What a Week!

Well I am on Winter Break(as it is now called). It does not really feel like it! Let me give you a recap of my week- including a memorable moment in my teaching career...

Monday- Half day field trip to Katy ISD owned Outdoor Learning Center. I took another 2nd grade class since their teacher was out sick. It was cold and rained on us. Whole time I am thinking... I have to do this again tomorrow- sigh. Back to school teach a little and try to take a few grades.

Tuesday- Half day field trip with my class to OLC. No rain this time, just a cold front that blew in that morning. We were bundled up hats, scarves, gloves and all. Note the name- OUTDOOR learning center. Head back to school- happy my second time around is done. Oh I forgot to mention our bus was almost an hour late- so it was really fun keeping 3 classes of 2nd graders quiet( or not so quiet) while we told them, the bus will be here any minute. Head back to school for a crazy afternoon trying to get more grades in. (Note: grades for report cards were due Friday at 10am). After school I am EXHAUSTED! Two field trips have taken their toll on me- or so I think. Head home to take a nap and then cook some supper.

Wednesday- wake up and feel like crap. Start getting ready and finally I stop and think- the next few days only get crazier. I better just take the morning to sleep in and hopefully this will pass. Call in a sub for the morning and go back to bed. Get up later, go to school and when I get there I think, this was a mistake! It is freezing in my room for starters, but not quite cold enough for them to call the heating company (who knew new schools have so man problems- 2 weeks ago it was 82 degrees in my room- busted valve on the furnace). I keep my jacket and scarf on the whole afternoon and fight the dizziness and nausea. By the end of the day all I can do is gather my stuff and go home. As I tell Justin I feel like **it run over twice. Come home, take my temp (101) and go to bed.

Thursday- wake up without the nausea, but with a horrible headache and now my throat is killing me. Get out of bed, call in a sub, and write up sub plans to send to my teamates to put things together for me. Later in the morning I call and get a dr's appointment. Still running a low fever at this point. The verdict? Tonsilitis and possibly strep. He swabs me for strep and sends it off to the lab. Says no school tomorrow since I am contagious. Sigh. I really am bummed. It sucks to write sub plans again, but I really was looking forward to our school sing along and of course class party on Friday. Notify my school so they can get a sub for tomorrow.

Now rememember I mentioned at several points during this post about taking grades. Well what really sucked is that on top of not feeling good at all, I was having to get papers graded, even running up to the school last night to get the last of the grades the subs had done with them. I finally got all my grades done last night and I am hoping my report cards turn out ok.

I stayed in bed all day today pretty much- lots of rest- and it is paying off. I am taking it easily this evening, planning on heading to bed soon, but I am starting to feel more like myself. I haven't had fever since yesterday so I am improving. Oh, the strep test did come back positive though. We got Justin some meds as a preventative measure because his throat started to hurt yesterday. Now you can probably see why it doesn't feel like Christmas- oops I mean- Holiday Break... I have been out of the loop and wasn't part of all the usual craziness at school.

Not to be forgotten though here is my memorable moment of the week. One of my students, we'll call him Andy, is just kinda silly. He is sweet but sometimes he just annoys the you know what out of me. Anyway he comes up to me I think Tuesday afternoon when we got back from our field trip and says he has a stomachache. I go down the usual teacher path and ask how long it has hurt and suggest he visit the bathroom. All of a sudden he just says,
" No, I think I am just gassy."
I try not to laugh because although I have several "gassy" friends in my class this year (there is "gassy" sound on a regular basis when we are on the carpet) not one student of mine has ever described him or herself as gassy. I ask him,
" Why do you think that?"
He says,
" I just farted."
I answer,
"Oh right now?"
He says,
" No about 7 or 8 seconds ago."

Maybe I was already starting to feel bad, but I just couldn't help but shake my head and laugh, and then promptly send him to the bathroom to take care of his business.

Like I said, what a week!