Category: Writing

Buddy Pen Pals

December 17, 2020 / Mrs. Millar / 0 Comments

Because of Covid protocols, we haven’t been able to have our regular Little Buddy activities this year. Instead, we have been writing to Mrs. Yee’s and Mrs. Schiffo’s students and they have been writing back to us. The students have been so engaged in their letter writing. The days we receive letters back are happy days indeed! Mrs. Yee told me this morning that one of her students asked to read his letter again before bed last night! It’s great motivation for writing to have such an appreciative audience.

Grandparent Interview

November 20, 2020 / Mrs. Millar / 0 Comments

Our grandparents are special people! Some of you, I know, have grandparents who live with you. Others might have grandparents who live far away. Even if one of your grandparents has passed away, they are still a part of you and your story.

Please figure out a way to complete this grandparent interview as we discussed in class. You can do this over the phone, in person, have a video conference, and even employ one of your parents as a translator if necessary! I have included the suggested questions from our lesson in class (see photo) Please feel free to add any other questions you would like. We will share what we learn, and write about it next week.

Skilled Sharks Classroom Contract

November 7, 2020 / Mrs. Millar / 0 Comments

We have chosen this year’s class name: The Skilled Sharks. Congratulations to Jack for writing and presenting a persuasive and thoughtful speech. Congratulations as well to all of the students for their strong participation in the class naming process!

In Social Studies, we have been studying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document lists 54 articles outlining the rights that children should have throughout the world. We learned how many countries signed this agreement, and how “ratifying” it meant that they adopted its ideas into law.

Using the main points from Jack’s speech and adding our own ideas, we created a classroom contract. I am proud of the students for doing such a great job. The students have all signed our contract. Now it is up to us to show our commitment to creating the classroom we have described. It will take the effort and responsibility of each member of our class community to turn these ideas into reality.

CBC First Page Writing Challenge winners…and Shakespeare!

February 7, 2018 / Mrs. Millar / 6 Comments

The national winners of the writing challenge we entered have been published! Read their first pages here:

Sari Warshawsky’s Nameless explores how the pressure of perfection in the digital era has transformed the world in 2167.

Abby Robitaille’s The Greater Good presents a world changed by oppressive dictatorships and press censorship.

Coming in April 2018: CBC‘s annual Shakespeare Selfie competition!

The challenge: Grades 7 to 12 students write monologues or soliloquies in the voice of a Shakespearean character inspired by a current affairs event or trend from the past year (April 2017 to April 2018). Award-winning YA author Kenneth Oppel returns as judge. The competition opens April 6 to 27, 2018.

After our recent trip to the Young People’s Concert where we watched the play Shakespeare’s Dream by Monster Theatre Company, are we feeling inspired to dive into Shakespeare??? (Mrs. Millar is…)

Enter the CBC First Page Creative Writing Challenge!

November 15, 2017 / Mrs. Millar / 0 Comments

You have worked hard on your futuristic first pages! Grade 7s need to create an account (with parent permission) and submit their writing to the contest by November 30 at the latest.

Good luck!

Submit your entry here!

The best part of me

October 7, 2017 / Mrs. Millar / 0 Comments

The students wrote about their “best parts,” and produced unique, descriptive pieces of writing.

Division 2: I loved your writing. Some thoughts on your finished products:

Paragraphs are important. They guide your reader to understand your ideas.
Little details and description add a lot! They help us, your audience, to connect to your ideas and to visualize (with all our senses) what you are describing.
I will never write on your good copies. I feel like that would be the same as writing on your artwork. However, if you end up with little mistakes in your good copy, let’s think about how to improve our process for revising and editing so that you can reduce them this year. Buddy proofreading can be helpful.
The thesaurus can sometimes be a friend! I love that you are expanding your vocabularies. However, overusing a thesaurus can result in the loss of your “voice”; your writing might end up sounding not like you. Your voice is so important!
This one is from my favourite teacher of reading and writing, Adrienne Gear (she wrote the Reading Power/ Writing Power books). She is talking about the writing process, and how writers look at having conferences in order to revise their work:

“Make it shine!” What a great thought to share with middle-grade students as they begin writer’s workshop this year.

“If a teacher told me to revise, I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted. I didn’t realize the teacher was saying, “Make it shine. It’s worth it.” Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope. It’s a new vision of something. It means you don’t have to be perfect the first time. What a relief!” – Naomi Shihab Nye

Happy Thanksgiving, Division 2!