Tag Team Tuesday

Welcome to Tag Team Tuesday

I thought I would give you something to do just in case we are home recovering from Hurricane Sandy.  I sure hope we have electric or at least cell phone access.  Here are the directions.  I will start a story and it will be your job to continue it.  Don't finish it.  Just move it forward and tag the next person to continue.  This should be fun and really challenge your imagination. Enjoy, and now let's get started.  I will  start with a picture for character and setting.

The streets of New York...


...and the story begins here.

Bobby Torino paced the streets of New York, lost amongst his own thoughts. He did not know where he was walking; he just needed to get out and let his mind and legs wander. He peered through the sun glare, which was so common in New York City at this time of year. He noticed the sounds of a thousand cars and the colours of hundreds of neon shop signs, bright, in his face.  The sounds and the images shimmered and warped in in his head. It was the city that helped him in times like this. He had been having soom trouble lately.  The sights and sounds of the city always  helped him look at his life in a new way. As he began to think back, Bobby remembered the day all his problems started. 

TAG.....Please continue the story here.  Remember to write TAG after your section to someone else can continue the story from your dropped spot.  Have fun.

Time Travel Tuesday

Welcome to Time Travel Tuesday....




Let's take the 1860's idea of a time machine presented by the author
H.G.Wells and bring it into our time. 
Where will you be 10 or 20 years from now? What are your plans for the future?
What were you doing 5 years prior to that time to get you there?
Describe your future life as you see it in the year 2022 or 2032.  It seems strange to even write those years.  They seem fake. 

If you want to think of "real" time travel, tell us where you would go, past or future.  You pick the year.  What would you expect to see?  Don't forget to include why you chose that time period. Would you try to change history or secure a better future? Explain.

  

World Wide Wednesday

Welome to World Wide Wednesday.  There are a lot of possibilities when using that title. I have decided to devote this day to strange and interesting animals across the globe.  We have read a few short stories already with the use of a snake. "The Dinner Party" was our first encounter with a snake from India.  That was followed by "The Adventures of the Speckled Band."  I  think the deductive talents of Sherlock Holmes impressed many of you.  I do realize that we still need to discuss the new television show, Elementary, at length. I wonder if animals will appear in any of the episodes in the future.  Also, just recently you encountered "Old Ben" which involved a snake, a horse, and, of course, the hogs which caused Old Ben's demise.  

What has been your favorite animal story?  It doesn't have to be one that we read together either.  A few of you red Black Beauty for classic summer reading.  I hope some of you will share the experience here.

Now it's time for you to put your imagination to work on the blog.  I have found some interesting pictures of animals from around the world.  Please choose one and see what kind of story you can create.  As always, please share and feel free to comment on stories written by your classmates too.
Don't forget to start with a comment about your favorite animal story of all time.  Have fun.

ANACONDA

  

BENGAL TIGER


KOALA BEAR


Shark




 PANDA



What is this?



ELEPHANTS

PARROTS and EAGLES   

GORILLA
BEAR 

DEER


PALOMINO HORSE



I look forward to reading your story ideas.  Let your creativity fly.
 

Fictional Friday

 Let's create a character.

Friday leads us into the weekend. What better time to post narrative prompts than on a Friday.  I hope your "down time" on the weekend will lend itself to creativity and imagination.  Last week I asked you to create mystery stories using a setting prompt.  This week I would like you to take a look at the pictures I have posted dealing with character.  Let's make these people come alive.  Choose a person. Give that person a name, a personality, a life.  Where does this person live?  Who are this person's friends?  Family?  What does this person do in his/her spare time?  What does this person value?  What problems could this person encounter?

Take a look at the pictures below.  Choose one and make this person come alive.  Describe the person and create a possible story line. What would the setting be?  What conflict may arise?  How will your character handle this problem?  Be realistic and use your imagination.  Have fun.

                                                                             

                                                                                                                                



 
I look forward to reading about your characters. 

Mysterious Monday

Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year.  Remember what I told you on day one.  This 8th grade year goes like.....that!  Remember to snap your fingers when you read that line.  This is our class blog.  The first thing you need to do is join as a follower.  Let me know if you have any trouble with signing up for the blog. 

Every week I will post something new on our blog.  I hope you enjoy reading and posting a comment.  It will also be fun to read comments from others.  This blog is an extension of our work in the classroom.  I am trying to bring ILA concepts into your home.  I know many of you are on the computer often so this should be very easy for you.  You can even get blogspot on your phones.  Enjoy the experience.  Now let's get talking about reading and writing.....

This week we will be reading a mystery.  Since we have already had experience writing stories based on pictures of setting, I thought I would show you some interesting setting scenes on the blog.  I am asking you to think "mystery" when you look at these scenes.  Comment about a possible story line you see developing as you look at one of the pictures.  Remember...think mystery. 

 

   Choose one of the pictures and think about a possible story. Share your thoughts.  Remember, your story should be a mystery that needs to be solved. 

 

Time to Think Thursday

It's now a few days before summer officially begins.  I know for all of you....it alreay has started.  Teachers are back at school as I write this post.....and it's very quiet.  We already miss all y'all.  By the way, I will be visiting Texas this summer with my grandsons just in case you were wondering about the "all y'all" line.  I need some practice in my Texas dialect. I am sorry that for your first day off the sun is not shining but you will have many glorious beach days, I'm sure. 

Please post on the blog and let me know how you will be spending your summer.  Reflect on your 8th grade year.  What memories will be special to you and how do you want to shape your Freshman year in Barnegat High School?  Remember the speeches you heard on graduation night.  Devony told you all to never give up even when things get tough.  Mayor Cirulli told you to watch out for all the temptations you will encounter in high school and beyond, and Mr. Papernik, Mr. Nichol, and Ms. Wood all told you how important it is to stay in school.  Take every bit of advice to heart and make your mark in the next four years.  Get involved in your school, make and keep good friends, and, of course, put forth your best effort always. I wish you all the very best of luck in your futures whatever they may be.  As I told many of you in your yearbooks.....I know you will be something fabulous!  Enjoy.
  Mrs. Prisbell

Here are some of my favorite images of LBI that I will be taking with me to Texas....

Good morning, Island!

New Jersey's one and only original surf brand.

Long Beach Island, NJ sunset (by Lisa Harrison) on the bay... It's rare to see a sunset unless you are bayside.  I hope you all get to enjoy a sunrise or sunset on the Island this summer.  I look forward to hearing each one of you on the blog.  I welcome your comments even as you go through high school.  Please check back from time to time.  You are the first class with the grade8 ILA blog so that makes you all special.  That's only one reason, of course.  Let's talk soon.

Wordy Wednesday

Let's use Wordy Wednesday to talk about POETRY. I am very excited to see so many of you using your time wisely to create your own poetry.  Poetry is often a way to express your feelings which would otherwise go unnoticed.  Soon we will be reading published poems, as well.  When you read a poem, it enters your being and rests inside  you as you think about what it means.  If you "get it" it will explode inside  you and its meaning will stay with you forever.  If it doesn't mean anything to you, then it will just fizzle out and make room for a new poem to enter.  I hope you will find many poems exploding.  It's exciting.

Let's use our blog to "publish" some of your original poetry.  You can post your favorite so far and let others experience your thoughts and feelings.  What a great way for us to really get to know you!  Enjoy the experience. 

I will post a few of my favorite published poems here for you all to enjoy too. 

Japanese Haiku by ISSA (Translated into English)

In this world                                                               A kitten
     even among insects                                                       stamps on falling leaves,
          some sing well, some don't.                                              holds them to the ground.

Emily Dickinson

I ’M nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there ’s a pair of us—don’t tell!
They ’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!	5
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog! Whispers of Mortality by E. E. Cummings old age sticks up Keep Off signs)& youth yanks them down(old age cries No Tres)&(pas) youth laughs (sing old age scolds Forbid den Stop Must n't Don't &)youth goes right on gr owing old Robert Frost Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Edgar Allan Poe Annabel Lee  It was many and many a year ago,           In a kingdom by the sea,     That a maiden there lived whom you may know           By the name of ANNABEL LEE;     And this maiden she lived with no other thought           Than to love and be loved by me.     I was a child and she was a child,           In this kingdom by the sea;     But we loved with a love that was more than love-           I and my Annabel Lee;     With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven           Coveted her and me.     And this was the reason that, long ago,           In this kingdom by the sea,     A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling           My beautiful Annabel Lee;     So that her highborn kinsman came           And bore her away from me,     To shut her up in a sepulchre           In this kingdom by the sea.     The angels, not half so happy in heaven,           Went envying her and me-     Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,           In this kingdom by the sea)     That the wind came out of the cloud by night,           Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.     But our love it was stronger by far than the love           Of those who were older than we-           Of many far wiser than we-     And neither the angels in heaven above,           Nor the demons down under the sea,     Can ever dissever my soul from the soul           Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.     For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams           Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;     And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes           Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;     And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side     Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,           In the sepulchre there by the sea,           In her tomb by the sounding sea. How to Eat a Poem by Eve Merriam Don't be polite. Bite in. Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin. It is ready and ripe now, whenecver you are. You do not need a knife or fork or spoon or plate or napkin or tablecloth. For there is no core or stem or rind or pit or seed or skin to throw away. Enjoy!