This morning was quite dark and there were some grey clouds. Looked like rain was coming, but it has looked like that the past few mornings. Had no idea the kind of weather that was coming in for the afternoon.
Madi had a great day. About 2:00pm, in the middle of teaching second grade, the office started to call students' names over the intercom for the entire school (which they never do because it is so disruptive). They said that it was quite rainy and that teachers should have students get their things together so that it would be easy to release them to parents. Since I didn't have any of my kids things as they were back in the classroom, I took them down to their homeroom, had them gather their things and took them back to music.
I started with 22 kids and was down to 13 kids within the next ten minutes. We could hear thunder and lots of rain, but since I have no windows in the classroom, we couldn't see what was going on. In Madi's room, she noticed hail coming down and watched the rain and lightning. Soon the office told everyone to hold their students and not let them leave. We then heard the tornado sirens going off. We were asked to "duck and cover." Many of the classrooms hunkered down in the bathrooms and hallways. In my room, we sat against the wall, covering our necks and keeping the kids calm. I unplugged all the electronics nearby and moved objects away from them that had sharp ends (pencils, things that could 'fly'). Though it seems funny now to think of trying to place sharp things away from them - as the tornado could easily pick them up and throw them - I simply wanted to get anything away from them that I could.
The students were so incredibly good. They asked lots of questions. One girl asked if it was a drill. The second graders stayed so calm the entire 45 minutes we were sitting there. I had them start the telephone game where a person on the end whispers something and sends it down the line. Then the person on the other end says what they heard and we compare if it's the same or not. This kept them busy for several minutes and eased their fears. When they asked if they were going to die or if there was a tornado, I simply would share that they were in one of the safest rooms in the school and that while they were scared, we were doing everything we needed to do to protect ourselves. They were completely satisfied with that answer and it was great to see them all so calm.
Madi finally got to come to me around 3:30pm. I didn't have her sent to my room because I knew it was safer for her to stay where she was rather than walking in hallways that are lined with windows and risking there being a tornado. She told me that one of her first thoughts was that she was so young and she had many years to live. She hadn't lived her full life yet and she wasn't ready to die. She said she was very scared. I told her that it's completely normal to have those thoughts and to be scared in a situation like that. And that I agreed with how she felt.
The rest of the afternoon was fairly low-key. She did her Fasttmath and then read for a while before dinner. We ate together. Then Jeremy put Riley down and I put Julia and Madi down. Madi and I read the book of "Philemon." She joked that we can hardly call it a book because it's only a page long :) We're not far from finishing the New Testament. Then she wants to start on books like Jonah, Esther, and things that are unlike Chronicles... He begat him begat him begat her begat him. Though genealogy is a wonderful thing too!
Tomorrow is Zumba and Art for Madi. Should be a great day!
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