Week 3 - DONE! :)

Well, it took 3 weeks, but I feel so good about how this year is going. I may not be moving as fast as I'd like but my kids are really getting it. The most common grade on a quiz that I just gave was a 100! How often does that happen? It was a quiz on inferences and conclusions, too. 7th graders have a really hard time with inferences. I'm so proud of all of them.

We're working on our first big writing assignment now. It's only three paragraphs - an introduction with a 1-2 sentences hook, thesis, and concluding statement and two body paragraphs. They are comparing two characters from different stories. It's really a struggle. It blows my mind still that my students have not really had any experience with formal writing. I'm breaking down the essay sentence by sentence and teaching them how to write. My hope is that, by the end of the year, they will just know how to do it. :) For now, I have giant sticky note paper all over my room with rules for writing, what specifically goes into the introduction, and how the body paragraphs should be organized.

We started working with our Latin and Greek affixes this week too. We did not start with an easy pair of affixes either. We began studying belli (means war. example - belligerent) and syn (means together. example - synthetic). The words are harder for them than any word they've had before. There are some words, like bellicose and bellipotent, that I'm not 100% comfortable using at the age of 22. However, I just really think that they'll get it and it will help them later in life (like during the SAT!!!).


Here's my To-Do list for this weekend.

1. Grade papers.
2. Enter grades into NCWISE.
3. Create vocabulary exercises for the week.
4. Create vocabulary test for belli and syn.
5. Create writing powerpoint.
6. E-mail out the vocab and writing pieces.
7. Finish my lesson plans for the week (including something on 9/17 for Constitution Day).
8. Laundry
9. Cook dinner (Bacon Wrapped Garlic Chicken! Yum!!!)
10. Play outside with my big man! :)

How is the school year going for everyone else? I am loving it so much more this year than I did last year. Maybe it's the group of kids that I have. Maybe it's the fact that I've got a year under my belt and just feel more comfortable teaching in general. I don't know.

XOXO