The DL on KL: Spring Break!!

Spring Break is come and gone and we are in the final countdown until end-of-year-testing (27 days) and summer vacation (45 days)! Judging by the pollen that currently covers my car, it is obvious that Spring has finally arrived! If you need any more assurance, just spend 5 minutes in my classroom and you will see some definite spring fever!

I was blessed with the opportunity to spend my Spring Break week in Moloka'i, Hawai'i with some amazing friends. We had perfect weather, scrumptious food, the perfect balance of tourism and relaxation, and a million laughs. Between the 5 of us, we took somewhere around 2,000 pictures and I have spent countless hours flipping through them since our return! One of my travel companions was kind enough to make a short photo montage for us, so, after a quick geography lesson about Hawaii's location, I showed that to my kids on Monday. Creepily, a couple of them asked me for the link so they could look it up later... um, I think once is enough, thanks. :)

(Funny side story: While in Hawaii, I took the following picture and put it as the background on my school computer so it would be the first thing the kids saw when they walked in on Monday...

Well, it was the first thing they noticed, but unfortunately, one of my lower readers (who clearly doesn't speak Hawaiian) walked in first and said, very matter-of-factly, "What does Alleluia, Room 211 mean?" Oh jeez. Well, it's the thought that counts, right?)

Before I told them about my trip, though, we played a little writing/inferring game. Upon walking into the room, each of them had to write down 5 things they had done over their Spring Break. After 10 minutes, I collected all the papers and then read them off one-by-one. After finishing each list, the kids had to guess who's paper I had just read and tell me how they knew. As expected, more than one student included eating at the Golden Corral as one of the highlights of his or her Spring Break (I don't think I will EVER understand what they find so great about that place!)!
One of the "events" on one boy's paper was that he had gotten thrown up on, in the mouth... I was disgusted upon reading this, but after he clarified, it turned out just to be some spit up from while he was burping his new baby sister... still disgusting, but much less so than it could have been!
Other "highlights" included getting in a fight w/ a neighborhood kid who stole my student's chips, being sick for two days, playing video games, sleeping in, going to the Circus at Hampton Coliseum (I was actually pretty jealous of that one!), Chuck E. Cheese, and playing outside.

All in all, the kids seemed pleased with the way their Spring Breaks went and more than one mentioned that he or she was happy to be back in school (always good to hear!). Aside from a few minor recess incidents, they've actually been pretty well-behaved since we've been back and we're cracking down hard on the learning!

So that I can continue enjoying my Spring Break as long as possible, and you can get a taste of Hawaii, here are a few pictures from the trip! :)