Author Visits Detention Center to Share Story

Check out this article about author Walter Dean Myers' (author of Monster & over 80 other books for teens) recent visit to a juvenile detention center in Tennessee. The article reports that Myers told the incarcerated teens that writing improved his confidence and helped keep him out of trouble even though he had a rough time growing up.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/apr/18/author-visits-detention-center/

Summer Reading FUN!

Dear FORCE Readers -

What are YOU reading this summer? Let everyone know what's up in your book on our blog. Share your opinions with other members of the class of '14 by posting a comment to this post.

Remember: your post should be similar to a Readers' Response Journal entry in content & length in order to get full credit for your summer reading assignment.

Happy reading! I can't wait to hear how it is going!

Ms. Gilpin


P.S. Here are some sentence stems to get you started:

I was surprised/angry about/happy about...
I liked the way the author...
I noticed how the author...
I don't get why the author...
If I were the author I would have...
This book reminded me of...
The main character...
The climax of the plot...
The resolution of the characters' problems..
Why did
I rate this book ___ out of ten because...

Let the FORCE be heard!

Who will be our next U.S. president? You decide!

Check out the links below and leave a post to tell the rest of the reading/writing rockstars who you would vote for November 4th if kids had the vote.

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,1854832,00.html

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/election2008.htm

http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/nick_news/stories_weekly.jhtml?wstory=0

Recommend a Good Book

Anyone reading a book they just can't put down? Tell your classmates about it. I'll start...

I just read about a book called CUBA 15. Check out the summary below:

"Violet Paz knows little about her half-Cuban, half-Polish heritage. She simply feels American. So when her Cuban grandmother insists that she have the traditional Quinceanera (the celebration of Violet's 15th birthday), she is reluctant. Will she have to wear an awful ruffled dress and be put on the market for marriage? She finds that quince is instead about tradition, family and self-discovery.

CUBA 15 is a wonderful book filled with humor. Armed with "The Dummies Guide to Quinceanera," Violet learns that she can have a theater theme for her special day, a subject that's very important to her. She does not have to employ all of the old traditions, but she does use enough of them to create a magical mix of cultures with old and new traditions.

While preparing for the big event, Violet studies and writes about her family in an attempt to understand them. Her family's marathon domino games become the subject for a comedy sketch she performs for competition. She secretly participates in a rally for Cuba, inspiring great anger and division in her family, who lived among the political strife there. She also finds her first boyfriend and discovers again how valuable her two best friends are to her.

The actual event is anticlimactic but fun. CUBA 15 is a well-written novel about the journey of growing up." - http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/0385730217.asp

Do you love words?

Welcome to the home of YES Prep Lee 7th grade Reading & Writing Rockstars! I look forward to sharing interesting tid bits about reading, writing, and more with all of you. Also, I can't wait to get your opinions about all things literary. Let the fun begin...

If you love learning words, I have a great website for you to visit. Check out FreeRice (http://www.freerice.com). You can play games that test your knowledge of vocabulary words, but that is not the best part. For every answer you get correct, the website donates 20 grains of rice to feed hungry people around the world. Who knew that knowing words could help us make a difference? Enjoy!

P.S. Let me know if you try it. Let's see who can get the highest score!