Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Time Travel Tuesday

Welcome to marking period 4, the final marking period.  Are you all cheering now?  I was just wondering.  I know many eighth graders start to show signs of sadness during this final marking period since leaving Brackman is so bitter sweet.  You want to move on to bigger and better things as a high school student, but you are leaving the comfort and security of your middle school years too.  It's tough.

Well, I hope our last marking period together will be the start of a new and exciting journey though language arts literacy.  Even though we are reading a drama now in class, I decided to deviate from Theatrical Thursday and go back to one of my favorite topics, Time Travel.  After all, we are reading about the past.  I'd like to see how creative you can be by starting some ideas here for an historical fiction short story.  After standardized testing is finished, we will be able to devote more time to writing  original short stories.  The blog is a perfect place to try out some ideas.

Time Travel Tuesday will allow you to use your imagination and jump back into a time in the past that interests you.  Imagine yourself in the 1940's.  Maybe you want to create a story of a German soldier or maybe a young Jewish boy caught in the termoil.  Since we are reading Anne Frank's diary, I think WWII would be a perfect place to start our time travel. 

Here are some pictures to get you started.  Feel free to write the opening paragraph of an original short story based on one of my pictures or maybe describe a character complete with feelings and emotions.  Description of setting will work here too.  Just remember the time reference, somewhere in Europe or the Pacific circa 1940.  You decide.
This is me with the Yellow Star. I had to carry this picture around with my identity card.This is me with the Yellow Star. I had to carry this picture around with my identity card.

Types of WWII Navy Ships






Child survivors of the Holocaust filmed during the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army. January, 1945You have some things to think about. Which direction will you take your story? Will you write about an army man, a woman who supports the troups, or a Jewish child in a concentration camp?  You can even take on the task of being a world leader making the decisions.  You decide.