A Little Downtime

Isn’t it funny how just when you feel like you’re doing too much and getting just a wee bit overwhelmed with it all, something happens that forces you to sit back and cool your heels for awhile? Tuesday afternoon afterschool I was running errands. I had just bought dowels to make knitting needles with the fifth grade handwork class and was heading to the grocery store when my dansko-clad foot hit a crack in the sidewalk, my ankle turned sideways and I fell — hard. It was bad enough that I couldn’t put any weight on it all day on Wednesday. Today, I’ve been able to hobble around a bit but I stayed home from school both days. I’ll be back at school tomorrow, just in time to finish off our first Roman History block.

I was fortunate enough to have a very capable substitute to leave my class in the hands of. She was able to cover the material that I would have covered so my students will still be ready for their block test tomorrow. Though I never would have wished for a sprained ankle, having these two days has taken the edge off of what would have been a very busy block-switch weekend.

I always enjoy the opportunity to look back upon the work that we accomplished in each block and a block test is the perfect way to do that. I always write the test in a way that allows the students to do quite well. I want them to have that satisfying look back on what they know.

Topics that will be covered this time are:

• Alexander the Great
• Aeneas and The Trojan War
• Romulus and Remus
• The Sabines
• The Etruscans
• Horatius at the Bridge
• Roman Law
• Patricians and Plebeians
• Carthage and the Punic Wars
• Hannibal
• The Senate, Assembly, Consuls, Dictator, Tribunes, and the power of the “veto”
• The Gracchi Brothers
• Gaius Marius
• Spartacus