English 7

August 31st, 2011 (A)

September 1st, 2011 (B)

Dear Seventh Grade Students:

What was the most interesting new thing you learned about the ABCs in our last class? Will you remember some of those funky-sounding terms like bilabial, fricative, and dipthong? Syllables are the name of the game for our second day of boot camp. We'll have a syllable war and put the six syllable types into action to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It.

The definitions for the three types of syllable count poems we will discuss in class are below. Your poem will be graded on accuracy of form, clarity, creativity, and artistry. You may try sending it via a blog comment, email me a copy at adatchison@moundsparkacademy.org, or bring a hard copy with you to our next class. The poem is worth ten points using a similar grading scale to the 12-minute write, but a title will be optional (your name is still required), and there's no need to highlight or bold your best writing.

Enjoy!

Mrs. Atchison

Haiku

The haiku originated in Japan about 800 years ago. Each poem contains three unrhymed lines and 17 syllables, arranged in lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. A haiku usually describes a scene in nature and includes a seasonal reference.

August 29, 2011 (A day students)
August 30, 2011 (B days students)

12-Minute Write- What's it Like to Be a Middle School Boy-Girl_

English Seven Parent Assignment

One Hundred and Twenty Seconds

Dear MPA 7th Graders,

L-O!
U R N English 7!
How X-I-10!
It S a 3-L 2 B with U!
U-L start N English Boot Camp at D very beginning (a very good place 2 start).
U L B learning about D ABCs, so B prepared 4 a surprise or 2.
Us U-R E-Rs, OK?
Trust me, F-R-E-1 works 2-gether, it L B E-Z-R.

B C-N U!

Mrs. Atchison

P.S. There are three assignments attached to this entry:

1. Your 12-minute write on what it's like to be a middle school boy/girl is due next class.

2. Your parent interview assignment is due Friday, September 2nd (A day students)
or Tuesday, September 6th (B day students).

3. Your first independent reading assignment is due September 21st or 22nd.

5/23-27/11

Dear Seventh Graders:

The idea is simple: write a short story in 55 words or less. A complete short story. With  beginning, conflict, and end. Not a poem. Not a journal entry. A short story. A very short story. The 55 Fiction contest was created in 1987 by New Times, an alternative weekly in California. It quickly caught on and created a new genre: "flash fiction." 

Your next BVC challenge is to write and post a flash fiction story using no more than 55 words and including at least three of your BVC challenge words. Your story will be worth 20 points with 1/2 point extra credit for each additional word and a one-point deduction for each error. If your story doesn't make sense for whatever reason or if you exceed the 55-word limit, your grade will be adjusted accordingly. Here are some of the rules to keep in mind while writing a 55-fiction story:

• A story is a story only if it contains the following four elements: 1) a setting; 2) a character or characters; 3) conflict; and 4) resolution.

• All stories have to be happening someplace, which means they have to have a setting of some kind, even if it's the other side of the universe, the inner reaches of someone's mind, or just the house next-door.

• Characters can have infinite variations. People, animals, clouds, microbes. Anything.

• In the course of the story, something has to happen. The lovers argue. The deer flees. The astronauts wait in anticipation.

• The story's title isn't included in the word count. But remember that it can't be more than seven words long.

• Any punctuation is allowed, and no punctuation marks count as words.

The Dig

As the anthropologist tentatively began digging, she felt the earth beneath her slowly dissipate. Surely, she misconstrued the mysterious pressure thumping against her hands. Trying to rectify the situation, she extricated her hands from the place where she dug, feeling a specter-like whoosh consume her, debilitate her, and return her to the newly crumbled earth.

Now it's your turn.

Enjoy!

Mrs. Atchison

But what about in life? If you think about it in the simplest sense, paying attention to life is really a two-step process that lets us choose what we pay attention to and how we pay attention to it.

What we feed with our attention is what will grow. In order to be grateful we have to pay attention. Gratitude doesn't just happen. To be grateful, we have to notice the person, the event, the moment itself, or it passes us by.

May 5th-6th, 2011

Dear Seventh Graders:

It's back to business. Ready or not, server, we're going to pick up where we left off on our graphic novel scripts and begin writing on googledocs if we need. We're also going to dig into the final BVC lessons of the year and continue on our gratitude journey.

When was the last time you formed a new habit because you wanted to - not because you had to? What's the difference between a habit and a routine?

hab·it

¹    /ˈhæbɪt/ Show Spelled[hab-it] Show IPA

-noun

1. an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street.

2. customary practice or use: Daily bathing is an American habit.

3. a particular practice, custom, or usage: the habit of shaking hands.

rou·tine

   /ruˈtin/ Show Spelled[roo-teen] Show IPA

-noun

1. a customary or regular course of procedure.

2. commonplace tasks, chores, or duties as must be done regularly or at specified intervals; typical or everyday activity: the routine of an office.

3. regular, unvarying, habitual, unimaginative, or rote procedure.

Does a habit have a rhythm like a routine? Note that a routine is unimaginative. Does it take imagination to form a habit? What's the difference between a bad habit and a good habit? Do we back ourselves into a bad habit by not paying attention? By not being conscious of our treasures? By not looking outside ourselves and our routines? Which of your habits are hiding places or excuses? Which of your habits are you proud of - because you wanted them and they reflect who you are and what you believe?

How's your golden list coming? Is it a habit worth forming?  If not, okay. Then what is? 21 days. Are you in?

I'm with you!

Mrs. Atchison