5 day week

The first 5 day week is under our belt - and boy! Could I tell it was 5 days! But it was a good week. The Media Centers have a class in them almost all the time, every teacher now has a webpage, Miss Sandy started emailing her weekly memo, the kids are excited about reading with the revamped AR, they are making their goals faster in AM, the music teacher has been bringing the 5/6 grades to the Media Center to use GarageBand and every free minute they have they ask if they can come to my room to work on their song, DCTV Class was so much fun, and the three boys working on the Alice Project loved it!
About the AR - there was a third grader that has really struggled with reading and the other day she got a 100% on her AR quiz because she realized she wasn't just reading words - she realized the words were actually saying something. It was awesome seeing the sparkle in her eyes and the huge smile on her face!
About the Alice Project - one of the boys working on the Alice Project has been a handful in the past - like running away from school or hiding in weird places, but this year he seems very focused. Not sure if it is because he is a "mature" 6th grader now or because we are giving him opportunities to be creative. The day after the first Alice Project class he came into my room first thing in the morning to tell me he downloaded Alice on his home computer and made a 3 minute video and today he was telling me about another video he made. Then, when I told all three of the boys they would be allowed to take the laptops home - WOW! You would have thought I gave them a car or something! So great seeing so much excitement!
The other day one of the sixth graders said, "You know what? We get to school and the next thing I know it is time to go home - the time goes so fast." And that is a good thing - that is what school should be like for everyone!