Week 8 is a thing of the past, wahoo! I’m excited that we are launching rockets outside this afternoon for science class. I hope to have pictures up next week!
1. New Seats – “New Seats Day” is a middle schooler’s most hated or favorite day ever, depending on how everything shakes out. I give my students new seats every 2 weeks. We do a lot of partner talk and small group discussions, so I like to keep things fresh and interesting by always getting new partner arrangements. As I told my students on the first day, it doesn’t matter whether you love your seat or hate your seat – it WILL change in 10 days. My seating policy has not only cut down on the excessive complaining and repeated requests (more like begging), but it has really been a benefit to student learning and discussion. Fortunately, I have a computer program (Infinite Campus) that randomly generates new seating charts, which really makes things easier on me. Since it’s random, I also don’t have to put any thought into it, and I always reserve the right to ‘rearrange’ if things just aren’t working (or comply with IEP requests for preferential seating).
2. Common Core Flip Book– I purchased this flip book online. It’s really fantastic! Yes, I do realize that the CCSS are all available for free online, but having this resource at my fingertips has been very handy. I would recommend it!
3. Breakup Letter– We are finally up to the Declaration of Independence with my Social Studies class. As a warm-up at the beginning of class, I read them this note that I said I ‘found’ yesterday in my classroom. My class is pretty bright, and they knew something was up. I asked them why I might be reading it, and they eventually deduced that it was from the American Colonies to Great Britain. We did a close reading of two key sentences, and I asked them which historic events it could be referring to. Neat activity!
4. Standards Based Grading Scale – I’ve been researching and drafting a Standards Based Grading Scale that we could adopt as an entire school. This is my draft so far. A good friend encouraged me to add the 2.5, since so many students seem to fall in that chasm between apprentice and master – I agree. I’m going to try it out for a while and see how it works. I like the language a lot better than “Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Minimal,” which often doesn’t mean much to students. This language is borrowed from history, literary lore, role-playing games, and video-gaming, which hits closer to home for my students.
5. Annual Pumpkin Carving – For the past 4 or so years, we have made it an annual event to carve pumpkins with very dear friends of ours. We find cool patterns online, print them out for free, and have a blast making a mess. Mine is Jack Skellington on the right 🙂 Evil smile! Do you recognize Toothless from ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and the Hitchhiking ghost from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyworld?
How was your week? I hope you are making the most of October, as it is coming to a close quickly! Enjoy the weather, food, and creature comforts of fall!
And just like that, it’s October! We’ve been back to school for 5 weeks now, wow!
1. October – I enjoyed decorating my classroom for October. One can never have too many pumpkins, amiright?
2. I don’t read – I finally snapped this week. I’ve been so sick of students (AND parents! AND colleagues!) telling me, “I don’t read” with this brazen nonchalance, as if it’s a badge of honor or something to laugh or bond over. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I stole ideas from this article, added several of my own ideas, and I created a full 12-page Keynote presentation entitled, “My reactions to people who proudly proclaim, ‘I don’t read.’ ” If you’d like to see the full presentation, you can download it by clicking here: I don’t read (c) Kristen Dembroski
3. noredink – I had all of my students create an account and log into my virtual ‘classroom’ on noredink this week. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a wonderful FREE website where you can assign grammar homework and quizzes. Right now, my classes are learning about action and linking verbs. They really love this website because it gives you immediate feedback. It also tailors each sentence to student interests (based on a quick interest inventory when signing up). Check it out!
4. Birthmarked – This past week, I’ve been reading Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien. And when I say ‘reading,’ what I really mean is ‘spending every single minute insatiably consuming.’ This is a very interesting read! The main character, Gaia, is entrancing, strong, clever, deeply caring, and easy to fall in love with. And the story is a complete mystery! I find myself fumbling for words as I try to even describe the plot to anyone. I don’t know what to say, because I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on myself! I started reading it because I saw several of my students with it, and now I find that I can’t wait to see them at school to ask them what they think.
5. Pumpkin Spice – Everyone is completely gaga and obsessed with pumpkin spice, THE flavor of fall. The thing is, I don’t drink coffee (yeah, I know, I’m weird). So instead, I’ve been finding ways to enjoy the flavor in other foods. For example, I give you: Pumpkin Spice Cookies! I’ve also made pumpkin spice pancakes, which are just phenomenal. Canned pumpkin, plus a dash of pumpkin pie spice, are staples ’round this kitchen, and it’s pretty easy to substitute them in many of your favorite baked recipes. Very filling, tasty, and oh-so-appropriate for the lovely season of colors and change.
How was your week? I hope you are enjoying the changing colors! My husband showed me this Fall Color Report website that indicates where the colors are at their peak in Wisconsin. We are adventuring out this weekend to enjoy them for ourselves!
Around this time of year, I start craving my grandma’s oatmeal bread. It’s filling, nutritious (well, it has oatmeal in it!), and it reminds me of fall and home and Grandma’s house. This is a staple in our house, and I hope it will become one in yours, too!
Ingredients:
* 1 cup oatmeal (I used old-fashioned)
* 1/2 cup butter or margarine
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1 & 1/2 cups flour
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 tsp. cinnamon
* 1/2 cup nuts (optional. I like walnuts)
* 1 & 1/4 cup boiling water
To start, I get out all of the ingredients:
Next, you’ll want to put the oatmeal and butter in a large bowl, then pour the boiling water over the entire mixture. You need to let this stand until all of the butter is melted and the mixture is cool. Once the butter is melted, you can put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process. All about a half-hour for this.
(Yes that is my crazy awesome fridge with the Instagram magnets. My husband and I collected them over years and ordered them from StickyGram.)
While that is cooling, prepared all of your other ingredients. You’ll want the sugars in one bowl and all of the other solids (flour, soda, salt, cinnamon) in another bowl.
Then, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 1 large bread pans or 2 small bread pans. I prefer 1 large pan.
Once your mixture is cool, begin by adding the sugars.
Then the vanilla and eggs. (Psst – I actually use this amazing vanilla I bought in Mexico – it’s the best ever!)
And finally, add the flour mixture, a half at a time.
Then, it all goes into the pan, and off to the oven for 50-60 minutes (mine took 58 minutes)
Check with a toothpick to make sure it is completely cooked through. The last part is the hardest – actually allow the bread to cool off before you cut and eat it. Yes, I realize it smells amazing and you’ll want to devour it right away, but patience is a virtue, and burned hands and tongues don’t feel so nice. I feel your pain.
I love to heat up a couple of slices in the microwave, add some butter, and enjoy with some tea for a lovely, filling fall breakfast. Enjoy!
Honestly the best part about back-to-school for me is purchasing a few new fall items to refresh my wardrobe. When I became a teacher, I swore I would never wear an ugly sweater, tacky jewelry, or baggy anything. I want to be the hip teacher, the one who looks like she loves coming to work every day. Well, I try. It may not last all year, but for now, I’m pretty excited to wear my new clothes to school every day. It makes getting up early just a teensy bit more fun 🙂
I plan to wear the blue dress to Open House next Tuesday. Gosh I love shopping – I just wish teachers made more money so I could spend it all on clothes and jewelry! I mean, I have a wish list a mile long!
By the way, did you know you can get a teacher discount at the following stores? Just show them your staff ID, or bring in a recent pay stub. Fantastic!
* The Limited
* J. Crew
* Ann Taylor
* Loft
* Banana Republic
* New York & Company
* Coldwater Creek
* J. Jill
* Talbots
* Christopher & Banks
* Aerosole Shoes
