Explore English

Watch Amy Purdy's Ted Talk titled, Living Beyond Limits and answer two of the following questions:

If life were a book, and you were the author, how would you want the story to go?

If you could write a new chapter in your life, where would you start?

Amy comments, "in our mind, we can do anything if we face our fears face on." What are some of your fears and how are they holding you back?

How, if at all, has Amy's story changed the way you feel about facing challenges.

 Amy Purdy

Explore English

Good afternoon, 

Today we will continue with our Writing Unit. Here is a brief overview of our class:

1. Silent reading 
2. Daily grammar 
3. Discussion (Planning and organizing for writing)
4. Writing exercise 
5. Lesson-The Nature of Happiness

Discussion

With a partner, discuss how you might plan and organize information before writing a response.

What are some different methods of planning?

What does a literary outline look like?

Your turn:

Pick a topic. Plan and organize information about your topic before writing. 

After deciding what your topic is, write an eight sentence paragraph following the format we used in class.

Writing exercise

Begin with the writing prompt "I remember..."

Write for 6 minutes. Trust your mind. Words come out of your mind.

Now...switch it up. Begin with "I don't remember..."

Remember our rules of writing!

Journal # 2

After watching the film The Nature of Happiness, write a journal entry on one of the following two topics:

Is happiness a choice?

What are some things in your life that make you feel content and happy?

Explore English

Journal # 1

Watch Guillaume Nery: The exhilarating peace of free diving to help guide your writing.

Free Diving

Describe a time when you have pushed past your limits.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have panicked?

When do you feel the most at ease?

Explore English

Hi gang,

Awesome first week. Just to recap: Explore students can use this site as a daily reminder of work to be completed if you are ill or away. Content on this page will be a reminder or summary of recent class work.

As you know, we have been completing and presenting our project, "the nature of me." Final presentations are today.

We will progress into simple paragraph writing. This week, students will have practice writing paragraphs and written responses.

We will also do our daily dose of grammar, which includes the dreaded semicolon. Check out this fresh and fun way to learn about it and its many uses:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Communications

Free Write # 6

Design a totem pole with a minimum of three symbols. Describe what each symbol represents.



Free Write # 7

List the top ten items you would bring with you to survive a year on an island.

What is your most essential item? Why?

Free write # 8

Why is it so hard to apologize? Is there someone you need to apologize to? What would you say?

Free Write # 9

What kind of healing do you need? Is it physical or emotional? Describe?

Free Write # 10

How do you see yourself in the future? What will you be doing?

Communication

Happy New Year,

Free Write number 5

We are continuing our goal of writing ten free writes. Today's question gives two options:

When is the last time you felt invisible...or

When is the last time you had a close encounter with an animal.

Here is a recap of our previous free writes:

1. Bullying
2. My darling...
3. Object
4. Resilience
5. Animal encounter or Invisible

Communications

Free write #3

Today's challenge is to write from the perspective of an object in your classroom. Pick an inanimate object. Write for 7 minutes describing what that object would say.

What would your desk say? The clock? 

Tomorrow, we will continue reading from Touching Spirit Bear. We will also complete free write # 4 which is this:

Where did all the time go? I was just eight years old. 

We will also start the movie Pay it Forward.