First off, I am so excited that Teaching Tweens is hosting a linkup so that us middle school teachers can find each others blogs. Therefore, if you are a middle school teacher, you should go and link up too!
I had an amazing first week of school! I could not have asked for better students in my 3 classes. I have just under 60 students total. We are on a 7 period schedule, but Language Arts is double blocked in 6th and 7th grade. I love love love my inclusion class and the kids have already been so involved in their learning. I also have an interactive board that I have used every single day and the kids are just as excited about it as me. I have some PD that I am going to this Wednesday for it, so hopefully I will be able to use it even more effectively in my classroom very soon. Tuesday is our library day and I am really wanting to integrate some sort of DEAR or SSR time in the classroom. Any tips for me? I am thinking about 15 minutes of it a day.
Today I also started my first semester of Grad School. I am enrolled in a program where I will be finished with my MEd at the end of June this coming summer. Before going to my classes today I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the whole thing, but after today I feel much better about it. I am taking 12 hours and the topics that the classes are going to be covering are all things that I am passionate about. I am sure I will be asking for some help from you all along the way.
I am also currently trying to think of a great September 11th lesson for my kids. Most of them were a year old when the attacks happened and I really feel that they are at an age right now where they will be able to understand what happened that day. Do you know of any good videos or media clips to use? I have a book called September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be Alright that I am planning on reading to them. The documentary that is going to be on TLC next weekend looks like it is going to be good too, I might try and record that to see if it is something I could use in the classroom.
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!
I like to read The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein (not sure how to include the line here, but the paper pack version is $6.99 on amazon). It's a fun, lighter hearted story than many of the 9/11 documentaries, but it still provides a good introduction to a class discussion.
ReplyDeleteI too have been trying to think of great September 11th lessons. My kids were also 1 when it happened.
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