Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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.



Tuesday, January 18, 2011

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)

Monday, January 17, 2011

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!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New Schedule

7th Graders: Every Tuesday from 12-1pm

8th Graders: Every Wednesday from 11-12pm

Monday, January 10, 2011

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!