creeps

Extended Spirit Week :: Day 3

Day 3 was dubbed "Reading Day," which got the kids all excited because they thought it meant they were allowed to read all day. Boy did they bitch and moan when they found out otherwise. I guess there are worse things they could complain about.

The guest reader (our librarian) read them The Boy Who Tricked the Ghosts by Ellie Crowe, about a boy named Ka'ulu who is banished from Maui to Lana'i, which was believed to be haunted by ghosts. My kids are huge fans of spooky stories, and Tammy Yee's illustrations of the sorceress Pahulu are truly creepy. Check it out ...

Other classroom updates ... 14/26 kids have "50-in-5" down (fill in the 50 states' names on a blank map in 5 minutes). Approximately half of the remainder could do it in 6 - 8 minutes. The rest have mastered at least 25 (in 5 minutes), and if given a more relaxed atmosphere, score above 90 percent. Most of them are rabidly competitive, though. They're also teaching themselves the "United States" song from the WeeSing America tape, which rattles off the state names in alpha order (mostly, except they lump the Dakotas and Carolinas together, and Virginia with W. Virginia.) State quizzes and games are actually a nice reprieve from test-y stress.

TDL:

• Draft flyer for math ("fun") night
• Weird grade survey due to office
• Get practice tests from counselor
• Grade benchmark tracker ERs
• Update Accelerated Math Chart