Things are going well with wrapping up this year. The Hunger Games unit with my 7th graders is moving right along and our plans for our Mock Hunger Games are almost done! My 8th graders are starting their mystery unit with And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. And my two World Literature classes are giving the Literature Circle approach a whirl with their literary foil novels (Frankenstein, Ender's Game and Hound of the Baskervilles).
I'm really looking forward to next year and the new approaches we'll be taking. I'm super excited about both the Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop techniques I'll get to do. Right now, I'm up to my neck in trying to find enough high interest, age-appropriate books to fill our classroom library. Our goal is to have about 20 books per middle school student in the end. That would be 720 books!! Our initial goal is to get to 12 books per student this year. I'm currently at 286 books, so I still have quite a way to go.
I've been trying out some of the writing workshop lessons with my current 8th grade and World Lit classes. So far, things seem to be going well. My World Lit class will be submitting their rough drafts of their first assignment and their first writer's notebook page on Tuesday, so I'll post back and let everyone know how that went.
<3 <3 <3
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Class Reaping Postponed until Monday
Well, guess what? You can't really do a Class Reaping if you leave the instructions at home. Sigh.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Class Reaping!
I'm so excited! We're having our Class Reaping for our Hunger Games unit tomorrow. I'll update tomorrow to let y'all know how it went. :o)
Friday, March 23, 2012
Time to update my blog again!
Hello....ummm....anyone out there??
I know it's been WAAAAAY over a year since I posted anything on my blog and so much has changed since then. We moved (yep, AGAIN!). I got a new job. Hubby started a new position for the Air Force. Hannah is now a junior in high school and making decisions about which colleges she might want to attend. Belle figured out that Buzz Boy is more scared of her than she is of him and the entire power paradigm in the house shifted radically!
So, this year I'm teaching 7th, 8th and 9th/10th grade English. It's been quite an adventure and I'm finding myself becoming excessively fond of teaching middle school. Wait. What?? Middle School??? Yep, I said it. I like teaching middle school and may actually prefer it to teaching high school. Okay, please get yourself up off the floor.
Currently, I'm leading my 8th graders through Harper Lee's phenomenal To Kill a Mockingbird. We're about halfway through the trial and have had quite a few great discussions about all the issues in the novel.
My 9th/10th grade classes have just started reading Elie Wiesel's Night. I told them that this little 120-page book was the most important book we were going to do this year. As Christians, we have to be aware of the signs. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand as so many Jews did leading up to the Holocaust. Now, let's just hope my students "get it".
I'm so excited that I'm going to start The Hunger Games with my 7th graders on Monday. I know they will be very happy when I tell them. With the release of the movie, the hype for these books is at an all-time high. In addition to reading and discussing the novel, we'll be holding a class reaping and our own training and mock games. All the ideas I'm using came from a FANTASTIC website run by Tracee Orman called Hunger Games Lessons. I bought her Hunger Games Unit CD and it was worth every single penny! I have 7 weeks to work my kids through this book and there is NO way we will be able to include every single idea that Tracee has on her CD. Love it!
My plan for this blog is to list things I try, what works, what doesn't and, hopefully, some of the joys of teaching.
Have a blessed day!
I know it's been WAAAAAY over a year since I posted anything on my blog and so much has changed since then. We moved (yep, AGAIN!). I got a new job. Hubby started a new position for the Air Force. Hannah is now a junior in high school and making decisions about which colleges she might want to attend. Belle figured out that Buzz Boy is more scared of her than she is of him and the entire power paradigm in the house shifted radically!
So, this year I'm teaching 7th, 8th and 9th/10th grade English. It's been quite an adventure and I'm finding myself becoming excessively fond of teaching middle school. Wait. What?? Middle School??? Yep, I said it. I like teaching middle school and may actually prefer it to teaching high school. Okay, please get yourself up off the floor.
Currently, I'm leading my 8th graders through Harper Lee's phenomenal To Kill a Mockingbird. We're about halfway through the trial and have had quite a few great discussions about all the issues in the novel.
My 9th/10th grade classes have just started reading Elie Wiesel's Night. I told them that this little 120-page book was the most important book we were going to do this year. As Christians, we have to be aware of the signs. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand as so many Jews did leading up to the Holocaust. Now, let's just hope my students "get it".
I'm so excited that I'm going to start The Hunger Games with my 7th graders on Monday. I know they will be very happy when I tell them. With the release of the movie, the hype for these books is at an all-time high. In addition to reading and discussing the novel, we'll be holding a class reaping and our own training and mock games. All the ideas I'm using came from a FANTASTIC website run by Tracee Orman called Hunger Games Lessons. I bought her Hunger Games Unit CD and it was worth every single penny! I have 7 weeks to work my kids through this book and there is NO way we will be able to include every single idea that Tracee has on her CD. Love it!
My plan for this blog is to list things I try, what works, what doesn't and, hopefully, some of the joys of teaching.
Have a blessed day!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Going pretty well
My first day on my new eating plan, well, it didn't go terribly well after breakfast. This plan is significantly higher in carbs and lower in protein that what I'm used to having. I had breakfast at 0700 and, by 0915, I was seriously beginning to wonder if carpet or a book would be a more tasty snack! I was SOOO hungry! So, Friday, I swapped out the two pieces of whole wheat toast for a second boiled egg and things were much better! Yay!
Buzz Boy has started getting excited about having daily walks again (or, at least, the days that we don't have to leave the house at 0530!). I'm planning to add in a few days of evening walks next week as well. Hopefully, he won't mind too much. ;o)
Buzz Boy has started getting excited about having daily walks again (or, at least, the days that we don't have to leave the house at 0530!). I'm planning to add in a few days of evening walks next week as well. Hopefully, he won't mind too much. ;o)
Great East Road
You have walked 146.08 miles.
You have passed The Great East Road west of Bree.
It is 5.92 miles to the next landmark.
You have 311.92 miles to reach Rivendell.
They climbed down and out of the dike and through a gap in the wall, and then Tom turned due north, for they had been bearing somewhat to the west. The land was now open and fairly level, and they quickened their pace, but the sun was already sinking low when at last they saw a line of tall trees ahead, and they knew that they had come back to the Road after many unexpected adventures. They galloped their ponies over the last furlongs, and halted under the long shadows of the trees. They were on the top of a sloping bank, and the Road, now dim as evening drew on, wound away below them. At this point it ran nearly from South-west to North-east, and on their right it fell quickly down into a wide hollow. It was rutted and bore many signs of the recent heavy rain; there were pools and pot-holes full of water. They rode down the bank and looked up and down. There was nothing to be seen. 'Well, here we are again at last!' said Frodo. 'I suppose we haven't lost more than two days by my short cut through the Forest! But perhaps the delay will prove useful - it may have put them off our trail.'
You have passed The Great East Road west of Bree.
It is 5.92 miles to the next landmark.
You have 311.92 miles to reach Rivendell.
They climbed down and out of the dike and through a gap in the wall, and then Tom turned due north, for they had been bearing somewhat to the west. The land was now open and fairly level, and they quickened their pace, but the sun was already sinking low when at last they saw a line of tall trees ahead, and they knew that they had come back to the Road after many unexpected adventures. They galloped their ponies over the last furlongs, and halted under the long shadows of the trees. They were on the top of a sloping bank, and the Road, now dim as evening drew on, wound away below them. At this point it ran nearly from South-west to North-east, and on their right it fell quickly down into a wide hollow. It was rutted and bore many signs of the recent heavy rain; there were pools and pot-holes full of water. They rode down the bank and looked up and down. There was nothing to be seen. 'Well, here we are again at last!' said Frodo. 'I suppose we haven't lost more than two days by my short cut through the Forest! But perhaps the delay will prove useful - it may have put them off our trail.'
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Barrow-Downs
You have walked 140.4 miles.
You have passed The Barrow-Downs.
It is 3.6 miles to the next landmark.
You have 317.6 miles to reach Rivendell.
They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills. Sheep were bleating in flocks. Green walls and white walls rose. There were fortresses on the heights. Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords. There was victory and defeat; and towers fell, fortresses were burned, and flames went up into the sky. Gold was piled on the biers of dead kings and queens; and mounds covered them, and the stone doors were shut; and the grass grew over all. Sheep walked for a while biting the grass, but soon the hills were empty again. A shadow came out of dark places far away, and the bones were stirred in the mounds. Barrow-wights walked in the hollow places with a clink of rings on cold fingers, and gold chains in the wind.' Stone rings grinned out of the ground like broken teeth in the moonlight.
You have passed The Barrow-Downs.
It is 3.6 miles to the next landmark.
You have 317.6 miles to reach Rivendell.
They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills. Sheep were bleating in flocks. Green walls and white walls rose. There were fortresses on the heights. Kings of little kingdoms fought together, and the young Sun shone like fire on the red metal of their new and greedy swords. There was victory and defeat; and towers fell, fortresses were burned, and flames went up into the sky. Gold was piled on the biers of dead kings and queens; and mounds covered them, and the stone doors were shut; and the grass grew over all. Sheep walked for a while biting the grass, but soon the hills were empty again. A shadow came out of dark places far away, and the bones were stirred in the mounds. Barrow-wights walked in the hollow places with a clink of rings on cold fingers, and gold chains in the wind.' Stone rings grinned out of the ground like broken teeth in the moonlight.
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