Science, and the art of classroom maintenance

So, I was going to take pictures of all my classes and post some choice photos of my favorites (not that I have favorites, right?), as Friday was my last day at Ockley Green.

However, I was so angry and frustrated at them all that I didn't really feel like a photo shoot. I was more frustrated at them Friday than I've ever been before. Translation: meltdown at 3:05 PM. Hubby listened patiently on the phone as I ranted about the day.

See, my cooperating teacher, Kristin, was the acting principal from Wednesday until the end of the week. Which means that there was a sub present in the classroom, but he did jack squat as I managed the classes and taught the lessons. You'd think that having the easiest sub job in the history of sub jobs would make him grateful, but no. He was rude. The kids were fine Wednesday (the field trip to the Egyptian exhibit at the museum was awesome!), Thursday they were still fine, but there must have been a full moon Friday because almost every single one of them was terrible. As they knew it was my last day, I thought they'd at least be nice. But some were rude to me that usually aren't. *sigh*

Anyway, that's over with.

Saturday morning I met at the school at 6:45 AM to go with Kristin, two other adults, and four students to compete at the Science Bowl at U of P. I was tempted to not go, but determined that my last experience with the students would be positive. It was! They got creamed, as most students competing are weird homeschoolers whose parents make them study for this event night and day for a year, and kids from special schools for super smart geniuses. I met 7th graders who were in Calculus and advanced Chemistry. Yikes! But I did play tag with them on the lawn, which was super fun. This is a picture of the four students: Virginia, Khang, Nikhil, and Kasi.