middle school

In an effort to practice blogging more consistently and start including shorter blog articles (instead of always thinking I need to write essays for you all), I'm going to do a classroom series wherein I share a picture of one aspect of my classroom that I like or want to work on with a short snippet describing it. Are you ready?

Desk Materials

I have long searched for a solid pencil sharpener that will work for middle school students. My experience has been that electric pencil sharpeners, while fast, tend to be loud and within about a year or two die. The school provided manual pencil sharpeners are useless about 2 months after they're installed and proceed to just eat all the pencils. That left me on a search for some kind of alternative.

It's kind of strange summer where it's mid-July but I'm in full "Back-to-School" mode already. I blame stores like Shopko and Wal-Mart for putting their Back-to-School supplies out early! In any event, while I'm in the spirit, I might as well do something useful, right?

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis follows the story of a young girl trying to survive in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Are your students struggling to write poetry? Help your students become comfortable with writing their own poetry through these colorful Poetry Templates!

Templates include directions for the following types of poetry:

Are your students working on a research paper, but struggling with plagiarism and citing sources? Well look no further! This easy-to-follow guide will walk both you and your students through the process.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a classic novel to read, especially around December. Follow Scrooge's journey with the Spirits as he learns important lessons just in time for Christmas.

Looking for a poetry unit to do with your students? Then you should check out this Poetry Unit!

Before school started, I requested the help of my dear friend Marisha for classroom decorating ideas. She is far better at pulling together a space, and graciously sent me the following pin (see Pinspiration photo, right). I loved the idea of a corkboard in my room! She graciously took me shopping to buy the materials and then set me to work assembling.

Materials: