Thank Goodness It (was a) Friday!
This has been a very long week! Not a bad week, just long. Perhaps it was because of Parent's Night. Maybe it was that this felt like the first week I was really teaching (last week was pure review and lots of procedures). I don't know. But when it was finally Friday, I was happy.
Last year, I was very spoiled by my schedule. Both of my plan times were at the end of the day. That certainly had it's drawbacks also, but most of the time it was pretty great. The even better part was Fridays. I had an additional planing hour right before the other two. So on Fridays, I was done teaching at 12:35. Best Fridays Ever.
This year, I am blessed to have specials (music, PE, arabic...) at the end of the day again! And French (aka my other plan time) is in the morning. I LOVE morning plan time! This new schedule places my largest teaching block in the afternoon. It is amazing how different they are in the morning versus the afternoon. I walk an attentive, reasonably well-behaved group to lunch/recess only to return with 18 stuffed, sweaty, sleepy kids who cling to their water bottles like they've never had a drink in their life!!
The students have done a great job since school started. They truly are a great group and I feel blessed to have minor issues in my classroom. This week we finished our unit on Dinosaurs. We reviewed on Wednesday. Took a small quiz on Thursday. And on Friday, we were making fossils!
'Making Fossils' was an activity the kids did in art class last year. I had no idea what a blessing that was until I had to do it with the students this year! (They don't have art anymore)
I had been asking the kids to bring in lids for the activity, I even asked their parents on Wednesday, but of course on Friday we were short a few lids. I thought about waiting to do it on Monday, but this was not a Monday activity. This was something that needed to be done on a Friday- when I would have two days to recover because anytime there are seven year olds and plaster involved, you're going to want recovery time.
Thus, my morning plan time was then devoted to a quest to find enough lids to make fossils on Friday! Thankfully, I borrowed (except I can't return them now. Shh!) some from a neighboring teacher and took others off of various containers in the classroom (which I will now have to replace with containers that do in fact have lids). But it was worth it, because we made fossils!
The former art teacher had walked me through the process. She told me I wanted the plaster to be the consistency of sloppy, mashed potatoes. She failed to fully emphasize how fast this stuff hardens. And I mean Fast. The students were silent reading or free writing while I quickly made a huge mess of the sink and small group work area! I had a very shallow bowl from the cafeteria to mix in and a popsicle stick because I didn't think to grab a spoon. First, it was too watery, then I would add to much powder and it would get too thick, then too much water again, then finally I got it! In the time it took to call the closest three kids over, hand them a lid, and tell to them to pick a bug or dinosaur, the stupid plaster had practically hardened in the mixing bowl! Adding water again did Not solve that problem. It just made things messier. Eventually, I figured out the plaster to water ratio (even if was with the last group!) and each student had their plaster-filled lid with bug or one of Adam's small dino figures pressed inside.
Then came time to remove the plastic toy and reveal the imprint/fossil. I went through to pull all the bugs/dinos out first because some were tough to break loose. Especially the dinosaurs. Some of the kids had failed to remember the 'press it HALFWAY in' part and had a better portion of the dinosaurs legs, tail, and even a head buried in the plaster. I was seriously digging for dinosaurs! I was nervous with a few because they were so stuck in the plaster and the dinos belonged to one of the students. I didn't want to break the dino or the fossil! It was a good thing the 'silent' reading carpet wasn't so silent because I may have had a few words for the very stuck plastic toys.
Within a matter of 30 minutes the fossil making was done, I was covered in plaster, the table and sink area were totally destroyed, and my kids were amazed with imprints they had inside their lids! Then it was time for the second batch of birthday cupcakes for the week. Her parents own a bakery and these cupcakes had a mound of frosting on top. A huge, delicious, sugary mound of frosting. Basically, it was time for the students to make a mess.
It's a good thing huge messes and clothes covered in plaster can be canceled out by big, happy student smiles!
It's also a good thing it was Friday ;)
This has been a very long week! Not a bad week, just long. Perhaps it was because of Parent's Night. Maybe it was that this felt like the first week I was really teaching (last week was pure review and lots of procedures). I don't know. But when it was finally Friday, I was happy.
Last year, I was very spoiled by my schedule. Both of my plan times were at the end of the day. That certainly had it's drawbacks also, but most of the time it was pretty great. The even better part was Fridays. I had an additional planing hour right before the other two. So on Fridays, I was done teaching at 12:35. Best Fridays Ever.
This year, I am blessed to have specials (music, PE, arabic...) at the end of the day again! And French (aka my other plan time) is in the morning. I LOVE morning plan time! This new schedule places my largest teaching block in the afternoon. It is amazing how different they are in the morning versus the afternoon. I walk an attentive, reasonably well-behaved group to lunch/recess only to return with 18 stuffed, sweaty, sleepy kids who cling to their water bottles like they've never had a drink in their life!!
The students have done a great job since school started. They truly are a great group and I feel blessed to have minor issues in my classroom. This week we finished our unit on Dinosaurs. We reviewed on Wednesday. Took a small quiz on Thursday. And on Friday, we were making fossils!
'Making Fossils' was an activity the kids did in art class last year. I had no idea what a blessing that was until I had to do it with the students this year! (They don't have art anymore)
I had been asking the kids to bring in lids for the activity, I even asked their parents on Wednesday, but of course on Friday we were short a few lids. I thought about waiting to do it on Monday, but this was not a Monday activity. This was something that needed to be done on a Friday- when I would have two days to recover because anytime there are seven year olds and plaster involved, you're going to want recovery time.
Thus, my morning plan time was then devoted to a quest to find enough lids to make fossils on Friday! Thankfully, I borrowed (except I can't return them now. Shh!) some from a neighboring teacher and took others off of various containers in the classroom (which I will now have to replace with containers that do in fact have lids). But it was worth it, because we made fossils!
The former art teacher had walked me through the process. She told me I wanted the plaster to be the consistency of sloppy, mashed potatoes. She failed to fully emphasize how fast this stuff hardens. And I mean Fast. The students were silent reading or free writing while I quickly made a huge mess of the sink and small group work area! I had a very shallow bowl from the cafeteria to mix in and a popsicle stick because I didn't think to grab a spoon. First, it was too watery, then I would add to much powder and it would get too thick, then too much water again, then finally I got it! In the time it took to call the closest three kids over, hand them a lid, and tell to them to pick a bug or dinosaur, the stupid plaster had practically hardened in the mixing bowl! Adding water again did Not solve that problem. It just made things messier. Eventually, I figured out the plaster to water ratio (even if was with the last group!) and each student had their plaster-filled lid with bug or one of Adam's small dino figures pressed inside.
Then came time to remove the plastic toy and reveal the imprint/fossil. I went through to pull all the bugs/dinos out first because some were tough to break loose. Especially the dinosaurs. Some of the kids had failed to remember the 'press it HALFWAY in' part and had a better portion of the dinosaurs legs, tail, and even a head buried in the plaster. I was seriously digging for dinosaurs! I was nervous with a few because they were so stuck in the plaster and the dinos belonged to one of the students. I didn't want to break the dino or the fossil! It was a good thing the 'silent' reading carpet wasn't so silent because I may have had a few words for the very stuck plastic toys.
Within a matter of 30 minutes the fossil making was done, I was covered in plaster, the table and sink area were totally destroyed, and my kids were amazed with imprints they had inside their lids! Then it was time for the second batch of birthday cupcakes for the week. Her parents own a bakery and these cupcakes had a mound of frosting on top. A huge, delicious, sugary mound of frosting. Basically, it was time for the students to make a mess.
It's a good thing huge messes and clothes covered in plaster can be canceled out by big, happy student smiles!
It's also a good thing it was Friday ;)
