The Post-Red-Ribbon/Halloween-Week Debrief

Red Ribbon Week and Halloween in the same week?  Really?  How much does the world hate teachers?  Maybe it is better to get it over with in the same week?  Yesterday should have been horrible, but it wasn't at all.  It was a wonderful day.  In any case, the start of the week was ROUGH!  Jersey Day, Crazy Sock Day, Backwards Day, and the Door Decorating contest with Halloween looming was just a little much for usually wonderful class.

Monday- Door Decorating Contest

For some reason, at 7:30 a.m., I went all Common Core and thought it would be an excellent idea for my kids to pair up and use graph paper to to draw a scale plan for the door.  After tearing through a ream of graph paper, I watched them as they ran for their lives from the room to lunch and cursed the idea and the Door Decorating Contest!  I did what any rational teacher would do and decided that we were NOT going to participate in the stupid Door Decorating Contest!

Tuesday - Jersey Day

I only have a Dodger jersey, enough said.

Wednesday - Crazy Sock Day

My normally wonderful class has been possessed.  I am walking around in scratchy novelty socks over my pants.  Yet, I still try to complete the Door Decorating concept again.  This time, no Common Core.  Just old school, "Write NO on this paper in dark crayon until it is smooth and shiny!  No TALKING!"  Then we did speed watercolor washing and they scrubbed the tables clean.

Thursday - Backwards Day

I hate wearing anything backwards.  The tags scratch.  Not to mention that the only tops that fit me backwards are T-shirts.  My curv-a-licious body was not made for wearing anything else backwards. And I do not know how many times I warned them not to wear their pants backwards!  Yet, a few did exactly that and regretted it when they tried to do normal bodily functions.

Friday - Wear Red Day

Despite my worst fears, they were wonderful!  We are not allowed to do the party thing, so I had to sneak some fun in during the day.  I replaced our regular Math lesson with a graphing activity that let them draw a witch.  They happily did that during small group while I graded their notebooks and touched base with them about their independent reading.  We skipped ahead and read "The Fall of the House of Usher" in our R-books.  I turned off the lights and read it aloud to them complete with spooky voices.  Then I gave them the "how-to draw" Halloween stuff that I had pulled off of edHelper.com to help them with their afternoon mini-project.  We used 4x6 pieces of construction paper to make a mini-book about Halloween.  The only rules were that they had to include the five pictures from the "how-to draw," that it had to be about Halloween, and appropriate.  During this time, we did a 2nd computer rotation for Read 180 and System 44.  

It was heaven!  They were so happy and serious about their books.  They worked so hard and happily on their books that they begged for just a little more time on Monday.  I agreed, and they cheered.

They were doing such good work!

About 10 minutes before the end of the day, I called it and they cleaned up.  I passed out little treat (no candy or food) bags to them all.  I included some pencils, erasers, tattoo stickers, eye patches, fake mustaches, and a coupon for them to use for a missing assignment or extra points on a test.  They announced the winners of the Door Decorating Contest, and when we didn't win, one of my boys stood up and said, "Arrrrgh! We were robbed!"  Which, of course, led to a copy-cat chorus of the same and giggles all around. 

Blue suns added to protect my little pirates.

 I thought that they might think it was all too babyish, but they loved it.  I got hugs as they went out the door!  This does not happen in middle school.  Best Halloween Ever!