Spring is finally here, bringing warmer weather and more hours of daylight. I can feel the effects on my energy levels and students' as well. Once the mornings are a little less chilly, I'll start planning lessons that we can take outdoors again.
The infographic project at the end of our "facing fear" unit went really well, and so did our personal narratives for some students. However, too many just aren't taking the revision and editing process seriously. Next year, I will have to work out how to spend more time working on making those changes in small groups. We just wrapped up our March Madness Poetry Tournament and our winner was "Water" by Rudy Francisco.
Right now, I'm coasting a bit through the start of our new unit on "dealing with disaster" because I've previously taught all of the shorter texts we start the unit with. I will have some work to do when we start our parallel novels at the end of this month.
Reading in April
This past month I read 11 middle grade novels and 4 young adult novels. Some of them were a mix of listening and reading, and some just reading. I was happy to exit my reading dip (I can't quite call the 10 books I read last month a slump), and I'm sure feeling less tired had a lot to do with that.
Here's what I'm hoping to read in April:
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (young adult historical fiction)
Up From the Sea by Leza Lowitz (middle grade verse novel)
The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage (middle grade mystery series)
The Odds of Getting Even by Sheila Turnage (middle grade mystery series)
The Law of Finders Keepers by Sheila Turnage (middle grade mystery series)
Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman (middle grade fiction)
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (middle grade horror)
Travel Team by Mike Lupica (middle grade fiction)
Teaching in April
As we head into April, we are continuing our “Dealing With Disaster” unit. So far we've read some poetry connected to Hurricane Katrina and an informational text about the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. This week, we are reading “There Will Come Soft Rains,” a short story by Ray Bradbury that my students always love. It’s the only short story we read throughout the year with a futuristic setting. This year I decided to read the poem of the same title, paired with the song “In The Year 2525” by Zager and Evans, to introduce the text. We'll focus on the author's use of personification and the impact of setting on plot. To wrap up, students will have a choice of summarizing projects. Some project options can be done individually, while others can be done in small groups. Last year, some of my students created some hilarious skits and puppets shows. I also show students a short film version of the short story.
This year, I've made the transition into our breaks easier on myself and students. For the days before our Spring Break, I saved the play about Hurricane Katrina to read through just for fun. I'll give students a chance to "level up" assignments (resubmit assignments for better scores or make up missing assignments) so that students are all caught up with grades before the break. I will also create a set of spring themed games similar to the ones I played with students before Thanksgiving and Winter break. The games usually includes a mix of online games like Kahoot!, Quizziz, and Blooket plus logic puzzles, word scrambles, and spot the difference pictures. Having a low prep, low stress day right before break means I can get through most of the "level up" assignments students submitted the day before so that I can be all caught up before break also. Before break, I'll also have students make their selection for our parallel novel unit, so that if any students want to get a head start reading over the break, they can. I don't assign work over the break.
When we return from Spring Break, we'll only have a week before we begin state testing. Last year I created a spiral review of grammar skills using examples from our parallel novels, Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone, which I'll use again this year. We'll just be starting the novels, so I haven't decided what else we'll do in that week leading up to testing. I don't do a lot of "test prep" leading up to the test because all of my assessments throughout the year include questions modeled after those on our state assessments and we practice writing text dependent analysis essays throughout the year as well. I will do a one day lesson on test taking strategies and then play some games reviewing literary terms.
I'm pretty proud of myself for working in all of the grammar skills for sixth grade with time to spare. We'll continue to practice them through the rest of the year, and I'm already thinking about how to layer in even more writing practice next year. For a final choice writing assignment of the year, I may try out an essay I did two years ago that asks students to describe an important person in their life.
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