What's In Your Desk Drawer? Day 8

(This post is part of a series about the weird stuff teachers have in their desk drawers. You can read more about this project here, and I hope you'll share the stories of the weird stuff you have in your desk too!)

A mystery container!

In my desk drawer I have this container...which I think is an old tub for frosting (which I was thrifty enough to save, because I'm sure I'll find a use for it!)

What could be inside?

Oh, you'll never guess.

Here, take a peek:

Tech Tool: Story Starters

English teachers, this one is for you. Check out the Story Starters tool on Scholastic.com.

I was visiting a student teacher yesterday and she was starting a new unit on creative writing with her 6th graders. She had a variety of tools to help them generate ideas for stories, but this one was probably the class's favorite.

A screengrab from Scholastic.com

Ghoti, and the Treasures of the English Language

Whenever an oddity of English spelling or grammar comes up in class, I have a mini-lesson in my back pocket about "Why I Hate the English Language." (I don't, of course...but English does have some twisted spelling, grammar, and conventions...which can make it difficult to learn the rules.)

I happened again this week...I can't remember the exact context anymore, but off I went on my rant...

"How do you pronounce this part of a word?" as I write -ough on the board. The students usually respond in chorus:

"Uff." "Ooo." "Owe." "Off."