St. James Public School will be implementing school uniforms for all students starting next year.
Please leave your articles here.
Descriptive Writing
A good descriptive piece of writing needs many things to be good. First, it should include the 5 senses where appropriate. Second, it should have striking language. Meaning the use of good, rich describing words and figurative language. Third, it should provide a vivid mental image to the reader.
Now that we have had the chance to write a few different descriptive paragraphs I would like to write one on a simple subject. A Dragon!
Describe what it looks like, sounds like, smells like, feels like etc. Bring it to life in my minds eye. Include where it is and what it is doing.
I Haiku… Do You?
Haiku poetry was once part of ancient Japanese courtship rituals. A man would send a haiku to a woman they loved. It is a discipline form of poetry made popular by the Japanese poet Basho.
A haiku uses nature as its primary focus.
It captures a moment in nature or life and freezes it in time.
It consists of 3 lines, seventeen syllables and is not usually rhymed.
Line 1 – 5 syllables
Line 2 – 7 syllables
Line 3 – 5 syllables
Here is mine:
As the rain moves in
I realize my sadness
Recess is indoors
N. Purdon
Colour Poetry
We have learned about our colour and created their story, and now it is the time to share these with everyone. Please post your colour poetry here when you are ready. You may post more than one!
Check out mine on Chartreuse!
I am Poems
Looking forward to reading your I am Poems. What a great way to express who we are and what we are about. Here’s mine:
I am a skier extraordinaire (not)
I wonder how they get a cork into a bottle
I hear quittich between my ears
I see oceans on top of mountains
I want the world to revolve around me
I am a skier extraordinaire (not)
******
I pretend that I’m smarter than I am
I feel like I can fly
I touch the lives of children
I worry that the sands of time are low
I cry when the Senators lose
I am a skier extraordinaire (not)
******
I understand if your not first, you’re last
I say what I think
I dream of driving a BMW M3
I try to be a good dad
I hope that you all succeed
I am Skier extraordinaire (maybe)
Song Lyrics are Poetry!
I’m really curious to hear what you found in the lyrics of the songs you’ve chosen! I will get the opportunity to see all the figurative language you found when I mark them, but for today, I want you to tell me what you learned. So please answer the following question and justify your thinking!!! 
What is the musician/song writer trying to tell us? Use evidence from the lyrics and your own ideas to support and justify your thinking.
Remember to tell me the song title and artist.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I’ll leave you with a stanza from one of my favourite bands from my youth….
When you know that your time is close at hand,
Maybe then you’ll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion.
Song writer: Steve Harris
Do you know what he’s trying to tell us? Let me know your thinking.
Figurative Language
Today, I want to see you write some figurative language (writing that imply’s meaning).
We have learned about metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Now I would like to see you apply this in a creative way. For instance, you might want to explain how you are like a rock, flower, old shoe, or something else. Maybe you might want to write some free verse on a topic like rain, storms, winter, summer, colours like Ken Nordine or something else entirely.
Either way, I want to see examples of these types of figurative language! It’s your chance to write without “RULES”. No prose, just poetry!
Also feel free to comment on others and try to identify what type of figurative language they used.
Here is some inspiration from Ken Nordine….
