one last look at middle school...

---In 6th and 7th grade we were reading Greek myths including "Echo and Narcissus." Narcissus was a young man from Thebes. On the test, one unsuspecting student wrote, "Narcissus is a young man from Thieves." Well, he tried.

---In the middle school language arts classroom, each student has a small paper slot to pick up their graded papers. One particular student absolutely loves picking up his papers every day. He typically bounces into the classroom every morning, before his afternoon language arts class, asking "did I get mail?" I always grade his papers first.

---One Friday I happily wrote on the board "no homework! you can thank me later." I thought I was being cute until one 7th grader asked, "Why does it say we can thank you later?" I then had to explain the entire comment. Apparently my humor is not even understood, let alone appreciated.

---One lovely ritual that happens basically every day, is the 6th grade thank you's. Every 6th grader thanks me every time they leave the room! It's fabulous! I often wonder what they're thanking me for, but it's lovely still the same!

---In the middle of my going away party, a student asked me how to spell me name. I replied, "Just write Miss Jones." I got a knowing, "Yah, how do you spell 'Jones'?" All I could muster was "Oh." I don't think I've ever met a person who can't spell 'Jones.'

---I was reminded one day of my grade school trading past. I'm sure everyone remembers trading snacks, lunches, pencils, etc. My middle schoolers demonstrated this when one boy offered pencils for pistachios. It made my day.

---The eight graders showed me their strange imaginations daily. This was one of my favorite daily quick write beginnings: "I've been a murderer, I've been murdered, I've been an alien with a clone." It was as interesting as you could imagine.

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in middle school language arts! My last day in the classroom was like a party all day! It was a lot of fun, and I recieved wonderful cards and gifts. All too sweet!

I was also able to attend the middle school banquet, where eveyone gets dressed up for a good meal and some fun games! The theme was Wonderland and there were even some middle school Alice in Wonderland characters! I loved seeing all the kids dressed up! It was fun!

It's sad to leave all these precious faces!