With all of our big testing finished for the school year, I had the students working on various projects, as well as having a mad dash to finish the novel I was reading with each of my classes. I also took advantage of having a few extra pockets of time to “take care of business.”

Because I was out for the first half of the school year, there were quite a few kids in each of my classes that never had a chance to participate in my special birthday tradition. They didn’t get to sit in my purple chair, wear the silly birthday glasses and have the kids sing to them from my birthday doorbell music. And so the other day, I made a list of all the kids that missed it, and we sang to them one by one. And then they got to pick their special scratch and sniff bookmark. We sang to 33 kids within the three classes in two days. They loved it though 😊.

We did have one final actual birthday to celebrate as well though, as the twins had their birthday this week.

One of the really fun projects that I had planned was at the request of one of my sweetest students, Lily. She asked if we could do an egg drop challenge, and at first, it just seemed a bit overwhelming to pay for and gather the supplies. Then I decided to ask for donations, and within 30 minutes of sending my sign-up genius to the parents, every need was filled, which meant that we were on!

I prepared a list of materials and put them in sets for each group (2-3 students), they were given 40 minutes to build their egg dropping device with their partner, and then we set them aside for the next day where they would only get to put the egg in and drop it. Some of those teams (which they chose themselves) worked so well together! And some may have had regrets about their choices 😉, but for the most part it went well. They had construction paper, tissue paper, straws, string, gumdrops, and toothpicks – as well as Elmers glue to use. It was fascinating to see what they came up with.

On Friday, we had our test of all the containers. Luckily, I had thought ahead and had the parents sending eggs hard boil them. It really helped with the mess.

I may have done the challenge myself the day before, just not in front of the kids, because I didn’t want them to copy me. I had the same supplies and time limit, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I went first so I could demonstrate, and my egg didn’t break!! Wahoo!! The kids though it was awesome!

Each group then took their turn, and although almost all of them broke, it was so much fun. The principal, AP and the counselor even came out to watch.

We only had two groups in my homeroom that succeeded in not breaking the egg, and I thought it was so awesome and fitting that one of them was Lily, the one who thought of the idea in the first place.

The other two classes only had a couple as well – one in one class, and three in the other. But they had a blast, and after their experiment, I had them all write a quick reflection on how they would have changed things, or even what went really well. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it.

In the middle of all the egg drop adventures, it was also “Bike Rodeo,” and so we spent an hour outside watching the different grade levels show off their skills. I had a handful of fourth graders participate, but my favorite part was watching Gavin, Amanda’s adorable five year old ride through the course. I had to get a few pictures of him, since she was with her homeroom at the other end.

And mixed into all of that, earlier that week, we visited the 3rd grade wax museum, where I had to get pictures and a video for my friend, Penny, of her Rhodes as JFK.

This week, we also had some extra things like the Senior Walk. It is always really great to see these high schooler’s come back to their roots at Las Lomas, especially because some of these teachers taught them back then. I just realized that in three more years, that will be the case for me, because kids finishing up their freshman year I taught in fifth grade after we fist moved here. Wow!

As the school year is winding down, so is the ability to win a class party with me, and although my homeroom finally earned their 50 points, the other two classes were not going to make it. So I made them a deal – if they could get to 40 points, we would have a mini-party. And they did it!

I brought yummy popsicles and took them out to an extra 15 minute recess to celebrate. It was perfect, and so was the weather. I am so glad it worked out to celebrate both of those classes. And it was the perfect end of the year fun we needed.