The Final Moments of 2014

Here we are, into the final days of 2014.  What a year it's been!  To celebrate, I have pictures (and a video) to share.  First, here are photos from early in last week when my freshmen were doing an activity with Romeo and Juliet and punctuation:

 

 

 

Next, here are some pictures from the Ugly Christmas Sweater day:

 

These guys didn't have ugly sweaters, but they wanted their picture taken, anyway.

The back of my favorite one of the day; personally, I think he should have won the contest!

 

 

Finally, here are some pictures from a service project my son was a part of last night.  For those of you who don't know, my kids train llamas for 4-H.  The llama shown here is Mojo.  My older son, who was not able to go last night, trained him.  My younger son is the one showing him around a senior living center in Chelsea.

 



His reward for a job well done?  Sushi, of course.  Yea, we're weird.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, and I'll see you all in 2015!

 

The Final Moments of 2014 by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 





Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanza (Basically, Well-wishes to You and Yours!)

Yay!  We're finally to one of my favorite times of the year!  It's so joyous to spend time stepping back from ordinary life and celebrating life, family, and the good aspects of being a part of a society such as ours.  I love the lights, I love the music, I love the love and laughter, it's just a wonderful life (one of my favorite movies, by the way).

As we close out 2014, it's time to reflect on where we've been.  For both classes, we've been visiting Shakespeare and his plays, and it's time to be finished and say "God gi' gooden".  English 9 is still reading Romeo and Juliet, but we're towards the end.  I'm moving their test to Thursday, so we will spend the early part of the week finishing the text, and then prepare to test on that day.  We'll deal with projects/papers when we get back in January.  English 11 is pretty much done with the play, so their test is still Wednesday.  They will be working on their motif projects and review on Monday and Tuesday, test on Wednesday, and then we'll be writing poetry to present our motifs on Thursday and Friday.

They worked hard last week, and here are a few pictures from 2nd and 3rd hours working on their projects:

 

2nd Hour Worked in the library.  When it's just us in there, such as this day, it's a wonderful place to work!

3rd Hour worked in a lab.  In this lab they can choose to work on a tall island; many of them like this.

 

As we head to Friday and the beginning of two weeks off, I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.  I hope everyone gets a chance to relax.  My gift to my students is that we will not have vocabulary this week, and I'm giving them a homework-free vacation!  Enjoy, everyone!

 



My favorite moment in the Charlie Brown Christmas special!

 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Kwanza (Basically, Well-wishes to You and Yours!) by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 





"For In That Sleep...What Dreams May Come." ("Hamlet" III, i, 66)

You know you're spending too much time with the Bard when you dream words and phrases from his plays all night long.  Not only that, but I spend all night mixing quotes from both Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, and then try to sort out which ones belong with which play.  Add to that the fact that my husband and I went to see UM's production of Fuente Ovejuna which was written by a Spanish poet in the 16th century, and so last night I had Spanish words and phrases mixing in with Shakespeare, and I'm not getting a good night's sleep.  Last night I kept dreaming, "Wisely and slow...and we'll not fail...Fuente Ovejuna!"  This kept replaying in my mind all night.  The first is from R&J, the second from Macbeth, and the third is obvious, but in my sleepy mind, I kept trying to put them together to make them make sense.  Aaargh!

Anyway, here's what we did last week:

In English 9 we have now completed Romeo and Juliet Act II.  They have completed study guides and notes and read the text.  We're in the process of completing some activities (this is what slows us down).  They also completed Blog Post #3 for their Independent Reading; I gave them time in the computer lab since I was pulled to go to a conference on Tuesday, so the substitute took them to the computers to work.

In English 11, we have finished reading Macbeth through Act III, scene i (although 3rd hour has gone a little ahead and read through scene ii).  They also have completed study guides and notes and read the text.  In addition, they also have completed Blog Post #3 in the same way that the English 9 group did.  I have also added on a Motif project for them that is completed online with Google Presentations.  They are finding two quotes a piece, all completely different from each other, and entering them into the presentation by act.  I have graded Act I, though they are not yet on HAC, because I'm combining all the quotes together for a 20 point grade (2 points/quote).  They spent Monday and Tuesday on the computers completing both the blog and the project through Act I, so they had plenty of time online.

Here are a couple of pictures from 2nd Hour working in the lab on Monday:

 One thing I like about Google Presentation is that each student is responsible for entering their own information into the presentation, but they can all work at the exact same time on the same document.

Another cool aspect of the Google Apps is that they can even create on their phones, so they can pick their comfort zone and create from there.

 

 

Coming up this week:

• English 9 will be doing vocabulary.  I will give out worksheets on Monday, they are due Tuesday, and the quiz will be Friday.  They will also be given the Blog Post #4 directions (the final blog post) and it will be due by Friday; they will complete this element independently.  In class we'll be finishing our Act II activities and reading Act III and Act IV for Romeo and Juliet.   If possible, I'll even move them into the final act.  I'm trying to get their test in by Wednesday 12/17.
• English 11 will also be doing vocabulary and their final blog post for the independent book.  In class they will be finishing Act III on Monday, work in the computer lab on Tuesday for the Motif Project, and then we'll try to finish the play Macbeth.  I am also trying get their test in by Wednesday 12/17.

I hope everyone has a great week, and hopefully you're getting more rest than I am! Ciao!

"For In That Sleep...What Dreams May Come." ("Hamlet" III, i, 66) by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.