A Peek at My Week

This week I am linking up with Jennifer for A Peek at My Week-

5/12-5/16
School is winding down here in Ohio, and the weather is finally starting to get warm.  Actually, we went from unseasonably low temperatures for the past several months to unseasonably high temperatures last week and this week.  Weird!  I love the warm weather though, so I'm not complaining.  We are officially down to ONLY 1 Monday of school left and with the nice weather, we are all starting to get little stir crazy!

This week is proving to be a challenge already with parent and district meetings regarding retentions and the fact that we are on normal schedule this week after being on an adjusted schedule last week for OAA testing.  Furthermore, students know that the test is over so they are starting to check out BIG TIME. 

Today, I am meeting with all of my students that are in danger of failing for the year to help them get a plan together for the last few weeks of school.  Many of them are only a few points away from failing or passing science for the year so I like to sit down with them and make sure that we are on the same page and help them get a plan together that will bring their grades up where they need to be.

I am teaching about the Atmosphere this week, and I have been trying to come up with engaging activities for the students that relate to the Atmosphere so that they will be learning, but also interested so that I do not have a ton of discipline issues.  On Thursday, we are doing a lab using a coffee filter and shop vac where students test our air quality.  I am planning on sharing about this later in the week (providing it's not a disaster).

In addition, I am also collecting and recording the last of the money from students for our HUGE, 3 day Nature's Classroom trip next week.  Students are very, very excited about it (All of the teachers are too). 

Finally, we have some rewards planned Friday afternoon for students that completed all of their Study Island (Math, Science and Reading) requirements.  This is a surprise, and we're not sure what we are doing yet, but we have been kicking around some pretty great ideas.  We try to outdo ourselves each year because it is hard work for the students and we like them to "brag" to the incoming sixth graders about how great the reward was!  Does anyone have any ideas?