Back to Winter Wonderland

Winter was very slow to get here, and now doesn't want to leave. We received over a foot of snow in the last 24 hours. It started just after noon yesterday and my trek home from school at 3 pm was adventurous. I am so happy I have a wonderful 4 wheel drive Subaru that gets me up the hills and over our country roads safely. Of course, I had to creep the 2 miles down my road at 20 mph, gripping the steering wheel very tightly. Ever since I slid off my road one February morning, I've been a bit tense driving on slippery roads.

I spent most of the day grading papers. I finally got through all the reading projects! My kids will be glad to get them back on Monday. They've been anxiously awaiting feedback. Most of them did well. It wasn't particularly difficult - but you had to pay attention to details. Those that didn't . . . .well, let's just say their grades reflect their attention to detail. That seems to be the case for everything. I also graded 38 spelling assignments. One part of the assignment required capital letters since the answers were titles to books. Over half of the 2 classes lost 15 points because they didn't capitalize. Not only were the directions right there in the book, but I specifically called that particular detail to their attention when the work was assigned. They're always in a rush to be finished, and don't take the time to check directions or to proofread their work.

I ventured to the grocery store this afternoon for a break from paperwork. I really dislike grocery shopping but my husband loves it. Unfortunately he couldn't go this week, so I had to brave the crowds. And there were crowds! What really drives me nuts though is the local store's practice of deciding to stock shelves at the peak of customer presence. Between dodging others' shopping carts and the stockboys and their pallets of cardboard, and new product, I felt like I was in the middle of rush hour. It took me over an hour to negotiate the terrain and spend $102.93. And of course, the teenage baggers were much more interested in discussing their social plans than making sure that the cans of soup were under the grapes instead of on top of them! GRR!

I finished my afternoon chores by booking hotel rooms for Easter weekend. My brother is retiring from the Navy on April 6th and we're flying to Norfolk, VA for his retirement bash. It will be a mini family reunion since one of our sisters and her family will also be able to make it as well as one of our cousins. We're looking forward to that.

I have 3 more sets of papers to grade and some planning left to do. We're studying ancient Greece now in social studies, and have just finished a novel in reading. I decided to create a short Greek mythology unit to go along with social studies, so I have to pull that together. I've done folktales in the past, so I will adapt some of my previous resources for this unit. I'm psyched because for the first time ever I teach ALL the kids in my pod reading and social studies. This makes it so much easier to integrate curricula. I will be able to use double blocks of time for this unit, so it should be very effective.