Wed. Sept. 9
THE MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER
SEEN IS...
THUR. Sept. 10
Did you know that punctuation doesn’t just include commas, apostrophes,
and periods, but it also covers the spaces between words and lowercase
letters? Before punctuation was invented, texts were written in all caps
without any spaces between words, making them hard to read. Rewrite the
following paragraph using punctuation.
ITSVERYDIFFICULTTOREADSENTENCESWHENTHERESABSOLUTELYNOPUNCTUAT
IONITMUSTHAVEBEENVERYDIFFICULTFORPEOPLETRYINGTOREADBEFORETHEI
NVENTIONOFPUNCUTATIONDONTYOUTHINKBYINSERTINGSPACESPUNCTUTATI
ONMARKSANDLOWERCASELETTERSTHISPARAGRAPHWILLBECOMEMUCHEASIE
RTOREADWHATARELIEFTHATWILLBE
FRI. Sept. 11
FREE WRITE
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1151859712001/flashback-911-as-it-happened/?#sp=show-clips
Mon. Sept. 14
The consonants T and B can be turned into a variety
of different words by inserting different vowels in
different places. For instance, you could come up
with TUB, TUBE, TUBA, OR TAB.
Come up with THREE words each by inserting
vowels into each of the following strings of
consonants: GR, STR, LT, SW, CD.
Tues. Sept. 15
List one of your pet peeves and write about why
it annoys you.
Wed. Sept. 16
Write about an incident that illustrates
kindness.
Thur. Sept. 17
Describe Sundays at your house
.
Fri. Sept. 18
If and when I raise children, I'll never...
Mon. Sept. 21
Finish this thought: if I could change one thing
about myself (if you can't think of anything, you
might want to consider telling how you got to be
perfect!)
My voice is almost all gone so please make sure
that you are working on getting your project
together because presentations are due
tomorrow. I can still write your name on the
board for detention. Yes, this means you peanut
butter!!!
Tue. Sept. 22
Invent and describe a new food.
rd
3 period after the presentations get
The green book and read pages 573-577
Do all the questions and provide text
Evidence where appropriate.
Wed. Sept. 23
What part does music play in the life of young people? Write a
journal entry describing you and your peers’ tastes in music and
why music is meaningful to you as a generation.
Thur. Sept. 24
Friendships are important to
middle school and high school
students. Write a definition of
what your friends mean to you.
Fri. Sept. 25
What is the definition of beauty?
Write a definition for “beauty,”
and provide examples to illustrate
your meaning.
Mon. Sept. 28
FREE WRITE 
Tues. Sept. 29
Many people believe that honesty is
the best policy. In your
opinion, is it ever okay to lie? Explain
your answer using specific
reasons and examples.
Wed. Sept. 30
What techniques do you know
for helping others resolve conflicts
peacefully?
Thur. Oct. 1
Write down an important goal
you would like to achieve over the
next ten years. Brainstorm a list of
actions you need to take to make
your goal. Decide when you should
take each action and place it on a
time line.
Fri. Oct. 2
FREE WRITE 
Mon. Oct. 5
Write a journal entry describing
your typical school lunch and what you
would do to change it.
Tues. Oct. 6
Most states allow people to get a driver’s
license at the age of 16.
Some people feel that 16 is much too young for
the responsibility
that comes with driving a car and that
teenagers should not be
allowed to drive until the age of 18. In your
opinion, at what age
should people be allowed to drive, and why?
Wed. Oct. 7
The average American watches as much
as six hours of television each day. Do
you think this is too much? Why or why
not?
Thur. Oct. 8
We all have favorite activities that
we enjoy. Write a journal
convincing readers to try the
activity that you enjoy most.
Fri. Oct. 9
Since the cloning of the sheep
Dolly, there has been much
debate over whether or not
human beings should be
cloned. How do you feel about
this issue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tELZEPcgKkE
Tues. Oct. 13
Write out the best or the worst day of your life.
Wed. Oct. 14
Who is the person from history
that you would most like to meet
and talk to? Why? What would
you like to ask?
Thur. Oct. 15
What would you do if
all the electricity in the
world just stopped?
Fri. Oct. 16
What would you do if you woke up
one morning to find yourself invisible?
Mon. Oct. 19
You are to tell a person from a
distant planet or from another
era what pollution is. Make
that person understand what
causes it and why it is bad.
Tues. Oct. 20.
If you could do something
that you never have done
before, what would it be?
Why would you want to do
it?
Wed. Oct. 21
If you could change one thing
about the world, what would it
be? Why would you make this
change?
Thur. Oct. 22
Write about a time in your life
when you struggled with a
choice and made the right one.
Fri. Oct. 23
Invent a monster and describe
it. Tell where it lives, what it
eats, and what it does.
Mon. Oct. 26
What commercial on TV do
you dislike beyond all
others? What about it is
particularly annoying to
you?
Tues. Oct. 27
Be a building you know
well. Talk about your
life and memories.
Wed. Oct. 28
Write about what you
think you will be like and
what you will be doing
10 years or 20 years from
now.
Thur. Oct. 29
Were you ever accused of
something that you didn't do or
have you ever blamed someone
else for something that you did?
What happened
Fri. Oct. 30
Write about the funniest thing that ever happened to you
or one of your friends.
MON. NOV. 2
Persuade a friend to give up drugs.
Tues. Nov. 3
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE
WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE? WHY WOULD YOU
MAKE THIS CHANGE?
Wed. Nov. 4
AS A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE
WHEN YOU GREW UP?
THUR. NOV. 5
FREE WRITE 
FRI. NOV. 6
List one major world problem
and how you think we should
solve it.
MON. NOV. 9
What is the most important
issue facing teens your age
today? How should they
deal with it?
TUES. NOV. 10
What would happen if animals
could talk? What are some of the
questions you would like to ask
animals?
WED. NOV. 11
What would happen if there were no
cars, buses, trains, boats, or planes?
How would this change your life?
THUR. NOV. 12
What if everyone lived under
water? Where would people live?
What games would children play?
What would school be like?
FRI. NOV. 13
What would you do if you woke
up in another country and no
one could understand you?
MON. NOV. 16
If you could only take 3
people with you on a trip
around the world, who
would you take and why?
TUE. NOV. 17
If you could give any gift in
the world, what would you
give and to whom?
WED. NOV. 18
FREE WRITE 
THUR. NOV. 19
Imagine that you are an animal in
the zoo. What type of animal are
you? How do you feel about being
caged? How do you feel about
people that visit and watch you?
FRI. NOV. 20
Write about a time your parents embarrassed you.
MON. NOV. 23
You go to the store with your parents and
baby brother. Your parents go into a
store and tell you to watch your brother.
You take your eyes off your brother for
just a minute and you can't find him.
You...
WITH THESE JOURNALS, TELL ME WHAT
IT MEANS TO YOU AND GIVE ME AN
EXAMPLE OF THEM.
TUES. NOV. 24
I would rather die a meaningful
death than to live a meaningless
life.
MON. NOV. 30
I have learned that there is more
power in a good strong hug than in
a thousand meaningful words.
Read more at
TUES. DEC. 1
People have to talk about something just
to keep their voice boxes in working
order so they'll have good voice boxes in
case there's ever anything really
meaningful to say.
TUES. JAN.5, 2016
Choice is more than picking 'x' over 'y.' It is a
responsibility to separate the meaningful and
the uplifting from the trivial and the
disheartening. It is the only tool we have that
enables us to go from who we are today to
who we want to be tomorrow.
WED. JAN. 6, 2016
In the busy lives we lead it’s not hard to lose
perspective on the things that are important to
you. When you get caught up in the rat race of your
day to day life, with all it’s annoyances and
frustrations, it’s vital to keep the right perspective
on the things that matter most and to prioritize
them.
THUR. JAN. 7
The thinking that got us to where we
are is not the thinking that will get us
to where we want to be – Albert
Einstein
FRI. JAN. 8, 2016
Never be bullied into silence, never
allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one’s definition of your life,
define yourself – Robert Frost
MON. JAN. 11
Don’t be seduced into thinking that
that which does not make profit is
without value – Arthur Miller
TUES. JAN. 12
A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his
deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows
courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants
kindness gathers love – St. Basil
WED. JAN. 13
THUR. JAN. 14
FRI. JAN. 15
MON. JAN. 18
TUES. JAN. 19
WED. JAN. 20
THUR. JAN. 21
FRI. JAN. 22
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Sir Winston Churchill
MON. JAN. 25
It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.
John Marks Templeton
TUES. JAN. 26
What lies behind us and what lies
before us are small matters compared
to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
WED. JAN. 27
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson
THUR. JAN. 28
Our character is revealed by how we treat people who cannot help us or hurt us.
Michael Josephson
MON. FEB. 1, 2016
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
John C. Maxwell
TUES. FEB. 2, 2016
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and
become more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams
WED. FEB. 3, 2016
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a
little less than his share of the credit.
Arnold H. Glasow
THURS. FEB. 4, 2016
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the
right things.
Peter Drucker
FRI. FEB. 5, 2016
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for
themselves.
Ray Kroc
MON. FEB. 8, 2016
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and
shows the way.
John C. Maxwell
MON. FEB. 8, 2016
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than
anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
Henry Ward Beecher
TUES. FEB. 9, 2016
If you could step back in time to re-live
one day, what would you do differently?
WED. FEB. 10, 2016
Describe how this artwork makes you feel.
THUR. FEB. 11, 2016
Are you a night owl or a morning person? Explain why
and what you like doing at night or early morning.
FRI. FEB. 12, 2016
Is war ever justified? When? Explain.
TUE. FEB. 16, 2016
If you could spend an hour with the president,
what are 10 questions you would like to ask him
and why?
After you do the journal please get a computer
and go to this website and do the survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DJJVC28
WED. FEB. 17, 2016
What makes you unique, or at least different from,
any other person?
THUR. FEB. 18, 2016
What has been the greatest failure in your life this year?
FRI. FEB. 19, 2016
Describe a time you felt … Aggressive, Angry, Bashful, Caring,
Cheerful, Committed, Confident, Cruel, Depressed, Devoted,
Dishonest, Disillusioned, Engaged, Friendly, Frightened, Furious,
Hardworking, Hesitant, Lazy, Lonely, Loving, Nervous, Open, Sad,
Scheming, Self-centered, Selfish, Sneaky, Supportive, Thrilled, or
Upset
MON. 2/22/16
FREE WRITE 
TUES. 2/23/16
Sometimes it's the journey that teaches
you a lot about your destination.
Drake
WED. 2/24/16
To travel is to take a journey into
yourself.
Danny Kaye
THUR. 2/25/16
Either you run the day or the
day runs you.
FRI. 2/26/16
Success is a lousy teacher. It
seduces smart people into
thinking they can't lose.
Bill Gates
MON. 2/29/16
It takes 20 years to build a reputation
and five minutes to ruin it. If you think
about that, you'll do things differently.
Warren Buffett
TUES. 3/1/16
There seems to be some perverse
human characteristic that likes to
make easy things difficult.
Warren Buffett
WED. 3/2/16
You only have to do a very few things
right in your life so long as you don't
do too many things wrong.
Warren Buffett
THUR. 3/3/16
Good, better, best. Never let it rest.
'Til your good is better and your
better is best.
St. Jerome
FRI. 3/4/16
A creative man is motivated by the desire to
achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Ayn Rand
Today you will be working on your research
project. I want you to go on
www.flipboard.com there might be some useful
stuff on there.
MON. 7, 2016
In the end, it's not the years in your life
that count. It's the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln
TUES. 3/8/16
Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
WED. 3/9/16
We do not remember days, we
remember moments.
Cesare Pavese
THUR. 3/10/16
Life is not a problem to be solved, but
a reality to be experienced.
Soren Kierkegaard
FRI. 3/11/16
I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
MON. 3/21/16
"Things work out best for those
who make the best of how things
work out." --John Wooden
TUES. 3/22/16
"To live a creative life, we must
lose our fear of being wrong." -Anonymous
WED. 3/23/16
"Trust because you are willing to
accept the risk, not because it's
safe or certain." --Anonymous
THUR. 3/24/16
"All our dreams can come true if
we have the courage to pursue
them." --Walt Disney
MON. 3/28/16
"If you do what you always did,
you will get what you always
got." --Anonymous
WED. 3/30/16
"Success is walking from failure to
failure with no loss of enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill
SRS. GREEN BOOK PAGES 1263-1268
DO ALL THE CRITICAL THINKING 1-4
WRITE QUESTIONS AND SUPPORT
YOUR ANSWER WITH TEXT EVIDENCE.
FRI. 4/1/16
"Just when the caterpillar
thought the world was ending, he
turned into a butterfly." --Proverb
MON. 4/4/16
"Whenever you see a successful person
you only see the public glories, never the
private sacrifices to reach them." -Vaibhav Shah
TUES. 4/5/16
If I could talk to my teenage self,
the one thing I would say is…
WED. 4/6/16
What does unconditional love look like for you?
THUR. 4/7/16
The two moments I’ll never
forget in my life are…
Describe them in great
detail, and what makes
them so unforgettable.
FRI. 4/8/16
What’s surprised you the
most about your life or life
in general?
MON. 4/11/16
“I am a slow walker, but I never walk
back.”
― Abraham Lincoln
TUES. 4/12/16
“There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the
surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally
see what goes on underwater, you realize that you've
been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on
the surface all the time is like going to the circus and
staring at the outside of the tent.”
― Dave Barry
WED. 4/13/16
“Human nature is like water. It takes
the shape of its container.”
― Wallace Stevens
THUR. 4/14/16
“We don't have to be defined by the
things we did or didn't do in our past.
Some people allow themselves to be
controlled by regret. Maybe it's a regret,
maybe it's not. It's merely something
that happened. Get over it.”
― Pittacus Lore
MON. 4/18/16
Would you rather live in another era or culture? Explain.
TUES. 4/19/16
Have you ever felt lost? Literally or figuratively? Explain.
WED. 4/20/16
How do you think your
parents views would change
if they lived your life for one
day?
THUR. 4/21/16
If
If I could live anywhere I’d live in ____________. Why?
FRI. 4/22/16
What is your ideal job? Why?
MON. 4/25/16
If you could step back in
time to re-live one day, what
would you do differently?
TUE. 4/26/16
Create your own holiday.
What would you celebrate?
How could you get others to
join in the fun?
WED. 4/27/16
Could you ever be a vegetarian? Why or why not?
THUR. 4/28/16
Why is forgiving hard?
FRI. 4/29/16
Why is forgiveness important?
MON. 5/2/16
The most amazing thing I've ever seen is...
TUES. 5/3/16
Something people usually don't notice about me is...
WED. 5/4/16
Write about a time when you
were "sweating it", a time
when you were very nervous.
THUR. 5/5/16
What might a curb and a car tire talk about?
FRI. 5/6/16
What I Like About Being a Kid
MON. 5/9/16
What might a shoe and a sock talk about?
TUES. 5/10/16
The Saddest Day of My Life…….
WED. 5/11/16
Where Would you go if you had a
Time Machine ?
THUR. 5/12/16
"A wise person learns from
the mistakes of others." Do
you agree?
FRI. 5/13/16
Describe a typical day for you in the summer
MON. 5/16/16
Everyone feels rejected
by family or friends at
some point. Tell about
one such time.
TUES. 5/17/16
How do scientists and police now work together?
WED.5/18/16
How do "clothes make the
man" or "clothes make the
woman" ? Explain.
THUR. 4/19/16
If I could give one piece of advice
to any person in history, that
advice would be...
FRI. 5/20/16
The best lesson my grandparent (or
parent or any relative) ever taught
me was...
MON. 5/23/16
You have an extra $100,000 to give
away; you cannot spend it on yourself.
What would you do with the money?
TUES. 5/24/16
If you were an insect, what kind
would you be and why?
WED. 5/25/16
What Places Do You Remember Fondly
From Childhood?
THUR. 5/26/16
What Were Your Favorite Picture Books
When You Were Little and why?
FRI. 5/27/16
What Are Your Best Sleepover Memories?