Clean Classrooms and Folding Sheets

I had been taking care of personal business yesterday, and I couldn't be in school, so when I came back today, I expected index cards and spelling homeworks on my desk when I came in.
Of course, only about half the class bothered, so I had to spend a lot of time giving out minuses and warnings.
Once we got to the lesson I was in trouble because I was way ahead in 7a, because I hadn't taught 7b on Sunday.
I had to improvise, and I tried to catch them up as quickly as possible. But between finishing the history chapter for tomorrow, and catching up on literature, it took until recess.
So when recess came around I tried lagging behind after the bell so that I would have less time in the 7a class.
But the principal took care of that for me.
She stormed into the teachers room. The teachers all looked in my direction.
I know that kind of sounds funny, but by this time of the year, the teachers all expect trouble to have something to do with me. I have no idea why.
"I am LIVID!!!" The principal shouted.
I got on the defensive, ready to fight.
"Your classrooms are a mess! All of yours!"
I just had to laugh. The teachers were also breathing sighs of relief. Sometimes this principal can be so strange.
"Well," she continued, "the fifth grades are decent, and the sixth are fine too, and your classroom is not bad, and yours isn't either..." And soon she had gone through everyone except me.
Why am I not surprised?
She went on to ask if we had all washed our breakfast dishes before we had left for school.
It so happens to be that breakfast is a sore issue at home, because I eat on plastic and my husband drinks his coffee in glass, and I never feel like it should be my job to clean his cups. So yes, my dishes were still in the sink.
She of course, decided that my dishes were probably in the sink at home and made it a point to say so.
But I didn't say anything in defense. Not because I didn't want to, but because she didn't shut up long enough for me to open my mouth.
Old problems...
She instituted a cleanup contest throughout the entire school, and then she left the teacher's room. She left all of us giggling.
But it caused the distraction I wanted, and I walked in 5 minutes late.
I had an amazing time in 7a. They are so capable, and funny, and I always manage to have a good time with them.
In the beginning of the year, I had thought that the other class, being more spunky, would be my more favored class. But now, February time, I'm getting sick of the whining and chutzpah in 7b. I would have to say that 7a is the class I look forward to now. They're becoming less shy, and raising their hands to say more. Every day gets better and better in that class.
Today I managed to have a history review, start the picture books with them, and even do a little literature.
There was one part in literature where a teenage boy is helping a woman fold her linen.
That sparked a discussion about how boys are so inept at doing anything around the house. One girl entertained us with the story of her brother climbing in to the duvet cover to get the blanket inside evenly.
Then A.L. asked why that was so funny, she did her blankets that way all the time.
The class was on the floor.
I called S.J. up to the front.
I over using her as an example. She's tiny, always smiling, and always ready to volunteer.
I had her take off her sweater and using the sweater I demonstrated how to put a cover onto the blanket.
I turned it inside out, put my hands inside, took her hands, and put it over her head. It got stuck halfway thorough, so the class was in stitches watching her struggle to get into it.
I remember that I used S.J. in the beginning of the year to demonstrate how hard it was to travel by dressing her in 3 coats.
She's just the cutest when I ask her to help me demonstrate anything.
I reminded the class about the history test the next day, spoke to R.R. about taking it later, and breathed a long sigh of relief.
My day was over.