The Sunrise Story

The school year is ending. We are days away from packing up and saying goodbye to another year. I'm proud of what my students have accomplished this year.  Currently, we are working our way through projects that sum up our year of learning.  These projects are varied as students got to design and create their own project. Some students are creating movies, others are writing speeches that they will give, some are redesigning the classroom space for next year and a few are working with me to present at a local conference after school ends.  The engagement is high. Students reflect weekly on their progress or lack of progress and report out on how it's going. I love seeing them engaged in their projects, but I love reading their reflections even more. After weeks and weeks of practicing, they are able to reflect in an authentic way.  My hope is when they leave this class, they will remember how much they have to offer. I want them to remember that work d...

Spring is here. It may not feel like it, with many days at such cool temperatures, but it's arrived at middle school. Students are squirrelly and distracted. It can be exciting and frustrating at the same time. I've decided to celebrate and enjoy it.  Here are some examples from my classroom... A sixth grader "reading" during independent reading time. Oh how they love to be silly! Here's a copy of a status of the class form.   Everyday I take status of the class. This is when they report the book they are reading and the page they are on. I often have to prompt them to tell me the page number. On Friday as I prompting a student, "Page?" the boy sitting in front looks around and around and wonders, "Ms. Haseltine, who is Page?!?!" Block 1/5 celebrated our time with our amazing teacher cadet, Miss Gaetjen! We wrote goodbye stickies to her. We took selfies.   We said thank you. We gave hugs. Sixth graders ...