We have started reading Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel about his experience at concentration camps during The Holocaust. This summer, as I was researching and looking for lesson ideas, I ran across information about The Butterfly Project. You can read more about it here: 
www.hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml

Today I hung up the last of the butterflies, and tomorrow we will start taking them down as I reveal whether or not certain children in Terezin survived. When I am finished, only 10% of the butterflies will remain as only 10% of the children sent to Terezin survived. In this age of technology, I hope this simple paper craft, and the stories of the children these butterflies represent, will have a bigger impact on them than any fancy webquest or video I could give them. It is so important that we learn from history so that the cycle can be broken.

The students started putting their crime boards together for A Separate Peace, and they look very professional! The students had to answer the question, "Who is ultimately responsible for Finny's fall?", and then prove their answers with evidence from the novel. Everyone doesn't agree, so there have been some good-natured debates taking place in each class. I'm anxious to see how their answers may change as we finish out the book. Stay tuned!

     This week, I am truly grateful to work in such an amazing school, with amazing students, amazing co-workers, and an amazing administration. Did I mention that ACA Middle School is AMAZING? I guess I could include awesome, terrific, stupendous...well, you get the idea.
        I have been suffering from a toothache for the past week, and my students have been the kindest, most compassionate teenagers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I get asked multiple times a day how I am feeling, and parents are even emailing me because their students have let them know I've been under the weather. What a gift our ACA community is!
           So thank you to everyone that has made this week more bearable. I will be getting it taken care of Wednesday afternoon, so I hope to be back to normal next week. 

          Our library is open for business! I'm so excited about our middle school library this year. Mrs. Jaala Davis has done such a fabulous job transforming it into a comfortable place to be. Students can now check out books, and that makes all of the ELA teachers very happy. If you ever have a reason to drop in to campus, make sure you go by and see what a wonderful space our library is!

     Get a good night's sleep (something I can never do the night before), and be ready to hit the door running in the morning. There are great things in store this year like a new classroom library, new places to sit, all your classes close together, lockers in the main hall...it's so WONDERFUL. 
     Parents, be sure to check with your student for the items coming home for you to sign. I like to keep you in the loop as much as possible, so there will be important information that your student will need to share with you.

This is my first post for my ACA students, and I know you probably won't see it for a while, but you guys should know that I have been working really hard this summer to create some amazing curriculum for 8th grade ELA and English I. I've been spending my time finding new literature pieces, curating resources for flipped instruction, and of course, typing up new vocabulary quizzes! I even went to "teacher school" for two days, during my summer, to learn about project-based learning so that we can try some of that as well. Also, I have put in many hours of sewing, spray painting, cutting, and glueing to make my new classroom a place that you and I would both like to spend our time. I can't wait to see your faces when you walk in. I hope it turns out as well as it looks in my head! I have about four weeks left before I head back to work, and I have to say, I'm pretty excited for this new school year to begin. Have a safe, restful summer, and I will see you on August 8th!
​Here is a sneak preview of the new decor!