Day 69 (?)- Channeling Gene Kelly

This post will be better if you listen to this song while reading.

It was a glorious feeling! To wade through ankle deep water from where I had to park, (behind our school and down a block) to pick up my 10 students who valiantly braved the weather to further their education, to get to my classroom to hear 20 min later that school was going to be closing early due to flooding.

My first thought, "Well, duh!"

The sight from the front of our school, and our parking lot. (hence the reason everyone had to park behind the school on higher land) Our school was built decades ago during a time when no one apparently cared that it would be placed in the middle of a flood zone.

We teachers have learned to prepare ourselves during the rainy seasons.
1. Never park in the parking lot if there is more than a 60% chance of rain for the day.
2. Keep boots and an umbrella in your car at all times
3. Have all parents on speed-dial just in case of early dismissals
4. Laugh at the Newbie teachers who don't believe the stories until they see it for themselves :)

Here is a look at our playground. To quote a 5th grader, "There's ducks on our playground!" Well, technically they were geese, but yes, there were aquatic birds enjoying our playground.

 The tree in the background of the second picture is where second grade had our 'beach day' at the end of the year last year. It is usually a nice open field next to our playground.

The flooding was not limited to our part of Hamilton County. In fact, flooding was an epidemic all over the county. Check out the news report from News Channel 9 HERE.

But were we teachers worried? NO! Did we panic? NO! We made sure our men were geared up and ready to go to work!

Mr. Moore and Mr. Burney, masters of style and grace under pressure, made sure that students leaving early were kept safe and sound, and that teachers who needed cars moved were not overly burdened. Well done, Gentlemen! Well done!

Not to be left out, and also sporting her fashion sense despite the nasty weather, Ms. Brewer worked hard to make sure that parents and students were matched during the early dismissals.

Ms. Brewer is our resident fashion plate, so it comes as no surprise that she can make galoshes look good too!

"But what of the children. Mrs. Delk? The children!"
Never fear, my students were hard at work. That's right! My soldiers were working! By 9am I only had 8 students left, so we worked on math centers.

 Working on domino fact families, and sorting attributes.

And even when I was down to 3 kids, they stayed focused! I had 2 soldiers work on their fact families right up until the end!

 So, by 10am the school was empty and the waters were still rising. Tonight the news informed us to expect more rain, and possibly snow. Hamilton County is on a 2 hour delay for Tuesday. And, surprise, surprise, we are on a Flood Watch for the night.

Oh, what a glorious feeling!