Last week of school

Today was the last day of school. I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last blogged. Sorry all, I dropped the ball and left ya hangin. I did miss my entries. I’m sure you know how hectic the last few days can be. We made it worse on ourselves by adding to the week. We added an awards ceremony and trip to the park. Oh and I’m moving so my things need to be out of the classroom. Grades are due, too. I’ve barely stopped long enough to take care of myself let alone blog.

I’m not complaining just thinking out loud, well in writing. It has been a wonderful week, and the kids have enjoyed it.

Last week we worked a lot on our planet projects. The kids were studying a planet (or the sun) and had to use their research to sell us on a trip to the planet. Believe it or not the hardest part was them “pretending” we could go to that distant planet or sun. It really stumped them, but opened up the teachable moment that at one time most of the things around us was not possible. We made it to the moon, before that people thought it might be impossible. We routinely ride in airplanes, so many planes we see them all the time, crazy idea long ago. We worked through it and they were getting really creative. Monday we presented to various students around our school. Hectic day would be an understatement; we played games in between presentations. Thanks to whole brain teaching, easy to set up and keep academic. Mind Soccer is my new favorite, but also super speed, and I threw in some logic puzzles for them.

Tuesday we did a little review work and finished our certificates. Everyone in my class works hard not only academically but also at becoming a better person, so I have the class decide what everyone worked hardest on or demonstrated and we handed out character counts certificates. They always impress me on how hard they are on each other. I might not completely agree with their choices but their reasoning makes since. Then we did the ceremony and toasted with sparkling cider to celebrate finishing the year. Of course no celebration is complete without a trip to the water park, complete with some fun in the water (a fancy sprinkler set up by the park, they are all over in AZ).

Today we finished off the year by writing some letters. One to the 6^th grade teachers, and one to the fifth graders coming in. We did a bit of cleaning, some remember when, and handed out report cards. I’ve never had tears but this year I did. In fact I had a bunch of students crying. Some repeat hugs, and more hugs. Some really surprised me; I just didn’t expect it from a few of them. That’s the best part of working with kids, they are amazing!!!

Not much about WBT except that it permeates into every aspect of my teaching. It just comes naturally that building a positive class builds relationships too.