Monday, March 28, 2011

Adding and Subtracting Integers

Here are some gaines to help you practice your skills at addition and subtraction with positice and negative numbers.

Fun Brain Line Jumper (you should be able to do the Super Brain game!)

XP Math: timed practice with simpler numbers (-9 to +9)

Integer Football: The football player advances either towards the positive or the negative yard lines.

Space Coupe to the Rescue: By choosing a positive or negative number, the player controls the vertical position of a spaceship. If the spaceship reaches the same vertical position as a virus pod, the pod is destroyed.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

"I am from..." poems Part 2


by Cady
 

By Heather B.
 

by Alison


by Tori


by Adam



by Cameron

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

"I am from..." poems based on "The Irish Dancer

We wrote some poems based on the 14th century poem "The Irish Dancer" as seen here. Then we put them into animoto videos.






by Austin
 

by Brianna
 

by Molly
 

by Aaron;


by Nick


by Amanda
 

by Heather M.
 

by Ben
 

by Kayla
 

by Richie
 

by Zak

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Compound Sentences with Personification

We have spent more time practicing how to build sentences to be more effective writers. This time were learned how to join two independent clauses (sentences) together with a comma and a conjunction to create a compound sentence, We also learned how to add personification (giving human qualities to nonhuman entities) to our sentences. We started with two different simple sentences:
and things just grew from there!
The rain fell.
The lights twinkled.



The smiling sun’s rays glistened like a disco ball through an oak tree, and the exhausted children sipped their lemonade like pumps taking out water from a pool. by Cameron


The dancing disco lights glistened like a gleaming lake on a bright sunny day, and the jumpy teenaged party people danced like never before on the dance floor.    by Brianna

The winking strobe lights glistened like firecrackers blowing up in the night sky, and the wannabe camp ranger sprinted back to his house like a cheetah running from a newborn grizzly bear.  by Andrew
The fireworks jumped in the night sky like monkeys fighting over a banana in a forest, and the sunlight winked on a very hot day.  by Alison
The jumping disco lights flickered over the dance floor, and the energetic teenagers danced like hot potatoes were under their feet.  by Heather B.

 The colored paper lanterns glittered in the black sky with light, but a special lantern greeted the water like a delicate flower.   by Kayla


The bright Northern Lights danced across the sky like a jumping toddler, and the snow covered Eskimos gawked like a woman seeing a chicken cross the street.  by Cady
The blinking stars sparkled like faraway headlamps in a dark forest, and the energetic runners jogged to the finish line like wasps flying back to their nest. by Adam

The dancing stars sparkled like tiny glow worms in the woods, and the sleepy campers slept like hibernating bears in a cave.  by Ben

The distant lanterns winked like a lighthouse in a storm, and the snowshoe racers sprinted back to their campsites.  by Codey

The twinkling Aurora Borealis jumped like a kangaroo springing into a bush, and the excited Eskimos smiled like gassy elephants in the zoo.  by Zak

The dancing campfire sparked like fireworks on a starless night, and the weary campers prepared their dinner on the dancing campfire like  grizzly bears foraging for food before hibernation.  by Austin
The dancing northern lights glowed like the hot sun on a sunny day, and the delighted woman was anxious to see them like a little girl at a birthday party looking at her presents.  by Heather M.

The blinking headlights beamed down like a bright and steaming stage light, but the scared hobos jumped like elephants scared of a little mouse at a spark of lightning.  by Tori

The sapphire rain swan-dived onto the ground like an Olympic swimmer, and the once clear rain drops sunk like an animal in quicksand. by Nick
The never ending marching downpour swept the ground, and the oversized farm animals jumped as high as a rabbit playing with a ball.  by Molly
The singing churches of rain hugged the pavement, and the young children danced around in the rain as joyfully as a monkey eating a banana. by Aaron

The wiping raindrops belly-flopped into the river like teenagers on a summer day, and the enormous river exploded onto the street like fireworks. by Amanda

The yelling raindrops exploded like grenades on the pavement, and the raindrops were so heavy and loud that it awakened all of the kids on the block. by Richie