Last Monday our school ran out of paper. While annoying, it's actually a pretty common event. At least once every couple of months something seems to jam up in the supply chain and the entire school is left without paper for a day or two while things sort themselves out. This time, however, it's been a lot longer than two days - we're up to seven school days without paper so far...and counting.
To non-teachers this probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but paper is a pretty basic and necessary resource in the classroom, and not having it makes life difficult. It means no photocopying is possible, no worksheets can be provided for the kids, no newsletters or correspondence can be sent out, etc. It's especially annoying for me as I teach drawing classes five times a week. Obviously, it's kinda difficult to do that with no paper. Craziness.
Anyway, in spite of everything I just said, Daniel and I have been relatively unaffected by this latest paper crisis. We have a stash of paper at home for these situations, and so we have been able to avoid any major inconvenience. Today, however, I forgot to bring some extra paper to school with me. This was annoying as I wanted my Grade 2s to draw a river so they could act out a story with some figurines they made yesterday. In a flash of inspiration I decided to get them to use their actual pencils and markers to form the river instead of drawing it. It worked really well. The kids loved the idea and got really creative in making additional props for the story from stuff in their pencil cases. It was also a great reminder to me of the importance of thinking outside the box, and how adversity can lead to enlightenment (okay, that's probably a bit dramatic, but the basic gist is the same).
On an entirely unrelated note, here is a picture I took of Iago cuddling up to Daniel on the couch over the weekend.
- Amanda
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