Ahoy Matie!

Last Friday, September 19th was national talk like a pirate day. We decided to celebrate at our school by having a contest for who could dress up like the best pirate. Because of my numerous basketball games, I wasn't able to find the time to sew me some wicked pirate pants, but some of the kids at our school sure looked great. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures so sorry, but I did give extra credit to every kid who dresses up. One of my students made a stuffed parrot to prop up on his shoulder. Others had authentic vests, pants, hats, and plastic swords. They won prizes for being the best dressed. It was a lot of fun. Our student council this year is doing a great job getting us excited for every random holiday found in our student planner.
We had a half day, and the other half was meant for teacher inservice. During that time, we created webpages for our students. In 2 hours time, I actually made quite a bit of progress, and it is up for viewing. Unfortunately, I don't have the right program on my school computer to update it or change it. So, it hasn't been touched since last Friday. My principal is working on getting me the software so I can maintain my website and use it as a resource for the students. You can check it out though. Go to: www.pvo.k12.il.us. Click on the junior high building. Scroll down and find my name and click on my webpage. It should come up. Hopefully soon I will have a chance to update it.
So... I thought I would put a plug in about my school year this year. Things are going A LOT better this year. Not only do I already have a lot of planning done already (thanks to all the time I spent doing it last year), I also have a new batch of students. My students this year (7th graders) are a great class. Most of the time, they are respectful and best of all, they actually listen. This is the first year that I know what it is like to teach a lesson without being interrupted all the time. At the beginning of the year, I found that I have to plan more for my lessons, because I always ended with time to spare. It's only because they are better behaved than others. Lately, I can tell that they are getting used to junior high because they have become a little more chatty. However, it's nothing to freak out about - they are a good group of kids, and I don't have to be the police man or whipping task master when they are supposed to be working independantly or in groups. They usually take care of that themselves.
Basketball season is as busy as ever and is going about as well as it could. Our team so far has done better than we predicted, but still not as great as we would like. We are really short on girls and even more so on girls who are athletic and skilled. We have seen a lot of improvment in the girls since the beginning of the season, and hopefully we will continue to do so. So far this season in 7th grade, we have had about the same amount of success we had all season with them last year as 6th graders. We won our first game. Last year, we only won one game. We've lost two since then, but we play again on Tuesday, so we will see if we can get back on a winning streak or not.

Don't ever be afraid to talk like a pirate now and then - it could turn out to be quite fun.