Spring Break Update

It's spring break! You'd never know it from the weather outside. Monday we had 4.5 inches of snow. The schools not on spring break this week all got snow days! Lucky ducks :) Here is the view out my window yesterday morning.

Life has been so hectic lately, and work has been kind of stressful. Our district officially RIFed 13.5 teaching positions for next school year. At the high school, most of our elective classes were cut- no more industrial tech, family consumer science, and 1/2 Ag, 1/2 music, 1/2 art, etc. Because we are now short on electives, they are having us core teachers add elective courses to our schedule. I've always taught Biology and AP Biology, next year I will be teaching those PLUS Forensics and Zoology. They should be interesting courses, but we don't have books for them and obviously don't have money to buy any. I'm a bit stressed at teaching a new course, and no textbook adds even more stress to that. Yesterday I ordered some books and videos off of Amazon to help me plan this summer. I have a feeling I am going to keep buying stuff out of my own pocket so that I feel confident teaching the new classes. I'm also planning to post anything I create to TeachersPayTeachers to help me supplement all of the costs.

With April coming up I have also been preparing for Earth Day. It is the one day of the year where I give my students a break from the normal class structure, and we do crafts, play games, and have fun instead. I went a little overboard buying stuff out of pocket for that too, but I just couldn't resists. Yesterday I even designed and purchased a banner from http://www.shindigz.com/. It is a great website with really great quality banners at a decent price! I got one for 1 penny last year during a 24-hour sale! It was awesome! If you ever want to shop there, please comment with your email. I would love to refer you and get some extra points! Every little bit helps! Anyways, here is the banner I created, I can't wait to hang it up.

Tomorrow my 'fun' spring break continues and I am having surgery. Just a minor procedure, but still not a fun way to spend my spring break. Oh the things I do to prevent myself from having to miss work!

Anyways, I hope all of my fellow teachers have a great spring break and get the rest they need to make it through the last few months of the school year! Take care.