I can’t believe we are actually more than halfway through our first nine weeks at St. Luke. I am loving my new seventh graders. I started the school year meeting new students and parents and grading summer reading assignments. We did away with Accelerated Reader (AR) in the middle school last year, and replaced the AR tests with a Google assignment of critical thinking questions about the selected books.
We have written letters, poems, and now are working on mini-biographies of someone the students know first-hand. My favorite comment today was “My dad was more interesting than I thought.” A few weeks ago a student said, “I’m going to give my grandmother another chance.” I think she meant another chance to have something important to say, and I’m happy to report she was glad she did. I love when learning continues past the classroom.
We just started our first class novel, Moon Over Manifest, on Friday. I can’t wait to watch my students as they discover Abilene, Gideon, Shady, Ned, Sadie and other characters of Manifest, Kansas and the secrets they are hiding.
We are also learning grammar, sentence correction, and new vocabulary words. My aspiration is that they will begin incorporating all of these skills into their writing, making it more enthralling and less vapid. Coming soon are the essays that will be submitted to the local George Walton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). St. Luke has had winners on the seventh grade level for the last several years at least. Some have become regional and even state winners!
The independent reading assignments that are replacing AR goals are due on October 3rd. I’m looking forward to seeing the myriad choices the students have made in both book selection and presentation of information.
This month is our 7th grade mission JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). Our seventh graders have been so generous. Thank you families for sending in your dollars! Pantry items this month are cereal bags or boxes. Thanks for supporting our local food pantry. The JDRF One Walk is October 1st. We would love to have a large St. Luke group come walk with us. Grandparents Day is also fast approaching, and we have a cool song to share at this event. It’s been a great six weeks, and I’m looking forward to more!
landreaulanguage 