Gender Roles

Here is a question for students (or parents) who have read The Giver by Lois Lowry:
Do you think roles and job opportunities were more fair for women in the book setting or in our society today? Tell what you think and why you think this to be true. Click on the comment button below. Express your opinion.

What are you reading right now?

Every class begins with 10 minutes of silent reading. Here are pictures of every student in the 7th grade and in the 8th grade that I teach this year. For a close up view, please come into room 311 and look at the various titles. We are eclectic readers! :) Post a comment and tell me what you are reading right now or recommend a good book!

I am. . .

I am learning more about everyone I teach in the 8th grade as I read their "I am" poems. This year our class guidelines for poems state that we are going to express our ideas honestly and uniquely creatively! Figurative language must be included, and in this particular poem we are metaphorically comparing ourselves to  board games, amusement park rides, household appliances, animals, foods, and almost anything else we can think of. Poems are going to be 12+ lines in length this year unless it is a certain format like a Haiku (three lines) or another type. Here are a few lines from the 8th graders. Profound feelings and thoughts abound.

 I am a shooting arcade
precise and on target
    by OP                                                  
                                                              I'm a toaster
                                                         that pops out of bed bursting with ideas
                                                                                          by CR

I am a golden retriever
loyal and kind
    by JB

                                      I am the ocean, sometimes sunny and playful, but
                                                          other times I am lonely
                                                                                          by DA


I am a lightening strike
sudden and unexpected
a grain of sand in a desert of people
All working together to make the world a better place
        by JM

                                                                          I am a bumper car,
                                                                     bumping my way through life
                                                                        Sometimes on purpose
                                                                           and sometimes not.
                                                                                     by JH

I am the white crayon, untouched, unused,
                                 alone
       by SG

New School Year - New School Faces!

Welcome back! August rolled around and we are all back to middle school here at Le Jardin Academy! It really is exciting to see new faces, old friends, and catch up with everyone's news from summer. I am looking forward to reading and writing with my new classes too! See you in room 311!