"Opposite Pick Paper" due May 21!

See below for a sample of a written assignment that is due on May 21:

The Clique by Lisi Harrison: My Opposite Pick


PART I: WHAT I USUALLY READ
I like non-fiction. I know what you’re thinking: non-fiction? Yuck! If you find the right kind of non-fiction, you can actually get hooked on the stuff. Sometimes true stories are better than anything that an author could make up. For example, The Year We Disappeared by Cylin and John Busby is the story of a cop whose family was forced to go into hiding for a whole year after he was shot in the face while on duty (and lived to identify the gunman.) Another true crime story I liked was Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson. This book was all about one of the most famous crimes of all time, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Both of those books are filled with as much action and suspense as any work of fiction that you’re likely to find.

When I read fiction, I usually go for books that have a paranormal element to them. What I mean by that is that most of the fiction that I read has ghosts, monsters or characters with unusual powers in them. Two books come immediately to mind: All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn and The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting. All the Lovely Bad Ones is about a haunted bed and breakfast in Vermont and The Body Finder is about a girl with the ability to know where dead bodies are buried.

PART II: HOW MY LATEST BOOK IS DIFFERENT
First, my experience reading The Clique was very different in that I was challenged to read this book by students. I usually find books by visiting book blogs like Storysnoops.com or Guyslitwire.com. I also frequently get recommendations for books from students. Rarely, however, do students challenge me to read a book.

The Clique is fiction, but not of the paranormal variety (although I suppose one could argue that the girls in this book are monsters!) The Clique is about a close-knit group of middle school girls who are wealthy, popular and envied by just about everyone. When a new girl named Claire comes to live in clique-leader Massie’s guesthouse, the girls have a new target for their teasing.

PART III: MY REACTION
At first, I was not sure that I would be able to finish The Clique. The main characters are wealthy girls who are very interested in shopping, gossip and the latest trends. There were no characters that I could relate to. Soon, however, as the story began to unfold, I found myself increasingly fascinated by how mean the popular girls were to Claire, and then to each other. I read in disbelief as Massie and her friends insulted Claire to her face and talked behind her back. The more I read, the angrier I became. The I angrier I became, the more I wanted to keep reading to find out if Claire would be ok, and if the mean girls would get what was coming to them.

The Clique has very short chapters, some as small has one or two pages. I realized that a book like that is a nice change of pace for me. I found that even with a busy schedule, I could easily finish two or three chapters and have a sense of accomplishment.

I also learned that I should take on “reading challenges” more frequently. I was compelled to keep reading this book, no matter what, because

I had been “dared” to do it, and I wanted to rise to the occasion.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Clique. I gained perspective into the world of wealthy, spoiled, mean girls. I feel lucky that I do not know anyone in real life who is like Massie, Dylan, and the rest of their crew. I learned that The Clique is a series of fourteen books, and that book five takes place partly in Lake Placid. I’m planning to read that book (The Pretty Committee Strikes Back) but I’m not sure if I’ll read books 2-4, or just skip straight to book 5.

Even though at first I was embarrassed to be seen reading The Clique, I eventually realized that reading something different is very worthwhile.

WORD COUNT: 707

Twain Time:2012

May finds our ELA 7 class engaged in a study of author Mark Twain.
We started by reading together the story that put him on the literary map: "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
You can check out an interesting claymation version of the story here
Next, we read the famous "whitewashing episode" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

For those planning ahead, The final exam in ELA 7 is scheduled for Monday, June 18. It will be a test that covers only material from the final 10 weeks of school (mostly content from our Mark Twain unit).

It's NYS Test Week

Here's some information pertaining to the New York State ELA Assessment that students will take on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week.

To begin, the test year this is longer (three days of testing, 90 minutes per day).

The students have been working to prepare, and here are some general test taking tips from teacher/blogger Larry Ferlazzo that may be helpful:

GENERAL TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES:

Read each question carefully and more than once
Read the questions before you read the longer text
Underline important words in the text as you read
Do easy questions first
Skip the hard questions and come back to them later (put a mark in your test booklet next to the ones you skip)
Eliminate wrong answers and make your best guess
Trust yourself, your first guess is usually the best
If you do want to change an answer, be sure to erase the first one completely

I'm proud of how hard the students have worked to prepare, and I know that they will do their best!

Page to Stage to News

Our annual Page to Stage project is over for another year, but we are already beginning to think about how we can make it even better next time.
The local history plays were mentioned in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Historic Saranac Lake received some well earned kudos for their involvement with our project.
Many thanks as well for all the assistance that Pendragon Theatre provided our actors and actresses.

Page to Stage

The students are working in groups lately to bring stories of local history to life on the stage. They've been helped in these efforts by members of Saranac Lake's own full time theatre company, Pendragon Theatre.
The Historic Saranac Lake Wiki has been a great resource for the students, who have visited the site for research and historically accurate details to include in their "mini-plays."
Among the topics the students have focused on are Winter Carnival, TB curing, bootlegging, and camping.

Local History: From Page to Stage

Today the students were visited by writer Liza Frenette. She's a magazine writer and author of children's books.
Liza's visit marks the beginning of a month long project (made possible, in part, by an Arts in Education grant from the New York State Council on the Arts) in which students will draw on the resources and expertise of community partners Historic Saranac Lake and Pendragon Theatre to bring local history to life on the stage.
As part of our annual grade seven "Page to Stage" project, the students will work in groups to write "mini-plays" based on people and events from local history. The students will stage these plays for an audience on Friday, March 23 (more information on how you can watch the plays later).
Last fall, grade 7 social studies students teamed with Historic Saranac Lake to research our area's role in the treatment of TB. They also examined historical photographs with local artist Mark Kurtz. Students may decide to use that work as the basis for their plays. Students might also wish to explore a family member's connection to local history and develop that story in the form of a dramatic presentation. I'll be encouraging the students to talk to their families and neighbors for potential story ideas.
I'll be blogging about the students' progress as the project unfolds.

More Monsters

We finished reading Rod Serling's (he's from Upstate New York!) "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" last week, in honor of Saranac Lake's 2012 Winter Carnival theme.
Today, we looked at the story's epilogue, and viewed a video clip from The Twilight Zone.
We also continued our editing practice by reading and correcting an article about a winter festival in Sapporo, Japan.