Last Day of the Month

Last day of the month. What does that mean to my school (and others I have taught in)?

Fire Drill.

And yet, it often surprises me.

Today (like all days) during our morning meeting our class STAR helper lead us in a breathing exercise. He chose the balloon. (See Becky Bailey's site for information on safe place breathing.)

We (or mostly I) talked about maybe needing to breathe today. We were supposed to have visitors and we were having our big rotation for Cloverbuds, so I, Mrs. Bartel, may need to practice breathing because there is a good chance things will not go my way.

Visitors did not show up. Cloverbuds went ok. Reading groups fine. Writing ok. FIRE DRILL. 

I grabbed my list. Shooed the kids out the door. Turned off the lights. Closed the door. Followed the kids.

I have 22 kids. So on the way out I calculated what number I should count when I get out to our meeting spot. (I know I should be ready with a count, because my principal is good at stealing a kid to see if the teacher knows what to do.) One absent. Six in the computer lab. By the time I reach them I knew--15. 

All was good. I counted 15. We got the all clear and headed back in. But writing time may not happen any more. 

Except I had an idea. Everybody--balloon. Great, one more time. Fabulous. Now we could get back to writing. 

I am glad to have taught the kids about breathing. To relax. To calm down. To energize. To whatever we need it to do.

Sometimes I feel a bit guilty about the amount of control I have over these kids. And it could be related to me having them breathe. And breathing is good, right? So, no more guilty feelings.