Hello 6th Graders! Please post your response to the reflection question here.

Question: You are now three weeks into your sixth grade year. How is it going? What do you like and/or dislike about middle school?

Excellent job this week! We read some challenging material, and you responded intelligently! Post your critique of either The Lottery or Story of an Hour here.

This document is a sample plot summary you can use as a guide to writing your own summary for The Lottery.

lotteryplot-summary

Change can be difficult. I must admit that I was worried about the poor sixth graders who had finally fallen into the middle school routine only to be plucked out of one teacher’s class and into another. My eleven challenge students and I met for the first time today. We talked about the past two weeks, did a “Getting to Know Miss Fielder” activity, and each student produced a writing sample. We got off to a good start and I still have nothing but excitement for the upcoming school year!

I enjoyed today’s class! We are going to begin our journey through the Middle East tomorrow, focusing first on physical geography. The link to the parent letter is below.

socialstudiesparentletter

The following website has excellent suggestions for boys who are reluctant readers.

http://www.guysread.com/

What a weird beginning to the school year for me!. No homeroom. Two classes. A mountain of time to devote to my secondary position-athletic director. Sounds like a good deal, right? Not exactly. The downside is that I am beginning to feel disconnected from the kids, after all, I am used to a full teaching day. That, coupled with sports, allowed me to know the majority of Sutton students by name. For the past two weeks I’ve been working directly with two classes (and the kids are awesome), but I haven’t had a whole lot of contact with other students. I miss it.

Today I was informed of my new assignments: 7th Grade Social Studies and 6th Grade Challenge Language Arts. I’m excited by both. I’ve taught Social Studies before, and I LOVE it. I was prepared for 6th grade at the beginning of the year, and having seen and spoken with many of the kids, I’m excited to see a class full of them on Monday. Some teachers might feel a bit uneasy about this-new classes at week three of the school year-but I can’t describe how excited I am to see more kids, explore new subjects, and feel myself connect with the student population once again!

My two seventh grade classes were AWESOME this week! All of the work turned in was fabulous, and Friday’s short story presentations were brilliant. I am looking forward to next week…but I will DEFINITELY enjoy the weekend to catch up on sleep. I’ve been staying up late to watch the Olympics…

6thchallengesyllabus

7thchallengesyllabus

Please take time to carefully read the basic class information provided in the syllabi. More detailed documents related to various units, assessments, and due dates will be posted as needed.

After hours of unpacking which included a broken fingernail, a paper cut, and a near-fall from a chair, my new classroom is ready for students!