Kites!

Beautiful Saturday - and I got all my school work done yesterday evening, so I'm trying to have a school-free weekend (except for this, of course :) 
In class, we read the story, Gloria Who Might Be My Best Friend - it's an excerpt from the chapter book, The Stories Julian Tells. Anyway, in the story, Julian and Gloria make kites. So Friday afternoon, we made kites. I found this site that shows a video on how to make 20 kites, 20 kids, 20 minutes. That sounds right up my alley. I had the paper cut, the string cut, the tails cuts. They just had to help me with the masking tape and putting the kite together. Why, oh why, do I always feel like tearing out my hair on these projects? But one of my wise friends told me, this is something they will always remember! OK, that's why I do these projects. To connect to stories, to making learning enjoyable, to be creative. We had about 10 minutes until recess, so we went outside and tried the kites. There was just the right amount of wind, and some of them flew a bit. What fun! What fun!
The only Dr. Seuss thing we got to were the tongue twisters. Some of them did a super job, making funny Dr. Seuss words that fit in. Some of them did an ok job. And some of them just didn't get trying to start all your words with one sound. Oh, well. 
I was so discouraged Friday afternoon after math centers. Students didn't put up tubs, they left materials just lying around, their turned in papers were just a mess. Yuck! So I was telling them, you really need to do a better job of cleaning up - and then, one student brought up 5 more manipulatives that hadn't gotten put up. OK, that was it. No centers next week. Well, I don't know if I can do that (I like the small groups, when the kiddos are working) - but at least Monday. And when they ask why - I know what I'm going to tell them. 
Tuesday was a stinker day, as far as behavior, and it just got better through the week. No, no, I'm not being sarcastic - it really did get better. I think because I start getting lax and letting things go and then when I tighten up the rules again, I'm happier and my good kids are happier.
Only 1 more week until our Spring Break. I can't wait for some lazy, relaxing, pajama days. And maybe some shopping. For me. For fun. :)