Pandemic At School
Week 38
Day 258 – Sunday, November 29, 2020
Got up, started more laundry, and went grocery shopping by 7:30 (yawn).
The plan was to get the Christmas tree up, but in order to do that I had to rearrange things in my room to move the sewing table back in there. Then I had to vacuum. To get to the tree, I had to pull the car out of the garage. I ended up getting out the leaf blower to clear off my front porch. THEN I got out the Christmas tree and decorations.
We have one of those Christmas light projectors for the exterior of the house. I’ve had it for 3 or 4 years, but only used it once. I got it all set up, but the green laser doesn’t appear to work… bummer. I think there are fancier versions now, so maybe I’ll upgrade.
I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning, and rearranging the shelves around my TV to add Dad’s memorial to it. I think it looks nice. The bottom shelf still needs some work, and Leah ended up setting up the Little People nativity there.
We had baked potatoes with BBQ pulled chicken for dinner. It was my first time making baked potatoes in the Instant Pot. Very easy and quicker than the oven.
Day 259 – Monday, November 30, 2020
We didn’t get our snow day, but it did snow from 8am to 3pm… it just didn’t stick around. What a waste.
It was a very busy day for me at work because I had to finish all of the things that got left undone when I left unexpectedly on the 19th and see my scheduled students. I think I’m all caught up, so that’s good.
Brand new, hasn’t even started yet, kindergarten teacher is quarantined. I helped wrangle a couple of kindergarteners today… we need that new teacher! Too many kids!
Mrs Wolfe brought me a new, light projector for the front of the house. I’m excited because it has LOTS of different projections. I need daylight to set it up… and there is not much of that when I get home.
My Secret Eagle was Gena Allen, and she knitted me the softest chunky yarn blanket. I love it . I still need to get a big gift for mine… I missed the reveal party last Monday. Today, I was busy running all over town picking up orthodontic rubber bands and prescriptions and picking up Elijah and making dinner and paying bills…. Hopefully, tomorrow will be calmer!
Day 260 – Tuesday, December 1, 2020
December? Seriously?
My day at school started in the 1st/2nd grade self-contained classroom. The first kid on my schedule was out sick. I saw the second kid on my schedule, and he clearly felt terrible. He ended up going home within the hour. I have one student (Student A) who always has a meltdown after recess when I see him (time doesn’t matter, he’s not a fan of working with me). He calmed down and was working pretty well when another student (Student B) had an aggressive outburst. The victim (Student C) of the aggressive outburst ended up sitting in my lap while my other student (Student A) did his work. It was quite a scene, I’m sure.
My afternoon went as expected. I added a kindergartener to my caseload. She’s very sweet, but she would have really benefited from early intervention and preschool therapy.
After I picked up Elijah, I took Leah to Walmart to shop for my Secret Eagle gift. She is in the market for an Advent calendar (last year she had the Harry Potter Lego calendar), but I didn’t see any at Walmart. I got a Facebook ad a few weeks ago for a Totoro Advent calendar, but the website seemed sketchy.
I reheated last night’s leftovers for dinner, then made tomorrow night’s shepherd’s pie and put it in the fridge.
I just finished reading a chapter of The Legend of King Arthur to Leah. I promised I’d read the last chapter since she hates reading to herself. I am completely unimpressed with the story…
My friend's teen who just got one COVID now appears to have mono. Elijah is constantly thinking he's going to be a close contact and get sent home to quarantine (not yet).
Day 261 – Wednesday, December 2, 2020
I went to the middle school this morning, and three out of my five students were absent. I did check attendance before leaving my office, so I was aware of the possibility. It made for an extra quick stop there.
I had a group lesson where I had the kids answer “would you rather” questions. Two out of eight were absent (one of those was “remote present” over WebEx).
One 3rd grade class was down to 13 students out of 18. The other 3rd grade class had their teacher go home.
My high school life skills class also had their teacher out as a close contact…
My friend, Karen, brought over cranberry salsa and chips for my family to enjoy. YUM!
Leah has her Wednesday night church group, and I stayed because driving in the dark isn’t my thing.
Day 262 – Thursday, December 3, 2020
The day got off to a good start. Then I got a call from Elijah’s allergist’s office. He had an appointment this afternoon and they wanted to change it to telehealth. Fine. They wanted to change the time to earlier in the day. Not fine. I rescheduled it for January.
At lunch, I texted Elijah that I would pick him up at the regular time instead of early for his appointment. He texted back that his friend who came to school SICK on Monday had just gotten positive test results back. I told him to text me when they came to collect him as a close contact. So, I picked Elijah up just after noon. He is quarantined through 12/14, and will get tested Saturday morning….
I headed back to school and saw a few groups of students.
I made chili for dinner, then Hannah and sat down and crunched numbers for colleges. Looks like Hannah will be a HOOSIER at the University of Indiana!
Day 263 – Friday, December 4, 2020
Because Elijah is quarantined at home, I was able to drop Leah off a few minutes later and get to work 20 minutes earlier…. That’s positive for us, if not him.
My self-contained kiddos for today were great, even though I accidentally set one of them off first thing in the morning. Oops. He was able to pull himself together for speech, and had an okay morning. The best dressed guy in the school today told me twenty times in a row, “Say P five times”. I told him “no”. Later, he was demanding one of the assistants say “drum” when he saw me and demanded that I say “drum”. That time, I complied, and laughed. Their teacher wanted me to make sure to write that the student who would rather scream than work with me, was absolutely perfect for me and earned all of his iPad time… That may be a first that both of those things happened on the same day.
My Friday afternoon schedule is a little lighter than my other days (by design), and neither of my virtual students showed up.
Starting Monday, kindergarten will be back to being split into two classes. Hallelujah!
Since I didn’t have to pick up Elijah, I got home half an hour earlier than normal, so I was able to set up the Christmas light projector Mrs Wolfe gave me.
I ordered pizza with a gift card (thanks Heather!), and added the Domino’s tracking app to Alexa. She told me when the pizza was on its way.
Day 264 – Saturday, December 5, 2020
Elijah had an 8am appointment downtown for COVID testing, the first time slot of the day. We got there at 7:45 and were the 4th car in line. The testers arrived to the site at 8am. The information guy came to the car window and said, “Do you have a MyChart account?”
“Yes.”
“Have you gotten this (information) paper before?”
“Yes.”
“Of course, you have.”
…and he walks to the next car.
The testers start swabbing at 8:15, there is no longer any gentle explanation of the testing procedure. Elijah said this was his worst test experience (it’s his third time), and he felt like his nose was bleeding (it wasn’t).
The testers were exhausted before they even got started. I can’t even imagine.
Elijah continues to feel fine and has no new symptoms (he lives his life with a few symptoms on a daily basis).
The girls and I went to the thrift store, Target, and Five Below. Each store was more crowded than the last.
I did laundry and talked to Karen. We were going to get Starbucks, but Hannah informed me that they all (except the one inside Target) were closed. No word on what that was about.
Hannah and Dylan made peanut butter cookies. Elijah, Leah, and I ate leftovers for dinner.
Elijah’s test result came back negative, so YAY! There’s still a 38% chance that it is a false negative being tested on day 5 after exposure.
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