Roatan & Review & Relaxation

I've just returned from a long Thanksgiving weekend trip to Roatan. A great bonus to overseas teaching is the often close proximity to wonderfully beautiful places to visit. I looked over the notes I made on the whiteboard on Thursday before I left for the flight. Vaguely ideas came floating back through the sparkling blue haze of  a weekend spent snorkelling over reefs, lazing on the beach, and reading while breezes gently rocked my hammock. Now I'm wondering how much review will I need to go through with the kids before my last Thursday plans make any connection to the concepts I'm hoping to build-on. Eighth grade is graphing data from an experiment we did, so I'll need to visually recreate the experiment and the collection of data. The 7th graders are presenting PowerPoints comparing two energy sources. I'll need to review the rubric for the presentation with an example in each category of the rubric. The 6th graders are completing a study guide on the atmosphere. They started posters of a scale drawing of the different layers of the atmosphere last week before the holiday. I can show them their scale drawings, and then we'll do a rousing thank-you to the troposphere. O.K., I'm all set for tomorrow. Now home for a nap and to get my energies back after the strains of vacationing.