Fire drills suck

They just disrupt everything, the kids get all chaotic, and then I look bad because we're the last class out and they're still all chatty. Grr.

I was just talking to my mom, and realized that each class's worst student did really well today, staying on task and fairly quiet. Wow, what miracle! I figure it was a good day; I wouldn't for a second think that I had anything to do with it. But holy cow, talk about the stars aligning in my favor. All three of those kids behaved well for at least half an hour. I'm cool with baby steps.

The day was far from easy; test prep is always a weird duck. It's a different routine than every day, although they're getting used to the Friday thing now. In two classes, when there was a group finished early enough, I took those (good) students aside and told them they could play MadLibs while waiting. I thought they would be all excited and stuff, but some of them had never played before. Imagine! Eleven years old and unaware of the joyful, silly time that is MadLibs. They seemed to have a good time, though.

I still did not sleep through the night, just kept turning and thinking stuff. Seems like each night, I check the clock and it's always 2.30. I let out a frustrated cry of "Noooo!!" because goddamn, it sucks not being asleep.

I have no idea what next week will be. At some point, we better get the next ten-week plan. I need some guidance on what to do and how to plan for a longer time than just a single week. Since next week is a short one, I will probably just continue doing poetry stuff. I'll let them finish the Friendship-template poems, and then walk them through a couple poetry-writing exercises that we did over the summer at QC. Thank you, Debbie Davis!! I must get them started on literature circles. This weekend I must prepare some procedural lessons so that after Thanksgiving we can begin forming groups and getting some reading done.

Some of the presents I bought myself arrived today, that is exciting. Happy really late birthday, me. I am so excited about finally getting the Popular first season DVDs. Can't wait for a Mary Cherry fix!