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Month: June 2020

Dear Students of 2019/2020 – Happy Summer!

Dear Students of 2019/2020 – Happy Summer!

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Normally, we’d be having a little fun in the classroom during this last week of school.  Normally, I’d say good-bye for the summer and ask you all about your plans for the summer months.  Normally, on the last day of school, I’d be out in the parking lot with all the other teachers and administrators at the end of the day, and we’d wave off the buses as they left for the last time for that year.

Normally, we’d sing and dance and play games today.  But this is not a normal year, so I wanted to take a moment to say:

Have a super, awesome, fantastic, wonderful, fun-filled, healthy summer!

I am looking forward to seeing you all in September! 

We Made It! – Writing in the Last Week of School 2019-2020

We Made It! – Writing in the Last Week of School 2019-2020

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I am making a correction to this post because I’ve just realized that LIBBY, the library app is no longer supported by our SDG Libraries. So if you read this post and tried to link up to Libby, I’m afraid you had no luck.  See below for the new app!

Summertime is a great time to do some pleasure reading!  Well, any time is really a good time to do pleasure reading, but summer is certainly a time when you have lots of free time to chill out with a good book.  I know it’s hard to get your hands on the books you want to read during a pandemic so here are some options: Cloud Library is SDG Library’s new app for borrowing ebooks and audiobooks.  If you have a library card with the SDG Libraries, you can use your card (membership number and password) to log in to the Cloud Library app. Download it on your phone or tablet.  Borrow ebooks and/or audiobooks!  Here’s a webpage to help you download and use it!

 

Follow the instructions for the Sora App!  Listen to audiobooks, read books on your phone or tablet!

 

 

Some of this week’s prompts are simple.  Write an ‘end of the year blogpost’ on:

  • What’s your plan for this summer?
  • Thoughts on this school year?
  • How did you survive school during Covid-19?
  • What did you discover about yourself during this school closure?
  • What did you create during the school closure?
  • What do you look forward to in the fall?

 

 

Here are some other prompts for this week:

 

Writing Prompt #1:

 

Writing Prompt #2

 

Writing Prompt #3:

 

Writing Prompt #4:

 

Happy writing, Grade 7 and 8!  I hope you all have a wonderful summer.  I look forward to seeing you in the fall.

 

Books books books!

Books books books!

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One thing that has not changed about me over the school closure period is my love of books.  Since March 13th I’ve read A LOT of books (see the images at the bottom of this post).  The ones I want to talk to you today about though are Young Adult novels that I listened to on my phone using our school board’s SORA app.

Need more information about how to use Sora?  No problem.  Just send me an email or a text on Microsoft Teams, and I’ll send instructions!

I really loved this book on audio.  It is a multiple point of view perspective. The story is told from the point of view of both protagonists: Lena and Campbell.

These two high school girls would not have likely had much to do with one another, but the events of one Friday night force them to help each other and at least try to understand one another.

Campbell is new in town, having just come to live with her father because her mother had to go away.  She has to work at the canteen for the football game at her school and will likely spend her weekend on her own.  She’s not looking forward to it.

Lena just wants to meet up with her boyfriend, Black.  She’s going to hang out with him and try not to let her cousin or her dad find out.  They both have no idea that they will spend their Friday night together, but the violence that erupts around them forces them together.

I gave this one 5/5 stars on Goodreads.com

 

 

Emani is a 17 year old mom who loves her baby girl, Emma, and her abeula (grandmother) and her cooking.  She had her baby at a very young age, so she’s had to learn responsibility and control and how to manage her time and her heart.

Emani is a good student, but college applications are due and there’s something going on with Abeula, and the new boy in her homeroom wants to be her friend and it’s all a bit confusing for Emani.

I loved this on audio also because the author reads the story herself, and her voice is perfect for Emani, of course.  The story is definitely for young adults (special permission) but it’s one that most of us can relate to because for me it’s about that time in our lives when we have to ask ourselves what we truly want in life, what’s important to us.

 

Two books I’m reading now are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other books I’ve read (mostly adult novels) include:

(“The Giver of Stars” and “A Long Petal of the Sea” were books I read with Mrs. Reid! We had a mini book club!  It was fun.)

 

We Are Writers! – Prompts for June 15-19

We Are Writers! – Prompts for June 15-19

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Last week we had some excellent writing happening!  I loved reading your treehouse designs, your restaurant menus, your stories, your “Life Playlists” and all of your blogposts!

I’m hoping that this week we can write up a storm because there are only 2 weeks left of school!  I’m going to try to write a blogpost about the books I’ve been reading.  I hope you will too. To get you thinking and talking about BOOKS, I’ve collected a few BOOKTALK prompts!

Here they are:

BookTalk Writing Prompt #1

 

BookTalk Writing Prompt #2

 

BookTalk Writing Prompt #3

 

 

And then there’s the regular writing prompts for those of us who want to write something else!

 

Writing Prompt #1: This can be a letter to anyone.

 

Writing Prompt #2: If you want to invent a sport that doesn’t have jet packs, go for it.  Just make sure to describe your sport in good detail. What’s the object of the game?  How many players/teams?  What equipment needed. Where is it played.  How do you win? 

 

Writing Prompt #3: Don’t forget to describe with vivid imagery (sensory details help the reader understand WHY you are grateful for these things).

 

Writing Prompt #4: Indulge by creating your fantasy food!  Make it something so fattening that you gain weight just describing it! 

 

Writing Prompt #5: A story prompt for our storytellers.


 

I can’t wait to see what you write!

Writing for the week of June 8-12

Writing for the week of June 8-12

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This week, I am providing you with some new prompts, but I also want you to feel free to go back through previous weeks’ prompts to see if there was anything you didn’t get a chance to use that may be inspiring to you now.  The most important thing is to keep writing!

Remember that the blog is for writing, for revising and editing, and presenting your best effort.  Titles should be interesting to the reader.  They should also have capital letters for all the important words.

 

 

Writing Prompt #1 – C’mon!  You know you want to write a Zombie story!

Writing Prompt #2 – Zombies aren’t your thing?  No problem.  You probably want to write a Star Wars story!

 

Writing Prompt #3 – This is for Foodies!  You get to design the menu.  Put all of your favourites on the list.  OR, make it a Zombie menu or a Star Wars menu or a Menu for people who live in Candyland, or a menu for Smurfs!  Get creative, people!

 

Writing Prompt #4 – This is the Movie of your LIFE!  What songs are playing?

 

 

Writing Prompt #5:  For the designers and builders and dreamers.  Your tree top paradise is whatever you want it to be. 

I LOVE reading your writing.  Have fun!  Be creative!  Then, revise and edit!  Oh yes, revising and editing are important parts of the process!

 

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