2nd day solo

This fifth grade class is still working on their previous project - a self-portrait based on a photograph where the primary objective is to achieve a realistic value system. I was having a difficult time motivating Sharon to work on hers. Ever stoke she made seemed to be half-hearted and at points counterproductive. About 10 minutes before the end of class she complained about a stomachache. Earlier in the hallway as students were going to their classroom, I had one student complain of a stomachache. I recommended going to the office, but Mr. Holland mentioned the Phantom Stomachache; meaning students suddenly have a “stomachache” as a method of getting out of doing something. I didn’t quite believe Sharon because of this occurrence earlier and am interested in learning of how other teachers handle such an occurrence. Is it a regular thing? How do you be sensitive to students, but still weed out the ones that really don’t have pains?
The fourth grade class was a bit of a challenge today. I had 5 students finishing up their self-portraits from the previous project and the remaining students beginning their sketches for their new project. First, none the painters waited for guidance on how to stamp their works, which caused extra clean-up and wasted paint. Darrion at one point threw away his portrait, to which I made him go sit on the rug for a bit. Brandi messed something up on her project and threated to rip it up. I told her that if she did I would give her lunch detentions for the rest of the week and send her to Ms. Smith. Andreanna became very helpful at this point in calming Brandi down. She was motivating by the school’s agreement to reward all classes that had no one removed from the class during the week, so she helped Brandi fix her portrait. Tim was being a brat. He would make a sketch, and if it were too small or traced or if he threw it away, I would make him do it again. This aggravated him. I know at least two of these students ended up relocated on the rug or in the discipline chair.
The second grade class was doing their second day of printing for the Emotional Face Collage. Diego was working really slow. Last time in class he only developed 1 print and crumbled up his printing plate after that. It made me wonder how well Diego was with his English. Today in class he required a lot of step by step instruction, and I used more visual examples to help him out. [The next day I went to speak with his homeroom teacher, who told me that several of his other classmates may help him out by telling him what he can do next. She also told me that he has an individual learn program because he’s behind/slow. She agreed to translate simple lines of instruction, so that when I introduce the next step to this class that I may be able to say it in Spanish too.]
The third graders were finishing their still lives. Deon was particularly needy today. He has a lot of pent up anger, so when I was noticing him clinging his fists, I would make him unclench and stretch his figures out, than repeat that 5 times. He was getting bugged by others in the class, like Joshua, taking anything done very personally. I was almost fearful that he would act out on one of any of these occurrences.
Kyesha decided to sit with Janiya during this class period. She usually decides to sit by herself at the Purple Table, and seeing this difference was amazing. Kyesha pulled out more supplies (bigger paint brushes and tooth brushes) without asking for permission. She and Janiya ended up with little cups of paint filled to the top, which caused a lot of waste. Kyesha also painted her hands, which (stupidly) I allowed her to talk out of the classroom with. However, I think it was safe to assume it was at least dry (though tempera is water soluble). In retrospect, I should have had her clean her hands in the classroom.