Duct Tape

Today was one of those days where I really wish it was okay to put duct tape over a student's mouth.  I had one (you can probably guess who) who just wouldn't stop talking!  Everyone else was pretty good.  They remembered the three kinds of connections we learned about earlier this week and did a lot of Read-to-Self rounds.  We played elbow tag for afternoon recess.  It was kind of a last minute decision on my part (I was going to give them free time, but one of the 6th graders asked if we could play a game together since it had been a long time since we did it last), but everyone was shouting and cheering!  We should do group games more often.  I think next time we'll do blob tag.


After school I was hoping the noises would cease (or at least calm down a bit), but alas! one of my students stuck around to get his bacon cheese burger Mr. E agreed to make him.  We've been having problems with the bathroom sinks getting clogged, and he helped unclog them last night. And he fixed the boom box that was broken.  So he came up with the idea of a burger as payment.  And he's still hanging around even now, keeping up a steady stream of chatter. 


He played in the gym for a while, watched us set up the book fair, messed around in the gym some more, gave Joe a bath, cleaned off the whiteboard... then I got smart and started giving him jobs.  Study your memory work.  Finish your science lab fix.  Check how much food we have for Joe.  He wised up and went to check on Mr. E.  Pretty soon he comes back and says one of his classmates is picking him up to go shopping in Mankato (first it was Cabela's to look for a duck blind...).


The book fair only took an hour to set up.  We did get everything crammed into the north entryway!  It was hard to figure out how to sort the books... go by grades? go by size? divide the room in half by grades? or have it go down in ages?  We ended up with an older kid half and a younger kid half with the middle ones in the middle. 


But now my plan is finished for next week.  My plan for tomorrow is finished as well.  My grocery list is in my purse, my library book returns are next to my bag... my papers to correct are in my bag.  Looks like I'm set!