

Thankfully, 4:00 arrived and when Korra and I got home, we all put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool (Nate and I both with a cocktail in hand). 2 other families that we really like from the neighborhood were there so we talked and our kids played together.  I ordered subs, went to pick them up, and then we enjoyed dinner poolside with our neighbors. It was absolutely the perfect end to a terrible day. 

Field Day

Have a mentioned how much I hate field day?  I'm not competitive, it's hot and disorganized, the kids are wild... I have an anxiety stomach ache. 

On top of that, this afternoon is the school "block party" which is the same kind of energy. Today can't be over fast enough. 

2 weeks til Cancun!

In 2 weeks, Nate and I will be at a resort in Cancun. I can't wait!!

174/180

Today is day 174 out of 180 school days. I have one student's parent who I have NEVER had contact with. She has not replied to a single phone call, text, or email- not when her kid was failing or when the class was sent home for COVID quarantine. Today I sent her a text without any expectation of a reply abs within 5 minutes she called me!  I was so surprised I asked her how she was twice. I'm not sure why after 174 days of radio silence she answered today but I'm going to count it as a win. 

Digital Organizing

More testing today, only it's much less stressful.  It was just my homeroom, they were mostly calm.  While they tested, I organized my Google Drive and then downloaded 5 years worth of lesson plans, worksheets, videos, projects, tests- everything I've created as a teacher.  It was good to get it done and I feel one step closer to closing out the school year (and this chapter of my teaching career).  

Relaxation Mode Ruined

Our weekend at the cabin with some friends was lovely. Korra built a fort by the creek. We talked and ate and drank and I felt completely relaxed. 

Then we got home and I immediately drove 40 minutes into the suburbs to take Korra to a birthday party at one of those indoor trampoline parks. Hundreds of unsupervised, overexcited kids. Screaming, loud music. Socializing with parents I don't really know.  But this is what you do for it kids. You suffer through 3 hours of your own personal hell for their happiness. 

Cabin Weekend

This week has been hard. The principal is quarantined for COVID exposure. We did standardized testing. One of my coteacher has a stomach bug and another has a sick child. 

After such an exhausting and stressful week, we're going to the cabin for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it so so so much. 

I’m a heartless monster

My students claimed that I made 3 girls cry this week. Here is what I did that makes me a monster:

1) I asked 3 times for Student 1 to put her phone away and when she continued to use it, I took it up. (Cue waterworks)

2) I asked Student 2 to please sit down and she said, "I'm so fucking tired of you" and so I called her mom.  (Instant sobbing)

3) Student 3 chased another student down the hall yelling, "I'm going to beat your ass!" and I called for the principal. The principal then said Student 3 could not attend the middle school formal. (Again, I'M the bad guy)

Itchy Eyes and Foggy Glasses

I had a bad allergic reaction yesterday after school (spent 2 hours at the pool with Korra and some neighbors after school and I was having such a nice time I ignored my very itchy eyes). This morning they were still feeling icky so I wore my glasses to school instead of my contacts. And now my glasses are very foggy because of my mask. Ugh. 

Can I Get a Break?

Just when I think I've got a good plan for the school day so I can make it through... Half the teachers on my team called in sick today. The day is insane. At least I had planning today for the first time in 2 weeks. I took my book and my lunch and had a lovely 30 minutes in the park. 

$2.49

Today was our last day of the Milestones (even though we have 4 more days of OTHER standardized testing next week). Everyone was exhausted so I decided to splurge on an Amazon Prime video rental. $2.49 for "Little." Totally worth the 2 hours of relative peace. 

10,000 steps

Today I got 10,000 steps in before testing was over. It was a slightly better day than yesterday all around. 12 more school days and 2 of them are half days. I can do this. 

7,000 steps

During the 2 hours of testing this morning, I managed to get 7,000 steps. That's pretty much the best thing I can say about this school day. 

Nap Regret

Maybe that nearly 2 hour mother's day nap I treated myself to wasn't a great idea. It's 11 on a school night and I don't feel tired at all. And standardized testing starts tomorrow. 

Mother's Day Milkshakes

Korra and I walked to Shake Shack and back for milkshakes. Perfect mother's day treat. 

Nate's in Ohio

We dropped Nate off at the airport this afternoon. He's spending the next 2 days in Ohio with family (and extended family) for his grandfather's memorial service. 

Fever

Korra woke up with a fever of just short of 100 so she stayed home from school today and I used it as an excuse to get out of afternoon professional development. Ibuprofen helps her feel pretty much normal but then it went right back up as soon as the medicine wore off. There aren't any known COVID cases in her class (and she tested negative on Monday and Wednesday) but we'll stick close to home and mask up just in case. Hopefully she feels better tomorrow. 

Terrible, awful day

The kids' behavior was terrible today. Arguing and talking back, saying rude and mean things to each other, blurting out during instruction and a quiz. Just all the usual middle school things but turned up to 11. It was too much for me today. If there was any way to take off tomorrow, I would. Unfortunately, another member of my grade level team is already off tomorrow. Ugh. 16 more school days. 

Why are you like this?

Every day I put a corny joke on my board. After I told a student the punch line to today's joke she said (totally deadpan), "Why are you like this?" It made me laugh so hard. 

Mask Up

During COVID testing yesterday, we learned that 2 of my students' siblings tested positive and since they weren't the only positive tests in the building, we're back to mandatory masking. I'm glad the school has protocols like this in place and implements them quickly. Summer can't come soon enough. 18 more school days. 

Renaissance Festival

Korra's Girl Scout troop is going to the Renaissance Festival today as part of their Playing in the Past badge. 

She's playing the part is a merchant's daughter circa 1400.