Wednesday, April 25th the 4th graders of Washington Elementary departed for their overnight zoo trip. Although the weather wasn’t very cooperative (it rained all day on Wed. and Thurs. was damp and dreary too, with the sun finally shining through late in the afternoon), it was a BLAST! We went on 2 night hikes and saw the animals at night. We went behind the scenes in the Jungle and saw the animals’ special diets. We slept on the floor in the Cargill Learning Center and in the morning, headed out for another hike in the Australian outback. Then we spent the rest of the day seeing the animals we didn’t see the night before. We headed back to school by 2:30pm and hung around the classroom until school dismissed at 4:10pm. It was a fabulous trip and we’ve already got it planned again for next year! Here’s a picture of some of my students with 2 paras before we headed out for a hike!
Archive for April, 2007
Nocturnal Adventure
Science Fair
Earlier this month (April 19th) both Taylor and Jocelyn participated in their school’s science fair. Taylor did his exhibit on skateboarding and Jocelyn made an invention. Jocelyn was so proud to show us her cool watering contraption (the one that we helped her with) and Taylor stood proudly beside his board for the required hour.
A well-balanced weekend
Well, it’s Sunday evening and I can actually look back over the weekend and say that although it went by quickly, it was balanced enough to get everything done.
Friday night was date night and Ken and I went out to eat while the kiddos stayed with Grandma and Grandad. Saturday morning we went to the Y with the kiddos to work out and after lunch it was “family time”, going to a couple of parks and thrift store shopping. Sunday was church time, then Ken took Taylor and his friend to the skate park while I went to the Y with Wesley and Jocelyn to work out. In between all of this we did chores and house stuff. Oh, and grading and lesson planning. But overall the weekend was smooth and enough was accomplished in each area of life that I felt that the weekend was a success for all of us!
A Nocturnal Adventure
The 4th graders at Washington Elementary will be participating in an awesome adventure this month — they get to spend the night at the Sedgwick County Zoo! And since I am their teacher, so do I! The thought of keeping track of about 80 4th graders most definitely seems a daunting task. Fortunately we’ll have enough teachers/adults/paras to chaperone the evening adventure and in the morning I’m hoping that some parents will show up to watch their kids too. It should be a great time AND it’s during the school day! We leave at 5:45 pm on April 25th, spend the night in the education center after a nighttime tour and other educational stuff, then get up way too early (6:30 am!) and spend the rest of the day visiting the exhibits. We’ll board the bus to go back home at 2:30 and relax back at school until the bell rings at 4:10 pm. I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun stories from that trip! Stay tuned for more!!
State Testing Round Two
This week is the 2nd round of State Assessments – only this time it’s math. Perhaps I should be a little worried when the first student finished in only 18 minutes and most of them were done in less than 40? Hmmm. My students’ favorite part of testing? The snack they get first, the coloring they get to do after, and candy. Yep, we provide them wonderful brain food to go along with the testing. Today was the 2nd day of Math with 1 left to go. On Friday my 4th graders will be taking the State Pilot Science Assessment. Now, THAT will be interesting since it’s not a main focus!
