The end is near...C'mon Spring!

I know I haven't posted my 100 day entry ( I promise, it's coming) or any other entry for that matter, but I have good reason...SNOWPOCALYPSE!

That's right, we had a record snowfall for the month of February this past week. It moved in Monday night, and we were out the rest of the week.

Today was our first day back after our "6-day weekend." Class-wise, it was an awesome day. My class fell back into routine; we sang, read, had an unofficial  Groundhog day, and even celebrated a birthday.

However, on the teacher side of things it was a tad hectic. OK, it was down-right crazy and super annoying. We have progress reports to due this week, as well as get ready for parent-teacher conferences next week. With us being out 4 out of 5 days last week, I am way behind in assessments for progress reports. On top of that we have QTA this week. For you lucky individuals who have no idea what I'm talking about I will explain. QTA is Quality Time Analysis. Basically, each teacher/faculty member is given a spreadsheet to record how many minutes a day we do everything. We have to record everything from teaching time to bathroom breaks to discipline, and turn it into the site administrator by the end of the day.

For example, I have to record how many minutes I spend giving whole group instruction in reading, how many minutes it is to transition to the small group or independent assignment in reading, how many minutes the kids spend completing the aforementioned reading assignment, how many minutes I spend one-on-one with kids checking the assignment, etc. Now multiply that by however many subjects/ lessons I teach a day. Multiply that by 5 days -- yup, it's all week long. Annoying right?

Did I mention that Wednesday is supposed to bring SNOWPOCALYPSE II? Yeah. More snow. Woo.

Super frustrating week, but I still love my job!

Snow Day!

The powers that be have cancelled school for today. I am very appreciative, and I'm sure my kiddos are too. Mayhap, I will actually get around to posting a few entries today. Or maybe I'll just sleep.

Woohoo, I love my job!

SNOW!

Today was a snow day. Not the kind that gets you out of school, but the kind that makes you wish it was.

We've had snow on the brain for a little while now, not only because of today's precipitation, but because it's January. And, in kindergarten, January means snow. We've read a few books, made a circle map, had a few discussions,etc, etc. But nothing quite compares to the real thing. So, being the rebels that we are, the K team decided to let our kids out and enjoy the light dusting of powder for 5 minutes.

You would have thought Hannah Montana was coming to play. Oh, the screaming and excitement. The snowball fights. The muddy feet. The raised eyebrows from other teachers. It was positively wonderful.

The only thing that could have topped that was making our own snowflakes. Which we did, of course. It took a few tries for some, however once we mastered the cutting of the fold and symmetric principles, we churned out some pretty awesome snowflakes. I think the best part was hearing the kind and encouraging words that spread like wildfire among my kinders.

Man , I love my job!