Free comic book day!

Today is Free Comic Book Day, and I learned this week that the Lone Star Comics near my school is not only giving away a free comic book to everyone who shows up, but that they are also donating $250 worth of graphic novels to the library of the school that has the most students show up. So I was promoting the event big time with my two classes.

Ed U Cater and I are going to see Thor later this evening, and we are going to stop by Lone Star as well. I have never taken advantage of Free Comic Book Day, AND maybe we can convince the good folks there to count teachers as 10 students for the giveaway...


This week was a heck of a lot better than last week (last week of course being the TAKS Week That Time Stood Still), but it was still kind of slow. It really is amazing how having lesson plans with TOO MUCH to cover -- while more stressful -- does make the day go by a lot quicker. As opposed to this week, where I didn't have much planned, and there was a lot less structure.

The only things really on my lesson plan this past week were "4th grade fractions" and science projects. 4th grade fractions go beyond what the kids needed to know for the 3rd grade test. So this week, I taught them how to add and subtract fractions, how to compare two fractions to see which is larger (my apologies to people who hate the butterfly method), and how to find fractions of actual numbers like 2/5 of 30.

The kids devoured these lessons and pretty much conquered them with ease. Even my struggling kids nearly aced the homeworks and the test. Maybe I should have been calling EVERYTHING "Fourth grade" this year!!

Science projects are underway, and it's been a bit of a challenge to get the kids to understand what it means to have a "testable" question. No, you can't just build a model of a volcano. No, you can't just draw a picture of the solar system.

Most of the groups have come up with pretty good ideas, but more than a few have been delinquent in bringing in necessary supplies. So only about 3 groups have actually begun the experiment portion of their projects.

Next week -- finishing up the science projects, and "4th grade multiplication" -- 2-digit X 2-digit. That should prove somewhat more challenging than the fractions.