#10- Read Outside

It's hard to believe next Friday is the last day of school... There's enough time left I'm trying to squeeze in as much science and social studies as I can! Instead of doing a static/cereal lab in class, I sent it home as extra credit. Some kids said they're not even going to mention it to their parents because then their parents will make them do it. Some kids could really use the extra credit in science.

A lot of my kids have decided not to pay attention to me anymore. I'll speak directly to a student, think he's paying attention, he will turn and look at me two seconds later, see I'm staring at him and blankly stare back. Then it's revealed he hadn't paid attention to anything I was saying because... he just didn't.

I got another angry parent email today after school because of a comment I wrote on their spelling paper from last week. Two brothers wrote almost exactly the same answers on their spelling workbook page. Since plagiarism/copying other people's work is frowned upon at school (and can have lasting consequences in high school), I try to keep an eye out for it and correct it when they're young so it won't be on their permanent record. I jotted a note that they need to do their own work. And their mom flipped out. She said they worked on it as a family and had a great time doing it as a group; no one copied anyone. Also, she said their spelling words are too hard this week and neither she nor her husband had even heard of them or knew what they meant. And she was mad they got 1/2 a point taken off for doing it together.

Sigh.

The half a point was for missing periods at the end of the sentence. You should really have that down by 5th grade. I told her that (in nicer words) and also that I was happy no one had cheated and they had a good experience as a family. I went on to explain the focus of our spelling this year is on what word roots mean and how knowing that can help you figure out what other unfamiliar words mean if you recognize the root. Students are placed in spelling groups based on their abilities, and her sons are definitely high ability. I am confident they are up for the challenge. Etc, etc.

So. We'll see what she says.

In other news, we went outside to read this morning even though it was a little cold and windy because it's supposed to rain on and off the rest of the week. We had a good time out there. They got a little silly towards the end.

After school we teachers finished filming our Variety Night act. Poor Mr. E has to yell at everybody. We got Batman to make an appearance a few more times. The Baby Shark song that's all the rage makes an cameo. It's going to be hilarious.