I Hate the Rain, and Progress Reports

As I have mentioned before, the children are affected when it rains. Something in their brains suddenly change, and they go crazy.

Completely crazy.

I guess we could say the kids are more intelligent than we stodgy, old adults. We look on the rain as necessary but an inconvenience, and idly wish it would rain like it does in Camelot, only at convenient times. Maybe the kids are recognizing on a deeper level that the rain represents life, and because life will continue with the rain, they are rejoicing.

I know they just like to get wet, but it's still a nice thought.

I have had no less than 20 students come in completely soaked for no other reason than it looked like fun to run crazy in the rain.

I also had a boy earlier today who has a skinned elbow, because while he was running in the rain (because it looked like fun) he discovered that wet = slippery, and slid an apparently impressive distance, according to onlookers, all on his elbow.

He didn't go and get it looked at, of course, because that would interfere with playing in the rain. Instead, he waited until school started to be sent, so he would waste classtime versus play time.

Plus, the rain and damp and difference of it all makes them squirrelly. So all day today, I have had to remind them we don't yell in class, we don't throw things, and lots of other don'ts that should have been obvious. So I really do hate when it rains during school hours. I personally do love the rain, and I love to listen to it falling... just not during school.

And I also hate this time of year... PROGRESS REPORT TIME. Parents will soon be requesting parent conferences to discuss why I "gave their child an F."

I hate that phrase. I really don't sit up nights thinking about how I am going to ruin their day by giving their child a failing grade. I just calculate the grades, I really do. That's it.

But I know I'm going to be getting emails like crazy telling me about how their angel turned in everything even though it isn't in the gradebook (which the parents can now check online so if they had been keeping track of their child as much as they said they were, they'd have seen the zero before now...).

Oh, well. They go home Friday... so I am safe for one more day.