High-flying adventure

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I woke up early, got ready quickly, and even had some time to take care of some chores before I left for school. On my 45 minute commute, I watched the sky transform as the sun awakened. Lovely.

I had a productive rehearsal with my kids before school because two of my extracurricular choirs are joining forces to serenade kids with "Singing Valentines" during lunch today. (We've already surpassed my goal for our SV sales, and I think we'll have fun today.) :)

My classes went well; my most challenging class (of the 8 I teach) was extremely well-behaved yesterday. I complimented them on their behavior ... and because the weather has been uncharacteristically warm this week, I took them out to continue part of the lesson outside. I had them take their books because I figured it would be easier to dismiss them from one of the entrances of the school than to have them return to my classroom, grab their books, and walk in a different direction.

Little did I know that yesterday would have been a perfect day for kite-flying. We were just beginning to work on one of our songs (which I was teaching them using call-and-response method, to be more stylistically authentic) ... and the wind came in swirling gusts ... the tree nearby was swaying, the leaves still on the school property began to dance in a circle ... and ... two of the girls' notebooks flew open and their papers took to the air.

I yelled to the 30+ kids in my class to rescue the flying papers! What a sight to see-- all these 30 adolescents running around, trying to catch the papers in the air or stomping on them if the papers were gliding across the ground. We managed to rescue math notes, Spanish projects, personal poems and history homework ... but alas, some papers flew away, soaring high above the school!

After we had rescued all the papers we could find, I herded my class back into our building, and we set up camp in a stairwell. I had them bring me the found papers, and I sorted through them with the two students who appeared to have lost the most work.

Oops. :)
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Now I'm off to get ready for school once again. It's my part-time day again so I'm not required to be there for another 2.5+ hours, but I made an announcement yesterday that I'd sell more SVs at the beginning of the school day today ... which means that I should be leaving in half an hour to get there in time. Half an hour to shower, put on makeup, and pack for a weekend away. (I dread the five hour drive from school to Westley because I have to drive through congested metropolitan areas during rush hour because my school gets out so late! At least the end result is worth it!) :) I hope traffic is kind because I will not be ready to leave in 30 minutes. Aack!