What an ending!

Whoa.  What an end to the week.


My students were a little quieter today, but not by much.  Memory work went a little better than I was expecting.  One student didn't get any of hers said (although she was at school a half an hour early) and one student said half of hers before the bell rang.  Their handwriting memory work turned out a lot better than I expected.  Since our memory work is getting longer and more complicated, I created a new assignment: each week the 5th graders have to write out their memory work in cursive and hand it in.  Only one student put up much of a fuss.  She had to stay in from recess to work on her handwriting and man was she bummed!  She missed out on Reading Buddies because she had to say her memory work still and then she missed out on our Circular Story game because her handwriting wasn't finished.  She couldn't concentrate at her desk, so I tried moving her to the table where the rest of the class was.  She wrote two words.  So I sent her to the gym with Ms. J.  She kept changing seats and didn't get much accomplished.  Finally, right before lunch, I told her that I was giving her one last chance to clean up her act; if not, I would be calling her mom to come pick her up. 


So I spent my noon recess calling her mom, giving her a warning that this might happen, finding out that her mom just put her daycare kids down for a nap and wouldn't be able to come get her daughter, trying to figure out other options... after much running around and deliberation, it was decided that Ms. J would run her home if she made poor choices during math. 


I was never happier to see a student come walking into my classroom.  Okay, I admit, part of me wanted her to get sent home so she knows not to mess with us, but I was still glad she came back.  The rest of the day she paid attention and took good notes... she dragged her feet a little when it was time for her to leave at the end of the day. 


In other news, the science experiment went well (thanks for the rocks Dad!).  There was some general complaining about the assigned groups but everyone got settled down and got to work (I used a random group generator so I didn't even pick the groups).  The lab was about ocean currents.  I had a 9x13 pan for each group.  They put two rocks in as continents and then added water.  Four colors of food coloring were added to the corners.  Then they put an ice cube in one corner and noted how temperature change can start a current.  Then they used a straw to add wind and really noticed that wind effects currents.  So that was the lab. 


The 5th graders ended their day by listening to the last two solar system powerpoints, cleaning/organizing their desks and the classroom, and then we had time for a little bit of recess.


Oh!  I remember a story from the basketball game last night... the third and fourth graders at the game were running all over the place.  Nothing unusual there.  All of a sudden, they came rushing over to Mrs. E and I all out of breath, "Someone wrote all over our SMARTboard!"  Oh they were beyond distraught!  The first thing I wanted to know was if the person had used the SMARTboard pen or if he had used a regular dry erase marker.  It turned out to be the latter.  They said it looked like the person had tried to erase it and it just smeared the marks even more.  Mr. D was already long gone for the day (and Mrs. E doesn't have a SMARTboard), so I was the one to go swooping in to the rescue... or at least to take a look at the problem.


There were red marks all over the board.  It looked like the opposite team's coach had written some plays on the board and then tried to erase them.  About five or six 3rd and 4th graders were buzzing around the room, ready for blood.  Speaking as calmly as I could, I asked the most upset kid to make a sign to put on the board.  Then I asked another to go get some paper towels and another for the whiteboard cleaner.  Together we got the board cleaned off and it look almost as good as new. 


I still don't know if they told Mr. D or not.  I imagine they did, but I didn't hear anything about it from him.  And I think if they had told him, he would've brought it up at some point today.  Anyway, no permanent harm was done.


And now we have another two days off from school!  Yay for the weekend!