Well, sort of a snow day/freezing rain day. It's gone back and forth all night and all day today. But, the important thing is that I didn't have to go to school today!
I've been trying to decide if it's more exciting for the teachers or for the students to have a snow day. I remember being in school and running to the window to see if it snowed during the night. If it did, I would immediately turn on my radio and listen to the list of school closings, hoping and praying that mine would be mentioned.
It rarely was. When I was really young, my mom just wouldn't wake me up if we had a snow day. I would wake up to a sunny bedroom, sleepily wondering why it was so bright outside. Then I would tear around the house, looking for my mom (my sister was always still sleeping) to confirm my suspicions - no school today! I never thought about her not being able to go to work. We always played outside in our snowsuits and drank hot chocolate. Truly, it was the picturesque day you might imagine when thinking about children in the snow.
But this was an extremely rare occurrence.
When I hit high school, my sister and I were bussed from the city to a private school in the suburbs. We followed the schedule of Pittsburgh Public Schools, which at the time never had 2 hour delays due to how many working parents would be unable to stay home with their children. But my high school followed the schedule of the closer school district, which did have 2 hour delays. The result? My sister and I, along with the dozen or so other kids bussed in from the city, were at school at the regular time. We would hang out in the hallways and watch MTV in one of the classrooms, waiting for the rest of the students to arrive.
So truly, to have an entire day off of school was rare and wonderful. So I can truly appreciate how excited the students must be to have a snow day.
But now I'm a teacher. And I'm just as thrilled as they must be! My CT texted me this morning to let me know that schools were closed (I was still busily ignoring my alarm clock and hadn't turned on the news yet). Our texts were full of exclamation points. We really have no reason to be this excited, considering we already had two easy days this week - Monday and Tuesday were in-service days, without students. Yesterday I even got to sleep in and not go to school until noon. And we were done at 3:00 PM both days.
So while I should be writing lesson plans for the Newspaper Unit I get to construct, I'm too busy enjoying my extra day. And now there are only two school days until we have another weekend. And we had a short week last week due to MLK day.
I should be savoring this time more than I am. I don't think we get another day off until our spring break in April. Yeah, April. As in, two long months away.
But hopefully this crappy weather will actually persist long enough to give us at least one more snow day. In mid-February, maybe. Have I mentioned that's my least-favorite month?
Yeah, one more day would be good...
3 comments:
I never went to real school, or lived where it snowed (other than rarely), so I've never had any of the opportunities you have made such cherished memories out of. But what fun to get to experience it from both sides, yes? LOL! MTV in the classrooms... I bet that was the BEST!
Someone remarked this morning that the real reason they delayed school here for the nonexistent Dreaded Ice Storm of the Year was because of the kids that have to get on the buses so early.
Oooh, I loved snow days as a kid. Now snow annoys me because I didn't get paid if I didn't go to work!
Snow days were the best! Although our school district was very strict about taking a full day off of school since we have to make them up at the end of the year. I think the teachers liked starting their summer vacations on time more than trudging to school in the snow. So unless it was dire straits and we could not get to school safely, there was always school. We would get let out early though because that would still count as a full school day.
Oh and I blogged today, halleluiah!
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