Friday's Quiz!

Students should be studying in order to prepare for their

Vocabulary Quiz on Friday on the following words:

luminous

swerve

utter

weasel

burrow

concrete poem

haiku

free verse

"...Whatever is in my bag..."

 

In order to better understand figurative language, students participated in a unique activity today. Each had their own paper bag with their own secret item/object in it. They had to personify their object and create similes and metaphors to clue their classmates as to what was in their bag. Take a look at some of the students in action below!

Blog Post of the Week

Congrats to Kayla S of B Block on earning "Blog Post of the Week!" She did an excellent job examining the lyrics to one of her favorite songs. She quoted the various lyrics and explained her interpretation clearly. Take a look at her post here:

"I chose the song “Breaking the Habit” by Linkin Park. To me this song is very powerful and sends a strong message. The song means to break away from the crowd and be yourself, to not follow what people do. For instance, in the song it says “ it’s not going to go alright, if I want to go this far, so I’m breaking the habit, I’m breaking the habit tonight.” This phrase of the song tells people that if he keeps following those people he’ll blend in and not be unique. So instead he is turning his back on the crowd and being himself. The second reason why I like this song is that it’s extremely catchy and you can rock out and dance to it. Even though it’s a rock song, it is upbeat enough to dance to. In addition, it uses a bunch of figurative language. For instance, “I don't want to be the one the battles always choose” is an example of personification because battles can’t choose what they do. Also, there is so much more figurative language such as similes and metaphors. The reason the song is so powerful to me is that in 5th grade I was having a hard time being myself and I always wanted to be someone other than myself. But, after I heard that song I realized that it was better to be myself and to not follow the crowd."

Kids Blog

Click on your corresponding class.

http://kidblog.org/awesomeblock

http://kidblog.org/bestblock

http://kidblog.org/coolblock

http://kidblog.org/dynamiteblock

Beyond the Classroom -- Defining Poetry

What better way to start off the Poetry Unit than to begin by defining what we believe poetry to be and then venturing outside! First, students brainstormed to warm-up for their adventure beyond the classroom (afterall, it was a bit chilly out!). Then, after grasping an understanding of the most effective way to share ideas, students partnered up and discussed their lists. Following a class discussion, each block proceeded to work together to formulate a definition of poetry. Students thought about all the poems they have read in their lives as well as all they have learned about poetry thus far in their academic careers. 

 THIS IS WHAT EACH CLASS CAME UP WITH . . .

A BLOCK
poetry: words in rhythm that express emotion usually formatted in stanzas

B BLOCK
poetry: words that have rhythm, meaning and feeling; usually organized into stanzas

C BLOCK 
poetry: mini-stories that express meaningful emotion and can have rhyming words

D BLOCK
poetry: a type of passionate writing that expresses a writer's emotion in a rhythm 


After formulating their definitions, students were informed that the word "poem" comes from the Greek word poiesis — ποίησις — which has a broad meaning of a "to make" or "to do." With that, we decided to "make" a new, DIFFERENT class experience. Pen and paper in hand, students respectfully lined up and took a trip outside focusing on all they observed and felt while doing their best to record it. We came back in and reflected on our experience as a whole. There were no rules to how the students could express what they had experienced, except that it had to be on paper. Some wrote in complete sentences, some wrote in bullet points, others composed a list. No matter what each 7th grader decided on doing, it did not matter. The key was the expression. As we dive further into the Poetry Unit we may find that maybe there are no rules to poetry either, and that MAYBE the key to poetry is expression.....

(Special note to the students: You guys were so awesome today. Your behavior was outstanding and I feel so fortunate to be your teacher! Thank you for being so respectful. I know we can do something like this again with no problem!)



 

Blog Post of the Week!

Congrats to Joselyn S of D block! Her amazing and descriptive blog post about her fears and how they affect her life decisions was a pleasure to read! Her writing came alive and truly engaged the reader. Take a look at it here:

"An embarrassing fear that shadow's my everyday life is the lurking oceans, with the secrets it holds. I don't understand this fear, perhaps it's the sharks that animate the sea. The navy waters creating an eerie mood making me edgy about going in, even staying in. Imagine this, you are swishing your legs in the water, not bothering a soul and suddenly a large mammal comes out of the never ending oceans, tearing off one of your limbs. I am completely horrified of this happening to me. Even when I am water skiing, the image floods my brains as though toxins secretly entered my mind. I cannot get over the fact that sharks could be beneath me; maybe that is the reason for this fear. Another hypothesis is that I might be afraid of how large the ocean is, the mysterious ribbon like waves surrounding me; making it almost impossible to know what is around me. One of the times I went swimming an unbearable sensation that something was following me appeared. I don't know why, or even how but it certainly happened. There have been many shark attacks in Gloucester, and I am afraid this will take over my life if a mammal of this sort attacked me. Unfortunately this is a fear that I have, and I share it with many others. And maybe one day I will overcome my fear, but for now this fear shadow's me." 

Vocabulary Quiz on Friday!

Students should be studying for their vocabulary quiz on Friday on these words:

prejudice
scapegoat
flustered
sluggishly
persistently
defiant
metamorphosis

They all come from the screenplay, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, which we will be reading this week! 

Effective Introductions

We started off this week by talking once more about how to write effective introductions! March is creeping up on us and we need to be prepared to write our long compositions! Together as a class we came up with a sort of checklist/rubric when it comes to evaluating introductory paragraphs.

Take a look at it below.

(Some of it  can apply to ALL writing and not just introductions!)

In class today we continued with the paragraph competition! Each group ranked their paragraphs and read them aloud verses other groups. As a class we used this checklist/rubric to decide which introductory paragraph was more effective/powerful. The winning group got a prize! 

Blog Post of the Week!

Congratulations to Brendan J. of D Block for his amazing "Snowimagination" Post! His vivid details really helped his descriptive writing come alive! He definitely "showed" us what his blizzard experience would be like, rather than simply telling us. It's quite obvious that he proofread as well, considering his slim to none grammar/spelling errors!

Way to go Brendan!

"It was a quiet, peaceful night. I lay down, restless in my bed, tossing and turning. I managed to crawl out just enough to see the enormous cumulonimbus clouds over the horizon line, rolling into Gloucester. It was like watching a horror movie, the eerie silence before an epic battle was to commence. Just the thought of it sent chills cascading down my spine, so I decided to retreat to my warm, cozy bed, and I slept through the rest of the night. When I awoke, the clock did not show time, which could only mean that the power had gone out. I rushed downstairs to a blazing wood fire that illuminated the room. My sister told me that the power had indeed gone out over the night which was caused by a freak snow storm. The snow had completely barricaded the door so no one could enter in or out. My sister and I made hot cocoa and watched from the skylight, the snowflakes drop one by one. I studied the individual pattern of each snowflake as it landed softly on the window. If only there was a way to reach the outer world and play in the soft, fluffy snow. Wait! The idea hit me like a brick in the head. We made our way to the garage and grabbed two large shovels. I opened the door and the entire doorway was covered in heavily compacted snow, preventing us from seeing outside. Slowly, we chipped away at the snow, creating a large hole for us to pass through. I wiggled into my snow attire and ran outside to jump in the snow. My sister and I made snow angels, had a snowball fight with our neighbors, and even made a large mountain of snow to sled down. After we had done our share of playing, our mother told us to carry in the christmas tree and we would decorate it. The tree consisted of beautiful white lights, many different colored bulbs, and family made ornaments. When we finished, we had a filling chinese food dinner and then my siblings and I all went off to our rooms, remembering the wonderful day we had together.

Many people think that the world is going to end very soon. Personally, I do not believe the rumor and never intend to in the future. However, if the world does infact end, I hope to spend every last minute of it with my family, and my friends, all the people that I love."