Back in the old'en days!

Yesterday, the fourth graders at my school ventured out to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. I was well prepared and knew my class would be well-behaved.

We started out seeing an IMAX movie about Texas, which I really enjoyed. I sat next to Victor during this movie, which I also really enjoyed. He seemed to love the movie and also asking me which city every clip was of. After the IMAX, we had some time to view the exhibit before lunch. My kids broke off into their groups and went to work on their assignments. (Yes, they had an assignment!) There were specific parts of the exhibit that they had to answer questions about or compare to another part. As the teacher, I took the most difficult group of kids. They aren't necessarily badly behaved, but this group of kids tends to get over excited and that affects their behavior in a negative way. I took these guys for myself so I wouldn't have to later get onto them for not listening to the chaperons.

Overall, the reports from the chaperons were all wonderful! The kids were very well-behaved, followed the agreements we made about behavior in a museum, and represented our school positively. Now, we were not the only school at the museum. There was a school from another city who must have not discussed museum etiquette. While I had my group looking at part of an exhibit, this other group of kids pushed their way in front of my class and was grabbing everything. They were also running around other places and yelling loudly. I once asked them to not yell, but it was ineffective. I would have been completely embarrassed if it was my class behaving in that manner. In the same respect, I do understand the struggles of managing all of them and am grateful that I didn't have to take last year's class to the museum. Regardless...if my kids had behaved like that, we would have sat in the lobby instead.

We are taking one more field trip later this year and I am very excited about it. We head to a Christmas Tree Farm that sets up "A Little Bit of Texas Tour" for 4th graders about Texas settlements. My favorite part is the tetherball at lunch time...this is when I get to show all these 4th graders how to REALLY play tetherball. I should tell them to start practicing now.

I'm the champion!

The day started out a bit rough not knowing how we were supposed to pay for the field trip because the secretary was unable to give us a check. And when I went to pick up the kids from their morning meeting place, all the kids began to yell out "Julion cussed a kid out at flag duty this morning!" WHAT?!?! I look around for him, but the principal already had him in her office. He later returns to class, seemingly without a consequence. I'm curious that he can do something like this and he's not made responsible for his actions...well, apparently he didn't cuss out a kindergartner, but beat up a first grader at his apartment. And since it happened off of school property...the school has no jurisdiction.

After this drama passed, we head out the door for the field trip. Except we don't get very far because the buses aren't here yet. After 15 minutes of waiting in front of the school, the last bus arrives. The bus ride was mostly uneventful, except for the air conditioner dumping loads of water on the kids sitting in the back seat.

We were now in the middle of nowhere, also known as Elgin, TX at the Evergreen Farm. They have stations set up to talk about Texas History, which is what 4th graders study. We learned about the farm being a settlement back in the 1800s. We also went on a trail to learn about compasses and a wagon ride for ??? It had a purpose, but I was ready to leave at that point because of a child who chose to jump off of the wagon as it was moving and then run and jump back on. It was a combination of a group of boys that just didn't want to listen (the same ones I have trouble with in the classroom).

After lunch, the kids were able to play games (tetherball, bean bag toss, hop scotch, etc.). Some of the teachers had never played tetherball before and I used to be fairly good at it. I proceeded to go to a tetherball pole and show the kids (and watching teachers) how it was done. I beat every kid in line TWICE. They kept asking for the punishment. I was the tetherball champion! If the kids hadn't been in line, I would have sat down, but they kept getting back in line time after time of losing. That made my afternoon and made me sweat (yes! physical activity).

When we returned to school, it was recess for the remainder of the afternoon. This also meant that I needed to show these kids (and teachers) how to play a little game called kickball. The other teachers and I first explained the rules to kickball because they've been playing by bogus rules that change daily. After all new rules were established, I got my turn to kick. I am always on the kicking team. And I always go 3rd in line...not enough for the kids to have already gotten 3 outs, but not first. I'm up to bat...the pitch is coming...it was the best kick I've had since playing recess kickball...it goes all the way to the far fence. The kids are in awe...and they're watching me round the bases all the way to home! If the 4th grade classes need help with playing sports or athletic games, I'm there to show 'em how it's done. I may not look most athletic among the 4th grade teachers, but I've got plenty of skills on them. By the way, what good does a treadmill do when trying to impress 4th graders?

Update on Disrespectful: Not such a good day, but I will cut him a break because we were on a field trip...a fairly unstructured field trip.