back from a busy break

Wow, I cannot believe how quickly my winter break went!  While most of my coworkers were chillaxing on a beach somewhere or even on their couch, I was working up a storm on the costumes for my upcoming school play on March 8^th.  (That’s right…two weeks…eesh!)  This year’s play is Beauty and the Beast.  Here’s a few pics of my progress. 

(Chip)

(Lefou and Belle)

Academically, I am happy to be coming back to school on a very positive note with my students.  Last week, they were in the middle of the last stage in the Writing Process: publishing their explanatory Anne Frank quote essays. This means that this Friday will be a writing celebration! 

I usually do about 3 writing celebrations per year and they are an exciting event (if I do say so myself!).  I let my middle school students come up with a list of teachers they would like to invite whom they know are free (have prep or PLC).  We also always invite school administrators.  The students that finish publishing first or early make up the invitations.  This is a good “what-to-do-when-you’re-done” activity for the 2-3 students who have finished.  After that, as more students complete their work, I send others out on errands to deliver the invitations.  I like doing this because it broaches a community feel between staff and makes the kids feel important, valid, and special.  I get treats like muffins, cookies, or donuts (no messy food) and juice for the students and guests.  (Coffee for my aid and myself is a must).   We set up the classroom the day before and all students make sure they have seen me so I can save their work on my USB drive, print out copies, and finally make sure their essay is up on the projector when it is time to read.  The visual is really mostly to help the audience follow along and keep the attention.  

In addition to writing, my classes are finishing up the last few chapters of Number the Stars this week.  It will be bittersweet.  We all loved learning about the Holocaust, talking about people like Anne Frank, and learning about life during this time period through this touching (and sometimes thrilling!) historical fiction novel.  My resource class loved being read to and my basic skills class (smart kids but poor test takers/scores) truly enjoyed dramatizing the novel.  Each person had a part and we had two narrators (also sometimes myself to show inflections) that read the chapters.  The kids learned really quickly about quotation marks and how to follow dialogue.  Sadly, after this joyful teaching experience, I must move on to test prep and the persuasive essay.  

But...I'm already thinking ahead to after the test.  If anyone has a novel suggestion for 5-6 grade reading level with many characters (opportunities for dramatizing) please let me know!  THANKS! 

And now, on with the week!  :)