Everything About Books and Writing and More...
The Outsider, Hoot, Out of the Dust, Langston Hughes, Thank You M.am, Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, Israel Horovitz
The Things You Can Read welcomes you and thanks you for your readership. We, here at The Things You Can Read, ask your help, if you visit our site regularly, please follow us either via email or Google Friend Connect. Launched on June 7, 2012, our site has already attracted a great deal of attention. One of the goals of the site is to feature reviews of Children's Picture Books, Young Adult novels and Adult Literary Fiction/Nonfiction. A second goal for the blog is to be a resource for teachers of English and writing--with examples of student created writing, writing tips, resource links, and the opportunity to pick the brain of a seasoned English teacher. To spice things up...every now and then, we'll also include random quotes and thoughts on education and life in general, but our ultimate goal is to reach out into the blogosphere and be a "Book Whisperer" and "Writing Whisperer" to children and adults of all ages. Thank you for your readership. Here is to a lifetime filled with reading and writing.
My start power is __________. This is my star power because__________.
If you could “roll out the red carpet” for anyone—who would that be and why?
If I could "roll out the red carpet" for anyone it would be ______________. I would roll it out for ______________ because_________________________.
What does success mean to you?
In my opinion, success means ____________________ ______________________________________________________
__________________________.
Happy Reading & Writing☮
The Things You Can Read!
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
ENGLISH is ESSENTIAL TO BECOMING THE SUPERSTAR YOU CAN BE!
ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR ENGLISH CLOSEUP
“How can the human species be SUPERSTARS of their environment?” J.E.J. Moore Hurricane Team is taking the school theme, ““Be the STAR that YOU” to new
heights. The Hurricane hall is “aflutter” with the cross-curricular unit that uses the Newbery Award-winning novel Hoot by Carl Hiassen to reach across the disciplines to make authentic connections to essential knowledge. Just ask any Hurricane, and they will share how fired up with excitement they are after guests paid them a visit during the month of November. First, a Lead Interpreter from Pocahontas State Park graced students with an interactive lecture that allowed students to become more aware of their environment. She spoke eloquently about conservation, habitat issues, and endangered species in the United States. Reinforcing classroom instruction with real life applications. The Interpreter’s expertise made an impression too. One Hurricane stated, “The interpreter taught us how one species going extinct could affect the whole world’s food chain.” Yep, the Hurricane Team, is truly cultivating the concept of how students can be SUPERSTARS of their environment. “How can the human species be SUPERSTARS of their environment?”
Next, Thunder Eagle Wildlife Organization paid the team a visit. Another Hurricane student shared, “Thunder Eagle’s visit was informative and exciting. I was really surprised when the first owl came out.” Yes, real live owls were inside the J.E.J. Moore lecture room. Students learned how this nonprofit organization provides care and treatment for injured, orphaned or displaced birds and small mammals. The big take away from Thunder Eagle’s visit came from Karen and Larry White Eagle-Fisher’s discussion of the importance of living in harmony with the native wildlife population. Their message allowed students to examine how they can be “SUPERSTARS” by discovering ways to support nature’s balance locally. The idea of balance between humans and nature is a BIG message or THEME that is found throughout Hoot and Thunder Eagle made it come alive for the students.
Hoot continues on a global level the week of November 21 with its environmental themes when Hurricanes welcome Mr. Waskey to J.E.J. Moore Middle School. Mr. Waskey raises awareness about the gorgeous but endangered blue-throated parrots. His visit will allow Hurricanes to become “STARS” by learning how donations to an organization that aids in the construction of nesting boxes for these birds in their homeland of Bolivia will allow them to help save the blue-throated parrots. Not to mention Hurricane students will have the once in a lifetime experience of watching live trained parrots in “free flight” over J.E.J. Moore Middle School. Hope you can join us for this spectacular event!
Then on Tuesday, November 22, students will take their guiding question: “How can the human species be SUPERSTARS of the environment?” To a local level when Santa Rosa Honey Farm’s Bee Keeper visits J.E.J. Moore Middle School to discuss the plight of the bees and how we, as stewards of our environment, can help. He will share his educational talk entitled, “The Buzz About Bees.” Hurricane students have already read up on the topic and ready to ask questions. One of our articles shared the following, “Bees have been dying atalarming rates for a decade. That makes it more expensive to produce the many crops that depend on them for pollination. Dismay over their demise transcends economics…Among the factors implicated in bee woes are parasites, disease, and poor nutrition — all of which defy easy solution. The role of a fourth factor, chemicals, is uncertain and contested. That hasn’t stopped bee lovers from fixing blame, with some countries banning pesticides called neonicotinoids.”Santa Rosa Honey Farm’s bee keeper will discuss these concerns and more as he explains what is needed to keep bees and what is happening in our own community with the BEES.
Needless to say, the Hurricane teachers are excited that these experiences are a driving force in making learning “real” for Prince George students. Hurricanes are still hard at work as they continue to cultivate an answer to the question “How can the human species be SUPERSTARS of the environment?” and with experiences like these students are sure to realize that SUPERSTARS come in all sizes, and that they have the ability to make a difference right here in Prince George County.
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
It sometimes is difficult to explain in words the concept of connotation and denotation.
Connotation
The emotion or feeling(s) associated with a word: Positive, Negative or Neutral
Denotation
The Dictionary Definition
Smile Grin Smirk
Youthful Young Childish
Happy Reading & Writing☮
The Things You Can Read!
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
Happy Reading & Writing☮
The Things You Can Read!
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
IRONYis a hard concept to teach. I have developed a series of exercises I use at the beginning of class to help make the "AHA Moment" happen. Here is an example of how I teach IRONY. This activity comes from my sister site
Watch the following video carefully. Write your answer on your index card. Find at LEAST 2 (TWO) examples of IRONY in the short film. Your answer needs to be in complete sentences. Complete sentences, i.e. written with proper grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and with a subject and verb. Again, give 2 (TWO) examples of irony in the video and EXPLAIN why that event was IRONIC.
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of the Written Word!
As I have said before, IRONYis a hard concept to teach. I have developed a series of exercises I use at the beginning of class to help make the "AHA Moment" happen. HERE GOES...
Watch the short video. Which of the three types of Irony is being illustrated in the video? Defend your answer.
HOW DO YOU TEACH IRONY?Let us know here at The THings You Can Read!
INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK IRONY PAGE
Irony
Page 7
IRONY
NOTES
Definition of Irony: Irony is the contradiction between what happens and what is expected. There are three types of Irony:
Situational Irony: Irony that occurs when something happens that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters or the audience.
Verbal Irony: Irony that occurs when something contradictory is said, i.e. Sarcasm.
Dramatic Irony: Irony that occurs when the audience is aware of something that the character or speaker is not.
One of the short stories I like to use to teach irony, foreshadowing, inferencing, characterization, (dynamic, static, flat), symbolism, and suprise endings is "The Last Leaf" by O. Henry. Here is one of the many activites we do to work with this classic short story: I call it BE THE ILLUSTRATOR. I have divided an abriged version of the story up into sections that each require an illustration. Before we start, I let students know that "IF YOU ARE NOT GOOD WITH PEOPLE...DON'T DRAW PEOPLE! Use things that represent the people (good time to talk about symbolism with your students too.). I give them a few class session (maybe three 20 to 30 minutes segments of class) to work on it(where I can help) then what ever is left is for them to finish on their own before the test on the last leaf. Enjoy!
What kind of activities do you use to solidify the plot line of a story? Let us know here at The Things You Can Read.
Happy Reading & Writing☮
The Things You Can Read!
Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!
Don't Forget To Be Awesome!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I am an educator with over 25 years of teaching experience; I currently teach English in the public school system of Virginia. In my spare time I am an avid reader. writer, reviewer, blogger, writing/art journaler, beekeeper, grad student, and MOTHER. - See more: Here
