#GratitudeSnaps: Giving Thanks All November Long!

I am a little late to hop onto Tara M Martin's #GratitudeSnaps challenge, as I discovered the challenge only a couple of days ago, but I figured that beginning the challenge late is better than never beginning at all!

During this chaotic season of the school year, we teachers are under a lot of stress, as we have been "on" since late August/September with almost no breaks! Thus, it is imperative that we take a moment to step back and reflect on all of the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.

In no particular order, here are my Gratitude Snaps (excuse the fact that it's more of a list than a series of pictures.)

Routine Vocab. Sentences: A Creative Writing Task AND Interactive Experience

A detailed student drawing from what started off as an assignment to merely write 20 vocabulary sentences.

In my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade literature classes, I routinely assign vocabulary words to my students. Vocab. is on a two-week cycle in my class: at the beginning of Week 1, we go over the 20 new words for the cycle. Then, students have until the end of Week 1 to submit 20 carefully-written vocabulary sentences (with context clues!), and I give them a vocabulary quiz at the end of Week 2, which includes ten student-written sentences from the week on the back (the vocab. word is replaced with a blank, and, as part of the quiz, students must fill in the blank with the correct vocabulary word.)

Three years ago, when I first began teaching at my current school, I never imagined that my vocab. assignments would explode into the cacophony of creativity that they are today. Vocabulary has even become the favorite assignment of some of my students, and a few students ask me to upload new vocab. lists early so that they may start on their next assignment. How did this happen?