I’m two days’ behind.  Had to address other matters, as my two most recent posts indicate.

In any event, last week was my first full week at school, following a four-day convalescence at home due to a muscle spasm in my neck and upper back, with referred pain in my right shoulder.  I have completed two weeks of physical therapy, and, as a result, I am feeling immensely improved.  Praise God for talented doctors, physical therapists, a loving family, and a warm, safe home.

Anyway, last Tuesday was St. Valentine’s Day, the highlight of the week.  However, I did not do my usual St. Valentine’s Day activities.  I placed my annual order for Necco Hispanic Sweethearts a tad bit late.  Therefore, they didn’t arrive until 16 February.  So, I did different St. Valentine’s Day activities, which, in hindsight, neither I nor the students enjoyed as much.  To add to the pain, I paid almost ten dollars for the activities in question via Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT).   In and of themselves, there was nothing wrong with the activities; they required more critical thinking than the students are accustomed with holiday activities.  Which, in this day and age, working the critical thinking skills doesn’t hurt anyone, and especially students.  Still, the activities with the Necco Hispanic sweethearts foster their own brand of critical thinking.

Along with the aforementioned activities, I served up pan dulce to my eighth grade Spanish Onesies.  I ordered it just prior to the Christmas vacation, while we were working on the foods unit.  Pan dulce is difficult to explain to native-speaking U.S. born students. So, the best thing to do was to actually expose them to it.  After some Internet searching, I located an online store called, mexgrocer.com.  I also presented the origins of plan dulce, courtesy of this website.

As usual, contemplating projects which will engage kiddos, and supply the appropriate degree of rigor in order to promote mastery and proficiency.  In fact. I have such an idea percolating as I type.