SHELTER IN PLACE!!!

Do you have one of these in your room? Have you ever had to use it?  I miraculously escaped today but many on my team were not so lucky.

It was 15 minutes into lunch. I had eaten scarfed my lunch and was debating staying on my diet or indulging in a lemon bar or chocolate cake. The sweets were winning since my husband has been out of town for almost 2 weeks and this supermom is TIRED!  Getting 2 kids to school before a 7:45 AM staff meeting this morning had just about sealed the deal when....

...our principal came into the staff room and told us we needed to go back to our classrooms immediately and gather our students. The police department had called and we needed to SHELTER IN PLACE. One look on her face told us this was NOT a drill. I grabbed both desserts {hey, I may need the sustenance, who knew how long we would be locked in} and herded kids on the way back to my room.


I don't know what you call it in your area, but Shelter in Place means we lock our door and may not come out until we are told it is safe. That means NO BATHROOM. First graders, after lunch, no bathroom. AWESOME.


I kept them busy and distracted so they actually did pretty well but...

 I kept looking at the clock,  dreading when someone would finally need to go.  An hour and 5 minutes in, someone finally asked. I was AMAZED it took so long. It was probably due to the rant I went on that morning about using the bathroom at recess and me taking away points.  I broke it to the girl that if she couldn't hold it she would need to pee in a bucket. She wisely said she would hold it.

We make it 1 hour 15 minutes and finally a tiny blonde girl pleads, "I need to go. I know it means the bucket." Ugh. I start to arrange a privacy shield and then hear those magical bells. Okay, maybe they were more like intercom beeps but it felt like a Hallejuah moment. Shelter in Place was over!  I didn't even let my principal finish before I let blondie out the door.

We are given a 20 minute recess to recuperate. The staff lounge is all abuzz. Apparently other teachers are nicer than me and did not rant at their students this morning because the teammates on either side of me each had 4 kids go potty in the bucket! Their rooms had a wonderful aroma. I guess being a Grinch sometimes does pay off.

I know you are all wondering what caused all this. Word is there was a home burglary right across the street that was interrupted by the police. The intruder barricaded himself in the home and our neighborhood was swarming with cop cars. Good to know since I live down the street.

On a different note, if you downloaded the Holiday Syllable Sort freebie you will want to go download it again.  I replaced fireplace with mistletoe so their were an even number of each. Sorry, I am sure you understand how crazy things are this week.

I hope your last few days are less eventful.