Johnny Tremain Polling Activity

Hello Grade Eights!

There’s something in every person that kind of likes taking polls.  In fact, the USA will shortly be going to the polls to decide their next President!  Today, you will get the chance to Poll your classmates and also to participate in polls that they create.

Today’s task is to think of a survey question that you are going to include in a new post.  You will notice that when you are writing a new post, there is a RED DOT in the “Add media” section.  Clicking on it will allow you to add a poll like the one below.(do me a favour – place your vote. Later, you can click on results)

The only stipulation about your poll is that it must be connected to Johnny Tremain.  You should come up with a question that people can respond to that is a prediction about the story Johnny Tremain. You may have 3 to 5 different answer possibilities.  Try to create a good question with plausible answers that aren’t obvious.  An example of a bad question would be…“Do you like the book Johnny Tremain?” – it’s obvious everyone in class would answer YES.  A better question would be “What do you think is going to happen to Johnny now that he’s injured his hand?”*** – This provides plenty of opportunity for you to create possible answers that are not just YES, or NO responses.  Also, this lets you be creative in coming up with possible predictions.  Questions that require your classmates to predict what might happen are GOOD!!!  You may also include an answer that is humourous, if you think you’re a comedian…

***you may use this as your question.  just come up with your own plausible answers.

Creative Writing Story Starter

Don’t you just get excited by the prospect of letting your imagination run free when writing creative stories???  As I was handing out the story starters in class for today’s activity, my mind was flooded by all the various plotlines, characters and settings suggested by each yellow slip.  I hope you felt a little of that energy too!

YOUR TASK:

• Write a story based on the yellow story starter slip you received.
• Print a copy to be handed in.
• Post your story to your blog – give it a good title and include pics.
• Go to other people’s blogs and comment on their stories.

Have this task completed by Saturday!

Value:  20 points

Graded on 6 Traits Categories and Overall Creativity and Quality

Sept. 21st Blog Task

Hello Dear Grade Eights,

Quickly now, here are the tasks I’d like you to work on today.

1. Create a post and upload the “letter from a Colonist” assignment you did.  Give it a good title and include a picture into your post that connects to the topic of your letter.
2. Visit at least 3 other blogs from your classmates.  When you’re there, read what they have on their blog so far and leave a nice comment.
3. Over the next few days, write a NEW post in response to this writing prompt.  Your post should be about 80-150 words.  “If you could meet any famous person who is alive today, who would you pick and why?”
4. Include a picture of the person in your post.
5. Task over the holidays - write 2 new posts that are about anything of your choosing.  You may want to write about something that you did over the holidays, or you can provide an update about what you are doing.  Basically, it can be about anything you think is worth writing about.  Try and include a picture with each post that connects to your topic.  I would suggest that you don’t get too personal with your post – don’t write anything that you would feel weird hearing read out loud in class by the teacher! You may also want to create a hyperlink to a different webpage that provides information about your topic. 

IDEAS FOR POSTS:

• Post a cool picture/image and explain why you think it’s cool or interesting. 
• Respond to something that is happening on the news. EX:  42 people were killed in Islamabad due to a bombing.  Perhaps you could write your perspective on that incident.  This would be especially interesting if you happen to be from Pakistan, because you might have a unique perspective on it.
• Post a picture of your pet and write a short introductory post about it!
• If you happen to travel anywhere, include a short post on that experience.
• Write a response that connects to a book you’re reading, or a movie you’ve watched, or a description of the video game you are spending a lot of time playing – include pictures that connect to your topic.

That’s all!  Have fun, and enjoy your holidays!

Setting Up Your WordPress Blog

Hi There Grade Eights!

Welcome to Blog Setup day.  Today you will set up your very own blog.  Here are the important steps to today’s TASK.

1. Have a GMAIL account

• if you don’t have one, set one up HERE

1. Sign up for a WordPress account and follow all the steps.

• Remember, DON’T forget your username and password
• Use a Username that your classmates will recognize is you – think about using your name in it.

2.) Get Familiar with the Dashboard and DO the following

—- Choose your new THEME under DESIGN

—- Add these widgets to your them – recent comments, links, stats, and any other’s you would like.  Be careful not to clutter up your sidebar with too much junk.

—- Go to Manage – Links – and add every person’s blog address from this class.

—- You can add a short personal note in the “About” section

—- Customize your site by adding custom headers and playing with colours

3.  Write a Post

—- Your first post is to take your History response comparison between SA and Mass. Bay Colony and cut and paste it into your post.

—- next – add an image that connects to that topic.  You’ll have to find one online, save it, then upload it and insert it into your post.

—- publish it

4.  Visit other kids sites

—- follow the links to your classmates sites and add a nice comment on their latest post – just click on comments and follow the directions

5.  Add an avatar

—- this image will appear when you leave comments at other sites.

Whoo Hoo!!! I’ve got a smokin’ hot Blog!

Please have all these things done for next class if you don’t finish today.

Hello Grade Eighters!

You guys are my very favourite gr. 8′s.  Maybe I can show my appreciation of you by taking you to ….

we’ll talk…

Star market bakery?

Hello world!

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