Story Writing - Conflict

We started our story writing unit by deciding on a theme. Then we figured out 3-5 stories we could tell that illustrate that theme.

Now, you need to decide on which one story you're going to tell to illustrate your theme, and figure out an example of each of the three types of conflict we studied today:

• person to person
• person to nature
• person to self

See you tomorrow!

Mr. G

Story Writing - Theme

What is a theme? An explanation from Cliffs Notes.

More info on theme.

Some examples of themes:

•    jealousy
•    making friends
•    fear
•    sibling relationships
•    success/accomplishment
•    failure
•    change
•    romance
•    power
•    arrogance
•    overcoming hardships
•    love
•    courage
•    death
•    being ordinary
•    acceptance
•    relationships
•    moving on
•    trickery
•    family
•    injustice
•    wealth
•    sacrifice

•    growing up

Your homework is to bring in our theme and 3-5 stories from your life that go with that theme.

Work Day Chat

A couple of ideas to make the chat work more smoothly:

• Use @ to direct a reply to someone. For instance, if you want to reply to something I said, you could type "@Mr G. I agree because...." This is a public reply, meaning everyone can see them, but it helps us know who you're talking to.
• It's vital that you use full thoughts. I'm not going to be an enormous stickler on complete sentences, but you need to fully explain what you're talking about. Very short chat messages such as "Yup" or "I agree" will just clog up the chat. Ask yourself "why?" when chatting. Why do I agree? Why don't I agree?

If this box isn't big enough to follow the chat, you can click here to open the chat in a full window.

Topic ideas for tomorrow's chat? [Open Thread]

What are some of your ideas for tomorrow's chat?

Here are some of my ideas:

• "Education is a system. Learning is life." What does that mean to you? How does it affect your outlook on school?
• We all enjoy having our summer vacations, but what can do to help kids continue learning during the summer?
• What could we use to show learning progress besides grades?
• How can you document what you're learning outside of school?

China [Social Studies]

I'm going to stay on top of keeping our classroom blog updated with what we're currently learning about.

This week, we're starting a unit studying China. Students did an activity today in class to build background knowledge. I'll take a picture of the timeline they created and post it tomorrow.

We'll be studying different dynasties and the religions in China.

-Mr. G

Poetry Party

Here is a link to the Poetry Party assignment.

We've been studying the different literary aspects of poetry the last few weeks. The Poetry Party gives students a chance to apply the skills they've learned on a poem that means something to them.

Post any questions you have in the comments.