Yes! I am finally done! Friday was my last day! My last week of school was AMAZING! It was great because I kept teaching. Oh don't get me wrong we watched a movie or two this week. I ain't gonna lie to you! But I kept them VERY busy the other 4 and 1/2 hours of the day ! ! !
If I stop teaching they stop behaving! This is often worse than the start of school, because I find myself so annoyed with them. "They KNOW better than to act this way." I think in my frazzled brain! I also know better than to ask them to silent read for 45 minutes so I can clean... So I planned a packed week including a fabulous science activity.
This activity is SUPER engaging, easy to pull together, CHEAP, and makes me love being a teacher!
I sent kids around with a black trash bag asking for bottles. I forgot to tell them we only needed 30, they came back with 100. Little over achievers, just like there teacher! But that was perfect because I used the extra bottles to let them do the project at home too.
I brought a feather, gravel, pennies, a sponge to school. I meant to bring foil, but forgot... Oh well. So I cut up some plastic instead of using the foil. You have to roll with it...
We huddled up around a big bowl of water and tested out a feather and talked about why it floats, then we dropped a rock in and talked about why it sank. We generalized about why things float and sink.
Imagine a picture here
Why no picture?
Remember I am FRAZZLED!
My teacher brain cannot remember everything.
Then the kids grabbed one of everything and headed to their desks to work in buddy pairs. They predicted what their supplies would do. Would they sink or float?
Tip: only fill the bottle only 1/3 of the way. This means the label we add will not cover the floating objects. Tip 2: add the label last so that it does not get soaked.
Then each child got a thinking mat. They drew and labeled each object inside their bottle, then they explained why some things sink and some things float
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Friends, I tell you they were smiling, engaged, leaning, and most importantly not complaining, pinching, chit chatting, or doing any of the stuff that drives us crazy as teachers!
I made bulletin board component for this because … well that’s what I do…I really like bulletin boards…. I created the lettering. All you have to do is print and cut. I have way more than 14 kids ( I have 30) but this fits in the camera frame.
I also did this photo idea from Primary Practice. The minute I saw I knew I needed to do it! The results are just too danged cute! And it took them a long time to do the writing! SCORE for being able to clean up my room. I think the parents appreciated that their child did some meaningful work this last week of school.
The kids glued their picture to the paper below and wrote all about what their jobs will be like and why they chose that job. This little guy (who is a gem and my Citizen of the Year award winner) wrote that he “will try be very smart in the way he fights and try not to die”. But don’t hear darkness in what he said. Nope, not this kid. He is sunshine and helpfulness. He wrote that with optimism and a cheerful plan for being a great “army guy”.
If you would like the writing template, grab it my dear, and enjoy! Next year I will staple the students’ writing next to the giant lettering for an Open House display. I miss the ipad… darn thieves.
Are you in love with the new trend of grey and yellow? I think it is a nod back to the 80’s grey and peach trend. I liked it then, and I love the new variation now! I am Loving this bag! Polka dots and chevron, too cute! 
So what do you think would happen if you throw last year’s grade book into the pool as part of your “Welcome Summer” victory dance? Will it sink or float? I plan to find out today! I’ll let you know!