Busiest Half Day Ever

11/16/10

Though today was a half day, it was still very, very, very busy!

I awoke to a text message from Lynne at 4:30 am this morning - a reminder that we had a QC today.  YIKES!  I hopped into the shower and got ready within 45 minutes - I was out the door at 5:50am and was on my way.  It was raining, and by the time I got to 128, there was extreme traffic due to an accident.  Drat!  My article reading time was slipping away...

I finally got to school, but it was almost 7:00 am - just enough time to read the article and get to the Response Logs - all 6 of them - before school started.  YIKES!  I didn't get to write the paper, but at least I got the article read!

A quick morning meeting that was just a high five and greeting with each other - then it was on to schooling!  I met with students who had divided an conquered their Talking Calendars, and led them to their next steps - organizing their information and creating bulleted notes. 

We had a quick PLC meeting to discuss the topics that needed to be covered tomorrow for PEMDAS (order of operations) and rounding direct instruction.  I was assigned to the "both" group and was teamed up with Maura. 

In science, I gave a great slide presentation on weather vocabulary.  I made sure to stress the difference between weather and climate with students - weather is a short term condition for a region, climate is a long term condition for a region.  When I created the powerpoint, I decided that I was going to use art to depict some of the elements.  I had the definition at the top of the slide, then a famous painting underneath.  Rain was Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day (1877), Snow was Wheatstacks, Sunset, Snow Effect (1891) by Claude Monet, and Wind was represented by Katsushika Hokusai's Ejiri in the Surugra Province (one of his 36 Views of Mt. Fuji prints).  For Fog, it was two of Monet's paintings of the Charing Cross Bridge in London - one on a foggy day, the other on a sunny day.  I explained how Monet loved to paint the same scene over and over again - why?  Because he was so interested in how the elements effected his subjects.  He painted over 25 paintings of stacks of wheat within a year's time.  Today, you can go to an art museum (like the Art Institute of Chicago) and see many of these stacks of wheat next to each other - it's like seeing the seasons change in front of you!

After the presentation - which the students LOVED - we worked on vocabulary flash cards.  We didn't have much time, but the students got a lot done.  They had to finish the rest for homework.

After the QC meeting, I went right over to BC and met with Audrey about my paper.  She made me feel so much better about it all!  She said that my research was superb (!!!) and that I was going to get it done.  I always feel so much better after I meet with her.  I do need to keep reminding myself that this is NOT a thesis - it's just a procedure that I need to complete!  Nothing fancy, just get it done!!!

I ended up staying on campus on Cameron's couch.  I was so tired, and I know that the weather tomorrow will not be good for traveling on 95.  So great to see him and to just catch up.  He had a long day as well, so it was good to just spend some down time together.  I also got to catch up with Matt!  It was so much fun to see him, hang out, and hear about his P1 supervisor experience.  He's in grad school for education as well - such a fun person.  He's going to be an amazing teacher!  

I went to bed around 9:30 pm, just as Cameron had a meeting - oh how I don't miss those late night meetings!