Advice

Write a top ten list, giving advice to the future 6th graders (current 5th graders). Be sure to include tips that would have been helpful to know, coming into 6th grade. Use your experiences to help them be successful. (You may not state anything that is cruel towards any person)

Dream House

Describe your dream house below. Be sure to not only describe the house, but also tell about the location. Would it be located in a big city? Which one? Would it be located in the countryside? Where? Would there be water, forests, mountains, desert, etc.. nearby?

What if.....?

Pick one of the following "what if" questions and answer it. Remember to use at least 100 words.

What would happen if animals could talk (in English)? What types of questions would you ask? What would you want to know?

What would happen if there were no cars, buses, trains, boats, or planes? How would this change your life?

Daedalus and Icarus

After reading the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus, you learned that they escaped the castle by building a set of wings using eagle feathers, wood, and wax. However, because Icarus flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell to his death in the ocean.

Your job is to create an alternate ending to the myth. Write an ending which explains how they escaped from the castle. You can start your story at the part of the myth where Daedalus and Icarus had just been sentenced to life in the castle.

Make a Choice

Choose one of the following questions to answer:

If you could participate in an Olympic event, which one would you choose and why?


If you could break the Guiness Book of Records it would be for?

Looking Forward

Spring break is only 2 weeks or 9 school days away. What are you looking forward to over break? Do you have any specific plans or activities that you will be involved with?

Complete this story #3

Complete the following story starter:

I saw this amazing pair of shoes sitting next to my grungy sneakers and by chance, they just happened to be the perfect size. I decided to try them on. First I slipped on the left shoe and laced it up. As soon as the right shoe was on my foot I felt as if I was in a whirlwind and the next thing I knew, I was standing smack-dab in the middle of...................

Movie Review

Pick a movie you have seen, that is rated PG or G, and write a movie review of it. You can tell what you did or didn't like about the movie or explain characters, plot, cinematography, etc...

Inventions and Gratitude

Think of an invention that you are incredibly grateful for (a dishwasher, a chair, a tv, toilet paper, blankets, lip gloss, footballs, elevators, etc...) and write a letter to the inventor thanking him or her and telling him or her how grateful you are. You may want to compare your life now to what it was like before the invention. Don't worry that you don't know who actually invented the item. Simply make up a name and write a letter of gratitude.

Example:

Dear John Maytag,

Thank you so much for all of your hardwork in creating the dishwasher. I absolutely love it! I am so pleased that I can put all of my dirty dishes into a tank, add some detergent, and within an hour have clean dishes with no effort on my part. You see, when I was growing up, my sister and I had dish nights. It worked out alright, despite the fact that we couldn't play or watch tv until the dishes were done. The unfortunate thing is that my sister was a terrible dish washer. So, she usually left food debris on the dishes and then my parents made me re-wash them. Although I no longer live at home with my parents and sister, I still have quite a few dishes because I like to cook. Now, I just load, add detergent and go. Thanks for saving me at least 30 minutes per day! You are the best!

Gratefully yours,
Miss Miller

Fill in the Rest!

Complete the story:

Use your imagination and creativity to complete this story starter. Don't forget to write 100 words or more!


I knew I should have never left the house that sunny Tuesday morning............

Stranded

If your plane crashed and you were stranded for a minimum of 1 year, would you choose to be stranded in the arctic or in the tropics. Explain your choice and a bit of what you might do to survive.

Poetic Forms

Welcome back from our hiatus (break) from blogging!

Metaphor mania has magically morphed into sizzling similes and I am now using amazing alliteration.

We have been talking all about poetic forms in Language Arts class. Rack your brain and give an example of each poetic form listed below. (This blog does not need to be 100 words)

Metaphor
Simile
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia

Here are my examples:

Metaphor: Theresa's irrate mother was a tornado whipping through the house and sending everyone into a frenzy.

Simile: The ice cream was like a drop of heaven on my tongue.

Alliteration: Tony tugged tirelessly at tiny twigs twined together with tinsel.

Onomatopoeia: Crash went the car as it banged into the light pole.

Reincarnation?

In Social Studies, we have been talking about other world religions (Buddhism and Hinduism). Since they believe in reincarnation (and we obviously do not), I want you to put yourselves in their shoes. If you were to be reincarnated tomorrow, what would you come back as? You could be a human, animal, or a plant. You could be from the United States, Germany, Honduras, China, Russia, Kenya, or wherever you want. You could be of any nationality you choose. Just pick something to come back as and tell us why.

What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?

The above phrase is a clever marketing tool for Tombstone Pizzas. However, it is a good question to ask yourself as well. Someday, when you die and are called to eternal life in Heaven, what do you want your tombstone to say? You can select one word and explain why that word would be on your tombstone, or you maybe could choose a favorite quote or Bible passage and explain why you would have that. If neither of those ideas seem appealing, you can write an entire paragraph that you would want printed on your tombstone. So, tell us, WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?

A Name of Fame

This week, we will experiment with poetry as you try writing your first acrostic poem. An acrostic poem takes a word, spelled out the long way, and then has a word or two coming from each letter of the original word (see below). Use your full name and write an acrostic poem. Then, pick another word (at least 5 letters long) and make an acrostic poem from that word as well. Try not to have more than 2 words coming from each letter. Don't worry about the 100 word rule this week. See my example:

M agically
I ntuitive
S miling on
S aturdays

M agnificent
I ntelligent
L oving
L ife in
E very
R ealm



another one word example:

P rickly
O ld
R ough
C reature
U nder
P iney
I ncredible
N eedles
E ek!

Reflections of Giving

Note: This blog is for extra credit only! Next week we will be back to our usual, assigned blog entry.

Reflect upon the experience of meeting the family our class sponsored for Christmas on the last day of school. Tell about what you saw and heard that was heart-warming or showed gratitude. How did you feel, being able to give all of the gifts to the family? What did you enjoy about meeting them?

Report on the Birth of Christ

Imagine that you were a news reporter for the Bethlehem Herald (Bethlehem's premier newspaper). You are assigned to write an article about the birth of baby Jesus. Write an interesting and detail-filled news article that tells of his birth. You can pick one part of the Christmas story to share or you could tell the whole story. Remember, give the perspective (or voice) of a news reporter. Your reporter could be comical (yet still truthful), serious, perpelexed, or extremely excited. It's up to you!

Christmas Traditions

Share a special Christmas tradition that your family does every year. Be sure to give lots of details! (For example, maybe your family goes out into the woods and cuts down a tree with all of your cousins, aunts, and uncles.)

Snow Day!

What a fantastic gift we were given on Friday-no School! I hope you all enjoyed your day off. Tell us what you did on your unexpected snow day.

Details, Details, Details

Select a specific item to describe (it could be a food, an animal, an item in your room, a sport's team, etc..). In your blog, specifically describle your object with great detail. Then, skip down a few lines and type in the word you were describing. Your classmates and other guest readers will try to guess what you are describing based on your spectacular description skills! (You may need to describe two seperate items in order to reach your 100 word minimum) See the example below:

This animal lives in the sea and is one of God's most unique creations. It may appear like any other fish most of the time, but can transform into one unusual creature if it feels endangered. This water animal protects itself by blowing its body out and appearing as a water porcupine with sharp pin-like needles popping out all over its body. Its coloring is fairly bland, being mainly shades of brown. It however can be shades of blue or green. Some people eat this fish and pay large amounts of money to do so. However, I am not sure I would because the ovaries, skin, muscles and, above all, the liver may contain a deadly poison.


Blowfish (or Pufferfish)