Our last day of our summer workshop was a day for the students to design any project they wanted to do. It was really neat to see the students come up with a plan for a writing project that was all theirs!
Nicolyn (rising 7th grader) spelled an animal name's forward, then backwards, and wrote a descriptive piece on her new creature. I love it! She thought of everything!
The Taog
The taog is a goat-like creature that lives in the Himalayas in large groups. The taogs have many blue stripes and long antlers. The average size of a taog is very small for a mountainous creature; two feet! Camouflages using its stripes that mimic cracks in the ice. but to use this skill, they must stick their antlers and heads in the snow, or else the predators would see them.
Taogs have very peculiar behaviors. While taogs are almost as smart as dolphins, they do not have many opportunities to expand their knowledge, because of where they live. Taogs have a complex farming system for growing lettuce, which they eat. Taogs have defenses as well. they will scream or kick at the intruder, do not go into taog territory! The last Unusual behavior is that of the taog’s allergies. When humans are around the taogs start rapidly sneezing. we are still not sure why they sneeze but we know enough to stay away from them end research them from afar.
Marissa (rising 7th grader) designed a new game! Who wants to play?? Sign me up!
This sport is called Water Parko.
Intro: Water parko is a sport where you have to shoot a ball while on a slide in a water playground.
Set up: There are two small playgrounds in a school sized pool. Connecting both of them is a yellow tube that you can sit on to throw the ball. On both playgrounds are two slides that extend into the pool.
Rules: there are six people on each team. Three people stand in the middle of the playground as goalies on the platform. Their goal is to keep the ball from going past them. There are two scorers/shooters per team.They either straddle the tube, which means they can get closer, and try to shoot from there,, or go down the slide and shoot while sliding. You have to hide on the slide so the other team's goalies let their guard down, and you can score easier. Each scorer goes at the same time. Right at the top of the playground is a guard. Their goal is to tell you when someone is shooting or hiding. First to 5 points wins!
A sample game:: Everybody gets into position, Blue goes first. This shooter hides so the other team doesn’t know. When they pop up to shoot, the Red guard shouts,, “Shooter on left side shooting!” Red is too late. The ball soars over all three of the goalies and the score is now 1:0. Red team goes. Their shooter straddles on the tube and gets close. Their shooter has a hard hit, but it doesn’t get past the guards. Score:1:0. Blue’s shooter quickly slides down the slide without hiding and takes a shot but misses. Still 1:0. this is how the game goes until the score is 4:4 Blue’s turn Blues shooter straddles, fakes then shoots… AND SCORES! BLUE WINS!
Julia (rising 7th grader) came up with a very clever assignment. She became a book critic... of her own portfolio! I loved her sense of humor in this piece, and her ability to see her work with eyes outside of herself!
A Review of Julia’s Creative Collection of Work
Reviewed by: The Best Book Critic of All Time
I recently had a chance to read Julia’s Creative Collection of Work, and I was utterly surprised at what I read.
The front cover is beautifully illustrated, and Julia could easily become a famous calligrapher or illustrator when she grows up. I can’t believe that she is only twelve years old!
Moving on, her first piece of writing was not her strongest. I do understand how hard it is to write within strict parameters, but it sounded choppy, and the colored text distracts the reader from the actual paragraph. Would it be better in black and white? No. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was worth reading the rest, but boy, am I glad I did.
The second piece of work is called Pool Toy Draw. I had heard very good things about Julia’s descriptive writing, so I was very excited that I’d get to sample it. Her writing was very organized, and I could definitely see an astronaut cat forming in my mind. I am very surprised that she didn't win; her writing is just stunning! Her drawing was wonderful too. I could tell that the blue pool coloring was a little rushed, but other than that, the cat was just adorable.
Next, there is a descriptive letter to tell Ms. Huff how to catsit for Julia’s cat. It is a bit unrealistic because it would take about eight years to get to Saturn, and she would most likely die walking on it, but oh well. I guess Julia should pay more attention in her science class. The rest of the writing is very descriptive, although it is quite boring to read. Nobody wants to learn about how to scoop a litter box or make cat food.
To wrap it all up, there is a postcard from a fake country that she made up. First let’s talk about the art on the front. It is beautiful. Just gorgeous. I can’t believe that the country doesn’t actually look like that! Oh, and the writing. The way Julia portrays a snooty person is hilarious! I heard that she did a hotel review in that same voice last year, and I am dying to read it. Her wide vocabulary helps immensely in this scenario, and I hope she never stops writing because this is just amazing!
Well, I have come to the end of my review, and I would rate Julia’s Creative Collection of Work five stars, but only if you rip out that math paragraph because it is not worthy of such a great rating. If you come across this book on the top book list, I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, I was the one who gave it five stars.
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