My kiddos are obsessed with our caterpillars! I didn’t pay too much attention to the caterpillars when they arrived and showed them to the kids. I sat them down on the carpet and told them there were 5 caterpillars that would soon turn into butterflies. Then I gave them a butterfly observation journal and sent them back to their tables. I took the caterpillars to each table for a few minutes so the kids could observe them and write about it in their journals. They “observed” everything. “Mrs. Yeoman, the caterpillars pooped.” “That’s not poop, that’s their food.” “Mrs. Yeoman, I think there’s a spider in here. I see a spider web.” “That’s the silk the caterpillars are using to get ready to make their chrysalis.” “Mrs. Yeoman, there’s one on the lid. It’s going to fall.” “It’s fine.” My favorite observation came from the sixth table. I don’t know how my other five tables missed this…”Mrs. Yeoman, the caterpillars had a baby!” “What?” “There’s 6 in here and you said there were only 5 when you gave it to table 1 , so they had a baby and now there’s 6 caterpillars!” I picked up the cup and counted and sure enough, there were 6! I said “Well, they didn’t have a baby, it looks like we just got a bonus one!” That was apparently the best news ever. They cheered as if a glitter bomb had just exploded right there in the room! I am excited that this will be the first experience for many of them to have with a real butterfly. They are going to absolutely lose their minds over these next couple weeks!
My students completed the math portion of the MAPS test this week and overall did really well on it. A couple of them scored 20 points higher than last time! I’m hoping they all show the same growth in reading next week. I’m hoping to finish up a couple of our other end of the year assessments and benchmarks as well.
One of my parents stormed the front office at the end of the day on Friday in a rage because someone called CPS on her. Her first thought was me (it wasn’t). I guess CPS was called because her child has missed so much school. He is chronically tardy and absent. She had excuse upon excuse for why he is late and absent and ranted and raved for a while and ended up pulling him out early and taking him home. Sigh. I hope she figures her stuff out sooner rather than later for her kids’ sake.
Next week will be more of the same, another 4-day week for me :). I’m lovin’ having personal days!
Click the link below to see my plans.