New Job!

I have been meaning to write this post for a while, but let me tell ya, I have been crazy busy. Three days before the school year started I was asked to leave my job as a special education teacher and take on the role of a general education teacher. I have been wanting to get back into the classroom for some time, so this was a no brainer for me. However, I was (am) a bit unprepared for the job as a 6th, 7th, & 8th grade Language Arts teacher. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the written word. I wish I had the gift some of my favorite authors possess. I want my students to enjoy reading as much as I do, but middle school is intimidating. Now, a month into the school year, I am feeling my way around. I am relearning participles, prepositions, infinitives, and gerunds. I am exhausted at the end of the day, but it is so completely worth it. We are doing a lot of fun things in the classroom, some of which I am slowly documenting. One of my favorite activities has been story mapping. It's pretty detailed, so I will get into that at a later date; however, today's activity wasn't quite so bad either.

I like for my students to do more than just take notes, so when I found a pin on irregular verb tenses, I was all over it. Sadly, the pin was nothing more than a picture...no instructions or templates. I went off the image and created my own "flappy thing" (I know, I know, I should really find the proper name, but my kids know what I am talking about when I say it, so....). It turned out to be a quick review for some students, and an introduction for others.

(To see more on the above activity, read the "Irregular Verbs" post. It has updated information, and instructions. The book I use to teach grammar is the one pictured below. It is fabulous!)