Day 66: Two-hour Delay

My school district does not do half days.  Okay, scratch that.  We have ONE half day during the entire school year.  On the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  Between days 1 and 180, our professional development meetings are held a few days when the children are not in school.  The good old "Teacher Inservice Day."  There are a few of those sprinkled throughout the year.  However, two to three times a year, we have a two-hour delay placed on the schedules for even more professional development.  Today was on of those days.

My day started at 8:35 with a meeting on data analysis of our DIBELS scores.  It was informative, and I am going to adjust some of my phonics activities based on the findings.  We do phonics as part of our reading program, but I think I can add some extra activities in there to help my lowest readers catch up faster than they are now.

After my meeting I had some time in my room.  I used that time to clean off my shelves.  I am amazed when I start going through things and come across seemingly random items.  Things I put aside to "get to" or "file later" or "try out."  Let's just say I am more organized, my shelves are neat, and my recycling bin has gotten quite a workout.  Some of the things I put in there were from the first month of school! 

The students came in at 10:45 and we got right to work.  The only real change was the fact that we took away first recess today because it is usually from 11:00 to 11:15.  Our lunch period begins at 11:50, so it didn't make sense to have them come in and go right out to play, only to come back in and go to lunch soon after.  Instead, we reviewed for a comprehension quiz tomorrow after we went over the day's expectations, talked about some new things in centers, and some changes to our morning work choices. 

Once we hit lunch, the day was smooth sailing.  The only issue I had was with chatter.  Between the weather (We are supposed to get our first snowfall this weekend.) and the delay, my kiddos were wound up and very vocal.

Hopefully they will be closer to their normal selves tomorrow so we can get some things accomplished.  Although, I have a secret surprise for them during math.  Stay tuned...