Spooky share

You all worked so hard on your spooky stories--I'd like for you to take some time today to see what your classmates have come up with.  I've divided the class into groups of four or five--see the lists at the end of this post.  Please find the blogs of the other members of your group (check the sidebar of the class blog) and complete the following:

1.  Read your classmate's Halloween-inspired story and leave a comment with 3 specific, supportive and complimentary remarks regarding the story and how it was written. 

Go beyond a short, generic comment and get specific. As in:  "You really got me with that twist at the end--I would have never guessed it was her sister stalking her all along.  Creepy!"  Or:  "Your use of dialogue was effective and pulled me into the story.  I never thought a conversation between a little boy and the demon living in his closet could sound so natural."  Don't cop out and put a rushed, generic comment like, "It was scary" or "Nice job."   

If, by chance, someone in your group has not posted a scary story, move on to step 2 on that blog and check back later in the block or focus on the other group members' stories.

2.  Then browse the rest of that classmate's blog and choose 3 other pieces to leave a positive, specific comment on.

3.  Move on to the blogs of the other people in your group.

4.  If you have time and would like to read and/or comment on other class members' stories, you can cruise through the blogs on the sidebar of our class blog and see what others have been up to.  Leave comments if you have time.

5.   In a New Post on your own blog, write up a brief summary of the scary stories of each of your classmates in your group and name at least one detail or technique you really liked.  Add a bit at the end of your post about your Halloween plans (and if they come close to anything in the stories you read!).

We'll be moving on to a new theme next week, so today is the day to offer this feedback and post what you've read to your blog.  I won't be giving credit for late posts on this one.

Groups of 4 (and 5):

Ansley
Bethany
Raven
Liana

Megan
Mikala
Alexis
Kinzie C.

Marissa E.
Jessica
Katie B.
Collin
Ashley

Marissa M.
Katie S.
Lauren
Austin

Taylor
Mackenzie M.
Allison
Bo
Allie


Thank you!  Be careful out there on Halloween and enjoy your long weekend...You are all such boo-tiful people...

scare tactics

The prompts in the previous post were fairly light-hearted in relation to Halloween.  For this assignment, the prompts are a bit darker...Feel free to shape them to something you are comfortable with...

I found some interesting horror story starter ideas at a blog called Nighthags Writing Corner.  Please go to this post and this post also this post and take a look at all the sentence starters, art and photos and choose one (or more, I suppose) to inspire a piece of writing of no less than 500 words (about 2 pages double-spaced). 

You'll have two class periods to draft, polish, then post your piece.  On Thursday, we will take time to read each other's work and you'll get some comments from your classmates (more on that later...), so you'll need to have your piece posted by then. 

When your piece is ready (and at least 500 words), please share it in a New Post on your own blog.  Give your post a creative title and be sure to include the image that inspired it or put the idea starter in bold within your piece.

Halloween spirit(s)

Choose at least 3 of these to respond to in answers of 400 words total in a New Post on your blog.  Your answers may be fact or fiction or both...Include an image...

• While trick-or-treating, my friends and I decided to explore a dark street we had never noticed before...

• The best costume I ever wore was…

• My favorite Halloween was the time I…

• As I looked at the Jack-o-Lantern, it seemed to be looking back at me. Then…

• As I reached into the bag of candy, I thought I heard a voice saying, “Pick me, pick me!”

• Write a Halloween poem using the following words: bat, pumpkin, candy, spooky, night, orange, black, witch, scary, wind.

• Write a recipe for a magic potion. Next, explain what the potion would do if someone drank it.

• I was putting my Halloween costume on when I heard something moving in my closet...

• On Halloween night, while trick-or-treating we passed the cemetery. Suddenly we all felt a cold and spooky wind...

• What are your favorite Halloween treats? What is the best one you ever received?

• List all the Halloween costumes you have had in past years.

• Describe how to make a great Halloween costume using mostly supplies you have around the house.

and the beat goes on...

Create 3 New Posts on your blog Friday:

 1:  Ask a Teacher About Music...write about the answers to the questions about music you got from 2-3 teachers you spoke with.  Include your own answers to each question, too, and write about how they compare to the teachers' and/or anything you found interesting or surprising.  Include images.

2:  Lyrics Shuffle:  In another post, share something you came up with when we looked at the 6 songs with the lyrics all cut apart and scrambled.  Include an image.

3:  4 Songs Freewrite:  In another post, write a narrative poem of 10 or more lines inspired by the one or more of the 4 songs we listened to in class on Thursday (Three Libras by APC, You Shook Me by AC/DC, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, Golddigger by Kanye West). Include an image.  Here's my example:

Shadow Lake—an hour from home

A summer night—I am 16.

I shouldn’t be here.  I am not allowed.

He broke up with me a month before

and hasn’t called since.

She came with me but

asks him to dance.

He is working so he says no

but laughs as she nudges his arm.

He is too old for me.

He has outgrown me.

I am vulnerable, stupid, young

and I feel like my fourth grade

flat-chested self.

I will go on to break hearts too

but for now I just want the pulsing music

to stop making my head spin

and for him to quit looking away from me,

through me, across the sweaty dance floor

at other girls, older, wiser than I.

Have a great weekend!  We will move on to skerry stories next week for Halloween! : )

music to our ears...

This week we will be looking at different ways music can inspire us to feel, think, act and even write. Create a New Post on your own blog with the word "music" somewhere in the title and type up your answers to at least 5-6 of the questions regarding music on the sheet I passed out today.  Go for about 400 words.

Add images to your post to make it visually interesting...

Thanks! Hope you have a great day!

keepin' it real/reel

2 New Posts this week:  Share your thoughtful answers to 4-5 of the Dan In Real Life questions.  Shoot for about 250 words.  Include an image.

Do a second New Post answering the following questions about your preferences in movies.

• Tell us about your favorite movie and why you like it.
• Tell us about the kinds of movies you don't care for usually.
• Tell us about how often and where you usually watch movies.
• Tell us about what you need for movie viewing (environment, food, company, etc.)
• Tell us about what this survey says about you.
• If my life story was made into a movie...

Include images in this post also. Thanks!

through the window

Create a New Post on your blog today with one of the Window Poems you created in your journal during class--either the poem about the view out of your own chosen window OR what you wrote about the view through the window of Edward Hopper's painting of the yellow house.  You could, of course, post both.  Feel free to add to or revise.  Include at least one image.

Here's my example...As you can see, I didn't follow directions and wrote about the view looking into a window (my neighbors'!  creeper!) rather than out.

Window Poem:  On the Birth of Alex C.

I see chili pepper barstools

through the kitchen window

of the house next door--

barstools I wouldn't have chosen

but a dining table I might have

and a pantry I envy.

The man of the house

ducks down quickly behind that table,

shielding himself from the glow

of my headlights, but I still see

he's in only his tightie-whities.

Tonight the lights are still on

long after my neighbors' normal bedtime.

New babies always disrupt schedules,

change lives completely.

Melting ice drips from the gutter

above the window onto mounds of

lingering, dirty snow on the driveway

between our two houses.

Shiny balloons float above the table

heralding congratulations upon

the family's new arrival.

A new mother leans for a moment

against the kitchen counter

trying to catch her breath.

Works by (and inspired by) artist Edward Hopper

Choose one of the 4 paintings by American artist Edward Hopper we studied in class this week and write a piece of at least 200 words inspired by it.  You might do a short fiction piece or a personal narrative or maybe even a long narrative poem.  You can refer to your lists of sensory details and other thoughts in your journal entry completed in class for ideas.  Please create a New Post on your blog  by the end of this week with your writing and include the painting, too.  Thanks!

Poems for Paintings from Artist Profile

In a New Post on your blog please choose 2 pieces by the artist you profiled and write a narrative poem of at least 10 lines for each. 

A narrative poem is one that tells a story.  It doesn't need to rhyme.  You could tell a made-up story inspired by the painting, you could tell a story from your own life the piece makes you think of, you could make up a story about the subjects in the painting...You could connect your two 10-line poems or let them stand on their own. Try to include vivid, sensory details and rich, interesting word choices.  You might even try to include a poetic device (like alliteration, simile, repetition, etc.) if you're comfortable doing so.  Please include the piece of art you are writing about in your post.  Give the post a creative title.


ALSO:  Jessica and Marissa are looking for artwork and writing for a student feature page in the next issue of Kickapoo's magazine.  If you have drawings or poems or photos or stories, get them to one of these girls or Ms. Orman in room 201 in the next day or so.  Maybe something you've written or created during our time in this class or in your journal?

This is the last week of first quarter!  Be ready to turn in your journal on Friday, 10 October with 20 new full pages of writing.  Any page with the Hello Kitty stamp was already counted toward the last check.   I'll be posting final grades at the end of this week, so if there are pieces you haven't posted for whatever reason, please do so by Friday.

We will be moving on to MUSIC as our subject of inspiration as we head into 2nd quarter...

You all are such fun to work with!  Thank you for giving your best and being so open and kind.

XOXO  Mrs. Fraser

P.S. The image in this post reminds me of the underpass to the Greenway Trail right by my house near Wanda Gray Elementary...Have any of you seen where a spelling-challenged individual spray-painted the declaration "WOLVERENS" really big across the concrete wall?  Graffiti FAIL.  There was a really beautiful piece of professional graffiti (an artist was commissioned to do it) there for a while of a quote by one of my favorite poets, e.e. cummings, in artistic letters:  "It takes courage to grow up to be who you really are."  It got painted over.  Grrr.

(pillow) talk

Create a New Post on your blog and include your writing connected to the drawing of a pillow we looked at it in class on Monday.  You might include your haiku, but also post a longer bit of prose.  Try for about 150 words at least on this one.  You can copy and paste the image from here, and if you'd like to, you can leave a comment on this post.  I've included some writing I did below.

Dream Marks on My Pillow by Ana Lancu

Last night before bed, I stepped out onto the front porch while Booker T. raced with a predatory growl towards the woods behind our house.  I waited for him to return, a triumphant skip in his step telling me all was safe and sound thanks to him, and from there on the front steps I noticed there was no moon out, or at least not one I could see.  A few stars dotted the sky but the yard was darker than usual and my big black dog crept back up beside me almost camouflaged.

I had been thinking of her off and on all day--my sweet Nanny who left us in June--and another round of loss swept through me there...no moonlight only made me miss her more. I scratched Booker's ears and cried, soft so that no one would hear, as if anyone was listening at that time of night.

I'll never be a little girl again.
I'll never see her shrug her shoulders
the way she always did.
I'll never see her handwriting on a
letter in my mailbox.
I'll never see her listening with interest
to my little boy's chatter the way she
always delighted in whatever I had to say.
I'll never see her again.

Ryan let Macauley sleep with us--a real treat on a school night--and with puffy eyes I slipped into the tiny sliver of our king size bed left for me, my son's now long legs tucked in close to mine and my big black dog in a ball at my feet, my husband miles of blankets and pillows away. Our room was dark and warm and I read only a few pages of my book before I floated into sleep.

And then, she was there...standing on my front walk, reaching out to me with a piece of paper in her hand.  He was there, too, a few feet behind her and to the side in dark blue jeans and the striped shirt he had on in their only picture with Macauley when he was a baby.  I grabbed her and squeezed her and cried for her to stay.  She just stood there and let me, still holding the paper.

I blinked and turned to see the numbers on the clock pushing me to start another day. I stared at the ceiling, making myself remember seeing her, knowing how dreams come and go if you don't commit them to long-term memory...like so many days I spent with her or spent not with her...they just slip away.

I could have cried in the car this evening when I told Ryan on the way to dinner. He said maybe it was a sign but he didn't say of what.  If I cry for her again tonight, will she be there on my front steps when I close my eyes?

Haiku:

When I close my eyes
she is standing on my sidewalk--
she knew I missed her.

art\walk

In another New Post on your blog, post some writing connected to the art print you chose to study during our discussion in the front lobby of KHS on Tuesday.  Try for at least 250 words. 

Tell us the story from your own life it made you think of, write a critique or vivid description, write a long poem or several shorter ones inspired by the image...whatever you want to come up with. 

Include an image, too.  If you can't get a photo of the actual print on your post, just choose another one online that has the same feeling or look.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for all your hard work...We'll be back in the lab on Monday for you to finish up anything you don't get to today and add another post.

circles {of life}

I hope you enjoyed the process of coloring the printed mandala designs in class on Thursday.  Mandalas are important to a variety of cultures, faiths and schools of thought...

You can create some interesting mandalas at this site.  If you click on the asterisks, there is more information about the different elements.

Leave a brief but thoughtful comment on this post answering one or more of these questions:

• How or why do you think art could be used as therapy?
• Can you think of other pieces of or types of art that are connected to certain faiths, disciplines or movements?
• What elements/symbols did you include in your own mandala?
• What role does art play in your own life?
• If you could be any kind of artist, what would you be?  Why?