On to October and Homecoming Week!

Ah, September has come and gone, and unfortunately left behind the annual cold for me.  By Friday night I felt like death-warmed-over, so I took Nyquil and slept like a log, and Dayquil on Saturday, which has definitely helped me to feel better by today (Sunday), but I have to say I was fairly froggy yesterday.  All I accomplished on Saturday was to take my kid to a Band Picnic for his school (which fortunately had indoor facilities) and sleeping.  I'm hoping that today is more productive, though I still don't feel quite right: kind of foggy and sleepy, but with that buzzing that comes with antihistamines.

Despite all this, the show must go on, so here's what's up:

• Last week we finished doing our close reading of "St. Lucy's" and wrote Type 3 paragraphs.  We have begun to analyze the author's choices and effectiveness in writing this story.
• This week we will spend three days outlining and drafting a final essay for this unit.  It will all be done in class, so attendance is super important!  There's not really a way to study for this, so the homework that they have is to finish reading their independent reading book and to work on the project which is due 10/14.
• In the meantime, it is homecoming week! Every day they dress up in crazy outfits; we have assemblies on Monday, Tuesday and Friday; Friday is the parade and game (starting at 5:00) and the dance is Saturday.
• Wednesday is Count-day for the state; please make sure your student is in attendance unless it is absolutely necessary to have them out.
• Monday morning we have a fire-drill, tornado-drill, and I believe a lock-down drill.  Drill season has begun!

It's such a busy time, but we'll all get through it.  If anyone needs something, I hope they feel free to contact me. Your students have been a joy to get to know.  If you feel like they're struggling with this transition from middle to high school, please be aware that it's normal.  By now they're starting to "get it" and they're picking up the pace a bit to keep up with academics.  They're starting to realize that "with great power (freedom) comes great responsibility" (Spiderman reference).  Please remember that their GPA is built with their semester grades, not their term grades.  To do this, their first term will be combined with their second term to create a final grade that goes on their GPA.  It's a learning process, and we will all survive...you included!

I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

On to October and Homecoming Week! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com