Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

I love reading aloud to my class but sometime struggle with the purpose.  We generally summarize the story afterward and predict what will happen next but sometimes I think I do it just for fun.  And that the kids want me to do it so they don't have to work!

We began the year by reading Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  The kids LOVED it! It was wonderful.  They were asking to read it almost every day.  I enjoyed reading it to them and we had a good time.  By the last few chapters though it was dragging on, solely because we got so busy that we did not have time to read. The kids were begging though!  In effort to finish the book but still provide some learning in a culminating activity, I scoured the web for an answer.

I found this free worksheet from Super Teachers.  It was exactly what I was looking for.  It gives 3 options for activities: drawing a picture, writing a book review, or writing a test.  I encouraged my students away from book review because we had not talked about any of those things yet.  BUT I had some amazing things happen for the other two.  I had a handful of students write a test up and they had some wonderful questions and answers.  The drawing project revealed some amazing artists as well.  It was awesome.  Here are some pictures of the drawings.

I only wish I would have made coloring it part of the requirements! But we were pressed with time so it is what it is.  

In other news, today we had our first fire drill.  Let me tell you, fire drills in Thailand are waaaaaaaaay different than I am used to.  Maybe it is because I have always been at a fairly small school but I was shocked.  In Thailand as in many parts of Asia things are very close together here.  The entire school building  (K-12) is connected by ramps and awnings and hallways and whatnot.  SO the entire campus is considered dangerous if fire were to start/spread.  Our fire escape route requires complete evacuation of campus.  We have to cross the street and walk around the block to the field that is at the school across the street.  It literally took us 10 minutes to walk to where we needed to go!! That is unreal to me!  

Plus, I have a handful of students who this is their first year in public schooling. They had no idea what a fire drill was and what we were supposed to do.  Even though we went over procedures multiple times, they could not grasp the concept of "no talking".  It was quite frustrating but I know something we need to work on!   One of my students was terrified by the bell and that we were walking across the street.  It was quite overwhelming. 

Anyway, I learned a lot from my first fire drill as a teacher and my first drill in Thailand.  It is definitely something I will never forget.  

Do you have any crazy fire drill stories?  I am very glad that the first one is over and now I sort of know what to expect!