Cold Day – Life of the Rookie Teacher

Oh my goodness last week was a whirlwind!

Like I said in my last post, it was SO COLD here in Minnesota that we had 2 cold days off on Tuesday and Wednesday. To make it even better, we had ANOTHER cold day on Thursday. That made 3 DAYS OFF because it was too cold to go outside! I also mentioned that last Monday, we had a late start because there was a snowstorm the night before and the roads were too bad right away in the morning to make it safely to school.

So once Friday morning came around, we had only been to school for half of a day. To make it even better, we had a scheduled early release scheduled Friday afternoon for self development. That meant that by the time my students left Friday afternoon, I had seen them for a total of 1 school day….I basically lost an entire week of school.

On the bright side, because we had no school, I didn’t have to make any new lesson plans because I just get to use exactly what I had planned to do last week. The down side is that I’ve been behind my colleagues by almost 2 weeks in both math and reading (and probably a month behind in science) and last week was my week to catch up while they used the week to review. We’re now jumping into this week and they’re moving forward skipping review so I’m pretty sure I’ll be 3 weeks behind. Go me!

It’ll all work out I just get paranoid being the new teacher in my grade level (and school) and not being on track with my team at all!

On a complete separate note, because of the cold, all sports were cancelled and rescheduled last week so my gymnastics schedule is going to be INSANE this week! We had 2 meets scheduled last week (Tuesday and Thursday) that we couldn’t have because we didn’t have school so we had a make up meet Friday, and now this week, we have a meet scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I love coaching and meets are a blast, but most nights I don’t get home until at least past 10 (when I usually get to bed by 8 on a school night…..) and then have to be up the next morning at 6. It’s exhausting to have 1 meet in a week but 3….it’s going to be rough! Thanks Minnesota!

My plan for this week is to get caught up as much as I can in reading, math, and science while also starting to plan our Valentine’s Day party/activities. Things were so messed up last week that I honestly can’t wrap my head around the fact that Valentine’s Day is next week. I’m usually more planned and on top of school things like this but this one totally through me off! I’m just going to make it day by day and keep my eyes on Saturday morning when I’ll get to sleep again!

Oh my goodness. If you haven’t heard, the midwest is currently experiencing record breaking temperatures and Minnesota is in the heart of that cold and wind. I mean, yes I know the stigma about Minnesota, “it’s always cold there.” In reality it’s not that bad! Yes, from mid November to about March the temperature can literally range from -10 degrees to 50 but in the spring and summer our temperatures can range from 50 degrees to over 100. We’re used to living in colder temps this time of the year but it is SO cold that the weathermen have commented on how they don’t have a color on their maps to represent how cold it will be.

Today’s high HIGH was -10 degrees and the low was -23 degrees (these don’t include the windchill…with windchill it felt like -40 degrees.) Tomorrow the high is -14 degrees and the low is supposed to be -31 degrees. WITH WINDCHILL IT’S SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE -60 DEGREES PEOPLE!! THS IS NOT A DRILL!!

The entire state is under a windchill warning which means that you can get frostbite in under 5-10 minutes. It is SO cold that yesterday at about 1:30 in the afternoon, my entire district got an email saying that they were going to close school for today and tomorrow. That’s right, we had a literal “cold” day today and a “cold” day tomorrow! It’s so dangerous to be out in this weather most districts completely cancelled EVERYTHING for these 2 days to keep people indoors. It takes a lot to close schools because of the cold in Minnesota, especially in January when negative temps are normal, but that’s just how frigid it is!

My day today was so nice and relaxing (for the most part)! I woke up and got to lay on the couch snuggled in my blanket with my cat drinking coffee and watching New Girl. I lounged around for awhile and then ventured out into the tundra to head to the bank and to Target.

(Side story: Yesterday I used my debit card at a local restaurant and it was declined, which made no sense but I let it slide. I went online this morning to order Girl Scout Cookies from one of my students and used the same card and it was denied again! I then called my card issuers and found out that my card number was stolen and had been used to make fraudulent chargers in Ohio. I had to venture into the cold to go sign papers at my bank saying it wasn’t me. So that was fun.)

After I took care of my little issue and got some groceries, I headed back to hunker down in my apartment! I spent the rest of the day bundled up on the couch getting caught up on different shows I haven’t watched in awhile, doing some yoga, and cleaning parts of my apartment I haven’t touched in some time. My plan is to finish the night off with some wine and a few romantic comedies I have been meaning to get to.

I’m ready for cold day number 2!