Thursday, January 28, 2010

Lincoln School Redo

Most of you know I taught at Lincoln School before the move to the new elementary. When we moved, the building was sold to a group who planned to remodel the building into apartments for elderly housing. The old building had numerous problems including rodents and bats, leaky pipes, poor water pressure, antiquated heating system, on and on. Yesterday afternoon was an open house for the remodel and I still can't believe how wonderful it is!
The building now has 15 apartments in it. Each one is one or two bedrooms, full kitchen, lots of closet, wonderful original hardwood floors and a tiny bit of the feel of the old classrooms. The gym is now 4 apartments with the original high ceilings and shorter walls. The custodians room is a workout center with a treadmill, etc. The building is on the register of historic places, so the outside is restored to the original look. I was ready to move in! It is great when someone has vision of what could be and then is able to carry it out.
We gathered as many of the old crew from the building and took a picture - we'll see how they come out.

Monday, January 25, 2010

addendum

We are going home early - one hour. Don't know what good that does but maybe visibility is better at 2:00 than at 3:00?

Favorite time of year

Well, it's my favorite time of year. God won't strike me down for lying, will he? Today I started giving Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. I have twenty kids to read to - spread out across their available day, that means 60 sessions or two complete weeks with testing 6 times a day. Such fun! I have one session completed and will begin another after the classes have music, pe, art, etc.

I guess the weather is pretty nasty if you had a commute of any kind today. The teachers who come in from Pella, Ottumwa, etc, needed more time than they thought so very briefly this morning I was a general education fourth grade teacher. She wasn't very late, but said it was extremely hard to see the road markings. Looks like I will get to work on my birthday this year which has happened only once before in all the years I have taught. Our Sunshine committe has a "birthday mug" that travels from teacher to teacher on their special day. The birthday person then fills it for the next person in line. Those of us with summer birthdays get a bonus birthday assigned to us so we can celebrate, too. Looks like I'll get the mug twice! Just a s long as I don't have to be two years older!

Stay safe

Friday, January 22, 2010

Wow! School at last!

What a strange week. Monday it was work as usual. Tuesday I had an all day meeting with the curriculum director at central office, so not in the classroom at all. Wednesday and Thursday, no school because of ice. Today - late start so nothing is in its regular spot in the schedule!

We did indeed have ice - a half inch or so. We haven't lost power - yet. Since the ice is still on all the trees, it may still bring down power lines. Many buses were stopped today because either a tree blocked the road or downed power lines did. Some teachers didn't have power over night. Dan went to Walmart yesterday - they had lost power and were just reopening - but were in the process of throwing out all the meat and dairy.

I put on my new yaktracks this morning for the school parking lot, but someone did a great job of sanding and I didn't need them.

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sunday at the house

I'm getting together my guest list for a Lia Sophia jewelry party. Any of you are welcome! I attended Lynne's and "won" my own party. I am looking forward to it, many of the people I work with have never been inside here. Nothing much else going on, and I like it that way!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year

Well, back to work tomorrow. I will have a student teacher for the first 6 weeks of 2010. There is so much for her to learn in so little a time!
Notice I have followed my daughter's lead and will endeavor to post what I'm reading this year. Both of the books currently on the list I started before the new year, but I did finish them in 2010!
Chelsey gifted me with a crochet calendar and requested some things for Baby J - I have worked an elephant, still needs eyes and a frog, still needs eyes and a baby bib. The calendar has a wide variety of patterns, some of which are in my capability range. My crochet talents usually lie in flat items, so making 3D objects is a challenge! I made a hat but used really loud colors, so took it apart again.
I was able to make several knitted/loomed hats during my vacation and will donate them to the school nurses' office, hopefully they will find a home. I finally got one the right size/texture for me to wear when we have outside duty - it gets cold out there! Hopefully I will have a bright red set and a mauve set, both of which should go with my black coat.
I hope everyone is staying warm!