5thgradeitis = less than 20 days of school

Wow. 20 more days left of school…technically 15 after 2 field trips,our field day, the highly anticipated “puberty talk” from the school nurse, and an end of the year party.

My students who were “Oh so sweet” at the start of the school year, are now starting to turn into what I would believe are….6th graders. I am talking attitude-wise, personality-wise—and truly I think they are getting way too comfortable with their “old” teacher.

Funny, some of the kids in my counterpart’s class were working on a project and they seem to believe they are suffering from “5thgradeitis.” Really?!?! I would hate to see them when they actually are seniors in high school!

So, what is a teacher to do? Well, as I have been working on my lesson plans for the next two-three weeks, I decided to come up with the following projects:

In science my fifth graders are going to teach a lesson to a third grade class. They are going to follow the third grade state standards and create activities (worksheets if they want, labs, etc.) to teach the younger grade their lesson.

As we have just finished studying immigration and Ellis Island in Social Studies, the students are going to choose one of three events in history, World War I, the Great Depression, or World War II and create a presentation to share with the class. I am hoping they will be really creative with these presentations, maybe create a newspaper, or dress up as famous character and tell their stories--something besides just a PowerPoint.

For Language Arts, I am planning to have the students go through the writing process and they will create a children’s book from start to finish. Thanks to Mr. Campbell for suggesting this idea—something he does with his eighth graders. His kids always come up with some awesome books, and I am confident my fifth graders will do the same.

Yes, these projects should take a while. But, I am hoping they will be engaged enough that some of this craziness and silliness will stop. If they were in middle school and high school they would have finals to prepare for.

So, lets just say I will be dealing with their “5thgradeitis” for 15 more days. Hopefully the internet will keep working. Or I might have a mutiny on my hands.

Spring Break!

Spring Break

Ok, I will admit. I truly love my job, BUT I also love my vacation time. I figure I deserve it. If you don’t know a teacher, you may not know that teachers work over 40 hours a week. There is this myth in the “real world” that teachers have these cushy jobs, put in less than 40 hours a week, have nothing to do on the weekends, and get their summers off. I wish this was the case.

As a matter of fact, the week before spring break, I counted up my hours and I worked almost 60 hours. Granted, I had 4 meetings after school, but that is usually the norm, rather than the exception. The 60 hours is only the time I spent at school. I actually did quite a bit of work on the weekend, and that’s not to mention answering parent emails.

So, this week is spring break. No, I don’t do the crazy spring break thing. This week, I have slept in every day, I have run errands, I got a pedicure, I saw some friends I haven’t seen since the fall, I traveled to the zoo with my husband, I went to the eye doctor, and I did more lesson plans and Power Points for next week. (Maybe I do have a PowerPoint problem?)

I don’t know why I do this, but I always know exactly how many days there are from one break to the next. For example, when we came back from Christmas break I knew that spring break was 54 days away. Since we had a snow day, in February we won’t have another break until Memorial Day. But, if you are a glass is half full kind of person, there are only 51 more days of school left until the end of the year. I know, the countdown is weird.

I really do love my job, but there comes a time when those 60 hour weeks catch up to you. Luckily, there is usually a break right around the corner.

See you in 51 days, summer.