The Thanksgiving holiday is two days away. I can hardly believe that the school year has gone by so quickly and we are almost to the end of November. I especially love the holiday of Thanksgiving because I have so much for which to be thankful. I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with middle school students who can sometimes be both immature and mature within the same five minutes. Valleywood is such an excellent school and the staff works very hard to help students be successful and for this I am grateful because coming to work is a joy.
I am hopeful that all of the students, their families and the staff here at Valleywood have a very relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.
When we return, we will be completing Educational Development Plans with 7th and 8th grade students. 

Friendship in middle school is quite a challenge. Often the challenge of finding a true friend can be very difficult and takes time. Many times students share their disappointments about friends who they thought they could trust but now have turned against them. There are students who have very poor friendship skills who treat others in a mean way and seem to enjoy the turmoil that happens when two friends are no longer getting along due to a rumor that was spread about them.
Learning to choose someone as a friend who is a quality person with similar interests and values is not easy and often happens only after a student has suffered through the pain of  friendships that have fallen apart.