fortunately there isn't one, unless you count accepting this job in the first place.
i'm outta stuff, and my head hurts ... will think of more later :)
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
accident #2
(an actual accident)
last thursday, it was almost the end of the day when i heard a big commotion coming from what sounded like the room below me (which happens to belong to one of my good friends). i started listening carefully then heard an ENORMOUS crashing sound, sounded like metal ... which it was.
i sprinted downstairs to his room and saw his whole class near the window. i heard him on the phone calling 911 and asking for an ambulance ...
a student had left school early (left out, as we say) and was standing on a big metal grate outside my friend's class. he was jumping up and down (trying to reach the window, we think) and the grate, which was made up of a bunch of smaller grates about 2' by 7', gave in beneath him and he fell into the 20' deep concrete well.
i don't think i've ever personally witnessed anything quite so traumatizing. from my classroom window, we could see him down there, bloody and trapped under about 3 or 4 of these huge, heavy things. after about 40 minutes they got him out and in an ambulance. about 2,000 people (student population of our school, the high school, and alllll the neighbors) were crowded in the streets. the emergency vehicles were all over the place, so there were probably more than 10 trolleys lined up in either direction, waiting. helicopters overhead ... an intense situation.
miraculously, he's okay - staples in the head, punctured lungs, and cracked ribs, but nothing that won't get better. whew. scary times.
last thursday, it was almost the end of the day when i heard a big commotion coming from what sounded like the room below me (which happens to belong to one of my good friends). i started listening carefully then heard an ENORMOUS crashing sound, sounded like metal ... which it was.
i sprinted downstairs to his room and saw his whole class near the window. i heard him on the phone calling 911 and asking for an ambulance ...
a student had left school early (left out, as we say) and was standing on a big metal grate outside my friend's class. he was jumping up and down (trying to reach the window, we think) and the grate, which was made up of a bunch of smaller grates about 2' by 7', gave in beneath him and he fell into the 20' deep concrete well.
i don't think i've ever personally witnessed anything quite so traumatizing. from my classroom window, we could see him down there, bloody and trapped under about 3 or 4 of these huge, heavy things. after about 40 minutes they got him out and in an ambulance. about 2,000 people (student population of our school, the high school, and alllll the neighbors) were crowded in the streets. the emergency vehicles were all over the place, so there were probably more than 10 trolleys lined up in either direction, waiting. helicopters overhead ... an intense situation.
miraculously, he's okay - staples in the head, punctured lungs, and cracked ribs, but nothing that won't get better. whew. scary times.
accident #1
two weeks ago, one of my kids was absent on monday. tuesday he came in with a note from his mom. it said "(his name) was not in school monday because he got lock up." (translate: he was arrested.)
por que? he set his couch (and subsequently his house) on fire. he told me this after school that day. i said, honey how did it happen? was it an accident?
his response: not exactly an accident. i was mad.
i thought accident #1 was a better title than arson ...
por que? he set his couch (and subsequently his house) on fire. he told me this after school that day. i said, honey how did it happen? was it an accident?
his response: not exactly an accident. i was mad.
i thought accident #1 was a better title than arson ...
PSSAs
we had another PSSA pep rally last week. this week the test started. unfortunately, i have been incapacitated. got really sick on sunday, and monday and tuesday were a complete disaster in school. i should have known not to go tuesday ... but couldn't do it! have some sort of upper respiratory and sinus thing going on. could hardly speak at all ... yesterday (tuesday) i went in an hour late and then couldn't talk. i wrote notes on the board and the kids thought it was funny and weren't particularly well behaved for me. boo.
but (there is always a but), the math section of the test that they took tuesday wasn't too bad for some of them! the two open ended questions were both things that we had talked about and so the problems at least felt familiar to them. :) oh the little things.
but (there is always a but), the math section of the test that they took tuesday wasn't too bad for some of them! the two open ended questions were both things that we had talked about and so the problems at least felt familiar to them. :) oh the little things.
good days, bad days
there have been quite a share of both of these in the last three weeks.
one week (the ... second, i think, week of march) was great. we were studying algebraic expressions in the 6th grade math book and one of my 5th graders had a near nervous breakdown because he thought it'd be too hard. by friday, he was the first one finished with the practice problems and we did a little celebration dance together.
on the other hand, the same kid has actually THROWN a chair at another student more than 3 times in the last couple weeks. once we weren't able to intercept it midair and it hit the target, right in the chest. ooof.
one week (the ... second, i think, week of march) was great. we were studying algebraic expressions in the 6th grade math book and one of my 5th graders had a near nervous breakdown because he thought it'd be too hard. by friday, he was the first one finished with the practice problems and we did a little celebration dance together.
on the other hand, the same kid has actually THROWN a chair at another student more than 3 times in the last couple weeks. once we weren't able to intercept it midair and it hit the target, right in the chest. ooof.
long time, no write
sorry to my faithful blog checkers (you know who you are ...). march has been a little crazy. actually, not so much. i've just been lazy. well here goes, to try to update 23 days worth of life with a bunch of kids.