My Little Friends

This, the third to the last week of school, we've had tears, "My mom says we might have to give my cat away because he goes potty where he shouldn't." Cheers, "My dad says my mom is starting to like him a little bit again!" Revelations, "My family doesn't celebrate Easter. We're Catholic." And observations, "Mrs. Fairfield, your hair looks longer today. You should get it cut." They have not however learned that if you don't do your book project, or worse plagiarize or cheat, your teacher will 1) Make you still do it. 2) Make you do it while the rest of the class is having fun. The kidos have a book project each month. They have five weeks to read the book, make a plan of attack and do it. This month the kids were suppose to read a book. Write down what genre it is, if they recommend it, why they chose it (most said because my teacher told me it's a good choice for me), who they would recommend it to, (usually to anyone with a lot of time on their hands) and most importantly a 3-5 sentence summery of the book. One sentence from the beginning, the middle and end. I had 7 kids- (1/3) of my class either not do it at all, or COPY the summery DIRECTLY from the back cover. I informed them that's cheating. They didn't look the least bit sorry or guilty. I even told them "there will be a consequence. I'll tell you what it is later this week. Try not to worry." They aren't worrying at all!! They are skipping and laughing!One was sad, but only because he knows I'll make him redo it. So my plan is to have ice cream, popcorn and a movie Friday afternoon while those 7 are reading their new books for their new project in the hallway. A part of me wants to say there's only 11 days left. You gave up. I give up too. If I haven't taught you there will be a consequence for not doing your work in the past 163 days, you probably won't figure it out in the last 11. But if I don't make them redo it, they'll 'get one over on old Mrs. Fairfield', and we can't have that!
Meanwhile, I am still waiting for my magic wand to arrive.