Dodgeball!

Student-led Volunteering

• I think that it is really cool when schools support community service activities that are led by students. It is interesting that they will recycle the old shoes to create new ones. 
• I remember when a girl at my high school was collecting bottle caps to help fund a cancer treatment for a lady at her church. I asked the 4-H clubs to donate bottle caps while they donated pull tabs during the county fair. Even though I announced that the bottle cap part was only until the fair, there was a huge turn out for the next year and a half. I had already taken over the pull tab collection, but the 4-H community and fair goers really supported my drive as I supported that girl. 
• In my future classroom, I will try to be supportive of students when they want to create a community service event. 

Tornado Drill

• This went fairly nicely. There weren't too many idea places in our assigned room, but at least we were in a small room on the ground level with cement walls. 

Students versus Staff Dodgeball

• The event was very fun. 
• I got some hands-on experience with getting to be fully in charge of a class during an assembly. I had to tell the students to sit down, be polite, and not to stomp on the bleachers. 
• I couldn't play because I had to be in charge of putting the students back into the game, but at least I still got to participate. The game used small balls, so it was difficult for me to see when a student caught a ball, so I had the students help me watch.
• The outcome of the game is up for debate. When the class was about to lose, my teacher put the students back in 3 and 6 at a time. With this help, there were more students than teachers on the floor when the alarm sounded. The students bragged about winning, even though they technically lost. It was a fun way to send them to spring break, even though the game was to celebrate the classes that won the canned food drive. It was very interesting to hear the fun trash talk from both sides. I decided not to get too involved in the trash talk, so I just said, "oh, that's a nice opinion," when one of the students said that the wanted to celebrate the fact that the 4th grade was going to win the dodgeball game later that day. These events are very important. 

2 Class Compliments

• Walking nicely in the hallway
• Behaving during library class

Preparing for after break

• We planned for that week.
• I stayed after to finish grading Friday's spelling test and to make sure that everything was ready for the next spelling unit. 
• I cleaned out my desk and brought almost everything home.
• I created my to do list for spring break. I feel better already knowing that I can fit in most of the items that I want to accomplish. I hope that I stick to my list.