March Happenings

ELA Highlights

Poetry: With a focus on poetic devices and figurative language, we enjoyed analyzing quite a mix of poems. From sweet Shel Silverstein to haunting Edgar Allen Poe, and with classics such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Alfred Noyes, the students were exposed to a strong mix of poetry (a handful will likely be studied in high school and/or college!). Using these poems as inspiration, students wrote their own and turned something ordinary into the extraordinary, incorporating figurative language as well! Of all the years I have taught this unit, their poems may be my most favorite.

Time Person of the Year: Students partnered up for this project and took on the role of being a Time magazine feature reporter. They worked to learn why their partner is named Time Person of the Year, but the year is 2050. Each student prepared for the interviews by creatively deciding how they will use their gifts to do something wonderful to change the world. Other information included family life and education (both current and in the future) and an obstacle they overcome which leads to the desire to help others. Additional lessons with this project include applying sentence variety and vocabulary from the list of top 75 seventh grade words.  I can’t wait to see everyone’s articles! 

Next up: Spring Tournament of Books lit circle!

Religion

This month we focused on Jesus' disciples, from the apostles to his greatest disciple: Mary. The students learned that apostle means send + messenger, as the apostles and disciples had the most important task of telling others what Jesus showed and shared. I never cease feeling the awe and wonder that 2,000 years ago a handful of people spread out to share the Good News, and now Christianity is the world's largest religion. One of my goals with this unit is to share that awe and wonder with the kids. They showed their creativity again with a disciple project. These projects are stunningly beautiful (see photo below).

Next up: The teachings from the Gospel of Matthew and final preparations for Confirmation!!