Blessings

1. The Fairfield High School boys' basketball team made it to the state tournament. Now, I really don't care a lick about basketball... I'm a football girl. But, in a small town, high school sports are really community events. It's fun to watch my former students excel, and it's fun to watch the excitement of the whole district as they support the team. All the businesses in town have signs supporting the team. It's exciting. They play at 3:30 today, and unfortunately, they're playing the #1 seed in the tournament, who happens to be undefeated. But, crazier things have happened, right? Have you seen Hoosiers?

2. My 8th graders are doing excellent work with their Images of Greatness project. Each student has chosen a person that they feel exemplifies greatness. They are researching that person, creating a timeline of that person's life, writing an essay about that person, and making a trifold display with photos of the person and quotations said by the person. They will be creating a riddle, told from the point of view of that person. On the night of Images of Greatness, students will dress as their chosen great people and present their memorized riddle to the audience. The audience will have a sheet to fill out to try and guess all the answers to the riddles. After the presentation, students will stand by their trifold displays and discuss their research to everyone looking at their display. The student will also have some kind of food they have prepared to share. The food will have something to do with their great person... maybe it's something they liked, maybe it's something from their culture or time period. Maybe it's just something that is associated with them. It's a fun way to end. I'm really pleased with the list of great people they've chosen... Dorothea Lange, Babe Didrickson, Benazir Bhutto, Pele, Stevie Wonder, Walt Disney, Rachel Carson, George Harrison, Jane Addams, Rosa Parks, Queen Elizabeth I, Charles Darwin, Theodore Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Jackie Robinson, Bill Gates, and William Shakespeare. Great variety... I'm looking forward to the big night!

3. I feel blessed to have a little more free time this week. We had strike last night and got the entire stage area cleaned off. The set was dismantled and put away. I have drama club with the kids until 5:00 tonight, but with drama club, there is no big deadline hanging over our heads. It's just a time of fun that we all enjoy. I have a little breathing room, and it's nice!