Tomorrow is Open House, usually an enjoyable day of meeting parents and students.  My goal is to see students  enjoy reading about Science and learning from what they read.  I plan to incorporate Journals this year.  I did use "Eye On Science" for my bulletin board.  We are gearing up for the insect collecting again; I usually spend the first week talking about it, but this year, I will spend one day and then pick it back up after Labor Day.  I am working on a better Life Skills  plan, so it'll be a challenge to be ready with that by Monday.  I am looking forward to a good year.

Here it is, the Eve of August 1, the beginning of the countdown till school starts again.  I don't have a lot to say, except I wish I had more in the works for school, but maybe tomorrow I will make some progress.  I do know I want this to be a great year and one that I will enjoy more than any other year.  I will be 8th grade homeroom teacher, which will be new; I have always been the 7th grade homeroom teacher, so something new.  Life Skills class will be in the afternoon, which is also new.  I will have last hour free, so that will be nice to get a head start for the next day.  I have worked a lot on the jrhigh and srhigh websites; it takes a lot of work to produce just a little bit of stuff.  I have to leave them on their own, now, and open the books.  What if everyone had a laptop and we did school online in the classroom.  That would be fun.  I did spend some time looking for a way for students to do class projects by putting them online, but I guess they would have to do it on the buzzblog or spiritblog.  Does anyone have a student project service for free?

Science Journals:  publish on buzzblog, link to CanTeach.ca for journal prompts, Instructional Strategies Online has a list of journal prompts.

LOOKING CLOSELY

EYE ON SCIENCE

Life skills:  write an article about a hobby, publish on buzzblog

 

At the time of this post, a memorial service is being held for the 9 Charleston, SC firefighters who lost their lives Monday night, June 18, fighting the fire of the Sofa Super Store in West Ashley.  These 9 men will always be remembered for the unselfish sacrifice and the honorable call to duty that they fulfilled, so that the rest of us could live in safety.  This should be a reminder to pray for all of the men and women who willingly put their lives in harm's way for all of us.  This should encourage us to live life with more of a purpose to follow God's Will for our lives while there is time.  Life is fragile, life is short, and we should be encouraged to follow the example of these 9 courageous men,  and endeavor to help people and make life better for those around us.

Today at 2:06 pm the sun was over the Tropic of Cancer.  Today is the longest day, and the first day of summer.