Last Student Writer of the Week

Our last unit this year was on persuassion.  Sorry parents, that means that your kids will be even better at asking for what they want!  Well one of the topics we covered was reviews.  Michael decided to take his review assignment one step further and fix it up in a final draft.  His review of Minecraft has solidfied this for me once and for all: I NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME!  Good job persuading me Michael!

Mincraft
By: Mojang
Platform: Xbox, PC
Rating: E10+
Price: free-$20

When you wake up in a strange three dimensional world of many items.  Where all things come from blocks, these many things include ores, monsters, animals, resources, and tools.  You can join the 20,000,000 people that are playing the epic journey through unknown lands.  Venture into caves, explore above, in and underworld, and a far away land.  Use weapons and tools to protect and build what you can only imagine unitl now.  Help the player, Steve to survive the worlds challenges.  Be alone, or play with friends.  You can build for fun, or survive.  Maybe give yourself a challenge on hardcore, the hardest mode stuck and you have one life.  Fight a walking TNT, or maybe your own TNT, and destroy everything.  So what are you waiting for, play the majestic adventure game, called Minecraft.

Student Writer of the Week 5-14-12

Even an everyday journal entry can be extraordinary.  Today I feature a student who I have seen make a lot of progress this year.  Congratulations to Marcos for making it on the website!

My Weekend
By Marcos

This weekend me, my mom and my friend Cameron went to go see the Avengers on the premire.  There was so much people that me Cameron were next to eachother but my mom wasent.  Right in the middle ther was a fire alarm!  We did not care we still saw it.  After that I went to speend a night at his house and played video games.  We fell aslep in the middle of the hulk.  The morning, Dominic came over.  We had so much fun.

Social Studies Test on Wednesday, May 16th!

Social Studies Chapter 9 Test

The Turn of the Century

Lesson 1: The Cattle Kingdom

-         Longhorns

-         Cattle drives and the jobs the trail boss, cowhands, and drags had

-         Richard King- largest ranch in Texas

-         Ranching culture: lasso, rodeos, and tall boots, leather chaps

-         End of the cattle drives: barbed wire and railroads

Lesson 2: Railroads and Industry

-         Before railroads, people used horse-drawn carts, wagons, and steamboats as transportation

-         The first locomotives in Texas brought a lot of changes:

o   More settlers and businesses moved to Texas

o   New goods could be brought to communities

Skills: Use a Time Zone Map

Lesson 3: Oil

-         One of the largest oil derricks was Spindletop which gushed 100 feet in the air and spewed for nine days.

-         refinery - a factory that turns oil into products such as grease and kerosene

-         Before it was used for gas, oil was grease for machines and burned in lamps for light

-         Boomtowns – population grew quickly

Galveston Hurricane

- Isaac M. Cline tried to warn people

- September 8, 1900

Lesson 4&5 : Texas in a Changing World & Texas in World War II

-         During WWI and WWII, Texans fought in the war and many pilots and soldiers were trained in TX.

-         Suffrage: the right to vote

-         In 1919, the TX legislature approved the 19^th amendment giving women the right to vote.

-         Great Depression

-         Dust Bowl

-         Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

-         Audie Murphy – Texan, got the most medals

-         Casualty- dead and wounded

-         Because of WWII: Texas changed from rural farms to industrial cities

-         At home people supported the war effort

-         Women took on many new jobs

Student Writing of the Week 5/7

Students!!! Don't forget to drop your writing in the box. I had so few entries this week but Anish would deserve to be the writer of the week no matter what. The Lost Friends By Anish Jack Jack found himself in a bus. In the backseat. He didn't know where the bus was going but he knew he was in the dessert. There was something in his pocket it was wet and it was a envolope with a usb. He had lost his memory. His instincts told him to open the cap. When he did it turned into a sword.

Student Writing of the Week 4-30-12

I think that some of the best writing comes from the heart.  In this week's writing of the week, Amatuallah reaches deep inside and shares a part of herself with us.  I'm also proud of her for trying a new genre of poetry/prose. 

By Amatuallah

Life these days can be really painful.
Sometimes you just want to cry.
The times might come to end you life.
I might just whine
but not today
maybe tomorrow but this isn't my day.
Sure maybe it's done
but for me you'll be happy.

Student Writer of the Week 2-23

It seems like I am constantly telling my students that editing and revising your work will lead to better, more complete, and more interesting stories.  Well it seems that someone has finally taken that advice to heart.  The following story by Eleonora went through several drafts and her hard work has really paid off!

Cindy and Lilly
By Eleonora

Chapter 1

There was a girl named Cindy that lives with her family.  Cindy has always kept a secret from her family because they would be shocked!  Well Cindy is very friendly to people.  Also she has blond hair and is wearing a blue shirt with jeans.  Lilly has the same gift as Cindy... to see ghosts!  Lilly is sometimes shy and sometimes very friendly.  She is wearing a yellow shirt and jeans.  They are both in the same class in 5th grade.  Then one morning, Cindy and Lilly went to class when they saw a lot of little ghost children.  They both saw them at school.  Then they screamed so loud that the class stared at them shocked for a long time.  After that the teacher yelled, "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO?"  Then Cindy and Lilly went to their seats really fast and said, "We were freaked of how many kids we have in our class."  After that, they began to study for their test in math.  When school was over they went home to talk to a ghost from school!

To be continued...

Student Writer of the Week 4-17-12

This week I have an excellent example of a student who writes in detail.  I love how Sanjana takes the time to describe whats going on in the story without giving it all away at once.  Building suspense is obviously one of Sanjana's skills.  This spy story also has thoughtful plot developments that cause the characters to have to make decisions that will effect the course of the story.  Her characters feel like real people because of this!  I can't wait for chapter 2!

The Robots

By Sanjana

 Chapter 1

I am Agent F, Feasus, my partner is Agent C, Carmen, our back up is Agent Q, Quimberly.  Yesterday night there was some strange things going on.  People were disappearing, even the president!  So our agency team is going to find out what is making this happen and who is making this happen.  Today Agent C and I saw the person who is making all these people disappear.  We hid behind the bushes to see what he was doing. 

I called Agent Q right away, “Hello, Agent Q, we spotted the villan.  Come quickly.  It took some time for Agent Q to come and the villain was starting to leave, with something huge in his hand, I couldn’t make out it was but it had a robot face!  Agent C sugested we follow him and we did.  We were walking right behind him and he didn't even notice, which was great.  He lead us through a forest, then stopped in front of a huge, evil labratory.

He had a voice activiating machine wich would only recomend to his voice to open the door, some way or another we had to sneak in.  This time we hid by the wall.  When he went inside the doorway, we went right after him.

"Oh my Gosh!" me and Agent Q said at the same time.

"Jinks, triple jinks, you own me a soda," I said.

"Hurry up and focus on our job not on soda" Agent C said.

Back to... (oh my gosh), there were hundreds of people trapped in cages.  Small ones, big ones, even humongous ones.  I heard a noise behind me and when I looked back Agent C was gone!  I didn't know what to do I had to act fast!