crinkly algorithm

achievement testing prep is kicking my tail. i have been doing pre-tests with my math and science classes and that means that i have to make the answer key...meaning i have done eight math tests and two science tests in the past 2 days. my brain is exhausted. the tests aren't hard per se, but they really do work your brain out.

next week is the achievement testing. ...after that school is really on the downward spiral swing and things are really going to be winding down.

my students are already pretty antsy...but i have been taking them outside to play group games for 10-15 minutes right after lunch. yesterday we did relay races and today we played frisbee in groups. only one frisbee casualty...it was thrown/got blown by the wind down a really steep hill into the back of a business. r.i.p. purple frisbee. *mental note: buy more frisbees this weekend. * i think tomorrow we are going to pull out some old school games...mother may i, simon says, and red light-green light. the kids are behaving SO much better in the class after that and they are really having fun. i think it is a success. :)

in the mornings the students have about a 1/2 hour before class starts and it is usually a loud, sometimes violent time. which of course adds to my irritiation (i haven't even started on my cup of coffee yet). the other day i noticed that in kindergarten and in first/second grade, they have little activities to work on before school. so i started on wednesday having little activities for them to do. wednesday was a mystery puzzle...like solving a crime. today was sudoku. and tomorrow is going to big a zig-zag pattern puzzle. they are SO quiet and they work on it until 8:27 a.m. (that is when i have them turn it in) and depending on the activity, they earn things...like 3 minutes of guaranteed outside time per puzzle done correctly. or computer lab time for the first group done correctly. they are kinda into it and it makes for a quieter class.

we also have time at the end of the day and i have been playing some old school games with them then too. we have done hangman...(millard fillmore, the underground railroad, crocodile rock...those were the ones i did...) and today we played twenty questions (i was michael jackson, snow white, a buffalo and charlie brown). it helps the time go by so quickly and they are into it. i like it too. i think tomorrow i may try mad libs with them. we'll see.

i don't know why i am talking about my class...but i think a light bulb has gone off and i really realize that they are bored just sitting there. waiting. that is when they get into trouble. so having simple, fun activities...they all get into it. they are good kids...they just can't be left to their own devices for very long. i saw on oprah today (i only watched part b/c i was waiting for gilmore girls to come on after judge judy...) but she had a lady on talking to two 14 year olds who wanted to have s-e-x and the expert said that until kids are about age 21 the front part of of their brain, the reasoning part is not developed. so they can't rationally think things through or reason things out the way people over the age of 21 are able to do. i thought that was interesting and made some sense. :)

lsf is back on the mainland. she is home tonight...i believe (that is what klf told me). i am really happy she is back. <3