Woohoo! It's (just about) over!

Today was our last real day before break; tomorrow is a testing day (fun!)(not)(except yes, for teachers).

I cannot tell you how relieved and happy I am.

Apparently other teachers were having parties and the like...? Not any of us in our department, because hello? Nine teaching days left. Besides, many of my students don't deserve a party at this point in the year. (On that point, another teacher mentioned today about having an invite-only party--I do like the sound of that, very much. We'll see after the dreaded test.)

I'm happy to report that my students learned today, and it wasn't too painful for them. I'm actually really proud of how the lesson turned out; it flowed well and everything came together.

The warm up involved reading three phrases and noticing something. (Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout; Sally sells seashells; The tired toad tried to escape.) Most students noticed the letter/sound repetition, which we then defined as alliteration. (As of yet, I have done zero figlang, so this was an important lesson.)

The students then wrote their own alliterative sentence, and we shared. They did very well! Good job, kiddos. From there, we moved into a workbook section with poetry. There were some questions--ridiculously easy questions at that--about comparisons in the poem, which were getting at figlang types. There was also a question about rhyme scheme, so we learned how to do that as well. I put several examples on the board and explained what to do, and we all practiced together. They got it very quickly, and I was proud yet again.

Let's see. Then another practice poem test thing, and they had to find all the alliteration in the poem. For the most part, they did well with that. We answered the questions with that and we learned about similes, because there were a few in there as well. Writing their own similes went only okay, so they'll need more practice and guidance later on.

Then, we put it all together! For the last 20 minutes of the double period, they had to write a poem about winter, using three examples of alliteration and one simile, and the poem had to rhyme. Isn't that a perfect activity relating exactly to the lessons? Love it!

I had wanted to have some students read their work aloud to the class at the end, to share and feel good about their poems, but alas, as always, we ran out of time. Boo. Still, all the students at least began a poem and almost all were easily able to use those two types of figlang in their work. The rhyming thing didn't go so well, but who cares. Not me, that's for sure, since I'm a terrible rhymer as well.

So it was quite an enjoyable teaching day today. The kids were very involved, very vocal, and they really seemed to grasp everything we did. And I think they enjoyed it too, which is important at this time of year, for all of us.

Tomorrow is sort of a pretend day, and then we have the blessed vacation. Hallelujah! Rest, rejuvenation, and all the other good things.

...Except that I need to really start packing soon for my trip. Yay, a trip!