Slowly, But Surely...

ccrrrraaawwwwlllliiinngggg toward Spring Break. Oy.

And I'm having the Sunday blues. Double Oy.

Had a pretty eventful weekend! Went to bed early on Friday night & was a bum all day today, so I guess the eventfulness pretty much took place on Saturday. Went down to the Outlets with the boy, went out to lunch, saw Hunger Games, and bought a new bathing suit top and cover up for Jamaica.

I agree with the majority of reviews I've heard about the movie. [I don't want to be a "I read the book" snob, but I've read & finished the trilogy.] I really enjoyed the movie, but there are a few things I would have changed!

1. More character development! I feel like we only scratched the surface of everyone. I'm obviously not a movie maker, and it must be hard to cram everything into a movie. As a viewer, I wanted to be "in Katniss's head" more than I was.
2. Shaky camera. I was prepared for this, so I sat all the way in the back. But lord. During a few scenes, especially the tracker-jacker scene, I had to close my eyes because of the craziness of the camera!
3. A few little things, too. Gale looks old. I liked how she got the pin better in the book. What happened to the hovercraft getting the bodies in the arena? And a few other things. Nothing that really threw off the movie, though!

So, all in all, I really enjoyed the movie. My boyfriend, who didn't read any of the books, needed clarification on a lot of things, so if you haven't seen it yet, just read the first book! It's quick and easy, and it will make the experience much more enjoyable!

I have been so fortunate to receive this award from a few fellow bloggers!

So thank you to the following ladies!

and Courtney @ Teaching in Paradise!

We're plowing through our persuasive writing pieces. I'v conferenced with all my friends and led them toward the topic that would make the best argument! Now we're starting our graphic organizers. I was inspired by a graphic organizer that came from Fulton County Schools. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to link to it! So if you'd like to see it, google "persuasive graphic organizer" and it will be one of the results that opens as a .doc.

Here is my spruced up version. No fancy clip art, we needed as much room for writing as possible! Just added writing lines & a cuter font. Grab the freebie if you'd like it!

Persuasive Essay Graph Org

I have eight teaching days and one PD day until Spring Break.

I think I can...
      I think I can...

Persuasive Writing

We are trudging through persuasive writing. I chose the verb trudging because composing a well-written writing piece is such a struggle for my kids. They HATE the idea that they have to brainstorm, fill in a graphic organizer, write something, edit it, and write it AGAIN. Blows their little minds.

"Whyyyyyy????"

Because I said so!

Because following all of these steps make certain that you have high quality work that is neat, organized, and focused, my beautiful children!

So I came up with an activity to engage them into persuasive writing. First, we visited our "heart" maps, which include things that we care and love. These things would be the best to write about because we are passionate about them! Then, we brainstormed aspects we'd like to change about these things to make them better.

For example, I obvi wrote teaching in my heart map. I told them one thing that I'd like to change is higher pay smaller class sizes more resources less drama goodbye state testing a bigger classroom! We decided I could try to persuade the school officials. And we brainstormed reasons why that would be a great idea!

My other examples were wanting people to adopt a pet and asking my sister to come visit more often. We are doing these one at a time, and I am challenging them to think of one "world" issue, one "personal" issue, and then whatever they want.

Once all of these are filled out, I will conference with each student and we will choose which idea would probably be the strongest to write about for their writing piece. This is key, because I'm SURE some of my friends are going to want to "persuade" the most RANDOM things.

Anyway, here's the freebie. Now, there's a Gandhi quote on the worksheet. Is this legal? I mean, I'm not selling it, right? And I gave him credit! I'm so paranoid now, I almost don't want to post anything! [Insert Snooki WAHHHH.] Don't get me started on Snooks.

Anyway, click the preview & let me know what you think!

Persuasive Writing Activity