thank you, men who robbed a bank and got caught-you gave me time to file!

alrighty then. this morning when i woke up, i was so excited to wear my hat and not have to worry about my hair. (not that i ever really worry about it, and it doesn't take extra effort to put it up in a ponytail). even with the hat i had to get an early start because today was our thanksgiving staff potluck! why is it called a pot luck? maybe you're lucky if people bring what you like and it tastes like mom's...i don't think i've ever been to a potluck i have not enjoyed.

so i went to get the ingredients i needed for my crockpot corn/cornbread mixture and when i got up to the cash register, i realized that i had left my money in the car. good thing there wasn't much traffic at walmart! i should have taken that as a sign for what kind of day it was going to be.

no sooner did i walk into the building when the fire alarm went off. and then there was an announcement, but i missed it and one of the teachers coming my way said, everyone needs to evacuate b/c they aren't sure what the problem is. so i left my stuff in her classroom by the exit and we went out with a handful of other early-birds. after a few minutes the sound was off, and they let us go back in, but the alarm was still going off and the fire department showed up and did some checking around.

classes were pretty routine until specials. once we got the students off to p.e., i got back to my room and then the announcement came that we were in lock-down. not a drill. i raised my hands closed my eyes and fake-yelled, "YES!!" in my mind and quickly made my way to the door to lock it. then i went back to my desk and began the tedious job of filing writing papers into portfolios. i kept hoping in the back of my mind that it would last an extra 20 minutes...sorry everyone else..i was really into getting things in order.

our doors are ridiculous. we have to go around to the outside to lock it.

so, this week we had fire drill, evacuation drill, lock down...all we need is a tornado drill tomorrow...anyone?

then at the end of the day, as children were being corralled into their cars, a policeman walked up and asked where the office was, so i led him to the office, where he asked for the principal, who was not on campus. the front office proceeded to tell us that the assistant principal was in the auditorium. when we got to the auditorium, they informed us that ms. perez was out by the buses. so i took him in a big round circle (as most circles ARE round...i suppose the route we took was somewhat of a triangle, now that i think about it). if only he'd just started out by asking for ms. perez.

we like our police presence at school

and later as we were chatting after school in ms. arroyo's room, the intercom came on again saying something about "men who were here to smoke the building." which simply conjured up pictures in my head of men passing the school around, taking a puff. hmm...strange..it would certainly take a very big man.

well, here's to hoping that tomorrow is a bit more routine from beginning to end!

julie

running of the teachers-each person for himself..herself..themself?

today we had our half day workday at the summer school campus. we went down to get our supplies and it was a little messy-have you ever heard of the running of the brides? well, that's what it felt like!

The rolling racks full of dresses will be stripped bare in roughly 12 seconds. The whole scene will smack of viciousness and greed.

much of the supplies were picked through, but we got most of what we needed from our list. as we were getting our stuff (we were next to last because we are 4th grade), when i looked up, the teachers from the younger grades were back and circling like vultures..kinda like the church potluck dinner when people try to come up for seconds when there is still a line of people who have not eaten. (when it comes to food and supplies, every ounce of dignity is checked at the door) then i found out that for the first day or two my co-teacher and i may have up to 38 students. umm...i did not sign up for chaos, so these students better have a good sense of self control, or it will not be pretty in room 317.

i noticed the bathroom in the teacher's lounge. obviously there are more women teachers and they control the bathroom.

it just kinda sticks out like a tampon box. oh, wait, it is!

anyhoo, got everything set up and i'm kinda' ready to go.

so i got home and i had to make a decision. i'm pretty sure i made the right one. for this weekend, i'm going up to oklahoma to visit with some friends. i was debating whether or not to go because my back is still bothering-which means i may not get to do everything i want to do. also bruno is still not acting quite normal. he's doing better, but he's still acting a little stand-offish (and he won't tell me what's going on).

did i mention that the other 4 4th grade teachers are wanting to have a potluck every thursday of summer school? to be completely honest, because i really don't know any of them, it scares me. i may bring my own lunch anyway just in case. one never knows what to expect.

now i have to clear out my car so that i have room for everything i need to take on this trip. despite the fact that i took a lot of stuff up to my classroom, i still have a full load in my car. hmm. it's like gremlins-odds and ends are multiplying in my car.

on that note, i'd better get down there and do it before it gets too late.
julie