Writing assignment: Movie Character

Think about a movie you have seen. Imagine that you could become a character and step out of a movie. In your writing , tell about:

• What character you might become
• what you might do
• who you might meet

Marley’s Day in Ada

Grrrrrr….. I am Marley from the movie Marley and Me and I am going to have some serious fun! I stepped out of my movie for a day and landed in Ada, Oklahoma. I found a couple of restaurants who threw out some pretty good food, a nice playground to play in, and some pretty cool kids! Here goes my adventure. Ruff !Ruff!

If you haven’t heard of me, I am a yellow lab from the movie Marley and Me. I belong to a great family. I love them and of course they are madly in love with me. I love adventures and get in to trouble here and there, but it’s always worth it! I am also very smart and I have to admit, I can be obedient when I want to.

I have absolutely no idea where Ada, Oklahoma is, but I’m here and I am one hungry dog! It didn’t take me long to find a couple of really good restaurants to scrounge around for some DELIOUS PEOPLE food. I don’t know the name of the restaurants, but they had some good Mexican and Italian grub. After my tummy was full, I trotted down Main Street and turned north on to a Very Busy street. There were cars coming this way and that. I had to really be careful. Anyway I came to a pretty cool playground with a swing set and a large playing field. I was in Heaven!

I met some pretty cool kids on the playground. There were girls and boys playing ball, jump roping, swinging, and lots of other fun activities. I met a group 5th graders who played ball with me. They rubbed my belly and scratched my ears. One teacher came up to me and checked my collar and also scratched my ears. The attention was totally awesome!

What a day I had! I got to visit Ada, Oklahoma. Ada has some fine dining and some pretty cool places to play. I had lots of fun playing with the 5th graders from Willard Grade Center. I hope I can visit Ada again! Ruff! Ruff!

Peter and the starcatchers is a really good book!!! I like to read fantasies and this book is AWESOME to me!

This story is about how Peter and four other orphans are taken aboard a rickety old ship, the Never Land, to be delivered as servants to the evil king of Rundoon. Also on board the ship is Molly, daughter of the British Ambassador to Rundoon, and a mysterious trunk filled with a special treasure. The feared pirate Captain Black Stache knows there's a valuable treasure on board, though he doesn't know what it is. Peter befriends Molly and finds out that she and her father are Starcatchers, members of a centuries-old secret society that protects humanity by making sure that evil people don't get their hands on starstuff, magical material that falls from the stars and changes the nature of everything it touches.
Through storm, treachery, and shipwreck, Peter, Molly, and the boys end up on an island with the treasure, the pirates, fierce natives, the villainous first mate of the Never Land, mermaids created by the starstuff, and a giant crocodile. While Peter and Molly try to get the starstuff for the Starcatchers, everyone else is battling to get it for themselves.

I really think this is a GOOD book, one day if you find it, I'm sure you'll agree with me!!! :)

-Kaylee

Fun websites: If you find one -add it!
http://www.funbrain.com/
http://www.kidsknowit.com/
http://www.poetry4kids.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Dictionary.html
http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
http://www.magickeys.com/books/

Ada Public School System Website:
http://adacougars.net/custom/showpage.php?id=56&toplevel=50

Writing:

Here are some examples I found. Read and tell me what you think!
http://sde.state.ok.us/acctassess/pdf/Core/PSTG/GPSTWritingGr5.pdf
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=529
http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/prompts/expository.asp

CRT Writing Test: February 24, 2010

We are reading "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" during the month of February. If your child is absent, he/she must read what they missed. I will give a unit test when we finish the book.

Reading for February: "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry"

The book begins with Cassie and her brothers, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man (Clayton Chester) walking to school. Cassie talks about the land on which the Logan family lives. It once belonged to Harlan Granger, but he sold a thousand acres (4 km²) of it to cover his taxes during Reconstruction. Their grandfather bought two hundred acres (0.8 km²) of it in 1887, then another two hundred acres (0.8 km²) in 1918. After several minutes of walking, T.J. Avery and his brother, Claude, join them. The Avery family sharecropping/sharecrops on the Granger Plantation. Later on, the white children's sleek school bus drives by. Everyone gets out of its way in time except Little Man, whose clothes become coated with red dust kicked up by the bus. Once the Logan children are at school, Cassie, Little Man and Christopher-John go to Miss Crocker's class and Stacey and T.J. go to Mrs. Logan's class. Cassie and Little man are later both whipped for refusing to take their textbooks, worn-out castoffs from the neighboring white school due to a chart containing the offensive word, nigra, printed inside. Their teacher goes to see their mother, who calmly glues a blank piece of paper over the chart containing the word; she does so to all the books. She then hands them back to a dumbstruck Miss Crocker. On Saturday, their father, David Logan, comes home from his railroad job in Louisiana and brings with him Mr. L.T. Morrison to assist in planting, farming, protection and whatnot. He leaves the next day after church to catch a train.
The next week, it rains constantly. After Cassie, Little Man, Christopher-John, and Stacey are splashed with mud by the school bus once again, they seek revenge. The children dig a ditch in the road during lunch, and the school bus crashes into it later. During the night, "night men" - s - come to the Logan family's home, but apparently thought it was the wrong home and left. The next day, the Logans learn that they tarred and feathered Mr. Sam Tatum, a black man. The next day at school, T.J. shows Stacey a copy of cheat notes for an exam in Mrs. Logan's class. During the test, he gives them to Stacey when he sees their teacher coming. She finds the notes, accuses Stacey of cheating on the test, and whips him. After school, T.J. runs to the Wallace Store, which the Logans had forbidden their children from visiting. However, Stacey seeks vengeance and follows T.J. while the others follow him. Mr. Morrison finds them fighting and physically separates them. He is angry because the Wallaces, who are racist whites, enjoyed the fight because it was between two blacks. He reminds them they are not supposed to be there for any reason but instead of telling their mother, Mr. Morrison leaves Stacey to decide whether or not to do so himself. Stacey tells her, but they don't get whipped immediately. Instead, Mrs. Logan takes them to visit the Berrys. Mr. Berry is severely burned and gruesomely disfigured; Mama explains that the Wallaces were responsible for the burning.
The next day, Mrs. Logan recruits people to boycott the Wallace Store because they are the cause of most of the trouble between the blacks and the whites, and are alleged to be members of the "night men". On the second Saturday of December, Big Ma, Cassie's grandmother, takes Stacey, Cassie, and T.J. to Strawberry, a nearby town, and sells her goods at the market there. After lunch, they visit the office of Mr. Jamison, who is their white lawyer and the son of the man who sold them the 200 acres (0.8 km²) of Harlan Granger's land in 1887. He is also one of the few white men in the town who treats black people with kindness and fairness and serves them indiscriminately. Only Big Ma, however, goes inside his office. Meanwhile, T.J. takes Cassie and Stacey to the Barnett Mercantile to purchase some items his family needs. While in the store, T.J. admires a pearl-handled revolver on display, and says he would "sell his life to own that gun"--a critical piece of foreshadowing. Mr. Barnett begins to serve T.J. at the store, but a white adult customer comes in and Mr. Barnett interrupts his business with T.J. to serve her instead. Then as he begins to attend to T.J. again, a young white girl comes in and Mr. Barnett again stops serving T.J. to serve her. Cassie politely reminds Mr. Barnett that they have been waiting patiently for about an hour. He responds by telling her harshly to continue waiting. Cassie gets angry and begins yelling at Mr. Barnett. Stacey tells her to be quiet before she starts a squabble, but, nonetheless, Mr. Barnett kicks them out of the store, telling Cassie not to come back until "her mommy teaches her what she is."
After leaving Barnett Mercantile, Cassie accidentally bumps into Lillian Jean Simms on the sidewalk. Lillian Jean orders her to apologize, then to get down on the road. Cassie tries to run, but Mr. Charlie Simms twists her arm and throws her onto the road, Lillian Jean's father, who orders her to apologize to Lillian Jean again, calling her "Miz." Big Ma tells her to apologize, and then they leave. When they get back home, they find that their Uncle Hammer Logan from Chicago, Illinois, is visiting them, in a shiny silver Packard that looks much like Mr. Granger's. Cassie tells him what happened to her and Hammer speeds away ready to take revenge. Mama tells Stacey to go get Mr. Morrison and tell him to stop Hammer. She is worried that Uncle Hammer will get hung but she subsequently finds Hammer alive and well. Before heading to church, Hammer gives Stacey an early Christmas present, a new wool coat for the winter season. While the Logans are at church TJ persuades Stacey to give him the wool coat because "it looks like a preacher's coat". Papa comes home just in time for Christmas and is staying until spring. On Christmas night, Jeremy comes over to the Logans' and gives them some nuts for the whole family and a handmade flute for Stacey. Papa warns Stacey to be careful about being friends with Jeremy, saying that eventually he will change, because the Simms are racist, and Jeremy might very well start to be prejudiced against African Americans/blacks. The next day, Papa calls the children into the barn and whips them for visiting the Wallace Store previously. Time passes and Papa starts to lead the boycott against the store. Mr. Jamison visits and Big Ma signs papers giving the land to Papa and Hammer. He also warns them to be careful, though, as they could lose their land if they continue their boycott. Mr. Granger comes over and asks for the land again, but Papa refuses. Hammer then returns to Chicago, and Papa continues to lead the boycott.
Cassie makes peace with Lillian Jean and pretends to be her friend, and servant, by carrying her books. As Lillian Jean begins to trust Cassie more, she tells her all of her secrets, which Cassie then uses to attack Lillian Jean. Cassie forces Lillian Jean to apologize for what happened back in Strawberry, stating that she will reveal all of her secrets if Lillian Jean tells, and also states that she would become a laughingstock for getting beaten up by a nine-year-old girl. Later T.J. tells Mr. Wallace about Mrs. Logan and how she doesn't teach her class from the county-issued textbook because she believes it contains biased information, and even tells about the boycott. Mr. Granger, a member of the school board, fires Mrs. Logan. Stacey blames T.J. for this, although he lies and denies it was his fault. After all of his friends shun him, and Stacey breaks off his friendship with T.J. T.J. begins to associate with Melvin and R.W. Simms, brothers of the Logans' friend Jeremy, though in no way do they like him. School ends in March, and Papa, Mr. Morrison, and Stacey go up to Vicksburg again. On their way back,they find that one of the the wagon wheels was tampered with and papa gets down to fix it. Then, they are ambushed and brutally attacked by the Wallace brothers. Papa is shot, and the wagon runs over his leg because the horse was startled by the gunshot and began to run. He survives the bullet, although he bleeds very badly, and has a broken leg.
Mr. Morrison, after breaking an arm and then the back of two of the Wallace brothers, takes Papa home. While delivering tools to some of their friends the next day, Kaleb Wallace stops the Logans, but Mr. Morrison picks up the Wallaces' truck and moves it to the side of the road, continuing on his way, though not before Kaleb swears revenge on Mr. Morrison. The bank forecloses the mortgage on the last two hundred acres (0.8 km²) of the Logans' land due to Harlan Granger's manipulations, but Uncle Hammer gives them money to pay it by selling his expensive Packard. On the last day of the church revival celebration, T.J. goes with R.W. and Melvin to the nearby mercantile, which is closed. T.J. sneaks in and opens the door for them, and R.W. steals a pearl-handled pistol and gives it to T.J. R.W. and Melvin rob the store's cash box. The store's owner, Mr. Barnett, finds them and one of them fights him for the money. R.W. hits Barnett with the flat end of an axe, injuring him, and Mrs. Barnett is knocked unconscious after being slapped and hit on her head. When T.J. realizes that R.W. and Melvin have no intention of admitting that they are responsible, he attempts to flee but not before being beaten and threatened. T.J. manages to get home and goes to the Logans' and asks for the children's help first. Despite what he had done, Stacey ultimately decides to aid T.J. T.J. gets home with the help of the children, but the night men have arrived and drag his entire family out of their house. The Logans manage to hide in some nearby bushes, watching in horror. Mr. Jamison and the sheriff stop the night men, but Mr. Wallace threatens to take T.J. down to the Logans' and lynch him there, as Mr. Granger doesn't allow lynching on his land, as well as get revenge on Papa and Mr. Morrison for his brother's injuries. Stacey tells his sister and brothers to go get Mr. Logan and Mr. Morrison to help them, which they do.
Papa and Mr. Morrison grab their shotguns and start to rush off to stop the lynching, but Mrs. Logan stops them, and Papa says he has "an idea". Later, a spark sets fire to the Logans' cotton. All the people in the county, even the white men, help extinguish the fire to keep it from heading toward the forest. The lynching is stopped. Cassie and Stacey learn that it was Papa who burned the cotton to stop the lynching, and that they have lost a quarter of their cotton. Mr. Jamison tells them to keep this quiet. He also tells them that T.J. is in jail, may end up on the chain-gang, and could die because of the armed assault on a white man which ended in his death, and robbery of Jim Lee Barnett.Cassie cries for the land and for T.J. Cassie Logan states: "I had never liked T.J., but he had always been there, a part of me, a part of my life, just like the mud and the rain, and I had thought that he would always be. Yet the mud and the rain and the dust would all pass. I knew and understood that. What had happened to T.J. in the night I did not understand, but I knew that it would not pass. And I cried for those things which had happened in the night and would not pass. I cried for T.J. For T.J. and the land."
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/rollofthunder/