Hot Teacher Friday
On Thursday I felt like we suddenly hit our groove in the classroom. The students have by and large mastered many of the morning routines after 3 weeks. We had no interruptions - no intercom announcements, no assemblies, etc. The kids and I could just enjoy learning without being interrupted. If you have ever taught you know when this moment arrives and it is a great feeling.
We used playdough to make numbers 1-3. They had a wonderful time just being kids. They thought they were playing but they were really strengthening their fine motor skills and learning how to correctly form numbers.
It might have been helped by the fact that Central Office finally sent 2 very nice AC technicians who walked into my room and immediately remarked just how “toasty” it was. They very kindly got my AC back in working order. (For those just catching up my classroom has had little to no AC for the past 3 weeks). They told me it would get chilly before the temps would even out. I told them not to worry we would be fine.
About 10 minutes after they left one of my little friends remarked, “It is cold in here.” I gave him my best teacher look (if you are a teacher you know the look) and he immediately decided not to pursue that line of conversation. We finished the day in cool comfort.
Well you know that could not last. I arrived at school this morning to be met with the news that the entire building had no AC. We joked that it must have been because my room was finally getting AC service.
Please remember I live in the desert Southwest. We have had over 74 days straight when the temperature reached over 100 since April. We have been in an extreme heat warning over the past few days. It reached 108 today. I go to the gym before work on Friday mornings. At 5 am this morning it was already 90 degrees F.
They did not cancel or postpone school. We picked up the students and brought them into the hot building. Central Office was sending out AC technicians to solve the issue. About 15 minutes after the beginning of school we lost electrical power.
Last year Central Office replaced all of the lighting in the building. We now have very complicated light switches (no joke we had to watch a video training on how they work). They took out the majority of the emergency lights. I already had my classroom doors open to try to get some air moving (I bought a fan after the 2nd day of school for use in my classroom). I was able to get some natural light from the courtyard windows so we were not completely in the dark. I did not have anyone begin to cry. The students began to get a little nervous about being in the dark (they are 5 and in kindergarten), but I told them we were all safe.
It is a good thing I began teaching in the 1900s before the over reliance on technology. We did our Friday craft project early since that just needed scissors and glue. A good craft project always is helpful.
About 30 minutes later the lights finally came on - which was good because I had lots of little ones who needed to use the bathroom. We couldn’t before because the lights are automatic in the restrooms but with no electrical power the bathrooms were completely dark. Another 30 minutes and they announced the AC was back in working order but they expected it would take over an hour for the cooling to take effect.
When I took my students to lunch there was AC in the lunchroom and they were able to get a little relief. After the students ate they were released to play outside where it was already well over 100 degrees. They were hot when I collected them from lunch. Then the AC decided it really did not want to work very well. Some classrooms did not have any air moving at all. My room did have air moving but it was about 83 degrees in the room (I know because the fan I bought was super special and comes with a temperature gauge). The administrative team kept going into classrooms to take the temperature. I assume there is some level at which Central Office has to make a decision about ending the school day. It never reached that temp because we just had to suffer for the remainder of the day. About every 15 minutes we were all taking class drinks. I kept refilling water bottles all afternoon trying to keep them hydrated.
At the end of the day we were told to leave campus immediately after all students had been dismissed. We were also told they would be working on the AC system all weekend and we could not enter the building until Monday morning. Hopefully everything will be fixed by Monday.
