Wow--Where have I been?

I don't even know where to begin. Let's see if I can recall some of the highlights of the past 5 weeks:

1. Staying a half hour later, while beneficial (got that math curriculum TAUGHT!), proved to be really taxing. I was simply too whopped to blog during that time.
2. State testing came and went. I am hopeful that my students will show progress. We worked hard all year, and had a really great, productive review courtesy of the state--they used grant money to give us practice books that were, in all ways, similar to the test. Same number of questions. Same SPIs. My students' test anxiety was nil--they literally had seen a version of the state test.
3. I thought my days would be less hectic after state testing, but I was so wrong! I've had to submit my writing portfolios to the principal twice since then (not just me, everyone). If you don't know from writing portfolios (too much RHONY), let me tell you that they are a time-consuming pain in the tooshie. Writing pieces have to be scored with a rubric (6 Traits) and meaningful comments should be made on each and every story. And we're still not done. We would have finished this week, except for one small thing:
4. We had a major flood in my state and have missed an entire week of school. In May! For weather!?! Unprecedented. My city is downstream from Nashville--we got all of their floodwater a day or two later, plus all of our own. The dams on the Cumberland River were wide open (or overtopped!) and we have had severe flooding. Forget the 100 year flood plain--we had a 500 year flood. I can't articulate how devastating this has been for our state--it's just plain stunning to see the Titans' stadium flooded and a portable classroom floating down the interstate on the television. My son's piano teacher was distraught to learn that the Steinway at the Schermerhorn concert hall in Nashville was ruined. She had actually attended a concert there the night before it flooded. So many people have lost everything and have no insurance. You can't get flood insurance unless you live in the 100 year flood zone. Those outside the zone are ineligible. Hopefully, FEMA will help them out.

So, we go back to work on Monday after a week off. We have only 10 and a half days of school left and a ton to do. It's going to be a hard two weeks.