Reading Times 11/18-12/2

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Reading and Annotating)
11/18-Pages 61-89 (50 minutes)
11/20-Pages 91-115 (35 minutes)
11/21-Pages 116-137 (30 minutes)
11/24-Pages 138-150 (20 minutes)
11/26-Pages 151-170 (30 minutes)
11/28-Pages 171-189 (36 minutes)
11/29-Pages 190-202 (20 minutes)

Total Time: 221 Minutes

My own Blog Prompt

This week Dr.deGravelles challenged us to make our own blog prompts. So, I have been sitting here for a good 30 minutes trying to come up with a prompt and they all suck. I never appreciated how much time Dr.D put into blog prompts until now. I think I finally have one.
                           Here goes: Write a Letter to younger me.
The assignment is to write a letter to a younger version of your self trying to help them through tough times or giving advice. Write about whatever you think a younger you would need. Here is my example:

Dear Young Mary,
   I am writing to you as my not-so-mature 14 year old self. I can honestly say you have done a pretty good job of growing up nicely. You  will go through some tough times in your pre-teen and early teen years but, power through them. While they might seem tough at the time, they will make you a better person in the end.
  A little Gold nugget of Advice:Be yourself because everyone else is taken. If your trying to be friends with somebody new, its better to be yourself and get rejected than to pretend to be somebody else and them like you. If you act like  somebody else to get people to be your friends, then the odds are they probably won't be very good friends back. Stand firm in who you are and don't let anyone change that.

       Stay True,
14 year old Mary

Reading Times :)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Reading and Annotations)
11/11-Pages 8-20 (30 Minutes)
11/12-Pages 21-43 (25 minutes)
11/13-Pages 44-60  (40 minutes)

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
11/12-Pages 280-300 (30 minutes)
11/13- Pages 301-345 (50 minutes)

Total Time: 175 minutes

The Basketball Star

So I think from every free post now on, I am going to write a little story. I haven't decided if to make it a series or just a collection of mini stories.

The Basketball Star

It was an eerie Friday night on the Unc campus. No body was to be seen, but screams were to be heard. As you followed the screaming you were lead to a basketball court. It was the Unc vs. Nc State game and everybody was cheering on their team. This was the biggest game of the season so far, if you weren’t at this game you weren’t considered a real college student. The rivalry was so big that when you got your ticket you had to go to a specific line, for your team. Once inside you saw the gym was split in half, one side red and black, and the other blue and white. Everyone was dressed in blue and white or red and black, students had crazy, painted afros, foam fingers, and anything else you could imagine.

          The game had started and UNC was leading the game, but State wasn’t far behind. By the end of the 1^st half UNC had gotten a farther lead, and State was getting their butts handed to them. The cheerleaders came out at half time and did several dances; one to one of Chapel Hills theme songs and then one to a popular song in that time.

Half-time ended and the teams came back out. The ball was thrown and they were off! State made a breakaway and got the ball but UNC wasn’t far behind. Then Chapel Hill had the ball and was making crazy passing patterns, dribbling like nobody’s business, doing between the leg passes, behind the back passes, fake-outs anything to hold onto their lead. At about halfway through the 3^rd quarter State made a comeback and was taking the lead, but UNC wasn’t happy about this so they once again pulled out their bag of tricks and started doing plays never before seen by the crowd. Once the final buzzer rang, UNC was considered champion of the league because they had won the game!

A Secret Loss

So I didn't really feel like writing about some boring topic, so instead I wrote a flash-fiction. Here we go.

                                               A Secret Loss

     Brown. The color of my all-time favorite teddy bear. His name was Mr.Brown-I know real original, but hey I was 5. I had Mr. Brown from the time I was five to when I turned 10.

   Everyday I would get picked up at the carpool line, and my mom would ask me how my day was, who I sat with at lunch, did I have any quizzes or tests, if not did I get any back, and did I have a fun day at school? I hated those thirty minute car rides, they were pure agony. All I wanted to do was sit there and listen to my music but sadly I couldn’t.

   When I got home I was greeted by Mr. Brown. He always said, “Hello, how was your day at school?” and I would reply with “good. How were the animals today?”  Mr. Brown sat in the special “study corner” of my room.. I had a little desk, pencils, some pens, loose leaf paper, a little chair and Mr.Brown. I never once sat on that pink and purple chair, always preferring to sit on the comfy brown plush. When school ended I would be sad that I had to leave my friends but then I would remember how Mr.Brown was waiting for me at home. Until one day he wasn’t.

   I had just entered the 4^th grade, and my mom thought I was getting too old for Mr.Brown. So one day when she made a stop to Goodwill, she made a giant, brown, fluffy donation. I didn’t talk to her for a week.

Reading Times

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Includes reading and annotations)
11/8-Pages 8-31 (40 minutes)

Literary Analysis
11/5-20 minutes
11/6-30 minutes

Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot
11/9- Pages 201-279 (60 minutes)

Total Time: 150 minutes

Simulated Island Exeperience

    In class on Friday, we spent the first couple of minutes pretending we were the characters in the book, Lord of the Flies. We had to figure out how we would run the island,  look for food, find shelter, make S.O.S. signals and live. It was a disaster in my class. We wouldn't have made it past the first week.
   We all would of died. Nobody could decide on anything. Some people wanted to go off on their own, some wanted to be cannibals and some wanted to split up jobs. We didn't have a regulated order of how to do things, and nobody was interested in making one. We would have been faced with all the daily obstacles we do now, but instead of just going to the fridge for food we would slowly starve to death instead.

Reading Times

Size 12 Doesn't Mean your Fat by Meg Cabot
10/31-Pages 151-200 (45 minutes)

Thesis and Barebone Outline
10/31-35 minutes

Detailed Outline
11/1- 40 minutes

Total Time:120 minutes