Facie’s Ramblings

J survived her first week of fourth grade at her kind-of-new school (two other schools merged with hers). And I survived a week of lunch duty, which I can now smile about. Change is hard for most of us (I am looking right at you, self!). And when many people have to do something completely different, with dozens upon dozens of new faces, in a place they are not used to, well, you should not expect sunshine and lollipops. At least not every day. After my first day of lunch duty this week, I wanted to cry. It was chaotic at times. There are 140 more students than there were last year, and of those students, probably 160 are new to me. So I cannot call many of them by name to get their attention or correct them. In the case of the last lunch (there are three), I have no idea who is in what grade since they can sit wherever they want, which means I often don't know if the correct kids are heading out to recess (we call them a grade at a time). Throughout this week, I saw some kid...

After an embarrassing layoff in my thank-you note project ( my last note went out over two months ago), I am happy (well, more like relieved) to report that I wrote two notes over the weekend. Note 1 This one went to the woman who pretty much runs the lunchroom. She updates the schedules for the monitors and kitchen helpers, which is a feat in itself considering it is next to impossible to get four or five parent volunteers every day. Part of that task includes sending emails begging people to volunteer because if there are not enough monitors, then the kids cannot go outside for recess. But wrangling the kids is the most difficult task. She has to move the line forward, keep the cafeteria down to a dull roar, and dole out discipline as needed. And that is just during the eating portion of lunch. While outside, someone almost always falls down, throws a ball at someone else too hard, or does not share a jump rope or other toy, and she has to deal with that as well (more so than thos...

Jordan got hurt at recess on Friday. I got a call from the secretary, who said as much. When I asked if I should come to get her (I assumed that was why she was calling), B said probably not, but that Jordan was just scared and needed to be reassured. Part of me thought, if she is not that hurt that I don't need to get her, why must I make the 30-minute round trip just to give her a hug? But the secretary did use the word blood. I had had a busy morning, having spent almost two hours filling out an online application. For the record I have no idea how many years of experience I have with WordPerfect, mostly because I am pretty sure it has been years since I used that program. And I also had no idea how to answer my experience with PowerPoint. I have used it. I feel comfortable with it. But it is not as if I have spent X number of years creating programs. But I digress. So I show up at school, see my kid with a cold pack on her lip, crying. The teacher on duty (no nurse at a sma...