Note:  You may wear headphones as long as it does not distract anyone else in class.

Writing and/or Reading:
-Finish your final draft.  Feel free to use this time to get work in for that early rewrite option.

-Silent writing time in your journal, or on some writing project you want to finish or have always wanted to try. 

-Silent reading  (anything that is school appropriate including magazines).

-Silent reading and work for your lit/reading class, or write me in your rough drafts/journal about your current book (or another book you read that you want to recommend), or draw an illustration about your book.

-Write a letter.  You can write about something in your world you want to change.  You can write to a friend, your parents, or even your dog.  My only requirement is that what you write is appropriate for school, as I will come around and check on work.


Publishing Options:  
You may want to use this time to start to think about where you would like to take your writing public.  I have posted a list of options (which are not complete yet) on my website which you can access from The Gray team link under Lawrence Junior High School.  You may look at these to get some ideas.  You may also do some internet searches for online writing contests for teens or students.  Any site that requires money from you to submit writing is not legitimate and trying to scam you, so don’t bother.

PORTFOLIO:  Work on decorating/completing a portfolio for class that will hold your most valued writing this year.  See me for supplies.

POETRY/ART: 
Are you interested in displaying a poem in the hallway?  I will be counting that for  a publishing grade.  If so, you may work on how you will decorate your poem for display.  Note:  you may need to make changes to the poem itself when I give it back to you with your grade.

Websites to visit for GAMES:

Featured site: Test your vocabulary and help out world hunger at the same time.  http://freerice.com
This site is a huge, fun challenge and helps out a good cause.  Check it out.

Play Punctuation Paintball (best English game on the web):  Go to iknowthat.com.  Go to Language Arts (left side of screen).  Once in Language Arts, scroll down and find Punctuation Paintball.  It will ask you to register.  If you do this, it creates a user name to post your scores if you want to compete and show others your score.  Start with the beginner level (trust me, beginner level is plenty challenging) and work your way up to advanced.

WWW.iknowthat .com -Go to Language Arts- play any of the games with Jupiter Jane on them, including, “Punctuation Paintball.”  Also try playing the parts of speech games (there’s a noun or verb game that should be right up your alley.)
(The other games that don’t have Jupiter Jane are kind of elementary school, but the English Quiz Show, “Whaddya Know?” is supposed to be fun, so you may want to try that also.

http://www.varietygames.com/CW/ This is a site where you can make your own crossword puzzle and save it for your friends to do.
www.vocabulary.com  Under learning activities choose the Junior-middle school opition and there a re a number of vocabulary games to play, or challenge yourself and see if you can handle the high school level games.
www.english-online.org.uk/games/gamezone2.htm Choose from a variety of language arts games.  Grammar of Doom is fun, but you can't play it on an Apple laptop.  It can be played on the P.C.
www.magneticpoetry.com 
Hit “Play” at the top, then click on “choose a kit.”  Choose from a variety of themes and create magnetic poetry.  You can submit and save your poetry and have others read it.

www.elibs.com lots of interesting and fun madlibs to play
www.poems-and-quotes.com/ (this site has lots of poems and quotes.  You can write a poem and submit it, or read other people’s poetry).
http://www.fun-with-words.com
There are eleven different games to choose from, including my favorite-Boggle.  You can also play hangman, and do word puzzles.

www.portaportal.com (Find the section for “guest” and type in sgerry for the login name.  Pick word games section.  Check out games that might interest you.  Some are better than others.



www.wordplays.com Choose from a variety of word games to play, including my favorite:  Boggle (we will go over in class)