7th Grade Stories

Questions to be answered in the story:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?

Parts of a story:
Beginning (introduction)
-Setting (time, place, characters)
The Body of the story
-A problem is introduced that needs to be solved by the end of the stroy
Climax
Conlcusion

Homework:

To write a first draft of your story and post it in the comments by Sunday night at 7pm

Meeting Outline

• Post Summer Catch-up
• Our Books
• Where is everyone's progress?
• What are our next steps?
• This Year!
• Brainstorming ideas for this years projects!
• What do you want to write about?
• Welcome 7th Graders: Your 1st Assignment
• Write a one page story about a trip to the mountains.
• Brainstorming
• Someone finds a monkey in the mountain (bianca d.)
• A girl goes to the mountains and finds a pizza monster! Ah! (cristina)
• Someone finds a tiger in the forest! (ioana)
• Someone finds a bear in the mountains (biana b.)
• A mountain lion (amalia)

Kid's Book by Kids

EM has decided to write and illustrated their own kid's books. Here are the results of our brainstorming meeting:

- Plan for 10-20 pages
- Each page containing at least two paragraphs = 20 to 40 paragraphs depending on the length of the story.

Parts of the story: For next week

PLOT: The plot of your story tells the actions and events that take place in your story. Your plot should have a beginning, a middle and an end. The plot tells the events of your story in a logical order.

SETTING: This is where your story takes place. The setting is a time - the future, the past, or now. The setting is also the place - on the moon, in Chicago, at the Whitehouse. The setting is an important part of your story.

List of CHARACTER: Make a list of your main characters, explaining who each is and their role in the plot of the story. Do you have a hero and a villian? Or one lead character who must overcome multiple situations.

Please post any questions or ideas that you may run into and be ready to present your outlines next Wednesday.

Grade 8: Discussion Questions

Below are some discussion questions for chapters 5-6. Please respond to them and I look forward to seeing the 8th graders tomorrow at 12pm. Thanks!

Chapter 5-6
1. What are some differences Katniss notes between the Capitol and her own District 12?
2. What's unusual about District 12's costume?
3. What does Cinna ask Katniss and Peeta to do just before they ride out in their chariot?  What is the  
    purpose of this gesture?
4. Why is it so hard for Katniss to trust Peeta's kindness?
5. What is an Avox?
6. How does Katniss know the Avox?

Grade 7: Rhyming Poems

Jumping Rope By Shel Silverstein

UPDATE: For grade 7 we will no longer be reading the book. Therefore only have one assignments for the Creative Writing Group.

Write a rhyming poem on any topic you would like.

 

We are using the inspiration of the great children's poet, Shel Silverstein, as inspiration for our own rhyming poems.

Below I have linked the Shel Silverstein website for inspiration and a rhyming dictionary!

Shel Silverstein

http://www.rhymezone.com/

Chapters

The Hunger Games <---- Link to the book

Pages
Chapter 1 pg. 1-19
Audiobook 1 -part 7

Chapter 2 pg. 19-31
Audio Book 8 -part 12

Chapter 3 pg. 31-44
Audiobook 13 - part 18

Chapter 4 pg. 44- 55
Audiobok 19 -part 23

 Chapter 5 pg. 56 -68
Audiobook 24 - part

Chapter 6 pg. 68 - 80
Audiobook Chapter 6

Chapter 7 pg. 80 - 96
Audiobook Chapter 7
Chapter 8 pg. 96 - 106
Audiobook Chapter 8

Chapter 9 pg. 106- 122
Audiobook Chapter 9

Chapter 10 pg. 122-136
Audiobook Chapter 10

Chapter 11 pg. 136-149
Audiobook Chapter 11

Chapter 12 pg. 149-160
Audiobook Chapter 12

Chapter 13 pg.160- 172
Audiobook Chapter 13

Chapter 14 pg.172- 182
Audiobook Chapter 14

Chapter 15 pg. 183 - 194
Audiobook Chapter 15

Chapter 16 pg. 194 - 207
Audiobook Chapter 16

The Hunger Games Chapter 4

This week we will be discussing what has taken place so far in the adventure of Katniss Everdeen and her fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark.

Currently, Katniss and Peeta have left their home in District 12, along with Haymitch and Effie Trinket. They have just arrived in the Capital they contiune to prepare to meet their competition in the games, as well as their stylists (a very important group of people.)



I found this image online about what someone thought Panem
would look like. Note that the blue dotted line represents
what is believed to be a new coast line, therefore
everything outside of it would not exist.



Below I have listed a group of discussion questions for you to answer in the comments section for this week. Since no one has come to our meeting today, I will plan to not continue reading until next week, but you must all be caught up to the end of chapter 4 and answer the questions before Monday night at midnight!



Also linked below is a better copy of the book, which includes the chapter breaks to make it easier for us to

know where everyone should be at.

Good Luck!





Discussion Questions

1.The story is written in the first-person, present tense. How does this affect the story?

2. Do you think strategy will be helpful or necessary in the Hunger Games, for what you know about how the games work so far? And if so, how?



3. How does Katniss feel about Peeta by the end of chapter 4? How do you think this will affect her in the games or any stragety she might be planning?



The Hunger Games -Better Copy



The Hunger Games: Chapters 4-5

Today we finished chapter 3 and began chapter 4 of The Hunger Games.

Your assignment this week is to finish chaptera 4 and 5. Also please comment on the blog about the book. I want a dialogue to begin about the story and this is the perfect place to do it. You can also post anyquestions that you may have regarding vocabulary, or the story in general.

Happy Reading!!

We left off on page 592, audiobook part 20
The Hunger Games

Audiobook

The Hunger Games Chapters 1-3

Hi everyone!

Over the past two weeks we have been reading the first three chapters of "The Hunger Games"!

This week and next week we will continue on in the story of Katniss Everdeen and hopefully "the odds will ever be in her favor" as she prepares to enter the Hunger Games.

Please use the comments section below to share any thoughts you have about the story so far and any predictions you would like to make!

Happy Martisor!

The Hunger Games

School Politics Essays

A Bad Past That Changed My Life

I was marked by the difference which was made in school between me and the popular football players. I remember that I felt shy because nobody gave me the chance to show who I really was. All the students looked at the famouse players, nobody looked at me.
On a cloudy and bad day, I saw a new girl in school. She came at me. My heart was beating so fast, because I thought she going to bully  me or something like that. She was a prety girl with a dark hair and her eye colour was like caramel. In her shy voice, she said, "Hi!I'm kate". I felt a vibration in her voice,and that was enough to understood that, that girl didn't want hurt me in any way.
 With her help I discovered my talent..
 Now I'm working at a police departament as a cosultant, and that charming girl, who helped me, is now my wife .Without her I wouldn't have discovered my talent. She supported me and she told that I make connections which other people don't see.  I see men's true identity which fuels my work today.
 So she opened a door in my life, I stuided criminology and now I forgot what had happend in school and I'm happy with my life.
By Alexandra

8th Grade Assignment: The Politics of School

This week, we are going to use the politics of school as inspiration for our writting assignment.

A popular theme in movies, literature and televsion, is the idea that students are divided up into different groups based on interests and personality. We all know the standard titles: Jocks, the Popular kids, the theatre dorks, Nerds and so on.

As we watched in our meeting today, below I have linked the pilot episdoe on the popular television "Glee." This show cleverly displays and tries to challenge the idea that these groups of students cannot step outside of their clicks without upsetting the balance of highschool life.

This week's writting assingment is to use these ideas to form a composition surrounding a villian (antagonist)  and a hero (protagonist). The antagonist is someone who holds tight to the ideas that students must behave and interact according to their popularity level, while the antagonist refuses to let social barriers dictate what they do and how they treat others.

 

Good Luck!

Glee!

8th Grade Assignment: Rob's Request for Bob Marly

At the end of last semester, we placed different topics in a hat and ended up drawing: 

The one and only Bob Marly

What are the topics that surround this iconic figure?

Politics

Race

Music

...

7th Grade Reading Group

As decided last semester, the 7th grade section of English Masters, are going start our book club. We are going to read the thrilling tale of one young girl's fight for survival in the popular book:

 The Hunger Games 

By Susan Collins

Today, we will focus on the first chapter and identifying the following information on the setting, major characters and the general plot of this young adult novel.

Chapter 1

Audio Part 1

Audio Part 2

Ready, Set, Write...

This week, each student has been given the following sentence. Each student will use this sentence asthe opening line in their stories. Let's see how each student develops dif ferent tales from the same beginning. Ready, Set, Write!

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

The Writing Process: Step By Step

Inspired by Photographs

More than Wealth
By Adriana

Monday 7:00pm


It is a rainy day and all around is dark. Now, the Sun-Ville City is full of umbrellas and everyone is sad and bored.

Yet, someone, inside of her shelter, stays calm and happy. She is Miranda Darkness, a wonderful woman who can charm any man with her beauty and charisma. 

But, behind these things, there hides another personality, a dark one. 

The real Miranda is a bad woman. She steals money from people or from banks. She kills people rarely and now lives the life of a rich and comfortable woman. That is the reason for her happiness. 
"Ha, ha, ha! I am the richest person in the world! Nobody has more money then me!"
When you take a look at Miranda, you don't even think she could have any reason to be bad... but you are wrong.
"Hmmm, let's see the my next plan: Tomorrow I'll go to the National Bank and steal their money. Ha, ha, ha!"
Now, you are thinking that she will go their with her normal clothes, but she has a special thief suit: a black slim outfit which she wears to robberies.


Tuesday 2:00pm


"It is time to go now!" Miranda said as she left her room. On her way she met a cute guy whom which she fell in love with. This was the first time Miranda ever felt this way. 
"Wow, that was a cite guy...."
She gave up her plan and went home thinking about the charming man.  "Oh, he was so cute! Ah! Now I didn't steal anything, but someone stole something from me: that boy stole my heart."
Everything that Miranda thought about was of him as she searched for him, but with no result.
Finally, one day, she met her prince charming at the entrance of Miranda's favorite supermarket. Unfortunately, she fell on the stairs, but the boy comes to help her standup. "Oh, ok, that's fine. Would you like to....marry me?" she blurted out.
"Of course I would like to!" he said honestly.
Miranda began, "David, I have to tell you something: before meeting you I was a bad woman... I mean... I was robbing banks and hurting people."
David replied, "I don't care, Miranda! I don't care if you have stopped doing these things."
"I really did. I'll never do that again, and the good news is that we are sooooo rich!" she said as she opened the door to the wardrobe. Inside, there were almost twenty bags of money!
"Wow, we have to give it away! They are stolen!"
"But we can be happy with them."
"We can take two or three bags, but no more. Let's donate the rest to poor children."
"All right! I love you!" And they lived happily ever after!

The Future Sucks!
By Mihai

All "clever" scientists think that we will survive forever and others believe that the final date is 2012. Shockingly, a video recording has been discovered from the future date 2512:

New York 12.02.2512

18:30 Sunday

Rev TV Channel

"Good morning people. Here we are in the 4th step of our freezing global system. The few survivors from Rio de Janero were taken by helis to "Roshtata Camp" for their continued survival. Only Russia has started the final war with France over oil. 

O.k, here is our guest, John Raynor. So what will he say today?

"This is a disaster! The biggest nations are destroying themselves for just a teardrop of oil. New York is a rebel camp that can be destroyed by the Chinese with a neutron nuke bomb...

Tzzzzzzzzz...."

Now we are left with only one queston, will we be like them? 

Skateboarding
By Robby


Skateboarding is my favorite sport because is an extreme sport and

 it makes you feel proud when you land a very hard trick!
It is a sport full of adrenaline that makes you feel like you are alive.
After the first flip you're a skater that will never fail to score 10.
When you are a beginner you must start with freestyle tricks like: pogo, dog out, casper. After, you will start with “old-school” tricks : no comply, boneless, semi-impossible, semi-casper, etc… .
These are tricks that make you be skater of a grade of 5.
After this you must do an “ollie”. Underlying skateboard trick.
After that is: shove-it, pop shove-it, kickflip, heelflip, and impossible.

Me and my story…

By Georgiana

Hi! If you can see…I am a dog…a very happy dog…why am I happy…well this is my story about…you want to hear it? Of cores you want…sooo…let’s begin the story…start listening…

I was a little and pour dog from Dog Ville, witch was a very small city. Since I was little, the big dogs were laughing at me, because I didn’t know to swim. It was horrible, my childhood was ruined of this little thing that I hate…I hate water…this stupid “liquid” stole my happiness far far away from me and it is still ruining my life…   

Finally a lovely little girl found me and adopt me…this was the best thing that happened to me…I loved her and she loved me, until that moment…the moment that changed my life…the step to the courage that I make it…the test that I past it…do you know it?...of cores you didn’t…listen how it happened…

One day…a strange day…I didn’t found my owner…my little girl !! 

When I was looking for her…I heard a short screamed and I knew that that was she…and I followed the scream…I saw her!!!...but unfortunately she was in the WATER!!!

She was screaming for help…and I said to myself”I must help her…I love her”…and I got into the WATER… and I tried to swim... I looked at her and started swimming faster and faster…when I got near her…I said “I’m here, don’t be scared…we’ll gonna be free and alive…come with me” and she hold me tight and swim with me.

We finally felt the ground under our feats…it was very good…the little girl kissed me, but I was still confused “I swam?…I can swim?...but how is this possible…?” and the little girl said to me “I can NOT believe that YOU came and saved me…in the WATER…SWIMMING!!! This is a miracle!” I was still confused, but happy, in the same time …”I can NOT believe that I am A BIG DOG NOW!” 

And you know now my story…oh, and if you want to know when I took that photo…well it’s easy…the little girl took it that day, after I saved her. Am I pretty in that photo? Sure I am! But am I happy in that photo? Sure I am!

A New Hope

By Denisa

Hello!  My name is Doctor Watson. I am a  psychologist and today, 

I am presenting some special people.

Firstly, I want to say they are different people, not just like us. Nobody can understand them. They are locked forever between four walls in a little room. Their own lives are locked in this room. When they are together, they understand each other. The majority are sick and have old and untreated illnesses.

I am creating a club where everybody is welcome. The purpose of this club is to introduce these people into society, to be just like us, and to make them feel like they are welcomed in our world. We must do something and this is the solution. They shouldn’t be discriminated against. They should be treated just like normal humans.

In fact , these people are just like us but with some small behavior problems, as they have been locked up for other illnesses for a long time and have not been around healthy for some time.

Yesterday, I was at the location where they have been locked up and I talked to all of them. It was interesting to learn about their lives while I sat with them. I realised how to understand what they wanted to say and. I appreciated it. That was when I decided to help them.

This is what a good psychologist should be like: to know how to understand the people who need your help.

                   The Adventures of Willy: The Amazing Puffin

By Cosmin

    My name is Willy and I’m a puffin from the east coast of Antarctica. I live in Wutaku, a village made by my adoptive parents, Henry and Johanna. They are Royal Penguins. They were very nice with me from the beginning.

     Lately, I have been very sad because our village is disappearing due to the Global Warming. So I made a basket of fish, and with my best friend, Cherokee, who is an Albatross, we left on a journey he named “The Travel to Nowhere”.

          After a couple of hours we were very tired. When the Sun set, we landed on an iceberg. We ate the remaining fish, and when the Sun came up, we continued our journey. 

         When we were flying over the coast of Africa, we saw desert, only desert. I thought that we were flying in the wrong direction, but with Cherokee’s instincts we continued our way to Greenland, the home of ETERNAL HAPPINESS. 

       Cherokee was very excited that we were very close to our goal, but when we were flying over Norway, I broke my wing. I fell into a tree. Then … a miracle! A child picked me up and helped me to recover from my injury.

              After a month, I was very fit. I said “Good Bye” to my pal, Johnny, and went back to my journey.

              At last, we arrived in Greenland. It was as fabulous as we expected. It was a paradise made of ice! We established a city with the other natives that were, surprisingly, Puffins. The city was named Royal Puffland, named after its community of royals (Royal Penguins) and Puffins.

               After our families arrived, Cherokee and I lived happily in the magic of Royal Puffland.

Comments:

Cosmin, this is a wonderful story! You have taken a simple picture of a puffin and turned it into a story that includes enviromental issues, animal care and best of all, friendship! I am very impressed by the clear improvement you have made in your english skills and in your voice as an author. Well done!

January 11th & January 12th

The Writing Process: Step One, Brainstorming

For the second half of the year I have decided on focusing on different parts of the writing process. Being the first week, we will be attempting different styles of brainstorming.

Free-Writing. Mind Mapping, Cubing

Check out the linked article below: http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/how-to-brainstorm-four-effective-methods-3692444.html

This weeks writing topic: Pictures from Magazines

Pick from one of the pictures that have been cut out of different magazines. Use this as the main source of inspiration for this weeks assignment. 

Good Luck!

New Schedule

7th Graders: Every Tuesday from 12-1pm

8th Graders: Every Wednesday from 11-12pm

Happy New Year!

We ended 2010 with by watching the film "The Goonies" which seemed to be greatly enjoyed by those who attended.


Anyone who would like a copy of the film, please let me know!


Looking ahead to the second half of the school year, we will begin meet again this week on:

Wednesday January 12th from 11-12pm in the English Lab

I hope to see all of you there and ready to start writing. I have a lot of great ideas for the next few months, but feel free to share your ideas on future themes too!