PRE AP Secret Santa Fun

"D-Bo" wishes everyone a very merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays--OXYMORON STYLE

Whether or not you know what the term OXYMORON means, you have seen such before...take a guess using the following examples:  JUMBO SHRIMP/ALMOST ACCURATE/PRETTY UGLY...

To learn more about oxymorons and to enjoy the holiday spirit, AP Language and Composition created some fun samples.  Read and enjoy!  (Share some in the comment area if you can think of some!)

The ornaments were thrown on the tree in harmonious chaos.

Buddy was a six foot tall little elf.

While Frosty was dancing, things were getting steamy.

Nate went caroling on a bright night.

Don't Be a Scrooge

Did you know:
Charles Dickens wrote A CHRISTMAS CAROL in 1843.  I have seen publication dates listed as both December 17th and December 19th.  Regardless of the publication date, this piece of literature is a classic.  I hope you won't say "Bah Hum Bug: to reading one of the greats over this holiday season.  The best to you and yours!  Merry Christmas.

Christmas Caroling and Pizza Eating

A huge thank you to all Key Club and NHS members who played holiday bingo and caroled at Bluff Haven last night.  It was a lot of fun!  The residents enjoyed singing and sharing stories with you.  I hope you chalk this event up in your memory books!  Your interaction with our community is what the holidays are all about...Ho Ho Ho!

Reading Counts Breakfast = HUGE SUCCESS

Thank you to everyone who visited Hardees this past weekend in support of our Reading Counts fundraiser. The breakfast earned over $3,000.  Yes, you read that amount correctly.  A huge thank you to Dave Bowar and his team for serving over 600 students, staff, families and friends!  May one of your Christmas presents this year be a fantastic book.  Happy reading everyone.

Declaration of Independence from Grammar

I guess not everyone loves grammar like I do.  I can learn to accept that.

My Pre AP students recently read and broke apart the Declaration of Independence.  With that, they had to use the skill of mimicry.  Their assignment was to select an idea from which to declare themselves free.  They had to develop an introduction explaining a bit of the background, to arrange a minimum of 6 parallel justifications, and to establish a closure.

Believe me, you have to read to see the group's document on order to see the creativity in declaring themselves free from grammar.  In breaking their grammar rules, I love how they recognized what their English classes have taught them not to do.  Fun presentation!

Declaration of Independence from Grammar

Tis the Season...to Celebrate!

Congratulations to my PreAp students as you have now finished the writing of your persuasive research paper!  As you take a breath from this process, I ask you to share your serious reflections!  What was the hardest part of writing a research paper?  What would you do differently?  Of what are you most proud?  Other ideas, please offer!

Research writing is a challenge!  I appreciate your efforts and look forward to reading your papers and hearing your SPEECHES!

Time Travel

English 10 has been preparing to read a Ray Bradbury short story called "A Sound of Thunder."  The story explores thematic concepts dealing with technology and what we should do/not do with it as it advances.  It also explores a wide variety of figurative language.  To lead into the story, English 10 students did a mini research/visual project.  They were to (without restrictions on pro or con) pick a past time period or event to visit.  They were to explain why they would want to return and what they would want to learn (share their research).  One group opted to visit the late 70's and 80's so that they could see their parents as teenagers.  I  was able to reflect with them as I was a teenager in the 80's.  One of the favorites in fashion, rolling our jeans.  These boys share with you their ability to roll their jeans.  Great presentations everyone.  You all proved that history is indeed fun and interesting!

Inflammatory Christmas Songs

Here is a fun little holiday puzzle for all of you!  Open the attachment, read the altered Christmas song titles and problem solve the what real titles/songs actually are.  We are all busy with homework, shopping, baking, sports...take a moment just to relax and think about your musical favorites!

Share your solutions with me and receive a treat!  Happy Holidays everyone!Inflammatory Christmas Songs

Process Analysis Presentations

Making family favorite Christmas recipes, learning how to use Google, becoming an expert on your smart phone...all of these things require skills in process analysis.  To experience the challenges of writing, reading and applying process analysis, AP English and Composition students completed a bit of an experiment today.

The first group received directions on how to make an egg white face mask.  This mask is to make one's skin softer using a natural cleaning product.  Thank you to our "volunteers" for being such fun spirits in the presentation.  They were rewarded shortly after with a Puppy Chow presentation (and really soft cheeks)!

Presentations today, December 5th:  We started to learn how to make a lollipop tree.  Started is about as far as we got.  Tim, how is your injury?  We also started making orogami birds.  No, the bird has not yet taken flight.

Final Presentations:  December 6th.  The bird is finished and is now a decoration on my Christmas tree.  Yes, when you pull its tail, the wings move.  The lollipop tree is smaller than intended.  It could only hold two lollipops.  More caused the tree to sag, just like out of Charlie Brown's Christmas.  The last project was to make a t-shirt into a tank top.  As you will see, a bit of pretty fashion had to be added.

Thanks to all of our models.  Great projects, AP.  They proved a variety of pros and cons within the process analysis procedures.

What is next?  Synthesis Essay writing, YEAH!

NHS--Spreading Holiday Spirit

Here are several dates/groups in need of NHS help.   Please mark your calendars.

Preview to Christmas:  December 2nd, 11:00-4:30 (come for some or all).  Meet in the front lobby of the hospital.  You will play games and make crafts with visiting children.  Dress festively if you can.

Operation Santa:  December 3rd and 4th, 6:00 to 8:00.  This will not be at the Armory this year.  It will be in the old Chevrolet dealership building downtown.  This will count as a GROUP project if enough people sign up to work.

CHRISTMAS CAROLING WITH THE KEY CLUB:  GROUP PROJECT
December 12th...We will meet at Pizza Hut at 6:00 for dinner.  We will then travel to Bluff Haven to play holiday bingo and sing carols.  We should be done about 8:00, a little after.

See me with questions!!!!

Mrs. DeBruin

Great Book Quote

Every once in awhile, a book really speaks to me.  Right now I am reading SAVING CEECE HONEYCUTT by Beth Hoffman.  I am marking lines I love all over the place.  Here is one example...

"People is wise 'cause they get out in the world and live.  Wisdom comes from experience--from knowin' each day is a gift and accept it with gladness. "

Share a favorite book line or two with me and others reading this blog.  Identify the title and the author!  A good line/quote can make all the difference!  Enjoy your gift of today!

Movie vs. Book

I saw the last TWILIGHT saga movie last night.  It was fun to watch, but I liked the book better, which I do most of the time.  The only movie so far I liked better than the book was THE NOTEBOOK.  Comment back if you have ever liked a movie better than the book...

Happy Thanksgiving--a little laughter to help make your day!

• Why don't turkeys ever eat on Thanksgiving?  Because they're already stuffed.
• Why was the little turkey sent to his room? For using fowl language.
• Why did the turkey cross the road? To prove he wasn't chicken.
• When the turkey got arrested, what crime was he charged with? Fowl play of course.
• A class of third-graders were asked to write what they were most thankful for. Jessica wrote, "I'm thankful I'm not a turkey."

If you have a fun Thanksgiving joke to share, comment on this blog for other Prairie students to see.  
Have the best Thanksgiving weekend ever, everyone!

Copyright Nancy Morrish

Reading Counts Fundraiser Reminder

This is a reminder to all English classes:  The Reading Counts Fundraising Breakfast will be held Saturday, December 8th from 7:00-11:00 A.M.  Don't forget that you can all earn bonus points for helping this great cause.  See Mrs. DeBruin for questions/tickets!

$5.00 a piece for a great buffet of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, pancakes and beverages!

Organization by Purpose

AP Language and Composition has been focusing on the effectiveness of rhetoric and the Aristotelian Triangle.  To go along with that, we have now added a discussion on the effectiveness of organization by purpose, which means students can identify paper design such as compare/contrast, definition, description, exemplification, classification and division, and process analysis.  These photos show students showing "what they already know" about such designs before class notes were presented.

Friday Fun--English 10

It has been a long week. We needed a little "break." To accomplish that goal, my English 10 courses were challenged to a Vocabulary Scrabble competition. We have had 60 terms thus far this year. The students were to see how many terms they could use on an informal Scrabble board (not worrying about the double point value and such). Each class only had 15 minutes to complete the task as team. Two of my four succeeded and were awarded STICKERS! Good efforts everyone. You were fun to watch! Remember: Vocabulary Quiz for Chapter 6 is on Tuesday.

AP English Class

The moment of the AP English class "6 Word Memoir" is almost here. The video is finished. Soon our last touches will be made and we will be able to post the video on this blog. Here is a preview photo of the group who worked so hard on sharing their STORIES!

Reading Counts--favorites?

A shout goes out to the freshman class for reading and testing the most books first quarter. Can you do it again? To everyone who participated in Reading Counts, thanks for the efforts! I would love to see your comments on favorite books/authors read. One of my recent favorites was THE LIFE OF PI. I am very interested in seeing how well the upcoming film will follow the book!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbNglJqHvCQ

Vocabulary Fun: How can vocabulary be fun? It is "no fun" to study a list of words or to practice altering suffixes for parts of speech, right?! Perhaps you can do something different to spice up your vocabulary! Look for your terms in movies, books, newspapers or even magazines. This clip is just one such example. Chapter 6 includes LOATHE. Listen to the Grinch (Jim Carrey) use it! Doing so will help make the definition memorable.

Tis the Season...for Research

With turkey and Christmas carols just around the corner, it reminds me just how quickly the year progresses, which means how quickly my Pre AP course is finding itself in the world of research. This week we are starting a major research project. First we will review our research and presentation skills through the exploration of contemporary authors. We are focusing on contemporary American authors so that we can compare/contrast a bit to the historical selections we have been reading in class. After our contemporary American author presentations, we will be researching, developing and speaking on a current controversial topic. The eventual paper created will be a 5 page, double spaced, documented research paper. The process at times will prove to be overwhelming, but I must admit my students surprise me yearly with their development and opinions on topics that do concern their every day lives. Watch for more updates on our progress. I would like to have the students begin a journal blog reflecting their challenges and frustrations throughout this process. That is a goal...we will see if we can accomplish it. Best of luck Pre AP!

Research Schedule 2012

Take a BITE out of Comma Splices

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3ZkYtP7m8 Comma Splices--a common grammatical problem that we must always work on fixing! There are several options to use when fixing comma splices (period/semicolon/conjunctive adverb and appropriate punctuation/coordinating conjunction and appropriate punctuation). Use this video site to review comma splices when you think you might have issues! Come see me for help anytime, too!

Can art make a difference?

Robert Brustein, American theatrical critic, producer, playwright and educator, said, “I defy you to name a single work of art that has ever changed anything.” In response, Arthur Miller (author of THE CRUCIBLE) said, “I think works of art change the consciousness of people and their estimates of who they are and what they stand for.” Miller pointed to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and to Mark Twain, “who gave America an image of itself, the idea of the innocent American, with his simple-minded appreciation of reality as against the complications of life.” (Mel Gussow, “A Rock of the Modern Age, Arthur Miller is Still Everywhere,” New York Times, 11/30/96). Prompt: Can a work of art, such as a play or a film, change anything? Explain your reasoning and give at least three concrete examples to support your claim. One of your examples must be from THE CRUCIBLE. This is a recent assignment being offered to my Pre AP English course. (Thank you to Mrs. Grubb, fellow English educator for sharing such a prompt idea.) Because it is such an interesting point of conversation, I thought I would share it on this blog for my other classes and their families as well. If you have time to share/comment, I would love to read what you have to offer. As you were not in class to discuss THE CRUCIBLE with us, please share your ideas on any other works that possibly have changed our society, our world. Have a great night.

THE CRUCIBLE (Arthur Miller

PRE AP--THE CRUCIBLE may be an older piece of literature, but it is full of scandal, thematic lessons, and rhetorical strategy. Here is a little movie clipping. Tell me what you think!

Conjunction Junction--Blast to the Past Grammar Review

WKCE Testing

WKCE testing begins tomorrow, November 6th.  Use this as an opportunity for yourself.  Next year you will be taking the ACT.  How can the WKCE be a helpful opportunity in relation to the ACT?  The WKCE is great practice in timing yourself.  It is great practice in reviewing content, reading strategies (like contextual skills) and problem solving.  Testing can be a challenge, but it is a reality for us all.  Keep a good attitude and prepare yourself.  Doing so will help you to be successful!  Best of luck!

New quarter

Monday is the start of the second quarter.  It is an opportunity to create a fresh start or to strengthen your current momentum.  Best wishes to all of my students.

Senior Photos--Yearbook

Seniors:  Yearbook is collecting the senior photos right now.  Please bring in your copy or email it to Mrs. DeBruin.  Each of you should have 1 VERTICAL senior photo and 1 baby photo for the yearbook.

All other photos will be collected later in the year.

Yearbook photos should be turned in by Christmas!

For questions, contact Mrs. DeBruin!

Happy Halloween

To celebrate Halloween AND to be productive at the same time, my Pre AP sophomores created holiday poems specializing in the use of adjectives and adverbs.  Mark Twain once said, "When in doubt, leave them (adjectives) out."

We did not doubt their effectiveness in making a fun activity.  Have a "spooktacular" day.

End of quarter

The end of first quarter is Friday, November 2nd.  If you have been absent, please see me with make up work.  Reading Counts bonus for English 10 is due Friday.  Reading Counts for Pre-AP is due Wednesday. Have a great week everyone.

Hello to my English students.  If you check Blogs periodically, please let me know.  I am looking for new methods of contact.  Thanks.  Mrs. DeBruin