Will It Ever Warm Up?

Happy Spring...I think.  Isn't this weather miserable?  I was supposed to work a carwash today for my son's band, but the cold temperatures and sputtering rain have cancelled it.  We'll see if the baseball double header still goes on...with this cold temperature, I'm actually hoping it won't, but we'll see.

In the meantime, life goes on and the school year keeps marching forward.  We are finishing The Crucible unit with a culminating project and heading for our final literature unit of the year.  The students can see the end of the year on the horizon, so I have to keep reminding them that we still have four weeks left!  At the same time, I have mapped out through the end of the year, so I can give a heads-up for the exam date.

Last week we spent the week building project papers and presentations.  They are in teams and so the papers are a team effort, though the grades are individual.  I asked them to attach their names with all of the work that they did so that they get credit for their own efforts.  However, the winning team in each class will get a pizza lunch on me, so that raises the stakes a bit.

Here's what's coming up this week:

• Monday - project presentations.  They'll submit the written work and present their ideas to the class as a team.  If they aren't there, they need to have a written note to excuse them, otherwise they'll lose half credit for the presentation portion of the grade.
• Tuesday - we'll finish any presentations still left...hopefully there won't be any, but I built time in, just in case.  Then we'll turn to working on background information for Of Mice and Men. They have a packet to do which contains in-class and homework activities.
• Wednesday - we'll work on the final verb packet.  Review and assessment will happen in the next couple of weeks.  Then we'll finish the background and go get the books.
• Thursday - verbs; we'll read Chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men and work on the study guide packet which contains vocabulary and focus activities for character and setting.
• Friday - verbs; we'll finish discussion for Chapter 1; homework - Chapter 2.

At this point I'm working on transitioning them to 10th grade.  Expect homework every night.  They'll be doing most of the reading on their own.  We'll talk less about plot line, more about concepts.  The test will be the primary element of the Semester Exam which I have scheduled for Monday, 6/13.  This is our last full day of school for the year.  Exams are always in the final week of school.

That about covers it.  Hopefully everyone has a chance to relax, even if the weather isn't cooperating for outdoor activities. Ciao!


Will It Ever Warm Up? by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com