Vacation Time is Near (to the tune of the Christmas Vacation theme song)

Vacation time is near.  Two more weeks left.  Is it just me, or has there been a lot of time between Thanksgiving vacation and Winter break?  I blame the calendar.   

So, what can you do with that time between the breaks?  Instruction, of course.  Winter benchmarks, you bet.  Christmas movies in class, frowned upon possibly... we just can't help ourselves.  I call it relationship building.  Nothing says "I love you class" like watching a classic movie in which a young child must fend for himself while his family forgets him when leaving for a Christmas trip and eating popcorn at 8:00 am in the morning. 

This is the time of the year when I always do a poetry project.  When I first introduced this, the Monday after Thanksgiving, a few of my students popped up and said, "April is poetry month, Mrs. Brattin."  First of all, I almost began crying because they knew that (they have been listening for the past five years)... and second, I explained that any month is a good time for poetry. In all my years of teaching, the time between Thanksgiving break and Winter break is poetry notebook time in my class.  

I have decided to approach the project a little differently this year.  I am putting more emphasis on poetry appreciation.  Students are writing some formula poems, but they are also doing more poetry research.   They have looked through poetry books and found poems they like.  They have completed research online to look at poetry websites for students.  Next week we are going to listen to poets and work on some poet biographies (sneaking in some primary/secondary source lessons here.) 

A month immersed in poetry, at least until the last two or three days... then, it's movie time!  Any month is a good month for poetry!