BE.PROMPTED Monthly Journal Prompts

Source

One of my goals this year is to journal, but not just journal with words with art too.  Art Journaling is something I wanted to do, but just didn't feel I had the skill set.  So how did I begin working on correcting this not so little problem?  Well, with Hope Wallace's help of course.  Hope over at Besottment.com is a great teacher for those of you looking to be more creative with your journaling definately pop over to her site and look around.

I'm very excited because she is offering monthly journal prompts.  Go take a peek.  The monthly prompts are FREE, but if you are looking for more of what Hope has to offer I can highly recommend her E-Courses.  Come journal with Hope over at Besottment.com.  As always, let us know what you think.  Are you a journaler?  Do you start and stop journaling and need a kick-start?  Tell us your journaling experiences here at The Things You Can Read.

The first prompt can be found HERE
Flickr Group:  Here

Source

NOW...Go Journal!

Happy Reading & Writing☮

The Things You Can Read!

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books & Writing!

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

Writing Lesson to Use for Thanksgiving: Gratitude

This lesson uses a beautiful and moving video by time-lapse film-maker Louis Schwartzberg and encompasses the themes of gratitude, beauty and nature. Students will write sentences about gratitude, speak about what they are grateful for, watch a video, and write a short composition.

To see the entire lesson checkout our sister site:  The Writing Whisperer  CLICK HERE

The Writing Whisperer

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of the Written Word!

This lesson has been modified from its original version.  The original lesson can be found on FILM ENGLISH

View the film the lesson is based on:

 

Let us know what you think of the lesson, here at The Things You Can Read or at The Writing Whisperer.  Look for student essays to be posted in the coming week(s) on both sites. 

 



Happy Reading☮

The Things You Can Read!

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

 





Writing: Defeat the Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging with Three Unconventional Perspectives

There are a lot of different ways pro-bloggers tell newbies they can generate more blog traffic, get more followers, subscribers, comments, likes, etc. And we dutifully follow their suggestions. I mean, they are the pros, right?-Momcomm

Defeat the Do's and Don'ts of Blogging by checking out this post which is a great reminder to those of us who are new to blogging, as well as, to those of us who have been blogging awhile.  Let us know your thoughts after reading the article:  Click HERE to read the full post.  What are your DOs for blogging?  One of ours is to try and post at least five times a week.  Our golden rule for posting is to make sure the post needs to contain something we would like to read if we were visiting another blog.  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

Happy Reading and Happy Blogoversary to
The Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Pi Day Poetry: Piakus

View the video and follow the directions to create your Pi Poem.  Use as much of Pi or as little as you like.  If you are writing a poem for Mrs. White's English class the theme of your Piaku is the Titanic and you need to use at least the first 12 digits of Pi.   Have fun!

3.141592653589...

Weeping in the Deep

Mighty ship
Sunk
Hidden in dark
Cold
Weeping in the deep
Hopes and dreams dead with those asunder
Drifting
Forever in shadows
Its former self
Gone with waves
A Tale of heaven
Turned into a story of forboding hell

By T.W.



The Sinking

Titanic
Dark
Cold outside and
Wet
Turning to its side
Sinking into the freezing water
She's gone
Some people in lifeboats
Some people have drowned
Bright lights shine
On the ocean blue
Carpathia come to the rescue

By T.T.

Have you written a Piaku or Pi Poem?  If you have, share one of your with us!

Happy Pi Day and Happy Reading!

Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Titanic Research Project: Building Background Knowledge

Checkout out the NEW material that has been added to Titanic Research Project-Student Writing 2012 and 2013 Page.  We will be sharing our Research Journey with you in the coming days, weeks, and months.  Here is a sample of how we kicked the unit off.  Visit Titanic Research Project-Student Writing 2012 and 2013.  Let us, here at The Things You Can Read, know if these resources are useful!

Titanic Research Unit

Building Background Knowledge

Day 1

Give each student a piece of yellow "Legal Paper". Ask them to fold it in half

Left side

What Do You Know About the Titanic?

Right Side

What Do I Want to Know About the Titanic?

Give students about 5 minutes to complete and then have them share in groups or as a class.  You decide!

NEXT

Have students read an excerpt from Exploring the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard-often an excerpt is found in literature books for middle school aged children.  

Before reading share with students background information on Robert D. Ballard

LINK 1 Bio of Robert D. Ballard

LINK 2 National Geographic Robert D. Ballard

LINK 3 More about Robert D. Ballard

Discuss the excerpt

NEXT

Discuss/Review the Genre: Historical Fiction 
Read Prologue of Titanic: Unsinkable Book 1 by Gordon Korman 

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads...

Unsinkable (Titanic #1)

by Gordon Korman

 3.79  ·   rating details  ·  638 ratings  ·  116 reviews

The ultimate action/adventure trilogy begins, with #1 bestselling author Gordon Korman plunging readers into the heart of the Titanic.

The Titanic is meant to be unsinkable, but as it begins its maiden voyage, there's plenty of danger waiting for four of its young passengers. Paddy is a stowaway, escaping a deadly past. Sophie's mother is delivered to the ship by police - after she and Sophie have been arrested. Juliana's father is an eccentric whose riches can barely hide his madness. And Alfie is hiding a secret that could get him kicked off the ship immediately.
The lives of these four passengers will be forever linked with the fate of Titanic. And the farther they get from shore, the more the danger looms.

Lastly,

Have students add to their "Legal Paper" on either or both sides

What new questions does this create?

What did they learn that they didn't know before reading this excerpt

Share what students have added as a class discussion

Check out Stunning Images of the Titanic: HERE

Worksheets for Building Background Knowledge: Click HERE

Happy Reading!
The Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Why We Write

Check it out by clicking HERE!  Why do you write?  Why don't you write?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

Happy Reading!
The Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Writing Prompts: The Writing Whisperer

We wanted to let our readership know about our other blog, which is more writing oriented.  We use The Writing Whisperer with our students.  The mission of The Writing Whisperer is as follows:

The Writing Whisperer is intended to inspire higher level thinking and discussions, which will culminate in a thoughtful written response.  The Writing Whisperer is intended primarily as source of writing prompts, which often encompass a visual piece to aid in a more contemplative response.  The Writing Whisperer is geared to be used in the classroom, however, it can also be used for writers seeking a prompt to get their "writing juices flowing". In addition, The Writing Whisperer, from time to time, will also feature writing related information and resources.  Now, start writing!

Please feel free to send suggestions for prompts via The Writing Whisperer or The Things You Can Read...of course we will properly credit you, and of course, we will provide a link back to your blog for your contribution!  For the writers and the readers in The Things You Can Read's audience please consider following The Writing Whisperer...Now, start scribbling!

Happy Scribbling!

The Writing Whisperer

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the power of the Written Word!

Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

There is No Place Like Home

Image Credit: Think Mind-Cinemagraphs

A writing activity inspired by The Guardian writer, Stuart Evers, who also just happens to be the author of If This Is Home, goes like this...

Mr. Evers chose his top 10 homes in literature noting that he "decided to restrict it to traditional homes in novels--i.e. buildings in which fictional characters live."  We, here at The Things You Can Read thought it might be fun to have students make their own top 10 list of homes in children's or YA literature.  Their choices need to be either homes they might like to live in or homes they might like to visit.  Give this a whirl, and let us, at The Things You Can Read, know how it works out for you!  What would your list look like?

Image Credit: Think Mind-Cinemagraphs

Writing Activity: Introduce Yourself-Three Little Words

Introduce Yourself in Three Little Words

Breaking the ice during the first few weeks of school is always tricky.  We, here at The Things You Can Read, are always trying to do it better.  This year we decided to try this activity.  Hand students an index card as they enter the room, and tell them they need to write three words that describe themselves on the card.  Make sure students understand that they will introduce themselves to the class using just these three words.  In other words, they need to choose wisely!  

Also, consider as a pre-activity reviewing adjectives and nouns; since often the words chosen by folks tend to fall into these two parts of speech.  If you want to extend this activity ask students to take their three words and write three sentences or even a paragraph that describes them.

Example:  mom, librarian, banjoist

Don't forget to let us, here at The Things You Can Read, know how this activity worked out for you.  Leave a comment sharing your success with Three Word Introductions.

Note:  

The Things You Can Read has to thank the Goodreads Group, 

YA Reads for Teachers (And Any Other Adults!), for inspiring this activity.  If you aren't a member consider joining YA Reads for Teachers (And Any Other Adults!) discussions on Goodreads.