the madness continues.

And so the absolute madness that is the end of the year rages on.

Thanksgiving was phenomenal. The weekend was a blast down in Rotorua, but now that the end of the year is so nigh, we're plowing straight ahead. All systems are go.

Into the final stretch of the year, the Totara team is launching straight into our chaotic agenda. With the year eights continuing on to college next year, we have our schedule full of Leavers' Assembly (a.k.a. Graduation Ceremony) rehearsals. The younguns have been working their little hearts and lungs out to get R. Kelly's "World's Greatest" and a song from a previous assembly down to the slightest tone. It sounds absolutely phenomenal, but there's still perfection to be achieved where their singing is involved We also have some Christmas Concert rehearsals smattered across the schedule. The team absolutely loves the Michael Jackson medley that we're planning for this. We actually have started to have students volunteer to be dancers for this number. It's pretty shocking and AMAZING to see how many fantastic dancers we have among our group - some could almost give ol' MJ a run for his money were he still among the living.

Being in week 8, we're also bringing our Geometry to a close at the end after an all but brief run. With such a jam-packed schedule it's been difficult to achieve absolutely everything that we had wanted to for our little mathematicians, but they've at least developed a fairly solid understanding of all the 2-D & 3-D shapes along with several additional concepts. Next week we'll be delving into some recaps for previous units that they had struggled with. While we may be in the end of the year, expectations for their achievement levels are still very high. I have to admit that I'm actually quite proud of how focused most of the class is staying with their subjects. Their heads haven't quite gotten all the way into the clouds with the summer holidays so near.

We've also been injecting multiple writing sessions into the days to ensure that they're getting as much time as possible to work on their narratives. There have also been some sessions of games and miscellaneous activities that have managed to sneak their way into our agenda also. While our expectations are running high for the class - it has to be recognized that it is the end of the year and that they have been working their little butts off over the year. They need some breathing time.

And, so, it's off to finish up some loose ends for the evening and get ready for another busy day.

Cheers!