Non photogenic me

Remember how I put my school picture up here and said how my sisters use to make fun of me because I could never pose a smile and I looked constipated? Well...here it is. I think this is my 8th grade picture. Yup...I couldn't smile. Enjoy!

I have a dream...

In celebration on Martin Luther King Junior's birthday/holiday, I have been focusing some of my lessons and activities on him. My class watched a video that was about a group of 6th grade kids who went back in time to the time of Martin Luther King and learned all about him. We discussed his life a little and talked about how life might be if it wasn't for him. I then had the kids write their own "I have a dream" paper. Some of the kids really struggled and sat there for a long time. Apparently they think we have a perfect world. Some of them really touched me with the things they wrote. I was particularly impressed by one of my girls' and wanted to share with you what she wrote. Here it is:

"I have a dream that one day there will be peach throughout this world. That everyone will be treated equal and kind. I wish that nobody would judge by their outer beauty but by their inner beauty. I have a dream that one day every mouth on this planet will be fed, that their stomachs will be fulled for the very first time. I have a dream that everyone would be happy with their appearance and with who they are and be satisfied with the way God has created them. I have a dream that everyone will be happy with that they have and not grieve over what they want. I have a dream that everyone will one day get along and that there will be no jealousy, no hate, no racism. I have a dream that this world will become a better place for every nation, kindred, and tongue. I have a dream!"

Is that not so sweet? I can tell that she really did think about it. Many of my kids put great things like no more war, no bad in the world, enough money to support their family, no more drugs, no more killing animals and trees, that everyone will get along, etc. One kid even said that he has a dream that there will one day be peace on all planets. It is about time that we had peace with the aliens! Their papers really did touch me and they are such good kids.

Another thing we did is read a book called "Martin's Big Words". It mostly told of his life and talked about his "big words". This included things he stood for and fought for and the things he said such as: peace, freedom and love. I then made a poster that said "Miss Weathers Class' BIG Words" and they all wrote on note cards their "big words". Some wrote single words and others wrote quotes. I told them that if they wrote a quote it had to be their own, not one they have heard somewhere before. I am pretty sure that some still did ones they got from somewhere else, but oh well. They wrote some really cute things. Anything from family to courage to standing out and being a good friend. Perhaps I'll take a picture of our wall of "big words" and post it up here for you to see.

In all I think they have really enjoyed learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he fought for and what he stood for. I have enjoyed learning along with them. He really was an amazing man. Nothing could stop him. He knew that everyone deserved equal rights and he was not going to step down until they received those rights. It was a terrible way of life back in those times and I am so grateful that he helped change it for the better. Happy Birthday Martin Luther King Junior!

6th grade quote of the week

I know I haven't written in a long time and I will do more of it. I even have a new years post saved that I just need to look over and then post. But I wast thinking about what one of my boys said this week and I thought it was too funny not to share. Before I tell it though, you have to understand that kind of relationship I have with my kids. We have a pretty teasing friendly relationship, meaning, I tease them a lot and give them a hard time and often times they tease me back. I think that a lot of 6th graders personalities work well with that kind of relationship. Well...Thursday we had our spelling test (since we had no school Friday) and I read the words to them and then put the word in a sentence. Well, sometimes I like to try to be funny and make the sentences amusing. The word was "attractive" so my sentence was "I am very attractive". My intentions to somewhat amuse the kids and get a laugh. Well one of my boys took it upon himself to humor the situation even more with a comeback comment of "If you were you'd be married by now." WHAT!? Now this kid is not the mean type at all. He is really a sweet boy, so I knew he wasn't really meaning it to hurt me. Many of the kids were shocked at his comment and thought I was pretty harsh. I got a bit of a laugh out of it, but made sure he knew the rest of the day that it wasn't a very nice comment. I made him do things for me to make-up for it. It was also so convenient that parent/teacher conferences were that night. We also have our students come for those. I told his mom about the little incident (not in a way that he was in trouble, just that I thought it was somewhat amusing and thought she would want to know) and she made a point in reminding my boy that his dad was not married until he was 32. Haha. I also told some of the faculty about it and they found it quite amusing as well. There you have it...my 6th grade quote of the week. Maybe I'll find one of these every week. I am pretty sure with the group of kids I have, it would not be a hard thing to do.