A flood's a comin'

It is, I can tell. How you ask? Well, it's been raining for almost five hours now. That's about four hours and fifty-five minutes more worth of rain then we've had in the past six months, maybe longer. It doesn't rain in the desert, hence it's name: the desert. So yeah, I am guessing tomorrow all the trailer parks and the grocery store parking lot will be under water. It's kinda like when it snows up north.

The kids were so excited for rain today, my curtain rod is broken in my classroom so they could see outside and they kept watching for drops. Rain is a big event down here. It's so weird. It feels normal to me. I have my window open right now listening to the patter on the roof. I love it!

However, something I noted today that makes my heart sad. The rain seems to bring out the homeless in Yuma. We saw more than one man walking today, near our apartment complex and around town, touting belongings in plastic bags, trying to get out of the rain. We have shelters here but they're a few miles from us so I hope they get there tonight as it's getting cooler at night. But it just makes me sad.

It's been a busy week. We are on the downslide before Christmas break at school, ten school days and counting left. I am excited, the kids are excited and we are all ready for it. But things are going really well inside my four classroom walls. Outside the door is another story. Word to the wise: don't go to work for a school that is in year four of a school improvement plan and about to be taken over by the state/federal government (worse-case scenario but a real possibility). The politics are nightmare-inducing, literally, just ask Ang.

Today we read and analyzed the poem "The Highwayman" about a stage coach robber in England in the 1700s who's love kills herself to warn him that the Redcoats are waiting for him. It's really a heavy poem, tragic and full of symbolism and unfamiliar language. But guess what? My kids loved it! I can say it's really the first selection from the text that we've read in fifteen weeks that they've gotten excited about. They asked questions and discussed theme and just totally rocked this poem! I loved it. And I was observed today (surprise!) and my kids and I were complimented which is very cool. So all in all, a great day to be in room 109!