The World According to Leslie

At this point in the school year, I’m not doing anything new.  I teach an elective class, so I get the privilege of writing my own exam. I don’t have a state exam.  So, in that case, what do you do with 20 days left in the year?   You give them a 3 page study guide with specific instructions for how you expect it to be completed.  Then you give them time in class for two days to complete it so that they can’t whine as much about the amount of work.   Then you give them the answers to the study guide, assign them a specific part of it, and have them reteach that part of the information to the class.  That is the beginning of the review.   Then we play games (that they come up with and that I already have) for about 2 weeks.    Then it’s time for exams!    20 days of school left….. 15 teaching days/5 exam days!  This is the best part of being a teacher…. reviewing to get to the exam!

As of today, there are only 24 days of school left for the kids. That means that I have 26 days of work left.   Updates:   1. In February, my Principal told me that my job may be on the line. The class I currently teach is funded by a Federal grant that runs out in June. (There are 5 of me—one at each High school in the district. Each of us was in the same boat.) There was only one difference.  Each of the other teachers (at the other schools) had been hired as an English teacher. So, they had higher rank in their departments because I was hired FOR the grant position.  A couple of days before Spring Break, my Principal came to me to let me know that they added some sections for next year, and I get to keep my job.  It was awesome!   2. In March, Tony and I got a letter that we were going to owe $1600 to the IRS for something that was on our taxes in 2012. (YES! TWO years ago!) So, our tax lady (my awesome sister in law) did some research for us...

Today begins that last quarter for the school year.  I’m kind of excited!  Actually…. I’m really excited.  With all the snow days and, therefore, snow make up days, we haven’t had a break since February.  It gets kind of tiring for the teachers and the students.  But, now, we are in the home stretch.  If we can survive 9 more weeks, we will make it until Summer Break!   This weekend, the Softball Fairies were not on our side. We didn’t get to start the season as planned. We are hoping that there will be no rain this coming weekend so we can get the season started!  Our team is starting to shape up very well, I think.  I know that we are going to have some tough games, but we are going to have a good time doing it.   Countdown Update: 6 days (counting today) until Softball Opening Day 14 school days (counting today) until Spring Break 9 weeks until Summer Break

Well….sort of. Today is the last day I’m teaching for the week.  I have a meeting tomorrow.  However, my sub is going to have a REALLY easy day.  Since tomorrow is a Snow Make-Up Day, we are only there for 1/2 a day.  I am giving a test.    That means that each of my classes is only 45 minutes long instead of 90.  My sub will get to hand out the tests and sit there.  Since my largest class is only 8 kids…. well….  she’s going to have a very easy day! 

So, I haven’t written lately. Well, it feels like forever since I have written.  It’s only been a couple of days in real time.   There’s nothing really going on around here right now. We are waiting on the date for the 500+ cookie celebration. There may be a Daddy-Daughter dance this year after all for Girl Scouts. My troop is working on their Bronze Award tomorrow night.  (I hope they bring in enough shirts.)    My brain is on overload.    I can’t believe that we have fewer that 10 weeks left in school—9 weeks and 3 days (counting today).  With Easter being so late this year, our Spring Break is late!  It’s a bit nuts.   This is probably the most random stuff I have ever posted.  BUT… if you think about it, it clears my head to get to the stuff I have to do today.  In that way, this has been helpful!   Now….  to get ready for the day! 

Many of the countdowns in my world are slowly getting smaller and smaller.  It’s exciting.  This time next week, I will be able to say that we have SINGLE DIGIT weeks left in school.    This week, we have a snow make-up day.  We were supposed to be out of school on Friday, but we are having a snow make-up day instead.  The best part is that it is only a HALF day!     What is 1025??  That is the number of boxes of cookies that the Princess ended up selling.  She earned her iPad mini!  She will get it at the beginning of May (supposedly) at the celebration for kids who sold more than 500 boxes of cookies!  We are excited!  For us, it will be the first (personally owned) i-anything in the house.  We are Android people, except for Tony’s work phone.      Our softball team is pretty cool.  We have a couple of girls who have never played before, but that comes with any rec team.  This ye...

This weekend, we finished some things. 1. The Girl Scout Cookie booths ended for the year!  I can’t say that I’m not excited.  This was a long year for Cookies!   2. The Princess finished up all her sales for 1000 boxes of cookies.  She earns the iPad Mini!   3. The Art Gala and Auction for the Princess’s school was Saturday.  From the initial numbers, we raised over $6000.  I’m impressed.  (Could have been better---could have been worse!)   4. We are now a week closer to SPRING BREAK!  This year, with Easter being so late (the end of April), we aren’t getting Spring Break until then.  Because of all the Snow Days we have had this year, we also don’t get any of the teacher workdays that we were supposed to get before then.  That means that from the beginning of March until the end of April, we are in school every weekday.  I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it’s the longest stretch of straight thr...