Snowed In and Loving It!

A fabulous, beautiful, blizzard-ish snowstorm is still raging outside, more than 24 hours after it started on Friday evening. We have over a foot of snow, maybe close to 16 inches or so. It's hard to tell because of all the blowing and drifting. It's the most snow I've seen since I was a little kid. The dog loves it, and since our last two days of school (next week) have already been cancelled, I love it too!

We are enjoying some adult beverages and movies on TV this evening, after spending the day baking cookies and finishing up the tree skirt. I'm sure I haven't written about the tree skirt yet, but it is all because we got a second Christmas tree this year. I decided to make a tree skirt for it, and I am this close to being finished. At this point, it just needs the band around the edging and it'll be all ready to put under the tree. Phew! I wasn't exactly sure I'd have enough time to finish it, but thanks to all this snow, I do! The gift of time. It's my favorite gift of all.

Our Christmas party scheduled for tonight was wisely cancelled by us yesterday, when the snow was just starting. Certainly, we would've ended up cancelling it today if we hadn't already done it. The roads aren't passable at all. We haven't seen or heard a plow yet, although this neighborhood is, I'm sure, at the bottom rung of anyone's plowing ladder.

Not having school on Monday and Tuesday is a special treat indeed. Although it's too bad that all of our holiday festivities have been cancelled, at least we get two full weeks of Christmas vacation. Yea!

I am sure that my principal is thankful for the extra time with his family. He sure does work hard. After my observation a couple of weeks ago, he turned around a four-page evaluation of it in less than a week. And I know I wasn't the only person being observed, either. That's some serious dedication. The evaluation was very positive, and I am realizing now that it's been a long time since anyone had critiqued my teaching. It totally felt great to be told that I was doing things in a sound way.

I showed off my eval to my sisters and father, who were unimpressed and impressed, respectfully. My sisters, who are convinced that I am teaching in some second world area of our state, made fun of me for even being excited about it. Whatever...I feel like hanging it on my wall at school!

Updates

So I think my observation went really well. The principal uses this method where he writes down everything we say and then justifies (or not) why we say stuff. I think it's called the OATS method (Observing and Analyzing Teaching). I have to meet with him to go over the lesson, but he's out tomorrow, so we'll see if there's time this week. He came in during a second grade class and we had just gotten started. I read aloud a Native American legend to them, and then we all went to the tables to continue our research stations. So he saw me in whole group and then in small group settings while the kids were in their research groups. It will be interesting to talk with him about it, having not had an actual lesson observation since at least 2003! He left a note on the table that read, "You are the real deal. You are the kind of teacher I want my own kiddo to have." What more do I need to hear? I love Christmas time! Even though we try to be sensitive to all beliefs and customs (and I'll let the music teacher take the lead on that--"Hanukkah, or Hanukkah!"), I really have fun with two particular lessons this time of year. In fifth grade, I read them O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi and then we discuss and watch a dramatic retelling of the story. It's so funny to see the kids' faces when they realize what the couple has done, and it's also interesting to hear the connections they make to the story. A Korean student told me today that she has the story at home in Korean, and one of the boys remembered seeing a similar Disney version. Awesome! The other lesson I've been enjoying is sharing Robert Sabuda's holiday pop-up books with the fourth graders and then making an "evergreen" tree card (whatever...) following the instructions on his website. So so so much fun, and also so so so interesting to see which kids get the hang of the pop ups and which don't. There should totally be a state learning standard for following directions! I just love this time of year--relaxing just a bit (post-bookfair) and having fun with the kids.

Not gleeful.

Still in SUCH a bad mood! What is it? Being moved out of my library because of bookfair? Feeling worried about my upcoming observation? Managing to do 101 things simultaneously well when others can't do two? Maybe not getting a bonus this year (let alone a raise) because the superintendent doesn't think I'm a teacher? Pissed because someone decided to unlock and dismantle a computer/projector cart so they could use the laptop? A little bit of all of those, and a whole lot of the last one. This is what I hate the most. This is my biggest pet peeve: I do not like when people make my job harder. I do not like it when people's actions make my life more difficult.

Bookfair Joy

NOT. I am just so tired of bookfair. It is exhausting. I am very lucky to have our fabulous PTA and their many, many volunteers staffing the bookfair. I am more of a behind-the-scenes kind of girl, placing reorders, straightening piles, keeping the schedule running. Yesterday, I placed an order for books that were sold out. Everything sounded good on the phone, but when I got the box today, over 1/2 of the books I needed were out of stock at Scholastic. Oh, I am not happy. Not happy at all. Seriously! This is the one big reason that I left Scholastic five years ago. I am sorry that I went back. Good selection of books, bad customer service. I am wondering why the person on the phone at the warehouse didn't tell me the books wouldn't ship? Are there really no more of those books in all of Scholastic warehouses country-wide? I just don't get it. OK, time for Glee. I am going to get into a gleeful mood now.