Where'sPiglet?
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2007
Okay...so the field trip Story of the Day! Two this week...what luck!
It's kinda long....sorry. I was trying to capture how it was in real life but I'm not sure I totally did. It was more of the standard-issue "Nobody really has a clue" kind of day.
(And yes, this year we did take a lot. Whoever was planning them just wanted to get out of the building a lot!
And it's first grade so we don't have the testing grades so we have a little more flexibility.)
The field trip today was Field Day. Yes, that activity common to most elementary schools. Yet most schools have theirs on site at the school. We do not because we have to drive to find a large piece of grass.
Anyways, the weather is not nice out. Not stormy, but cold (60) and raining. The irony is that last year, field day was canceled because it was too hot. It was in the upper 90s. We literally are about 35 degrees cooler than the same time last year!
Anyways, I'm on the way in to work thinking that there is no way we are going to be going to spend the entire day outside in this mess. When I got to work, the schedule wasn't posted yet to see what the verdict was. I went up to my room to find that they had cleared everything out of my coat closet to PAINT THE WALLS IN IT.
I was lucky though; my closets are tidy. All the stuff in it is in big crates so I just had to move the crates back into place in the corners. Some people just have stuff thrown in theirs and they came in to find a huge mess this morning. They did not warn us in advance that they planned to do this. They make us put EVERYTHING in there over the summer, so I guess that's why they are doing it now, but still...
Anyways, I go to check the schedule for the day and I see we are going to be in the gym. It just says "K&1 Gym". Like...both grades, all day? Hmmm? Details would be nice?
So later they tell us K is periods 2, 3, and 4. Well, 4th period is LUNCH for K&1. They say that K will eat lunch on the floor of the gym. They say that teachers will not get a lunch because we are supposed to be on a trip.
(Our contract states we get a duty free 50 minute lunch daily....field trip days are the only exception to that....and our lunch is only 46 minutes...minor, but a contract violation nonetheless...)
They say 1 will go periods 5, 6, & 7 and we will not have lunch either; they will eat on the gym floor in period 5.
Now, we HAVE a lunchroom and we are IN THE BUILDING since the trip GOT CANCELED. So WHY do we NOT GET LUNCH and WHY are we making the children EAT ON THE FLOOR?!?
So...they modify this schedule. They say we can have normal lunch. So now, K is only getting periods 2 & 3 for "field day". We are trying to figure out what to do with the kids in the morning since they are upset we are not going anywhere, so we are allowed to put in a movie "as long as it's educational". I put in Cat in the Hat after borrowing it; they had to compare and contrast the book with the movie on a Venn Diagram while watching.
So then...about 9:30, the "literacy coach" comes around and says quietly to me "Quick! Get your class together, we are leaving to the park on the buses!"
I didn't say anything to my class; just start double-checking permission slips. They were working and I didn't want them going nuts. Then the AP comes and calls out to me "Who is not going and who needs a lunch?" and one of my kids is totally confused "This doesn't make any sense! Why is she asking this if we are staying HERE?!" 
2nd period starts at 9:30, so some of the K classes were already in the gym. They go out to the buses and wait. (It's STILL raining, by the way...)
At about 9:40, the principal announces that "Field Day has been canceled; it will take place in the gym." So now I'm texting other teachers to find out WTH is going on...what message overrides what?! So then the coach comes back and I ask what the final decision is. We are staying put for the day; carry on with the original (PLUS LUNCH) schedule.
The coach tells me that they had called the place and they had indoor facilities that we could use, so they were going to go. But then, they called back and told us that they "were wet on the inside". I asked the coach if "wet on the inside" was sort of like "they're flooded". She "thinks so".
And the whole time this scheduling chaos is going on and I'm getting interrupted CONSTANTLY, I have a GUEST in the room doing some sort of observation on a student as part of an evaluation.
So the "field day" in the gym was mostly relay races and then that chicken dance song and the Cha Cha Slide.
Oh and I found out that I "was selected" to be observed AGAIN. I'm wondering if it's because I didn't do hurricanes. But this time it is not just the AP...it's ALL the grade 1 teachers and the AP. The point is to "observe each other to give feedback and learn from each other." I was selected because I'm leaving. So I told her I would MAYBE do this one on hurricanes. It has to be reading with a small group of kids. I found three books; they are called "Katrina", "Flooded Out", and "Penguins". I think we will be reading about some cold birds. And when she asks; I can tell her the other books were too hard....they are grade 3 level. 
Oh and the AP is assigning summer work for the teachers...I DID get out of that. I'm surprised she doesn't want me to fly in from NOLA do do a presentation on something or other, like how to label things around the room.
It's kinda long....sorry. I was trying to capture how it was in real life but I'm not sure I totally did. It was more of the standard-issue "Nobody really has a clue" kind of day.
(And yes, this year we did take a lot. Whoever was planning them just wanted to get out of the building a lot!
And it's first grade so we don't have the testing grades so we have a little more flexibility.)The field trip today was Field Day. Yes, that activity common to most elementary schools. Yet most schools have theirs on site at the school. We do not because we have to drive to find a large piece of grass.
Anyways, the weather is not nice out. Not stormy, but cold (60) and raining. The irony is that last year, field day was canceled because it was too hot. It was in the upper 90s. We literally are about 35 degrees cooler than the same time last year!
Anyways, I'm on the way in to work thinking that there is no way we are going to be going to spend the entire day outside in this mess. When I got to work, the schedule wasn't posted yet to see what the verdict was. I went up to my room to find that they had cleared everything out of my coat closet to PAINT THE WALLS IN IT.
I was lucky though; my closets are tidy. All the stuff in it is in big crates so I just had to move the crates back into place in the corners. Some people just have stuff thrown in theirs and they came in to find a huge mess this morning. They did not warn us in advance that they planned to do this. They make us put EVERYTHING in there over the summer, so I guess that's why they are doing it now, but still...Anyways, I go to check the schedule for the day and I see we are going to be in the gym. It just says "K&1 Gym". Like...both grades, all day? Hmmm? Details would be nice?
So later they tell us K is periods 2, 3, and 4. Well, 4th period is LUNCH for K&1. They say that K will eat lunch on the floor of the gym. They say that teachers will not get a lunch because we are supposed to be on a trip.
(Our contract states we get a duty free 50 minute lunch daily....field trip days are the only exception to that....and our lunch is only 46 minutes...minor, but a contract violation nonetheless...)
They say 1 will go periods 5, 6, & 7 and we will not have lunch either; they will eat on the gym floor in period 5.
Now, we HAVE a lunchroom and we are IN THE BUILDING since the trip GOT CANCELED. So WHY do we NOT GET LUNCH and WHY are we making the children EAT ON THE FLOOR?!?
So...they modify this schedule. They say we can have normal lunch. So now, K is only getting periods 2 & 3 for "field day". We are trying to figure out what to do with the kids in the morning since they are upset we are not going anywhere, so we are allowed to put in a movie "as long as it's educational". I put in Cat in the Hat after borrowing it; they had to compare and contrast the book with the movie on a Venn Diagram while watching.
So then...about 9:30, the "literacy coach" comes around and says quietly to me "Quick! Get your class together, we are leaving to the park on the buses!"
I didn't say anything to my class; just start double-checking permission slips. They were working and I didn't want them going nuts. Then the AP comes and calls out to me "Who is not going and who needs a lunch?" and one of my kids is totally confused "This doesn't make any sense! Why is she asking this if we are staying HERE?!" 2nd period starts at 9:30, so some of the K classes were already in the gym. They go out to the buses and wait. (It's STILL raining, by the way...)
At about 9:40, the principal announces that "Field Day has been canceled; it will take place in the gym." So now I'm texting other teachers to find out WTH is going on...what message overrides what?! So then the coach comes back and I ask what the final decision is. We are staying put for the day; carry on with the original (PLUS LUNCH) schedule.
The coach tells me that they had called the place and they had indoor facilities that we could use, so they were going to go. But then, they called back and told us that they "were wet on the inside". I asked the coach if "wet on the inside" was sort of like "they're flooded". She "thinks so".
And the whole time this scheduling chaos is going on and I'm getting interrupted CONSTANTLY, I have a GUEST in the room doing some sort of observation on a student as part of an evaluation.
So the "field day" in the gym was mostly relay races and then that chicken dance song and the Cha Cha Slide.
Oh and I found out that I "was selected" to be observed AGAIN. I'm wondering if it's because I didn't do hurricanes. But this time it is not just the AP...it's ALL the grade 1 teachers and the AP.
The point is to "observe each other to give feedback and learn from each other." I was selected because I'm leaving. So I told her I would MAYBE do this one on hurricanes. It has to be reading with a small group of kids. I found three books; they are called "Katrina", "Flooded Out", and "Penguins". I think we will be reading about some cold birds. And when she asks; I can tell her the other books were too hard....they are grade 3 level. Oh and the AP is assigning summer work for the teachers...I DID get out of that. I'm surprised she doesn't want me to fly in from NOLA do do a presentation on something or other, like how to label things around the room.
We start open registration for the next school year and I am finishing set up. I may see if I can get my mother to throw the chicken in the oven.
Anyone up to Bermuda?!
. I know that in Timmy's case it is his father who 
