Pinatas!

Oh it was so beautiful outside today!  I didn't need a coat and ended up taking off my sweater!  The perfect day for an extra long recess... it worked really well to go to lunch right away at 11:30.  The only people not pleased with the arrangement were the 3rd and 4th graders because they're STARVING by 11:30 and want to eat as soon as possible.  And it's no fair that we get to eat first.  The funeral committee had leftover bars from Monday's funeral that they brought over.  Since we were first through the line we got first choice in desserts.  Yes!  (another negative thing according to the 3rd and 4th graders... but really, we've had last choice all the rest of this year, so it's fine for us to have first choice once).


And now, a piñata report...  It was so nice we decided to do our project outside.  Yep.  We took our super-watered down glue, balloons, and strips of newspapers outside.  The wind only blew our stuff around a little bit.  Some groups tried to use two balloons.  They'd wrap newspaper around one completely and then look befuddled at the second uncovered balloon, trying to figure out how to attach the two.  Only two groups succeeded. 


One of those groups attempted to put a head on their other balloon body, but the balloon popped!  The good news was, a different group decided not to use their second balloon.  The bad news, I thought we didn't need it, so I threw it in the dumpster.  The good news, the dumpster wasn't full, and I used two meter sticks to grab it out of there.  Good as new!  I had at least three volunteers to go dumpster diving to get the balloon out.  Gross. Too much rust and too much sketchy stuff... better not.


As the groups finished their papier-mâché, they set them on the lab table to dry.  Now my next question is, how are we going to do a science lab if our lab table is overrun with piñata supplies?  Hmm... perplexing.  I still need to test out Thursday's lab to see if it will work or not.  It's kind of complicated and I'm not sure how it will work/if our supplies will work.  I'm scared to test it out.  I suppose I could just skip this lab and move on to the next chapter in the book.  But it also seems fun... we get to make a voltaic cell out of paper, water, and pennies.  Then we use a voltmeter to test how much energy is in it.


I showed my students the books I found at $2 bag day at MLHS.  One of the 6th graders recognized a book I had "True Tales of Animal Heroes".  He wanted me to read it immediately during school so I'd see how good it was.  And when I tried to explain that I had other things to do (like teach), he said, "you can read it while we're taking our next Iowa test."  Right.  Slightly tempting, but what happens when someone needs help and I don't see them waving their hand at me because my nose is stuck in a book?  No, better to wait until after school.  That being said, I now have three books I'm supposed to read tonight... the latest Whatever After book (borrowed from a 6th grader), the Scavengers book I borrowed once before from a different 6th grader but didn't have enough time to read it before he wanted it back, and then this latest animal heroes book.  Good thing I don't have a lot of correcting to do tonight!