Today I woke up feeling like it was going to be a great day. A little rainy, somewhat dreary....but otherwise, wonderful. I was excited to go to school. I have a student teacher and she is gone on Thursdays so today I was finally going to get to teach. (I am really enthusiastic about my 'Where the Wild Things Are' unit this week!)
Unfortunately, I checked my email around 6:45 and got some unpleasant news. One person emailed me with information that made me a little frustrated because they aren't going to follow through on something. Another email informed me that I have to do something that I really don't want to do. So, my enthusiasm melted into frustrated and anger at two completely unrelated events. I don't like to start my days like this. It causes distractions.
As I was leaving, I realized two things. First, I was wearing a white and gray striped shirt...and an OFF-White vest-jacket-thingy. not cool. I must've dressed in the dark. (The vest is perfect for pretending to be Max from 'Where the Wild Things Are'...it has a hood and fur!) Anyway, it was too late to go back, and I knew that I didn't have to wear the vest once I got to school.
Second, I forgot my mug of hot tea on the end table at home. Still not going all the way back. I was right on time and I didn't want to be late.
As approached the school, I got an intense craving for a giant Coca-Cola...yep, 7:15 and I just had to HAVE some sugary caffeine or else I wouldn't make it through the day. I stopped at the little cafe a block from school and grabbed a medium coke. When I got to school, the slight drizzle had turned into a steady downpour. With great anticipation, I reached around behind my seat and felt for the umbrella...SCORE! Yay! I loaded up my arms with my camera bag, lunch box, purse/school bag, coke and umbrella...and my keys.....I somehow managed to juggle everything, in the dark, and unlocked the door.
I made my way down the hallway to my classroom trying to keep the wet umbrella from soaking me and trying to close it while holding my keys, styrofoam coke cup. When I reached my door, the umbrella crushed the edge of my coke creating a large gash. Dramatically, I yelled "NO!" and literally dropped everything else, ran into my classroom, grabbed a paper towel and took off running down the hall towards the teachers lounge for a new cup. The secretary must've heard me yell and she came to see if I needed help. "Must save my coke" I shouted back at her as I grabbed a new cup and put it around my bleeding drink. I saved most of it. Whew.
After breakfast duty, I went back to my classroom and took a big drink of the coke. I must've titled the cup a little bit and it spilled all over my white and gray boob. Thats right, a real case of the brown boob. What a day. Luckily, my apron seemed to cover most of it.
Okay, but I haven't even told you the really exciting part of the day yet.
Sitting in the workroom, eating my lunch with the other teachers, suddenly the fire alarm starts to go off. Seriously. It is the middle of lunch for the Kindergarten and First Grade classes and it is pouring down rain outside. I join the k and 1st teachers and start sprinting down to the cafeteria. (My hooded vest is in the classroom, but I could've used it for what happened next!!)
We line all the students up and begin escorting them outside. We tried to crouch under a tree but it was raining very hard. The ground was soaked, the sidewalks and gutters were flooded and we were trying to sing songs like "R.E.D red, R.E.D. red, I can spell red...firetrucks are red, stop signs are red too, R.E.D". Some of the kids were scared, this was their first experience with the fire alarm and a couple of them were crying so the singing helped (somewhat) to calm them down.
Finally, the principal gave us the 'thumbs up' to go back inside {false alarm} and we helped the students find their spot at the lunch table so that they can finish eating.
Everyone was soaked and shivering. There was no time to grab an umbrella, all I could think about was making sure everyone was safe.
As for me, all I can say is "Drowned Rat".
Things were a little wild in the building after that. I am sure every teacher has a story about something crazy that happened AFTER the fire alarm. I must say, both classes I had after lunch were pretty much uneventful.
After school, a former student was wandering the building showing everyone something spectacular. The planets are aligned. Brooms can stand up.
Today, the gravitational force on the earth will let a broom stand up. That explains everything. I can blame the cosmic universe for my brown boob. Gotta love that.
