David's Spelling and Vocabulary Prep

https://www.vocabtest.com/vocabulary_word_test.php?tid=230086

 Truth

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words can also hurt me.

Stones and sticks break only skin,

while words are ghosts that haunt me.

Slant and curved the word-swords fall

to pierce and stick inside me.

Bats and bricks may ache through bones,

but words can mortify me.

Pain from words has left its scar

on mind and heart that’s tender.

Cuts and bruises now have healed;

it’s words that I remember.

By Barrie Wade

Pick a phrase from the poem - for example..."words are 
ghosts that haunt me" and explain what it means to you. Write your own stanza that would fit this poem.

Monsters In A Jar - Newspaper Article

Song for National Bullying Awareness Week

What is the big idea in the song? Post your response.

Sentence Modelling

It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.
                                  Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Character Description

Author Character Descriptions -

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – Hagrid

“If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.”

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – Elrond

“The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars.”

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar
“There are four simple ways for the observant to tell Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar apart: first, Mr. Vandemar is two and a half heads taller than Mr. Croup; second, Mr. Croup has eyes of a faded china blue, while Mr. Vandemar’s eyes are brown; third, while Mr. Vandemar fashioned the rings he wears on his right hand out of the skulls of four ravens, Mr. Croup has no obvious jewelry; fourth, Mr. Croup likes words, while Mr. Vandemar is always hungry. Also, they look nothing alike.”

Mary Shelley's Description of Frankenstein -

It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

Dragon Rock - Short Story

http://goo.gl/Zp6fM4
Open the above link and read the story Dragon Rock. Compare the dragon in the story to dragons from books you have read or movies you have seen?  Post your response.

Writing Contest - Habitat for Humanity

http://meaningofhome.ca/students/

Open the above link and read about an upcoming contest.  Contest submission dates are from Oct. 1st to Nov. 10th....lots of time to plan and prepare an amazing contest entry.

Shelter.Comfort.Family.

2014 Contest Dates: October 1 to November 10, 2014.

Habitat for Humanity Canada (Habitat) and Genworth Canada are asking students in grade 4, 5 and 6 across Canada to tell us what “home” means to them by entering the Meaning of Home Contest.
By entering, students have the chance to make a difference in their community. Genworth Canada will donate $5.00 CAD to the Habitat affiliate closest to the entrant’s city of residence. Every participant also has a chance to win the top prize which consists of a $60,000 donation from Genworth Canada to the Habitat affiliate of their choice, as well as 5 runner-up prizes of $5000 donations to Habitat affiliates.

That’s not all! The winner also gets to host a pizza party for their entire school, and runners-up get a pizza party for their classroom, in addition to other great prizes.

Open the link below to check out previous winning submissions.  Which one do you like the best?  Explain why?
http://meaningofhome.ca/winners-2013/

PRIZES - http://meaningofhome.ca/prizes/

Sentence Imitation

She sighed and continued to walk.  Most of the houses were set close together as if huddled for safety, and on either side of the houses the West Virginia hills rose, black now in the early evening shadows.
                                   (The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars -  p. 23)

Mind Muser - by Daniel

Mind Muser – Your task is to imagine you have the ability to appear as a character in your book. For example, you might be Kino’s brother from The Pearl, charged with helping Kino make it to the city to sell his treasure. Or maybe you’re Juliet’s sister from Romeo & Juliet, providing her with advice and solace. The idea for this activity is to allow yourself to get lost and absorbed in the world of your story and interact with its characters. You will appear as yourself, yet will be linked to a character(s) in a manner in which you see fit. You may also acquire skills or abilities based on the events in the text.

Task: Write a creative vignette (a short, descriptive literary text) using present-action language, engaging description, and lively dialogue where you’re experiencing the events of the reading alongside a character or characters. Flex your creative muscle and have fun. Your literary sketch should be at least 150 words.

(Post your response on Writer's Forum and add a graphic.)

“Ladies and gentleman, let the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" I can't think straight. The image of Cinna, beaten and bloody, consumes me. Where is he now?

What are they doing to him? Torturing him? Killing him? Turning him into an Avox? But for some odd reason, I hear his voice telling me: “Katniss, It’s okay.” Obviously his assault was staged to unhinge me, the same way Darius's presence in my quarters was. And it has unhinged me. All I want to do is collapse on my metal plate. But I can hardly do that after what I just witnessed. I must be strong. I owe it to Cinna, who risked everything by undermining President Snow and turning my bridal silk into mockingjay plumage. And I owe it to the rebels who, emboldened by Cinna's example, might be fighting to bring down the Capitol at this moment. My refusal to play the Games on the Capitol's terms is to be my last act of rebellion. So I grit my teeth and will myself to be a player.

Where are you? I can still make no sense of my surroundings. Where are you?! I demand an answer from myself and slowly the world comes into focus. Blue water. Pink sky. White-hot sun beating down. All right, there's the Cornucopia, the shining gold metal horn, about forty yards away. At first, it appears to be sitting on a circular island. But on closer examination, I see the thin strips of land radiating from the circle like the spokes on a wheel. I think there are ten to twelve, and they seem equidistant from one another. Between the spokes, all is water. Water and a pair of tributes.

That's it, then. There are twelve spokes, each with two tributes balanced on metal plates between them. The other tribute in my watery wedge is old Woof from District 8. He's about as far to my right as the land strip on my left. Beyond the water, wherever you look, a narrow beach and then dense greenery. I scan the circle of tributes, looking for Peeta, but he must be blocked from my view by the Cornucopia. Another tribute comes over and I just dodge his sword, then Daniel, the boy from District 1 surprisingly not a career, kicked the woman into the water. I was debating to shoot him, but thought he could be useful. Also I think to myself what if Daniel is part of the rebellion. That would make sense if he’s sparing me.   

I catch a handful of water as it washes in and smell it. Then I touch the tip of my wet finger to my tongue. As I suspected, it's saltwater. Just like the waves Peeta and I encountered on our brief tour of the beach in District 4. But at least it seems clean. There are no boats, no ropes, not even a bit of driftwood to cling to. No, there's only one way to get to the Cornucopia. When the gong sounds, I don't even hesitate before I dive to my left. It's a longer distance than I'm used to, and navigating the waves takes a little more skill than swimming across my quiet lake at home, but my body seems oddly light and I cut through the water effortlessly. Maybe it's the salt. I pull myself, dripping, onto the land strip and sprint down the sandy stretch for the Cornucopia. I see another tribute and he dives into the water and tries to catch up. I can see no one else converging from my side, but the tribute behind me, although the gold horn blocks a good portion of my view. I don't let the thought of adversaries slow me down, though. I'm thinking like a Career now, and the first thing I want is to get my hands on a weapon. Last year, the supplies were spread out quite a distance around the Cornucopia, with the most valuable closest to the horn. But this year, the booty seems to be piled at the twenty-foot-high mouth.  My eyes instantly home in on a golden bow just in arm's reach and I yank it free. Daniel takes another one to my left, but it’s a silver bow. He shoves me into the water and punched a man who was going to stab me. There's someone behind me. I'm alerted by, I don't know, a soft shift of sand or maybe just a change in the air currents. I pull an arrow from the sheath that's still wedged in the pile and arm my bow as I turn.

Daniel comes over “Move Katniss!” and he shoots an arrow over my head into a tribute chasing me. Daniel went around looking for more useful items. Well if it wasn’t him that made the noise I heard, who was it? Then I see Finnick, glistening and gorgeous, stands a few yards away, with a trident poised to attack. A net dangles from his other hand, Daniel jumps to his right into the water, thinking Finnick is aiming at him.

Sentence Imitation

Trees flew through the air like laundry from a clothes line.  Other stuff too - rocks, branches, an old rowboat. A flurry of pink flags whipped past my eyes.
                                                                       (Ultra by David Carroll p. 159)

Hello Mackenzie & Amanda,

I really enjoyed reading the first 14 pages of your book.  I hope you continue because I want to find out what happens next.  You make quite a team!

Xavier's Mind Muser!

“Hello?” said Norman.

“Bad Idea” said Xavier. They were both thinking the same thing: They did not want to attract the bad  kind of attention.

A voice erupted around them, seeming to come every direction at

once - coming as much from the inside of their heads as the outside.

You are not welcome here. Leave this place.

The wind howled even harder, and the trees seemed to shake and bow with terror.

“We need to speak to you” Norman called.

“Please just let us talk to you” Xavier said.

Leave this place, they both heard again. The  sound of the voice seemed to rush right through them, leaving them shaking and out of breath.

“We won’t leave until we’ve spoken with you,” Norman said. With each step they took toward the tree, a voice inside both of them shout No! Turn and run! as if their brains were in the audience and they were nothing more the characters in a movie. A very scary movie.

Who are you?

“My name is Norman Babcock” said Norman

“And I’m his brother, Xavier.” said Xavier

“You don’t know us, but we know you. We’re your great-great-great… well, we’re  related. We’re kind of the same, you and us.”

They advanced two more steps as they spoke, but they still could not make out any details of the figure crouched in the roots of the tree. Light streamed from behind it, and jagged tendrils of liquid fire snaked from its head.

You are not dead.

“Well, no,” Norman said. They took a step.

You are a boy.

“That’s right.” said Xavier. They took another small step. At least she was talking now.

You are not like me at all.

Xavier was trying to come closer to see more of her features, but he wasn’t close enough.

Norman thought carefully before speaking This could go either way now. He could reach her in some way, human to human, or he could return her to the cataclysmic tantrum she had been having.

“I know what you’re feeling,” Norman said, taking another step.

“Both of us have felt it many times,” Xavier said, also taking a step.

No. No one knows that. No one knows anything about me.

“Your name is Agatha Prenderghast.” said Norman

“And we both know what happened, and we know that it was terrible.” said Xavier.

“We also know that you're tired, and we’re tired too.” said Norman

“We are just kids, and you are one too, so just calm down and sleep.”

A crack of lightning shot skyward, silencing the two.

I will not sleep! You cannot make me sleep! I burned your book to dust  so I will never have to hear your stupid stories, Now LEAVE ME ALONE!

“None of us are going to leave! Not yet!” said Xavier

“Not until you listen to us,” said Norman.

“She’s right,” said Xavier.”She destroyed the book. What are we suppose to do now?” Said Xavier.
“Um…” Said Norman.

Sentence Imitation - Submitted by Amanda

We followed the drunken sound of the carnival through a snarl of cramped lanes, where from wooden carts vendors hawked vegetables and dusty sacks of grain and freshly killed rabbits; where children and small cats skulked and prowled with hungry eyes, and women with proud, dirty faces squatted in the gutter peeling potatoes, building little mountains with tossed-away skins.

                                                                               Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (p. 303)

Mind Muser

By: Kieran

*None of this is from the book.*

    Today, Dad flew the J-3 again, but without Mom knowing he was flying the plane. He also threw water balloons like what Mom told him not to do on the house (instead of his shoes like another time) so I think Mom will be extremely angry at him. I watched him fly the plane out of the window of my room with the Japanese binoculars to watch Dad in the sky flying his plane. I didn’t tell Mom that he was flying the plane because I liked to watch him fly, but I still really wanted to fly in the plane with Dad again.

    I got a little bored and decided to call my old friend Kieran over. I asked Mom for the phone book, but she didn’t know where it was. I asked Dad where the phone book was after he landed his plane.

    “I threw it on the house over there when I was flying the plane,” Dad said.

    “What!? Why did you do that!?”

    “I ran out of water balloons to throw,  so I tried to find anything else to throw at the house and I found the phone book to throw.”

    I went over to the house, and found the phone book ripped and with the pages scattered on the ground. “It must have scraped against the shingles,” I said to myself. I searched for Kieran’s number and finally found it on the last page I collected on the dirt. I went back home, grabbed the phone and dialed his number.

    “Hello? Hi Mr. Watters. Can Kieran come over to play today? No I don’t want any bread. I want Kieran over, and can I talk to him? No I don’t want to talk to ham. I want to talk to Kieran.”

    “Hi Jack! I haven’t talked to you in a long time!” said Kieran

    “Do you want to come over to my house right now? Your mom said yes!”

    “Sure. I’ll be right over.”

    Kieran came to my house at about 2:00pm. We played almost the whole day, and called his mom again to ask if he was allowed to have a sleepover at my house. He was allowed, but his dad said he had to come back to his house at 2:00am! Kieran still stayed over for the sleep over though. It was lucky that he brought his PJ’s and toothbrush to my house. We got ready for bed and went to sleep.

Eileen's Mind Muser: The Penderwicks

“Bye Cagney! See you tonight!” I screamed at my brother as he was leaving for his job planting flowers for snooty Mrs. Tifton down the street.  Mrs. Tifton was an awful lady, who was forcing her son Jeffrey, (my friend) to go to military school, even though he wanted to be a pianist. Mrs. Tifton had a boyfriend named Mr. Dupree. Jeffrey, Sky, Jane, and I made a target for shooting arrows with rubber tips. It was of Dexter’s (Mr. Dupree’s) face, with his well known, mysterious smirk, right under his huge, bushy mustache. Skye and Jane were two of the Penderwick sisters, out of four. The other two were: the oldest, Rosalind, who I’m pretty sure has a crush on my older brother, Cagney. And Batty,  who is 4, and never leaves home without her precious butterfly wings. Anyways, Batty and Rosalind were coming over because Batty liked our bunnies, Yaz and Carla. As I was going to the kitchen, I came across a half eaten brownie plate, and shoved one in my mouth. I heard a knock on the door. 

“ Oh Yaaaaaz! I have your carrot!!!! I gulped down my brownie and rushed to the door. “Hi!,” said Rosalind, looking to the right, then to the left.

“ Is Cagney home?”

“No, he had to plant daisies for Mrs. Tifton.”

“Oh,” she sounded disappointed.

“Can you give him these when he gets back?” She was holding a plate of something wrapped in tinfoil.

“Will do.” Yaz hopped out from underneath a chair. Batty put a carrot on the ground, and watched in excitement as he nibbled on the treat. Carla hopped out and bumped Yaz to one side. She started to chomp the veggie down. I went to the cupboard and found a bag of parsley. I laid it on the ground as Rosalind shut the door and locked it tightly.

“Here,” I said as I took the plate from Rosalind and placed it on the counter.  6 minutes later Yaz and Carla were full. They both hopped back underneath the big chair.

“ Well, we better get going. Tell Cagney I said hi!”

“Bye bye Yaz!” Batty blew Yaz a kiss. They walked out of the screen door and slammed it shut. I went into the kitchen to check what was on the plate under the tinfoil.
“Yum! More brownies!” I yelled. Carla whimpered.

“ Sorry Carla,” I whispered. I scarfed down a brownie and ran to the closet next to the front door. I pulled out my red converse and threw them on. I quickly double knotted the laces and ran out the front door, locking it safely and securely.

Soon I was at the Penderwick porch.

“Hey,” said Skye and Jeffrey.

“FISH HEAD!” said Jane in a weird british accent. She was being Mick Hart. Mick Hart, the oh-so-talented center came from Manchester, England, was dreamt up by Jane. I saw that they were all playing some type of soccer.

“C’MON!” Screamed Skye. “YOU’RE ON MY TEAM!” I ran over to Jeffrey, who had the ball at the moment but before I could get it, he passed it to Jane who screamed,

“SILLY GIT!” Finally that was too much. Being called a fish head is one thing, but no one can stand being called a silly git by her younger sister, even when she doesn’t know what a git is.

“PASS IT TO ME!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Skye fell to the ground. It looked pretty bad, but then laughing demonically, Skye was suddenly on her feet and throwing herself at the ball. She walloped it towards Jeffrey.

“Jane’s the monkey!” she shouted triumphantly. A few minutes later, Jeffrey was the monkey, and he was mad. The ball was flying high in the air, and slowly, it fell down towards the gardens.

“ COME TO MICK! UP PENDERWICKS! DOWN JEFFREY!”

“ WAIT GUYS! THE GARDEN!” I yelled, but no one could hear me over Jane’s ( Mick’s ) screaming. I didn’t want to get in trouble - especially with Mrs. Tifton - so I made a run for it. Over the bushes, out the door, and up the stairs to the door of the apartment. I struggled to find the key, but when I did, I ( sweatily ) twisted it into the keyhole, and ran in. I kicked off my converse, and plopped myself down on the couch. I felt bad for Jeffrey, Skye, and Jane. In fact, I felt so bad that I took the brownies that were meant for Cagney, wrapped them up, and went over to Jeffrey’s house.

I went through the special entrance to the garden and I saw Jane. She looked fine, but she also looked like she was spying on someone.

“Hi Jane!” I said. I must have startled her because I made her drop a red notebook. I picked it up and gave it to her.

“ Oh good, its just you.” She said, relieved.

“Thanks,” She squeaked as she plucked the notebook out of my hands.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked confused.

“And where are Skye and Jeffrey?” She hushed me with a wave of her hand. I saw a car pull up in the driveway, and rolled my eyes as Dexter Dupree came out.

“Ugh, what’s the big deal? It’s just Dexter!” Jane was still silent. Suddenly she ran out the garden and screamed,

“DEXTER! DEXTER!” I put my head in my lap. I had no idea why she wanted to talk to mean old Dexter, so I stayed and watched. I saw them talking, and then I saw Jane’s eyes tear up. She ran away to the Penderwick home, I was going to go after her, but I saw a backseat car door open, and I saw Jeffrey come out.

“So, did you see him? Was he there?” Skye said eagerly.

“I...I….I didn’t! Jane said as she burst into tears. I could hear, and see all of this from the front door. I knocked, but then got scared. I started to run away from the door, but tripped over something fluffy.

“Yaz!?”

The things from the story are bold.

Andra's Mind Muser! Awake and Dreaming.

I was just talking to my friends about my trip to Vancouver when I saw the new girl walk in the classroom. She wore new plaid pants, with a matching green sweater and a red vest. Her name was Theo.  She was placed at the table with Jasmin, Will and my best friend Elise. I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.  

“Did anyone watch The birds on Saturday night?” I heard Jasmin say.

“I did!” I heard Will reply. “My parents were-” I got cut off from Ms. Trembley asking me a question about South Africa.  

“How many colors are there in the South African flag?”

“Um… 5 or 6?”

“6 Andra,” she said, “You were kind of right.” and Mrs.Trembley walked away.

I went back to my eavesdropping. It’s looks like I haven’t missed much. They were still talking about The birds.

“...must be very brave.” I heard Elise said, “I can’t watch movies like that.”  That is when I decided to join in the conversation.

“Did you know that the second one is coming out later this year?” I asked.

“I know! I saw the trailer for it!” Jasmin said. “It looks scarier than the first one!”

Ms. Trembley walked towards us. “Did you hear what I just said?”  Neither of us dared to say anything. “I thought so.” she walked away, “You can chit-chat at recess, but now it is time to learn.”

Ms. Trembely was talking about South Africa but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was thinking about Theo. How I think I saw her before on my vacation to Vancouver. When me and my mom were in Vancouver going shopping. I saw a girl begging. Dancing to the Nutcracker song I think. Maybe that was her evil twin or something. Right at that thought, the bell for recess woke me up from my daydreams.  

I decided to be friends with her. At recess, we talked with each other. And during the week, we played with each other and worked with each other. But one day she started to fade.

Or was I fading? I don’t know but I didn’t see Theo unless she like shook me or something. I couldn’t see her. All of this was going fast. So fast that It made me dizzy! I thought that maybe she left the school.

So I asked Ms. Trembley.

“Ms. Trembely, has Theo left the school?” I asked Ms. Trembley.

“What do you mean?”

“Well I haven’t seen her for a long time.”  

“Of course not!” Ms. Trembley laughed, “Stop asking me silly questions and go outside for recess.”

Maybe it’s only me, but I have to confirm that. So I got an idea of asking the other peers in my class if they noticed it too.

“Have you seen Theo anywhere?” I asked Jasmin, Will and Elise.

“No! I actually haven’t seen her for a long time.” said Elise, “Have you guys?”

They both shook their head.

“Ok, thanks.” I said.

I just couldn’t fall asleep. I was tossing and turning, thinking about Theo. I eventually fell asleep. But I woke up in the hotel in Vancouver, my mom calling me for breakfast.

“Eat up your breakfast fast. We don’t want to miss the ferry to Vancouver.”

On the ferry, I couldn’t think about anything except that dream. Or was it a dream and was Theo having the same dream in her point of view? And how do you pee in your dream? When I have a dream and I pee, I usually wake up wet. I knew that none of these questions can be answered. But was it really a dream?

Bold is from the book.