Class Goals and Essay Writing

Posted is a video of what the 6th & 7th graders would like to make as a goal.



We began essay writing yesterday.  We are writing on how a boy becomes a knight.  The class is divided into two teams and they chose members to present how a boy reaches knighthood.

Computers and Writing

Some of the 6th & 7th graders had never seen the inside of a computer.  Today, we remedied that.  We took apart a laptop and tower.  The children had a very fun time.

We also began writing an essay about knights.  The students were divided into two groups and gave help to their team members. 

Writing Songs

We've been learning to write poetry and turn them into songs.  The video is a demonstration of what the children wrote in about 25 minutes.  They've been enjoying the opportunity to work with the high school.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is rather than looking for one answer instead generate many ideas or possible solutions.  The 6th & 7th graders did an exercise in divergent thinking.  They came up with many ideas for how to use a paper clip. Duck tape. A shoe.

School is In!

We've started school with a bang!  All the students love the online curriculums that we are taking.  I think they are loving learning.  

Also, today we had a writing class with the high school.  We wrote simple Bible songs, copying from children's songs.  

You Won't Want To Miss This...

Joe

4-29-11

Writing

The Sail of King Gale

         Aboard the Sea Hog, King Hale, who ruled over Narnia, was getting ready for a sail. His destination was the Lone Islands. While loading up provisions, James Carpenter informed the king that there was a green dragon, with teeth like Ginsu knives named Z-bo holding the people captive. Sadly, James added that he ate three quarters of the people and their best chance would be assassinate the malevolent dragon while he was napping. So the king counted out his one hundred and fifty most trusted men, because of the warning James had given him. They set sail the next morning.

There was no wind that day, nor the next, nor the day after that so their going was slow. Going was worse the next day because a thick, heavy fog came in that allowed them to see no more than five feet in front of them. Three days later while they sailed it hailed and they ran into some pirates, who were lying in wait for a mate. Suddenly pirates attacked! Swarms of pirates came onto the deck and there was a fierce and bloody battle on board that included many a red sword. King Hale slashed his sword on all sides, defeated many pirates, and yelled so loud he created a gale in which the pirates decided to bail. The Narnians defeated the pirates on deck and on board it looked like a train wreck. That’s how King Hale became King Gale but that’s not the end of his very long sail. Within a fortnight they ran into a fright, all the Lone Islands were alight. It was the flames that Z-bo had made but they found a survivor in a cave. The survivor told them ‘bout Z-bo the beast, who howled and yelled and gnashed his teeth. King Gale of course was a courageous man who devised a very ingenious plan. He stole inside the dragon’s cave, because of his friends he wanted to save. He crept along the costly bed ‘til he reached the dragons head. The dragon changed his snoring note while King Gale had a lump in his throat. King Gale drew out his shiny sword and killed the dragon on his hoard.

         King Gale liberated the Lone Islands, loaded more provisions, and set sail within a fortnight. Repaired, the ship, which was called the Sea Hog, swiftly glided away from the Lone Islands. They had many hardships and adventures on the way back but they made it to Narnia. All the chaps that dwelled at Cair Paravel welcomed the King and his crew with open arms.  Merrily they held a feast. At the feast King Gale (although most of the Narnians still called him King Hale) told every fellow there about his adventures. 

Inklings

The Inklings were a group of writers in England who would read and discuss on their unfinished works.  C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were a part of the group.   This week in school, we were the Inklings.  Each of the children is writing a piece on missing parts of Narnia, and on Thursday each of the students read a snippet of their story, while the others had constructive criticism.  After hearing the comments from the others, each of the students revised their story.

A Day in School

Take a peak into what we do in a day.
When it is nice out...

We began the day cranking out Khan Academy lessons.

Next, because the weather was so nice, we practiced our Latin lesson outside.

Some fun and exciting science presentations came right after Latin.

After eating lunch outside, we practice choir then returned to the outdoors for a video shoot with Mrs. Hier.

On Writing Class Today:

    C.S. Lewis said of writing, "Instead of telling us a thing was 'terrible,' describe it so that we'll be terrified.  Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description.  You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers 'Please will you do my job for me."  (C.S. Lewis' Letters to Children)

    During writing class, I read some of C.S. Lewis' descriptions of food, and he makes your mouth water.  You can almost taste the food as you read about, "...the hissing and delicious smell of sausages, and more, and more, and more sausages.  And not wretched sausages half full of bread and soya bean either, but real meaty, spicy ones, fat and piping hot and burst and just the tiniest bit burnt.'  ~ The Silver Chair (chap. The Healing of Harms)

I couldn't resist tantalizing your taste buds.  Below are posted some of the student's descriptions of food.

We started dinner with a thick, juicy steak, simply dripping in its own juice.  A mountain of mashed potatoes had gravy oozing out the sides and the smell of soft French bread with melted butter soaking in went with the steak.  For dessert we had a moist chocolate cake with a thick coat of icing just a little bit hard on the edge.

Steaming hot apple crumble with creamy Haagen Dazs vanilla beside the crumble, and the two desserts mingled together to make a heavenly taste.  The cinnamon and brown sugar on top of the crumble mixes with the ice cream, which seeps into the soft baked apples, with the perfect texture.  As I pop it inside my mouth, I close my eyes and dream of soft apples, smell the vanilla bean, and taste the crumbly butter and brown sugar in my mouth.  

Now I must be off to bake something delicious.  

Traveling to Narnia

We are writing Narnian stories.  The students have been asking a lot to write on missing parts of Narnia.  This week was the week.  On Monday we brainstormed about sections people could write on: Pug as a boy, how Reepicheep became leader, what would have happened if Uncle Andrew traveled back to Narnia with pieces of ships, trains..., how the dufflepuds became invisible, and Gale the king who freed the Lone Islands from a dragon.  We brainstormed for quite some time and the list seems to be endless.  I also read some stories that other students had written in the previous years.  They were inspirational.  Today they began writing their first drafts.  If you have ideas for other missing sections of Narnia, feel free to post them, they might be chosen by the students to become a story.

Writing With Style

Not A Good Idea
by Joe Martucci

         One day Paul Jordan, who was known worldwide as P.J., was working out because he wanted to be the best d-lineman ever for the University of Southeast West Virginia Malamutes. Happily he finished and went to the weighing machine. Hoping that he would be 270 lbs, he suddenly realized that he was 150 lbs. All of the sudden P.J. dashed to the astonished vendor and demanded the biggest hamburger ever, the 150 lb double bacon cheeseburger with 10 times the amount of tomatoes as any other hamburger in the world. It took him the rest of the day and all night to eat it, but he did. The next day he started at defensive tackle and got an interception on the goal line and ran it back 99 yards. On the one yard line he stopped, he couldn’t go one more step, but luckily, Jameal O’Neal tackled him from behind and pushed him in the end zone and the Malamutes won.

Keith’s Occupation!

by Rose O'Connor

         Keith Carrington lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. He wanted to help with a children’s daycare, but he had a different occupation; he was a street sign.  Early one morning one of the children crossing the street noticed cars were going 35 miles per hour on a school zone. Looking to see the reason for the speeding vehicles she realized that Keith was gone from his street sign.  About two hours later at children’s daycare, after being toyed about for too long a time, Keith decided he was a better street sign than toy.  Suddenly Keith remembered "whatever you hand findeth to do, do it well."

The Homeless Dogs

By Timothy Ketron

In 2011, an 8.9 earthquake hit Japan and 15 minutes later an unexpected tsunami hit. (2) During that time there were many homeless dogs, so the cat club rallied up their cats and started to look for those dogs.(3) Unfortunately the homeless dogs did not know about this cat club, so they were hiding in the rubble. What would you do if you were the cats and can’t find any dogs? Well the cats stole some cranes and picked up those heavy pieces of rubble and threw them into the sea. (4) Lifting up the rubble, one darting cat whose name was Purrruchshe found the dogs, he jumped for joy and called for the cat club to come and help him. So all the dogs that were homeless now had a home.

Telling A Story in 7 Sentences

Today, the class wrote a story together.  I am teaching the children how to use the writing system to form creative stories.  The form is to write a complete story in 7 sentences.  This story is inspired by a photo.  Here is today's class story.

          When the shadows began to fall over the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert, Herbie the    Ant and Horace the Helicopter went for an evening stroll.  Chatting amiably with each other, they suddenly spied sparkles in a cup in the sand.  Thinking it was gold, Horace shrieked, "Mine! Mine!"  Battle ensued.  Herbie's antennae shook with indignation as he spitefully spit poison.  As Horace was hit by the poison, he knocked the cup of gold into quicksand.  Despairingly the two opponents watched as the contents of the cup disappeared.  Realizing that friendship is more important than wealth, the two were soon friends again.  

What story can be written about this picture?

What Causes a Boy to Want to Write?

I had a very exciting experience today.  Some of the boys in class could not stop writing.  They wrote through snack break!  I know this is a rare occurrence, so I asked myself, "What makes boys (in particular) want to do more schoolwork?"  Inspiration.  For writing class each of the students was given a unique picture.  They were able to imagine a story about the picture.  Today was only oral retelling, but the joy of creating had the boys writing when class was over.  When some of the stories are finished, I will post them.

Joe's working progress

Tim's writing

One of the inspirational pictures 

Joe's Latin Story

I am still working on uploading more of the pictures we took on Wednesday.  Thank you for your patience.  Each week, I will be posting a story that one of the students has written. These stories are written in Latin. Because our vocabulary is still somewhat limited, the stories are still a little rough but enjoyable.

Haikus & Camera

The children went out today and took pictures to illustrate their haikus.