Oh September...

Everyone keeps telling me that it gets easier, that September is survival month and I will be okay!  Thankfully, tomorrow is October the 1st, and I seem to have survived in one piece!

I wanted to share some of the latest happenings from around my classroom, let y'all know what we have been up to!

In English Language Arts 9 we have just completed our graphic novel unit and I could not be happier with the kids work.  They are really putting their hearts into this stuff!  I have just bought the third book in the Amulet series (Kazu Kibuishi), and am thrilled to see the kids passing it around the room - so they can all read it one at a time!  Last week I came into the room after lunch, to what was supposed to be art, and they were all silently reading - in ART!!!  I am extremely proud of them and their love of literature!  We are now moving into our poetry unit, which is built around the book "Immersed in Verse" by Allan Wolf (2006).  The kids are really enjoying it and I cannot wait for next week when they begin writing their own stuff!

It truly is proving to be a challenge teaching Social Studies 10 and 20 combined - but I am learning new tricks and methods and know it will be ok!  I have mainly been switching back and forth between the two groups, getting one working and then meeting with the others.  It definitely takes more time and I wish that I had longer with them - but at least it is a small class!  My Social 20 group has just finished their French Revolution projects (highly differentiated - so I am expecting a lot of different products!), and I cannot wait to view the almost 45 minute video that one group has made.  So Exciting! 

Art is SO FUN!  Today we started pen and ink and the kids were really excited to start something new.  None of them had even seen a calligraphy pen before - let alone the old school version with the quill and jar of ink!  I am really looking forward to seeing what they create.  My Art 9 class is completing a Pointilism project - and while they are complaining of going blind staring at tiny dots, their work is looking fantastic and I cannot wait to show it off.

I love my life. I love my work. I love my world. Life is great and I am truly blessed.