This is it!

Up early this morning (fantastic thunderstorm-not much rain, but an amazing light show-at 4:30 am), and I got to thinking-this is it. Summer is over for me. I had planned to do a bunch of things- as usual, but....... It's been a bit of a strange summer-at the beginning of July, I was so wiped, I could hardly stay upright and making intelligible conversation at the same time (this past school year was the first time, since the early 90's, that I worked full time. Combine that with chronic pain, and well, you get the definition of tired). We put in the pool, the fence, the decks-July was a blur! Sean worked really hard all month-so we kind of held each other up!!! Annie was in that pool just about everyday-so it was kind of nice to just sit and watch. But not very productive for other things I had planned to do! And August was not much better. But you know, it was a good summer. But now it is back to books and kids and regular schedules. I am going to go in to school today to try to get the last of the classroom work done and ready for Tuesday. I have a straight Grade 7 this time-and I am so looking forward to it! Straight grades are pretty much a rarity these days. The reasons for so many split grades are varied, but I think part of the issue has to do with capping the early primary grades. (That means limiting the number of bodies in Grades 1 and 2) So, here's how it works. Only 20 kids in Grade 1 -so an extras go into a Grade 1/2 class. Only 20 kids in Grade 2-so the extra kids (at this point, less than 20 Grade 2 kids in that class, because of the overflow of Grade 1's)go into a Grade 2/3. And on it goes. Combine that with a general belief in school boards that every child should have at least 2 potential spots in a school-to avoid clashes with a particular teacher, or potential "bad mixes" with kids. In order to do that, the splits end up happening. So how did I get a straight grade this year? A matter of numbers. We are not a large school, by any means (a total of under 275 kids in K-8). But the way the numbers turned out, there happened to be a Grade 5/6, a Grade 6, a Grade 7, a Grade 7/8 and a Grade 8. Will it happen again? Not very likely. At any rate, I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.
So now-off to finishup my coffee, run through the shower and get my classroom all finished-before it gets too hot.
So-what are your fall plans???