Academies Rock

I love Fridays, for more than the obvious reason. Every Friday is Academy Day in the lower elementary. We will be running four academy sessions this year. Students each get to choose two mini-classes from seven offerings which are carried over five academy days. It's great fun. This academy session we have a middle eastern dance class and a middle eastern cultures class, three artsy/crafty classes, a soccer class and a gardening class. I was able to get two volunteers to run my academies - the middle eastern dance and culture classes - so I get to sit back and watch as my students are exposed to way more than I could ever offer in our regular class. It's awesome.
So the students come in and have a 15-20 minute free-work period: no planning or tracking. Then we break for morning line and head off to academies by 9:00. First class runs from 9-10, and then we have a half-hour break. Second class runs from 10:30-11:30, followed by lunch/recess and room cleanup. Then we're done! The day FLIES by, and the students are happily engaged the whole time.
I never did get an entry done yesterday. It was a MUCH better day than Wednesday. I got plenty of sleep the night before, and I felt like a real human being. I also felt cruddy for having been such a meanie on Wednesday. When I called morning line, I picked up the peace table and carried it into the middle of circle, and then I apologized to the class. We talked about how lack of sleep makes it impossible for a person's brain to function properly, and the general consensus was that it was no big deal. The students also wanted to share story after story about times when their mamas were tired and mean. That I thought was cute.
We're on a long weekend here - Monday is Labor Day - and I'm going to do the 2nd Great Lesson when we're back. I should probably work on that over the weekend. Heh.