Someone Tell the Temperature God That I Give Up!

I have nothing knitterly to report. SoCal has decided to become an oven, and it's been hell waking up to an apartment that is close to 100 degrees, even at 5:30 am. When I am home, I'm sitting in front of a fan that simply blows hot air on me, or in the shower letting cold water run over me. Mostly I've been not home, since home is hell.

I've gone back to work, officially. (I actually went back to work on August 13, but I don't get paid for any of the setup work my classroom requires, so it's not "official"). A useless day of inservices on Monday, a (boring) staff meeting on Tuesday, followed by "meet the teacher" bits all afternoon. And the news from our principal that first, for some unknown reason, all of us have to teach 10 45 minute lessons from an anti-drug/violence curriculum before 9/14. So, during the first 3 weeks of school, when I normally focus on rules, policies, getting to know my students, instead, I'll be force-feeding them interminable lessons from a program most of us find ineffective and cumbersome. Good idea, badly done. And then, I get the news that I'll be out of my classroom 2 consecutive days, on the 12th and 13th, for yet another inservice on a writing program that's good, I suppose, if one wants to produce technical writers.

Finally, on Wednesday, my students came to class for the first time. Well, all except one girl, who was still in Mexico, until Friday. I have 35 students. So does the other 5th grade teacher (yes, we're a small school, and there are only 2 5th grade teachers. And 2 4th grade teachers, as well). And we have a waiting list. As usual, back in June, our district decided that our enrollment would be down in September (from 298), so we had to let one teacher go. So, our enrollment in September? 348, with a long waiting list for every grade, except 4th. (Until the first day of school, both of us in 5th grade had 38 students on the roll. Fortunately, 6 of them moved.) While I don't like having 35 students (It's way too many for me to be really effective with them, no matter how hard I work), I do like all 35 of the kids I have. They're cute, they respond well to direction, and for the first time, they all seem to be okay with turning in their homework (or the stuff that passes for homework, the first week of school).

I had to rearrange my plans for this week. First, to accomodate the above-mentioned drug program. Next, because of the weather ~ I don't think it's healthy to do outdoor activities in 110 degree heat, so several activities have been postponed until SoCal returns to livable conditions. If it ever does. Thank God all our classrooms are air conditioned, and all of them seem to be working (which is generally not the case the first few days of school).

Because of that blessed a/c, I'm going to spend some time in my classroom today and tomorrow. I could do most of the work at home, but with this heat, I feel completely sapped of energy, and it's hard to work with multiple pieces of paper with a fan blasting you, so I'm heading to my classroom to get things done in blissfully cooler air.

I may also spend some time wandering around Lowe's, looking for a small a/c unit that won't overload my already full circuit board. (I live in an old building, and it was never designed for a/c, window style or otherwise.) But I live in hope. Besides, Lowe's is airconditioned, too, so it's just one more place I can spend time avoiding the heat.

Wow, we're having an earthquake! Not a major one, of course, but my bed just started shaking, and my computer monitor was dancing a bit, and it went on too long for it to be a reaction to some heavy truck on the road outside. I guess life is never dull in SoCal!