The Widening Gyre

Let me start off by saying that I'm really loving this class. Sometimes I forget that this is about the time of year--when we've developed some in-jokes and the kids have a full understanding about the routine and expectations--that we really do start to become what I say we are from the beginning. We're getting to be kind of a family.

Highlights from today:

• We made the (hopefully) final modifications to the Veterans' Day Program. It has pretty cool doing a "shared writing" with the kids to get it to say what we want. The students have made some really helpful suggestions to make it flow better also. The blocking can be pretty tricky, and tomorrow we're going to put it all together with the fourth graders. 
• I discussed Biztown with the kids a bit more. We discussed supply and demand and watched the hula hoop scene from The Hudsucker Proxy to show how public demand can drive costs up and down for a consumer product. 
• The kids had another opportunity to do their States and Capitals of the South if they could have done better after the previous one. Some of the kids bit the bonus offer and tried to do all of the states and capitals! Without a word bank, either. Quite impressive.

Here's what's slamming us in the face tomorrow:

• We will hear speeches from those running for mayor and deejay of Biztown. We will then cast our votes. This will be right before recess.
• We have a spelling test tomorrow as well. 
• I told the kiddos that I want them to try to memorize their lines for the Vet's Day program by tomorrow. The rehearsals will flow much easier if we can get that done. I do understand that they may need to take the weekend, especially if they have longer lines, and that's fine as well. 
• Hopefully we'll have some time tomorrow for the kids to clean out their gross desks.