The Last Week of School is Here!

Dear students,


Well, we are almost here.  The last week is upon us.  It has seemed to me that the year has whizzed by quickly...a serious of blurs.  I decided to start a blog in September as a way for me to chronicle the events of the year.  I have looked back through the blog and have enjoyed rereading my posts, your comments, and looking at all of the photos that I've tried to take.  I've changed my background to my dog Kali.  As you know, she's had a rough time since Relay for Life, but I feel fortunate to say that she's doing much better now.  After two surgeries, she's getting her stitches out on Tuesday.  Now I can begin to walk her again.  Some people think of walking a dog as a chore, I think of it as a pleasure.  I do some of my best thinking while I'm walking her!  The two pictures below were taken by me last winter break when we had the snow.  I love the snow so...it reminds me of growing up in upstate New York.  There is a tunnel that I walk through when I go down to the lake.  You can see the tunnel here.  Even though this is a welcome to summer posting, you see a winter scene!

I think I am going to continue the blog...even through the summer.   I may not post as often, but I find that if I do blog, it becomes a journal of events that I would enjoy looking back upon in future years.  As I've mentioned before to all of my classes, a student in my 7th grade social studies class brought in a diary written by her great-grandfather during World War II.  He focused on his voyage over to Great Britain, and his experiences in France after the invasion of Normandy.  He very fittingly ends his journal at Dachau, a German concentration camp near Munich.  His words are so powerful.  To me, this is what history is all about.   Yes, we need to study the dates and the famous people, but true history is all about the "little people" who you never read about in a history book.   I feel very fortunate that Taylor B shared this with the class, and allowed me to copy it to share with future classes.  This is so much better than any textbook.  


So, I encourage you to blog or journal to share your story.  If you are going to go somewhere interesting this summer, write about it so that you can remember it for years to come.  Take lots of photos to capture the moment, to see how you looked as a middle school student.  


If you'd like, email me this summer with all of your adventures.  I would love to hear about them.  I can even include photos or personal stories of yours on my blog so that other Venturers/Navigators can see what you've been up to.  I believe that's called "reblogging".  I am not sure if that's the correct term or not!  


I have written all of my classes an end of the year letter.  I  usually copy it and give it out in class the last week of school, but in this computer age, I've attached a copy of it to my edline page.  I am saving paper and using technology all at the same time, plus you don't have to read it if you don't want to read it!  I know some of you do not make it a habit to check edline!


I have also been working on an imovie to show you at the end of the year dessert celebration on June 16th.  It certainly is not professional looking, but I've tried to get everyone on the Venturer team in all of the photos from the beginning of the year.  It actually is about 24 minutes long.  The Civil War photos were very interesting!  


Enjoy your summer.  Relax.  Read some good books...If you read a book that has a historical connection to things we have studied or will be studying let me know.  I am thinking about having my students read some historical novels in connection with English next  year.   I've got a couple good ones lined up with my 7th graders.  I just got my schedule for next year.  I am teaching just 1 out of 4 social studies classes for 7th grade.  I so enjoy the curriculum in 7th grade and I was hoping that I could teach more than just 1 section.  Oh well.....


Speaking of the imovie...before I close....
I put in a song by Coldplay, one of my favorite bands.  It is a new single.  I was putting the imovie together when I noticed online that this single had just been released.  I listened to it and thought that it would be good to use for the imovie.  I've posted the words below.  It kind of reminded me about the night at relay....

I turn the music up, I got my records on
I shut the world outside until the lights come on
Maybe the streets alight, maybe the trees are gone
But I feel my heart start beating to my favorite song


And all the kids they dance, all the kids all night
Until Monday morning feels another life
I turn the music up, I'm on a roll this time
And heaven is in sight


I turn the music up, I got my records on
From underneath a rubble sing a rebel song
Don't want to see another generation drop
I'd rather be a comma than a full stop
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/coldplay/every_teardrop_is_a_waterfall.html ]
Maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees
Maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapezes
But my heart is beating and my pulses start
Cathedrals in my heart


As we saw oh this light
I swear you emerge blinking into
To tell me it's alright


As we soar walls
Every siren is a symphony
And every tear's a waterfall


Is a waterfall, ah
Is a waterfall, ah
Is always a waterfall

Every tear is always a waterfall, ah


So you can hurt, hurt me bad
But still I'll raise the flag


Oh,
It was a wa-ah-ah-ah, waterfall
A wa-ah-ah-ah, waterfall


Every tear
Every tear

Summer is here!

Every teardrop is a waterfall


Every tear
Every tear
Every teardrop is a waterfall

~Mr. McEwen