Six Week Grades

I just sent in my final grades for the first six weeks! Hooray! The poetry projects were really interesting to read, although many kids did not complete the assignment and their grades suffered. It frustrates me that the kids who have the resources and abilities don't take advantage of them. The kids who did the best on this project are kids who struggled and needed extra help. For some reason, fifth period is the worst -their class average is almost 60%. First period's is about 65%, and third period is nearly 70%. I wonder why the difference? I know fifth is always a little behind the other classes. I'm guessing this means they receive less time to work and fewer instructions. Today I told them about this problem and I was probably visible annoyed. I was much stricter, trying to keep the class focused. We will see how this works.