CHHHHHHHHHHHHRISTMAS!!!

My FAVORITE time of the year is here. Although the kids may think I am in full Christmas mood, they have yet to see me in action. I have my Christmas tree up complete with a "fireplace".

So here is what has been going on.

A couple of weeks ago 9 students from 6-8 attended the Writers in the Middle in Lamoni. It sounded like they had a good time. They each attended three sessions to learn how to become a better writer.

6th Grade: These guys just finished their unit 3 test and began their unit 4. This unit we are focusing on imagery and sensory so far. We have done a couple of activities with imagery. They will continue to learn about this topic throughout the unit. 

Next week we are starting CHRISTMAS week! They will take a time out from our textbook to focus on Christmas activities and reading our Christmas book, "The Grinch". My favorite! Don't worry they will still be learning. We will do some things with imagery, sensory, comparing and contrasting, and characters. We will have a lot of fun, I am sure! 

7th Grade: This class has also just finished their 3 unit test. Their 4th unit focuses on mood, tone, and style. We just read a story written by Hemingway on his style of writing. They had to read a folklore stories and create an interpretative dance to summarize their story. I tried taking videos but they won't upload. They were pretty fun and the kids had fun doing them. 

Their Christmas week will be focusing on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. We were suppose to read it last month but I rearranged somethings so it could be our Christmas week book. I have a copy of the book for each, We will be reading a lot during this week to finish up the book, I think I will start them early so they can compare the video with the text. We will do a lot of fun things with mood, characters, and imagery. 

Here are the 7th grade cuddling by the fire:    :)   Note, the boys are typing with their noses. As long as they do their homework I am fine with it! 

The girls looking smart, as they say. 

8th Grade: While the some of the girls were at Writers in the Middle the others were in "Book Club" with Barb Coenen. They did an activity for Thanksgiving based around their story "Two Thanksgiving Day Men" by O. Henry. It was a great story that I think the girls really liked. Barb said she was impressed with their discussions. They all had fun.

 Our next Book Club story is "The Night Before Christmas" and possibly "The Polar Express". They will also work with characters, comparing and contrasting, style of writing, mood, and imagery. We will be doing this the 22nd of December during our masa. A masa is a word in Romanian that means table, but it refers to a little party or get together. We will have Barb during this time where we will drink tea and have our own little masa just like I would have had in Moldova with my students and host family. It should be a lot fun!! 

The girls new unit is focusing on theme and symbol. We have been working quite a bit with theme so I think they are getting the hang of it. It can be pretty difficult in that students think it is a summary of the story when really it is the central message. Later in the unit they will get into dialogue where they will read a bit of the play "The Diary of Anne Frank". I think they will have fun reading this story with the different activities we will be doing! 

Remember: 

12/10/14 is a 1 hour early dismissal 

The winter music program is the 21st of December

School lets out the 23 with a 1 hour early dismissal. 

Happy Holidays!!!