Friday was spent painting our volcanoes .... most of my students did very well at this task, others not so well and preferred to paint each other, their desks and the floor - those students wound up spending a lot of time cleaning and sitting in the corner until they were able to behave.
Oh, "it's a great idea Kennie. you're kids will love it!"
Oooohhh, "let me know how it goes...."
Snicker, "good luck"
Yes, above are conversations with colleagues here and away about my plan to make volcanoes with my students. Some were very encouraging (which I was skeptical of) others ... seemed to fit reality much more closely....
Today, we began to make our volcanoes in class. Yes, paper mache volcanoes. Surprisingly, it wasn't as much of a disaster as I thought it was going to be. Only had one group melt down and dissolve, and a couple of students chase each other around with mache paste, but in all it didn't become the disaster that I thought it was going to be.
We managed to get our water bottles (our volcano mantle) taped down to the cardboard support, created a bristol board skeleton around it to make the volcano base, and even got three layers of paper mache on the skeleton. Right now they are all sitting on the table in the back of my classroom drying out, waiting to be painted tomorrow during Art class.... and with any luck, on Monday, we will be going outside to "set our volcanoes off". All I have to do now is find different colours of food colouring as most of my crew wants non-red lava (go figure).
Here's how they look so far (taken during our very long and extended science class today):
Wheew! What a first week of school. It was busy. Between wrapping my mind around curriculum, hunting down books and getting to know the kids, I am exhausted! This last week had it's ups and downs like any other classroom would - but in all, I do have a good bunch of kids.
This past weekend I loaded up my truck and ran away to Whitehorse for a grocery trip ... I think I'll be back there in three weeks for more - cause even thought I had a list and I thought I bought everything I needed ... I was wrong. Oh well, that's life. And there are always people heading into the city too, so I could always beg them to pick up my forgotten items.
The trip up and back was pretty uneventful. Weather was pretty good, and the critters were well behaved staying in the woods and not on the roads. And it is definitely fall here in Yukon. The trees have begun to turn golden yellow and orange, and the temperatures are dipping down near zero at night now. But it sure is pretty to drive through.
Just a quick note (as I am literally falling asleep on my computer (and it's only 10:00pm as I type this) ..
Day one of school went off without a hitch. I (so far) have a super group of grade 5/6 students ... although, I think I might have also entered the twilight zone too as they asked to do math today. Yes, you read right. They ASKED to do math rather than do some basic get to know you activities / writing. So... off I went and did an impromptu math class.
Students, I don't think I will ever understand them ... yet I was one not so long ago ... hmmm....
Well, off to sleep as tomorrow is a full day ... lucky for me, I have tomorrow and most of Thursday already planned (yeah!) ... now if only I could get my schedule to work properly ... have to stuff one more math class in there somehow, yet I don't seem to have a spare slot for it ... oh well, back to the drawing board. Night all!
