Bears in the garden

I like Fridays.  And not just because there's no school the next day.  Fridays are our "Fun" days (though still educational, of course).  Reading Buddies with 1st and 2nd grade.  Circular Stories instead of English out of the textbook.  Art!  STEM with the 8th graders. 


This afternoon, we worked in the prairie planting.  Jeff, one of the adults heading up this project, came around noon to supervise the work, helping to identify weeds/plants that should stay in the ground, telling us where to plant the plants, and showing us the insects living in the garden.  We found woolly bears, bumble bees (and other bees), night crawlers, other kinds of worms, and even a monarch caterpillar.  Everyone had a good time.  Everyone except the 3rd and 4th graders. 


Earlier in the week I had painstakingly made a schedule for each class to have a slot outside in the garden.  The original plan was for Jeff to do a little presentation inside for each class, and then go out and work in the garden.  The weather was so nice, Jeff decided he could do his talk outside.  And I forgot to tell the other teachers about that change in plans.  It was okay for 1st and 2nd grade since they were the first group and Jeff let them know he was ready to start.  It was okay for my class because I was the contact person and had talked to him about it.  It was okay for the kindergarten class because the 8th graders stayed out a little later than originally planned so they could work with the kindergartners (and I ran an errand that went directly past the kindergartners, so I let them know it was their turn).  But after that, my class went inside and went about our business, and no one let Mr. D's class know it was their turn to go out.  So he waited and waited and waited.  And there were still kids in the garden at 2:00 (maybe Mrs. E stayed out a little extra?), so he thought it wasn't his turn yet.  And then it was 2:30, time to go home and his class still hadn't gone out.  So he was pretty bummed.


I emailed Jeff to see if he could come back next week sometime.  The 5th graders only had 15 minutes outside in the garden, and they definitely want more.  Sigh.  If it's not one thing, it's another.


For some reason, all four sixth graders forgot to do a page in their spelling.  They either started it and didn't finish, or they completely skipped over it!  And then it took them forever to get it fixed (and they needed help doing it).  All day I felt like I was the wrist slapping teacher.  You know, the one that shakes her finger and frowns and says, "No, no, mustn't, mustn't."?  All day.  Stop picking on each other.  Be nicer to your classmates.  Stop making fun of each other.  Ignore them.  Leave her alone.  I didn't know what else to say to get them to stop. 


But today is Friday.  Tomorrow is Saturday.  And we will (hopefully) come back to school on Monday rested and ready to learn.