Things went smooth all day. Really, they did! The drop off procedure in the morning went flawlessly, Everyone was where they were supposed to be, directing students and parents. It was so fun to be in an elementary school. Parents walk their kids in, take pictures, some kids are nervous and terrified and others are confident and friendly. One first grade student brought his teacher flowers! Watching the Kindergarten parents was the best...some had tears in their eyes.
This one little kid was pretty frustrated though because he couldn't find his teacher's classroom. He looked like Will Smith's kid with the most gorgeous curly hair ever. All he knew was he is in the 2nd grade, and his teacher's name starts with a P. Considering I don't even know all the staff members names yet, this information was not helpful. Then, he remembered, "she has white hair, like you!"
Later in the day I was assigned to do "walk-throughs" of the 1st and 7th grade classes. Basically we were told to go observe what was happening, and leave a positive sticky note to the teacher upon leaving. My most exciting observation was in the 7th grade science lab. No joke, I heard a duck quacking. Me and this little guy both looked at each other with our mouths open. I asked the teacher if she had a duck in there and she looked at me like I was crazy. So we all sat in silence, and listened to this duck quack. We determined it was in the vent, and of course by the time I had someone go take care of it, the quacking had stopped. They never found anything. I emailed the principal about it, her response was "lol that has to be the funniest thing yet".
And everything was all fun and games until the dismissal time came. We don't have buses, and since we have little kids, they have to be escorted to the correct car. We had a plan in place and had practiced it well. About an hour before dismissal though, the Dean of Students changed the plan, and all ____ broke loose. Each child and each car has a number. People at the beginning of the parking lot have walkie talkies and call out the number of the cars coming up the drive. We, on the other end, are supposed to call those numbers to dismiss. The Dean thought we should all be in the gym for this procedure, but she didn't realize getting 600 kids from K-7 to be quiet all at once is impossible. No one could hear the numbers being called; not the walkie talkie people, and certainly not the kids. It was a stand still disaster. Traffic was backed up out on the main road that leads into the school. One woman yelled at me, "What the hell is going on? I've been waiting an hour and 45 minutes!" and I can assure you, she had.
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