Spring Break Ahead

Today was the second day of the ELA AIR test. I am very thankful that it is over. These last few weeks leading up to Spring Break have been long and tiresome. The students have been preparing to take the ELA test, Fourth Quarter officially started, and Daylight Savings Time kicked us all in the butt. 

 The thing I'm looking forward to most is rejuvenating and getting some much needed rest. When we come back from Spring Break there are only 7 weeks of school remaining. This seems like a lot, but there's two more weeks of testing, kids going to St Louis and all the events that lead up to the final week of school. So, 7 weeks, that's nothing.  Lots of things have been going on the past few weeks in my classes. We finished reading Watson's Go to Birmingham in 7th grade and my 8th graders surprised me with their final drafts of their argumentative papers. I honestly don't know where the time has gone, it's officially week two of fourth quarter. 

 Because of testing, we've had a light week in English. The 7th graders are getting a chance to see the movie version of The Watson's Go to Birmingham which is so different from the book. Personally, I like the movie better because it actually goes into more detail about the Civil Rights movement than the book. So, I am interested to see what the kids opinions are when we're done. In 8th grade I launched their Historical Fiction unit with The Boy in the Striped Pajamas so they can see what the setting and character behaviors look like in a different time period. When we get back from break they will be reading Copper Sun by Sharon Draper. 

 I'm looking forward to the rest of this year, I feel like I have some cool things ready to go for both grades and I know the weeks will come fast. They've already flown so far, I can barely keep up. I keep telling myself I'm going to write more, especially since I make my students write all the time, I should also be writing. Something always seems to come up, maybe one of these days I'll get the hang of it. 

 Love from the exhausted teacher barely making it to Spring Break.