Adventures at the Elementary School
One of the greatest things about having all my children in school for some hours of the day is that I am now free to go to the school to help in my children's classrooms. I love it! I started helping in Peter's class at the beginning of the school year. I usually come for half an hour one afternoon a week in the middle of their school day and play games with small groups of them during "centers". I've had a chance to get to know his teacher better, and to see how Peter interacted with the other children in his class.
In January, while I was running an errand to the office for Peter's teacher, I ran into Josh's teacher, who asked if I would be willing/able to come help her in her class a couple times a week in the morning. Normally I wouldn't be able to do it in the morning because I still have Peter at home then, but since Steven was at home, I could. So I started helping in second grade working with some of the slower readers, doing speed drills, playing word games and listening to readers. About a month ago I traded one morning for an afternoon so I could help a couple of the 2nd graders with math skills they were struggling with (like telling time) in the afternoons. I have really enjoyed being at the school and getting to know the teachers and students.
Yesterday morning I received a phone call from Peter's teacher asking if I could come in and help, even though it wasn't a regular day for me to be there. I wasn't doing anything else, so I agreed to go in. Although the weather had been rainy recently, at the moment it wasn't raining, and I left my umbrella behind. I got to wrap gifts (for teachers who are getting laid off due to budget cuts), assemble boxes for displaying reading books, and listen to a rehearsal for a performance the kindergarteners are presenting during their "Kindergarten Celebration" next week. It was fun, and I ended up staying until school was over.
Just at the time for the dismissal bell to ring, hail started falling, thunder boomed, lightening flashed, and there was an announcement on the PA system that there was a tornado warning in the area. The school officials decided not to dismiss the students, but send them--and the parents who had come to pick them up--to secure locations inside the school. I soon found myself huddling with Peter and Josh against a wall in a crowded corridor in the center of the school. I eventually sought out John to make sure he was there and okay too. Although the students have had tornado drills several times during the school year, many were frightened to have the real thing, and there were some tears and panic and chaos for the young ones in our hallway. It took a while to convince all the adults outside the building that their children weren't being dismissed and that they needed to come inside, and the PA system was busy with announcements. Eventually - about half an hour after school normally dismissed - the tornado had passed to the north and east far enough that they were willing to dismiss us and let us go.
We hurried through the rain and light hail to the car, stepping through three inch deep puddles and so much hail that it looked like a blanket of sparkly snow. The kids thought it was cool on the drive home when I stopped at a stop sign and a sheet of ice and hail from the top of the van slid down over my front wind shield and I had to wait a few seconds until my wipers and gravity had cleared it enough that I could see again. When we arrived home, a lake had formed around the house like a moat and we had to wade through deep water to get inside.
Anyway, we all survived, got home safely, and enjoyed hot chocolate or apple cider when we got inside. Hannah got home safely as well, with a story to tell of huddling under a bench in the back of a locker room during the tornado warning. The trees outside are short a lot of their new leaves (it looks like fall except that the leaves are all light green instead of orange or yellow.) I don't know how many of our newly planted garden survived the blow either.
I got to help at the school again today. It wasn't raining when I left, but it was when we got out, and once again I didn't have my umbrella with me. You'd think I'd learn.
In January, while I was running an errand to the office for Peter's teacher, I ran into Josh's teacher, who asked if I would be willing/able to come help her in her class a couple times a week in the morning. Normally I wouldn't be able to do it in the morning because I still have Peter at home then, but since Steven was at home, I could. So I started helping in second grade working with some of the slower readers, doing speed drills, playing word games and listening to readers. About a month ago I traded one morning for an afternoon so I could help a couple of the 2nd graders with math skills they were struggling with (like telling time) in the afternoons. I have really enjoyed being at the school and getting to know the teachers and students.
Yesterday morning I received a phone call from Peter's teacher asking if I could come in and help, even though it wasn't a regular day for me to be there. I wasn't doing anything else, so I agreed to go in. Although the weather had been rainy recently, at the moment it wasn't raining, and I left my umbrella behind. I got to wrap gifts (for teachers who are getting laid off due to budget cuts), assemble boxes for displaying reading books, and listen to a rehearsal for a performance the kindergarteners are presenting during their "Kindergarten Celebration" next week. It was fun, and I ended up staying until school was over.
Just at the time for the dismissal bell to ring, hail started falling, thunder boomed, lightening flashed, and there was an announcement on the PA system that there was a tornado warning in the area. The school officials decided not to dismiss the students, but send them--and the parents who had come to pick them up--to secure locations inside the school. I soon found myself huddling with Peter and Josh against a wall in a crowded corridor in the center of the school. I eventually sought out John to make sure he was there and okay too. Although the students have had tornado drills several times during the school year, many were frightened to have the real thing, and there were some tears and panic and chaos for the young ones in our hallway. It took a while to convince all the adults outside the building that their children weren't being dismissed and that they needed to come inside, and the PA system was busy with announcements. Eventually - about half an hour after school normally dismissed - the tornado had passed to the north and east far enough that they were willing to dismiss us and let us go.
We hurried through the rain and light hail to the car, stepping through three inch deep puddles and so much hail that it looked like a blanket of sparkly snow. The kids thought it was cool on the drive home when I stopped at a stop sign and a sheet of ice and hail from the top of the van slid down over my front wind shield and I had to wait a few seconds until my wipers and gravity had cleared it enough that I could see again. When we arrived home, a lake had formed around the house like a moat and we had to wade through deep water to get inside.
Anyway, we all survived, got home safely, and enjoyed hot chocolate or apple cider when we got inside. Hannah got home safely as well, with a story to tell of huddling under a bench in the back of a locker room during the tornado warning. The trees outside are short a lot of their new leaves (it looks like fall except that the leaves are all light green instead of orange or yellow.) I don't know how many of our newly planted garden survived the blow either.
I got to help at the school again today. It wasn't raining when I left, but it was when we got out, and once again I didn't have my umbrella with me. You'd think I'd learn.
