While most schools in the state have already concluded their school years, we’re still winding down. We are closed for 4th of July weekend, but we’ll return for one final week on July 10th and 11th before our summer break officially begins.
The end of the school year is always bittersweet. I’m relieved to have a few weeks off of lesson planning, grading, and waking up early, but I’m also sad to see my students depart for the summer, knowing they’ll grow and change so much in just the few short months before I see them again.
I’m proud of all my classes and students, but for today, I’ll focus on just a few classes.
Introduction to Grammar
Students in Introduction to Grammar spent this past class finishing up their encyclopedias. I’ve done this project for several years. Students select a topic, outline their research, conduct the research, write a rough and second draft, and finally publish a hardcover final project. Students are asked to use the grammar knowledge and skills they’ve learned this year to write and revise their projects. They must meet specific writing requirements such as including at least one appositive phrase in each chapter, varying the subjects of their sentences, balancing the number of linking verb predicates with action verb predicates, varying the structure of their sentences, including imagery, and using strong vocabulary. Students participate in a number of self and peer revision activities that ask them to look for these elements in their own writing and, when necessary, to work on including these elements.
Students write a total of ten chapters; each chapter must be at least one paragraph, and the chapter must include at least six unique pieces of information. Students must also demonstrate their knowledge of paragraph structure by including an introduction and a conclusion for each paragraph.
This project also serves as an opportunity to teach students about plagiarism and copyright protections. We have numerous discussions on these topics throughout the project, and the students learn to identify whether or not an image is “Fair Use” and what type of credit the creator requires.
While the first and second drafts must be handwritten, students earn the right to type their final project by earning a 90% or higher on their Grammar Final Exam. Students that do not meet this benchmark are provided with an opportunity to make up for lost points by further studying the grammar topics they need more work on.
The students will present their projects on the final day of class. I usually facilitate a “milk and cookie” pajama party for their presentations, but we’ll be hosting our presentations outside this year.



View Excerpts from the Students’ Encyclopedias
I’ve selected a chapter from each of the students’ encyclopedias.
Arthropods: Characteristics of Arthropods
Arthropods have three basic body parts. They are the head, thorax and abdomen. In some, the head and thorax fuse to form the cephalothorax. They are all bilaterally symmetrical. All arthropods have an exoskeleton, a rigid external covering made of chitin. Chitin is a hard material which can’t grow as the animal grows, so arthropods undergo molting. Arthropods have a segmented body and jointed appendages to help them move around. Some have appendages on their heads that act as sensory organs. All arthropods have organ systems. They have a ventral nervous system and an open circulatory system that is dorsal. Aquatic arthropods have gills, while terrestrial arthropods have trachea and book lungs.
Horror Stories: Dracula
Dracula is a novel about a vampire, Count Dracula, and a man, Jonathan, who, with the help of some other people, tries to destroy Count Dracula.
This novel was written in the 1800s. Although we cannot be sure what the inspiration for Dracula was, besides vampires, but we can take a guess at what the inspiration for vampires was most likely rabies and VladIII. VladIII was a voivode, a voivode was a military leader or warlord in Eastern and Southern Europe. We can't know for sure where vampires came from, though Dracula was written in England. This novel has made a large impact on modern day vampires.
Pokemon: Fairy Pokemon
Fairy Pokemon live in mystical forests and jungles. There are 63 fairy Pokemon. For example, Sylveon, the evolution of Eevee and her ability is cute charm. Zacian is the best fairy
Pokemon because of its intrepid sword ability. Opal, Bede, Lillie, Mina, and Vaterie are fairy type trainers. The special abilities of fairy Pokemon are aroma veil, flower veil, misty surge, and pixilate. Also they can use these items: fairy gem, fairy memory, pixie plate, fairium z, and roseli berry. Poison is resistant to fairy Pokemon. They are immune to dragon Pokemon.
They are super effective against fighting, dark, and dragon. Fairy moves are not very effective against fire , poison, and steel. Fairy and ground are a strong combination for attack, so you should use them often. They are considered cute, but some are incredibly powerful.
Books: Types of Books
There are many genres of books in the world. You can break down books between fiction and non-fiction and within each category, there are many genres and sub-genres.
Fiction books are not real. The fiction stories you read are most likely fake, basically lies. Fiction books can be real but some things are changed. Some popular fiction genres read are...
- Fantasy fiction: it is most likely to have magic in it.
- Thriller/crime/mystery: sometimes scary, or sometimes funny!
- Romance: it has a lot of kissing, drama, but sometimes it’s corny to!
- Horror: scary and hair lifting!
- Science fiction: things that can happen but most likely won’t (like aliens!)
Non-fiction books can be real/true or based on facts. They can be something that happened in the past or something that’s a fact. Some popular non-fiction genres are…
- Biographies: about someone important
- Autobiographies: about the person that’s writing the story… you!
- Guides: they help you know more about your next trip!
Books come in many forms. A lot of people like to read children’s books, even if they’re adults! For kids, the books are mostly pictures with very few words, or just all pictures! As children get older, the books that they read have more word or less pictures. Sometimes there are no pictures. Most books at middle school level have no pictures, has more difficult words, and are much longer so, they have chapters to break down the story. There are many children’s book authors that have good books for kids. Some famous children books authors include…
- Roald Dahl, famous for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, published in 1979.
- C.S. Lewis, famous for the Chronicles of Narnia series, published from 1950-1956.
- Eric Carle, famous for the Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969.
Reading is a very important skill. Students learn to read from the time they start Pre-K (or whenever someone teaches them) to college. Books are very popular learning tools that teachers use for learning, entertainment, and fun. Teachers use textbooks to teach subjects in school. Some of them include social studies, science, and even math!!
There are workbooks that help you get ready for a grade, test, or even college. There are also workbooks on math, reading, writing, science, and more! Some children’s workbooks include My First To Learn To Write Book!, Brain Quest, and Humble Math.
For language arts classes or just your home room class, students read books at their reading level (A-Z++).
While paper books, the most popular form of book, have been around for a few centuries, e-books haven’t been out for a few years for a while. In the 2000s, when the internet started to go popular, books started to go into electronic form.
Today, there are many popular brands of electronic books that include…
- Amazon Kindle
- Barnes and Noble NOOK
- Fire
With electronic books, people can buy one of the devices listed and then buy the digital copy of a book. They download it to their devices
If people can’t afford a device, they can read books on their phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and computers. There are also websites that people can read on including:
- Epic
- Myon
- MackinVIA
Space: The Milky Way
The Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy, has at least 1 billion stars! The Milky Way is also more than 10,000,000,000 years old. It takes light 100,000 years to get from one side to the
other! It has 10 million to 1 billion black holes in it! The Milky Way will be a galaxy individually for 4 billion years before colliding with Andromeda, another galaxy. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy because it has 2 big spirals and a large group of stars at the center. As you can see, the
Milky Way galaxy is one of a kind!
The Revolutionary War: The Battle of Yorktown
In this battle, General Nathanael Greene was the commander of the Americans and the British commander was General Charles Cornwallis. One day, General Cornwallis was going to Yorktown, at the same time the American and French Navy were also going to Yorktown. Once the British arrived at Yorktown they were surrounded by the Americans. They were fighting for eleven days. The British were losing badly. Finally the British commander Cornwallis surrendered. This was the last war in the Revolutionary War, and the Americans have won it.
Dogs: The Nose
You might wonder how dogs have a magnificent sense of smell? Read more to find out!
Dogs have an excellent sense of smell. How are dogs so good at smelling? Dogs have thirty million olfactory receptors and humans have six million olfactory receptors.
A dog is one of the best tracking animal species. For example, let’s say somebody was in the kitchen baking cookies and their dog was in a room far away. The scent of the cookies would travel through the air and reach one of the dogs nostrils before the other. The dog knows which way to go. It reaches the cookies.
The best dog species at smelling is a bloodhound, so that is why police officers use them.
Paragraph Writing



Students in Paragraph Writing spent this past class finishing up their board games. This is another project that I’ve repeated for several years though it has been modified slightly over time. Students select a book or series as the basis for a board game. Then, they write either a sequel or a parody based on the novel of their choosing. Using this narrative, students design a board game. The board game must pair with the story by either (1) telling the story as the game progresses, (2) focusing on a symbol from the story, or (3) providing some other parallel or reference to the story that “makes sense.” Students must write character descriptions for four characters in their story, a game objective, directions, and any other elements (such as cards) to go with their game. Finally, they put it all together into a board game.
For each written element, students are responsible for writing a rough, second, and final draft. They participate in a number of self and peer revision activities to ensure that their meeting the written requirements for the project and to check for any grammatical or spelling errors. They must also revise the written elements to ensure they all make sense together; classmates must determine whether or not they understand the directions and feel they can play the game without guidance from the game creator.
On the final day of class, students play each other games and write reviews!
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View Excerpts from the Students’ Narratives
Journey
Read Before the Game:
It was 8:45 PM in the otherworld. Connor Bailey, Charlotte Bailey, and Dr. Bob Gordon were eating dinner at Storybook Grill. Connor was finishing up his golden chicken burger, his Jack and the Beanstalk beans, and his Evil Queen potion (fizzy blue raspberry Gatorade in a fancy wine glass). Suddenly he felt a vibration in his pocket. Connor peered into his pocket to find the piece of mirror he used to communicate with his sister glowing with a golden glare. Charlotte gave him a dirty look. 45 seconds later, Poof! He disappeared!
Connor woke up in a humongous chamber filled with books and bubbles. he saw a 23-year-old with strawberry blonde hair, a wand, and a glittery blue pantsuit which looked like the night sky.
“Alex!” Connor emotionally exclaimed with tears in his eyes.
“Connor! I have missed you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! How is Mom, Bob, Bree, and Buster?” Alex cried “I just cannot believe you are here!”
“They are all doing good how long have I been out?” Connor asked.
“About six hours, I think. It is almost lunchtime.” Alex replied
“Well if it isn't my ol’ C-Dawg!” Mother Goose happily exclaimed.
“Squaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!!!!!!!!” Lester crowed.
“Mother Goose! How are you!” Conner Yelled in surprise.
“It's Goose-ay! What do I have to do to get people to say my name right? Sing a song about it?” “I am Mother Goose as they say, but they do not pronounce it the right way. It’s Goose-ay, Goose-ay, Goooose-ay, Goose-ay, Goose-ay, Goooooooooooose-ay!” Mother Goose sang of key “And I am fine!”
They talked until lunchtime. Alex knew it was lunchtime when Connor’s stomach growled.
She giggled “We will be eating lunch with the Fairy Council today. They want us in casual attire.”
“AGAIN?!” Mother Goose complained “We’ve done that for the past week now.”
Alex shrugged, “Not my fault. Now go change before we're late.”
Connor came out of his room wearing a white shirt, a green tie, a black blazer, and navy-blue pants.
“Alex! You look amazing!” Connor exclaimed.
Alex was wearing a green dress covered in purple butterflies with the blue tips on their wings. She had her hair curled and the tips of her hair were aqua. There were blue and white flowers in it.
“Thanks! Now let's go!” said Alex.
“How much longer is this waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalk?!!!!!!” Connor whined.
“We Are just about there!” Alex cheerfully replied.
They were standing in front of a an extremely magical looking palace with unicorns, griffins, pixies, and other magical creatures all around it.
When they walked into the dining hall, everyone but Mother Goose had a shocked look on their face.
“Conner!” they exclaimed in unison.
“WHAT IN WORLD are you doing here?!” Tangerina asked in shock.
“We Thought you were staying in the other world for the rest of your life!" said Skylene exaggerating a little bit.
“Now Connor, explain to us what happened.” Violetta said calmly.
Connor explained the whole thing right from the beginning “It was like BOOM! I was gone!”
The council murmured “Mysterious!”
“This would not have happened unless a powerful witch has arisen!” Mother Goose thought out loud.
“And how do you know that, Lucy?!” inquired Xanthous, alarmed.
“Lucy?!” the twins asked.
“My first name. Any-hoo, remember the incident, Xanny?” Mother Goose asked.
“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Change the topic please!” Emerelda angrily said.
“Ooh ooh! Bree and I are getting engaged in two months!” Connor brought up.
They talked and talked until they were full.
“Connor! Let's go for a walk! I am so full!" groaned Alex.
They talk so much that they were not watching where they were going.
“Alex, where are we?” Connor asked nervously.
“Just because I've been fairy godmother for a long time still doesn't mean that I know this whole place!” Alex grumbled.
As they were arguing, they suddenly heard the thumping of horse hooves. A second later Jack, on Buckle, Goldie, on Porridge, and Hero, on Oat, emerged from the forest with two extra horses.
“Need a ride guys?” Goldie asked with a wink “We are heading to Red and Froggy’s because they want to talk about something very important.”
Alex and Connor got onto the extra horses, and they all rode to the Center Castle. Red, Froggy, Jack, Goldie, Alex, and Connor greeted each other. they talked about how Mother Gothel and an army of powerful dragons are planning to attack the magic world. The group decided to build a jet palace and leave at dawn. They left and began their journey!
Journey
Read Before the Game:
It was night. A shadowy figure crouched near a stone gate. A black cloak hung from his neck. The figure slid a hand into his pair of black boots. He guided his hand around until his fingers connected with the handle of a slender dagger adorned with jewels. He wrapped his hand around the handle and easily tugged the dagger out. The faint outline of a guard could be seen taking steps toward the gate. With light, almost soundless steps, the cloaked man crept closer to the gate. The guard did, too. The figure pulled a dart gun from his pocket. He waited until the guard was in range before shooting him. As soon as the dart hit the guard’s neck, the guard promptly collapsed to the ground, peacefully put to sleep by the dart. The dart contained a powerful sedative that put the guard to sleep for about as much time as it would take for the theft to be carried out. The cloaked man rummaged through the guard’s pockets until he found a key. He opened the gate and walked in. Being careful not to leave any tracks, the man crept across the wide space. Once he reached the door to the golden Fairy Castle, whose colors were dimmed by the darkness, he slid the slender silver key into the small, shimmering slot and turned it. The door majestically swung aside. Creeping as quietly as a mouse, the cloaked man walked down the great hallway, cautious to not make any sound that would otherwise wake up the guards. He kept a wary eye on the doors, looking for the one leading to the room where he was sure he would find it. The bright blue liquid known only as the Portal Potion. The only thing that the man needed to set off his plan to wreak havoc on both worlds. As he approached the end of one of the many corridors in the large castle, he found a room belonging to Alex Bailey. The cloaked man carefully swung the door open, then darted inside and hurriedly opened and closed the drawers, looking frantically for the Portal Potion. Through the window, he could see the pale glimmers of light that signified dawn. Finally, a single glass vial sat in the hand of a man. It was dropped into the man’s cloak. Then, the cloaked man opened the window, removed his boots, and jumped out. He landed on grass, drops of dew sliding onto his bare feet as he ran. His cloak billowed as he furiously sped across the ground. He came upon a small, golden penny lying flat on the soil. The man flicked it up. The penny grew larger, and larger still, until it was the size of a very large circle. By now, it was big enough for a man to fit through. Then, the inside of the penny disappeared! It was replaced with a blue portal. It kept growing until a man could fit through that, too. The man nimbly jumped through the opening. It closed after that, but not before the penny had tumbled into the gateway. Once inside, the man threw off his cloak. He had emerged in a laboratory of some sort. Computers lined the walls. They were on the tables and desks spread across the room. Monitors hung from the ceiling, many widescreen TVs were mounted on the walls, and there was even a domed screen which was the ceiling. There was a large table dedicated to the news, one for research, others for coding, more for documents and printing, and one just for anything. A wide, tall, oak door was present in the back of the room. It was pushed open by a set of hands, the ones belonging to the owner of the laboratory. The room viewed from the other side of the door was a room for recreating the Portal Potion. It was very cluttered, as beakers messily lined the even more unorganized tables. There were more rooms, but the man did not go into any other rooms. He had a box to store the Portal Potion in for cloning it to give him more of the magical substance. The man pulled the wooden cork out of the glass vial. A steady stream of blue liquid flowed down the mouth into the box. It was quickly closed. The next day, in the Otherworld, a boy woke up to the light of a mirror gently pulsing. The boy was no other than Conner Bailey, and the mirror was no other than the golden one he and his sister, Alex, used to communicate. When he finally saw his twin’s look of worriedness, his insides melted, and his brain was wondering, “What happened?” Alex answered his question. “The Portal Potion has been stolen!” Conner could have fainted, for he was very worried and surprised.
Read After Attack
Everyone had gotten to safety in the newly-rebuilt hidden fortress that the Evil Queen had hid in. After the sudden attack of the dragons, it was clear that the Land of Stories would not be safe for some time. This was about the best anyone could manage. Acres of scorched land was visible a good distance south. Where the Eastern Kingdom is. Or used to be. Houses were now piles of ashes, the turrets of the castle had all fallen, and cracks in the castle walls were visible. In short, the Eastern Kingdom had fallen. Froggy had advised Conner to write short stories for creating an army. Conner was doing that. The one thing the plan needed to work was the Portal Potion, and luckily, they had a few vials of it. Now, everyone knew there was a dragon army. Meanwhile, in the hidden dimension, a man sat next to a box. Now, that box was incredibly important, for it fueled the entire laboratory. The thing inside the box, however, was what kept the hidden dimension real. If anyone got their hands on either, the man’s plans had virtually no way to work. The man lifted the box up and strolled to the side of the room. A small, nearly-invisible door sat there. A quick turn of the knob, and it swung open neatly. The box was put in there, and then the door was shut.
Alex Rider Meets Osama
Read Before the Game
Alex Rider is in school. The principal walks in and tells Alex to go outside to the student pick up area. Alex walks there and immediately recognises the man inside the car. It is his friend from MI6, John Crawley. Crawley tells Alex to get into the car.
Back at Alex’s home, Jack is making dinner when someone knocks on the door. She opens the door and immediately recognizes the car. She climbs into the car and is taken to the same place as Alex, MI6 headquarters in London.
“Hello,” exclaims Mrs.Jones. “We have brought you here because the world and its banks need your help. Am I right to expect that you know who Osama bin Laden is?”
“Yes, but he is dead,” Jack and Alex say together.
“Well, don’t judge a book by its cover,” replies Mrs.Jones. “Osama bin Laden is alive.”
“But didn’t that officer kill him?” asks Alex.
“Well, apparently not,” responds Mrs.Jones. “And that is the mission. You and Jack must find Osama’s lair. Osama manufactured a robot which must have cost him billions of dollars, but the officer killed that robot. Now, Osama is angry and wants revenge on the world for killing his robot. He has a big plan, and you two must first find his lair, then find out his plan. Can you do that?”
“Yes” they both reply simultaneously.
“Very good”, Mrs. Jones says.
Jack and Alex set out to find Osama’s lair.
Percy Jackson
Essay Writing
I wanted this class to do a big “A Year of COVID” End of Year Reflection activity. I tried giving the students a tremendous amount of flexibility, hoping some of my students would have some profound insights on the past year or so. I ended up assigning a creative project. I asked students to build a roller coaster as a symbol of the last year based on the adage “Life is a Roller Coaster.” They were allowed to build their roller coasters out of any medium. To go with it, students could write either a personal essay or a narrative. I also gave students the flexibility to choose a different style of writing so long as they sought approval from me first.
While the students did well on the written elements — structure, grammar, spelling ,vocabulary — all great! — I wasn’t all that impressed by their insights. Then, I realized, that perhaps that is just it — this year really didn’t have any profound impacts on them that they could or would recognize — at least not yet. Most of my students reported that this year, overall, was uneventful and unnoteworthy.
One of my students is writing a fiction narrative based on what he would have liked this year to have been. After reflecting on the year, he determined that it was mostly boring, and for the most part, he felt pretty “blah.” He didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy to discuss about this past year, so why not write about what absolutely didn’t happen?
Another student identifies a “down” in their rollercoaster of life as when a relative passed away. His “ups” for the year include winning soccer games and finally being allowed to go to his friends’ houses after a long year of isolation. While winning a soccer game would have been particularly unnoteworthy in the past, this year it made up the highest point of his roller coaster. He’s finding more joy in things that would have once been seen as much more mundane.
Another student identifies that this year was stressful but admits that she’s stressed most of the time, and this year wasn’t all that different than years prior.
I felt so certain that they had to have more to say. This year has been filled with the unexpected. As their teacher, I’ve listened to them complain about missed birthday parties, cancelled vacations, virtual school, restrictions, and isolation. I’ve watched the most motivated students lose their motivation for temporary periods this past year. How could they not have more to say?
To try to incite more insights, I prodded them with questions. How was virtual school? What are some things you missed out on? What are some really great things that happened to you this year? What were some major life events this year?
Overall, my students felt that virtual school was “fine.” They spent most of the fall semester complaining at length about virtual school. I asked them to elaborate. They almost all agreed that ‘it is what it is.” While they can’t wait for a more “normal school year,” they’re rather indifferent about this past year.
When asked what they’ve done for fun in the past year, most of them shrug their shoulders. Some of them share excitement over recent birthday parties after missing out on them last year. Most had rather low-key birthday parties this year, but simply seeing their friends made it one of the best days out of the whole year.
As adults, I think we’ve spent the better part of the year stressing and worrying about the children and the effect this year has had on them. While some students have struggled this year, have encountered death for the first time, and lost out on some opportunities, they will be — they are — just fine. To them, this past year is already becoming a distant memory. As several said, they normally just do whatever their parents tell them to do. This past year was no different. They still had homework; most still participated in sports, and they all still had parents nagging them to do things and telling them “what not to do!”
Kids are resilient, and they will be — they are — just fine. Did they miss out on some things this past year? Sure. Did they get the same exact education that they would have in a “normal” year? Probably not. And yet, they’ll be just fine.
So, none of my students had any profound insights for me. None of them spent their year of isolation reflecting on their lives or their goals. But, that’s also just fine.
Expository Writing
Students in this class have been working on a unit on Transcendentalism for the past few months. This was a challenging unit, asking them to read advanced texts and to answer questions that required introspection and maturity. Students read excerpts from Thoreau, Emerson, Jon Krakauer, Elizabeth Peabody, Bronson Alcott, and more. Then, students chose from one of four questions.
One of my students answered the question, “What can nature provide and teach an individual about himself or herself that society cannot?” She asserts, “Spending time in nature teaches an individual to focus on becoming a better person; on the other hand, society enforces stereotyping and assimilation.” She goes on to assess that both nature and society can evoke fear and anxiety in people; however, nature makes people uncertain of themselves as individuals by forcing them to reflect on themselves whereas society makes people anxious to fit in. In many ways, she personifies nature and society, allotting them a tremendous amount of power.
Another student answered the question, “How does self reliance and nonconformity help you become a more independent person? Provide examples that connect your actions to Emerson and Thoreau’s ideas. Why is this important?” She starts off by stating, “A self-reliant and nonconforming person only depends on themself and doesn’t conform to others’ expectations and actions; these characteristics make a person become more aware of their own thoughts and less influenced by others’ opinions because of their lessened communication and dependency upon others and/or communities.” Simply defining these terms — self reliance, independence, nonconformist, and self-awareness was a tremendous task of its own; figuring out how they’re related to each other can be an even more daunting task. In the end, she shows that one needs to be independent to become self-reliant, and one needs to be self-reliant to become non-conforming, and one needs to have all three of these qualities in order to be self-aware. She hints that this — self-awareness — is the ultimate goal.
No two students chose the same question. In response to the question, “What current political or social issue would you use civil disobedience to fight? Why? How would you take nonviolent action to support your belief,” one of my students decided that he’d like to use civil disobedience and nonviolent action to improve the teacher selection at his school. His paper illustrated some frustrations with some of the teachers he has — or has had — and his demand for “more competent” teachers. He advocates for a new and improved hiring method which would “include a trial teaching period, a student survey of the teacher, and a parental survey of the teacher.” He devised a very detailed plan for this new hiring method which includes requiring teachers to participate in a two-week trial period, student surveys, parent surveys, and test for the students to determine whether or not they’d mastered the content standards the teacher had taught during that trial period.