A Peek At My Week

I have a feeling its going to be one of those CRAZY weeks in middle school.  When I say crazy, I mean it's going to be a struggle for that precious instructional time.

To start things off, today is a teacher's workday to end the 1st nine weeks. (Can I get a AMEN that we're 1/4th done with the year!)  I decided to take off this optional teacher workday because my house needed some TLC and I finished submitting my grades last week. We rarely get a day that isn't designated anyways....might as well enjoy it!

Tomorrow, the entire 8th grade takes the ACT EXPLORE Test.  This ensures chaos from a flipped lunch and elective schedule to accommodate time for testing.  I would guess 90% of students forget the test is tomorrow after a long weekend, so I can already anticipate their smiling faces in the morning when they're reminded of this test.

This week is everyone's favorite BOOK FAIR week at our school.  As a language arts teacher, poof! there goes another half day of instruction time...! I'm starting to think that we won't get much done this week....eek! Not the way I want to start our brand new 9 weeks off!

And probably the most important CRAZY peek at my week is the same for everyone else too...Halloween!   For students, and teachers, I think this makes for the longest day ever.  Kids are anticipating their evening festivities and teachers have trouble keeping students on task.

What are some special things do you do on Halloween for middle schoolers?  I'm not passing out candy, just a special Pumpkin Halloween Homework Pass good for my class only.  Candy for 90 students adds up quick, especially the good kind! :) Here's a copy of my homework pass if you're interested!

At my school, we don't have any "fun" special Halloween activities planned...just another normal school day.  And for that, I am thankful.  There will be enough excitement in the air as it is.  I'm planning on doing a "3:15" spooky short story lesson on Thursday that I found from I'm Lovin Lit's blog.  
I hope you have a frightfully, fantastic week!

S.L.A.N.T. Box Exchange

I was so excited to join in on the September S.L.A.N.T. box exchange.  Don't know what a SLANT box is?  Well, it stands for "Sending Love Across The Nation to Teachers" and that's just what it is.  Teachers and bloggers are paired up with each other from across the nation to exchange fun teacher essentials spending no more than $10 each month. You can opt in or out with only a one-month commitment at a time. If you're an educator who's interested in participating in next month's SLANT box exchange, you can sign up at Lessons with Coffee's blog.  I had so much fun picking out gifts for my partner who lived all the way in California.  Here are the goodies I sent her way.

 

The SLANT box I received came a whole 50 miles away from another town in NC...it's such a small world sometimes!  I think she did an awesome job and it definitely brightened my rainy day. I loved how everything was bright color-coordinated and very FUNctional as a teacher. 

 

 

What a great way to start the week! I hope you have a great week too!