Get Off The Fence About Verb Tense!

With W.6.8.6 ~verb conjugation~ looming before me a couple of weeks ago, my stomach was in knots. You see, all my life I have straddled the fence when it come to knowing my verb tenses. It's like I never really nailed it down. Well, with verb conjugation in my rear view mirror, I have one question for you...What would you like to know about verbs? Ha ha! I am officially off the proverbial fence! The SIMPLE truth is that everything is PERFECT when you remain PROGRESSIVE about verb tense; I am EMPHATIC about it! :) So, let's take a look at the words I just shouted at you in the last sentence: SIMPLE, PERFECT, PROGRESSIVE, and EMPHATIC...the verb tense families. Simple past, simple present, simple future, past perfect, present perfect, future perfect, past progressive, present progressive, future progressive, past emphatic, and present emphatic are securely in my bag of literacy tools. The most significant detail about that week of lessons...my students tested very well. I have decided there is hardly a sweeter sound in the world than a scantron sheet whisking silently through a scantron machine! I wanted to share this game with you; however, I was unable to upload the game into one of the available gadgets in this blog. If you would like to have a copy of this game (I also have one for Figurative Language and Sentence Structure) just email me at kim.mcfarland4@gmail.com. I would be glad to shoot a copy your way.

I'll take "Blog Project" for $500. Let's see... the answer is "AWESOME!!!!" To that I say, "What is ~How do you feel when you make your last blog entry? :)

D.E.A.R. time!!

Drop Everything And Read! Those are our instructions every day at specific times. On November 5th, Crossett Middle School adopted the D.E.A.R program. Every day at a pre-appointed time, the following announcement is made over the intercom: "It's time to drop everything and read." Every day the teachers, students, custodians, principal, vice principals, counselors, resource staff, office workers...EVERYONE stops what they are doing and picks up a book for 20 minutes. I love it! The schedule is as follows: Monday 8:50 to 9:10, Tuesday 9:40 to 10:00, Wednesday 10:55 to 11:15, Thursday 12:50 to 1:10, and Friday 2:05 to 2:25. I love reading, and this is huge for our kids. The more the students read, the better their reading skills become. Great readers are usually great writers, so this is a combination for achievement and success! I am excited that our school makes reading a top priority. :)

Character Day

The faculty and students at Crossett Middle School participated in our first annual Character Day on November 5th. Almost every teacher participated. The students were shocked to see so many of the teachers dressed-up in elaborate costumes. Among the teachers was a queen, a princess, Juliet, Medusa, King Henry VIII, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, Little Red Riding Hood, Thelma from Scooby Doo, The Wicked Witch, and many more. Several of my students dressed up. They were so cute! My class had their final exam on the book The Outsiders that day. In honor of that book, I dressed-up as a Greaser Girl. I spent the day with a bouffant hair-do, black leather jacket, 60s style sunglasses, black capris, black pumps, and RED lipstick. I used the best Greaser Girl attitude I could muster. Ha ha. My students seemed to have had a blast making fun of me. It was a lot of fun. Periodically throughout the day, three students from each grade level made their way around to each of the teachers to judge for the "Student Favorite." At the afternoon assembly in the auditorium, the three teachers that were judged "Student Favorites" were invited to the stage and given candy. There were judges present from the Educational Alliance, The Rotary Club, and other civic organizations to vote on the students' best character costumes. The first place student winner received candy and their name on a huge trophy that will sit proudly in our CMS showcase in the foyer all year. In conclusion, Character Day generated some welcomed school spirit and a great Literacy buzz about books! We are hoping next year will be even bigger!