January Breakout

Did anyone else feel like January lasted forever? I'm pretty sure toward the end of January, we made it to January 75, 2020. But, we finally broke out of January and headed into February now!

"The Outsiders" Breakout Box

Our 7th grade English classes just completed the novel study over THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton. I was so excited that they had asked me to be a part of their study, and I helped introduce last month. And now I was able to end the unit with a FUN breakout box activity. 

The students had to use the clues and their knowledge of the novel to be able to open the locks. One of the clues, students had to match the quotes to the characters. On the backs of the quotes were colors, which gave students the color code. Another clue was a cipher code, that spelled out "Who was Johnny's least favorite of the gang?" This gave the word clue. 

They all worked really hard and collaboratively to solve the puzzles. The fastest team from each class period received candy, but at the end of the week, the group with the lowest time overall (with no hints used) got to choose a new book. 

Shakespeare Research

Our theatre group is putting on a play over Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, but set in the 1980s. I cannot wait to see it! Meanwhile, the 8th grade English Enriched Honors classes are starting their unit on Shakespeare's works. To set the stage, I created a hyperdoc and an internet scavenger hunt so that students could get more background knowledge over Shakespeare. I think they were most fascinated by the fact that Shakespeare married an older woman!

STEAM projects

Since we are an academy, all of our students are required to participate in at least one competitive science event. This year, I was excited that some of the events are taking place on campus, which means I can be a bigger part of the event. The event in January was the Gumdrop Tower competition, to see which group could build the tallest free standing tower out of gummy bears and toothpicks. My  main  job was to monitor, but I loved talking to the groups about their designs.

There were tons of squeals happening this afternoon as some towers stood on their own, but others CRASHED!

Books, Books, and More Books

Soon after coming back from the Winter Break, one of our book orders was delivered. It was like Christmas all over again! My library aides helped me unload and check the invoice, and my book club was able to have first dibs on checking out the new books. 

Our display for the month was "Reading with our Friends", and I displayed books that the library had more than one copy of. Mostly, our female students used this display, but I'm proud to say that this display is now almost empty. I have several friends that checked out the same book to read and discuss. 

Now we are into February, and it is Book Fair week! I love seeing the excitement on their faces!!