The Home Base Research Challenge (Update)

After watching the Yankees' diastrous weekend, I've been thinking about The Big Apple. Today's challenge: How did New York City get that nickname? First home base student to leave a comment on this blog with the correct answer wins a great prize!

UPDATE: No takers on the challenge:
You can find the answer the question "Why is New York called The Big Apple?" here.

Details: "Halloween Story Contest"

Here are the details about the "Halloween story contest" assignment, as well as a (partial) sample that I wrote:

DIRECTIONS: Write the ending to author Bruce Coville’s story, “Back From the Grave.” Your assignment should be 200-250 words (following the contest rules) in length and typed. It is due Monday, October 15.

Here’s my (unfinished) ending:

Suddenly, a scream exploded in the Avery’s bedroom next door.

I flung off the covers and sprinted toward the sound of Avery’s frantic cries.

I threw open her bedroom door and charged in. She was standing at the window, and I could see Avery silhouetted by the light of the full moon.

“No!” she shrieked.  “Gramma, Run!”

Running to the window, I pushed Avery out of the way. I stared with horrified disbelief at what I saw.

Gramma, in her pink fleece nightgown and furry slippers, scrambled through the back yard. Something was following her.

 I stood there, paralyzed with horror, as the dark figure closed in on Gramma.

Avery sprang into action. Opening the window, she quickly climbed through and lowered herself the short distance to the ground.

“Avery, stop!” I yelled at her.

Ignoring me, Avery ran to Gramma’s tool shed, ducked inside and emerged seconds later carrying a long handled shovel.

Was she crazy? Avery can barely lift that shovel, I thought.

Halloween Story Contest

Central NY writer Bruce Coville has issued his annual challenge to write the ending of his Halloween story.  You can watch Bruce read last year's story, "The Wind Up Goblin" here and read the winning endings here.
For Halloween 2012, Bruce has written the beginning of a story called "Back From the Grave," and we'll be working on contest submissions this week in class.

Create a Creature

This week, students will conclude our science fiction unit by working on the research project described below:

Research your solar system planet and create a creature that could live there based on the environment of your planet. Please be thorough and cover at least four topics listed below. Each topic should be related to the environment of your planet.


Use at least four of the topics listed below:

Body design (how is it shaped and why?)

Diet (what does it eat?)

Acquiring food (how does it get it’s food?)

Shelter (where does it live?)

Protection (what does it use for protection? Does it fight back or hide?)

Skeleton (how does it keep its shape?)

Mobility (how does it move?)

Sensory Ability (what are its senses?)

Communication (how does your creature communicate with other creatures?)

Other unique adaptations/behaviors.

Your essay is to be typed, double-spaced, and in 12 pt font.

This project should be about five to seven paragraphs in length.

Please use full sentences and use proper punctuation and grammar.

Non-Fiction Readings

Several non-fiction articles are coming up this week (as you may know, New York State's  transition to Common Core calls for a greater balance in literary and informational texts).
We'll start with an article by Gregg Easterbrook which first appeared in Time Magazine: "Why We Shouldn't Go To Mars." This article follows on the heels of a story we read last week, Ray Baradbury's "Dark They Were and Golden Eyed," which takes place on Mars.
We will also begin to integrate instruction to address the following Common Core Standard:

7.L.2

:Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing

The students will practice editing by working with timely passages that contain mistakes.

Ray Bradbury, Mars and More

This week finds us continuing our unit on science fiction by looking at Ray Bradbury's "Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed." The story takes place on Mars and it has us thinking about the Curiousity Rover landing which happened last summer.
The scientists who worked on the Mars landing were inspired by Bradbury and posted this tribute.

A Film and Some Book Recs

I mentioned to several classes that I would post a link to the short film version of Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" (we viewed the ending in class and compared it to the ending of the short story). That film can be found here.
Also, Ms. Tice (our student teacher from SUNY Plattsburgh) and I gave book talks on Friday. The book I shared was Vivian Vande Velde's All Hallows Eve
In keeping with our current science fiction theme, Ms. Tice shared Feed by MT Anderson and Singularity by William Sleator.