#13- Make a Mother's Day Project

Uggggggg, my kids were CRAZY today. The 7-8th graders are on their class trip until Thursday afternoon, so mine are the upperclassmen of the school. They got to serve lunch, do crossing patrol for chapel, sit with the younger kids to keep them in line, and take offering. There were enough jobs that everyone could do something.

With the 7-8th graders gone, we didn't have math, which gave us time to do science and social studies on the same day. We finished our lesson on the Great Depression and did a lab making a volatic battery. Boy that was tough. Every group got frustrated with the battery building. First they didn't get it (they hadn't read the lab sheet), then they couldn't figure out how to work the voltmeter, and then they weren't getting a charge from their battery. I think the wire I gave them to use was too thick; there wasn't enough electricity to send through it so the voltmeter didn't record a charge. We switched to thinner wire and it worked a little better. We didn't have time for recess, which they weren't happy about.

We switched our day around and did our Daily 5 rounds in the afternoon and did social and art in the morning. My idea for a Mother's Day present was to glue rocks on a wooden disk in various shapes (google 'pebble art' and you'll get the idea). Unfortunately, I have 12 students and only 10 pieces of wood. I had some pots in the closet they could use too, and two girls took me up on it. One boy didn't want to use a pot or the tiny wood circles I had. So, I'm not sure what he's going to do. I asked a few students if they'd be able to cut a wood disk for him and bring it to school, but most kids said their dads are too busy to do it. Maybe I'll ask Pastor.

I had three kids stay after school today to catch up on late work. I gave them the ultimatum earlier in the week that they had to have all their work done in order to go on Thursday's and Friday's field trips. They got a bunch done, but they all went home with work to do. Sigh. I haven't decided if I'm going to make them bring their work along to the play and sit in the hallway and do it, or if we're going to stay back at school and work on it here. Hopefully they'll do everything they need to at home and I won't have to be the bad guy who makes them miss the MLC play...