Design Something

Design some gadget, machine, building, or other creation that might enrich the future. Make sure you think through your design very carefully then provide details for the following questions:

• What does your design look like? What materials is it made up of?
• What does your design do? What is its purpose?
• How does your design function?
• In what ways might your design benefit other people and/or enrich the future?

Time Travel

Use your imagination to complete the rest of the prompt: What would you do if you could time travel just once to any time in the past? You’ll need to finish the incomplete sentence below and then build upon whatever your creativity selects. Make sure you explain your choice, why you have made this selection, and what you hope to come from your choice.

If I could time travel to the past, I would go back in time to ___________.

Letter for Change

What is something that you would like to see changed?  What reasons do you have for this change and to whom would you need to write a letter to affect change?  Think about your skills of persuasion that do not include being demanding or whining, but instead convince others to agree with your point of view.  Compose a letter to your selected person stating what you want changed, why you want it changed, and how you believe the outcome of the change will improve the lives of many.

National Candy Day

November 4th is National Candy Day! To honor the day of sugar-ladened sweets, let's creatively come up with our own candy concoctions. 

If you were to invent your own candy, what would it be? Make sure you thoroughly describe your tantalizing treat, by answering all of the following questions with strong SENSORY language (you are going to appeal to a reader's sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound):

• What would your candy be called?
• What ingredients would be in it?
• What would it look like (ex. certain shapes, squares, circles, ropes, etc.)?
• What flavor(s) would your candy include?
• What texture(s) would your candy have (ex. chewy, sticky, crunchy, melt in your mouth, jaw-breaker hard, etc.)?  
• How would your candy be packaged (ex. candy bar style, individual wrappings, boxes, etc.)?
• Who would be your target audience for your candy and why?
• Why would your new treat be the latest and greatest in the world of candy craving crowds?

As a final step, create a slogan or brief advertisement for your treat. Include this part of your post in quotation marks to indicate that it is a slogan or advertisement intended for television, radio, internet, etc

Jolly Grammar Wednesday - Verbs

• Verbs
  • Verbs are words that show action or state of being.
  
  
  Infinitive Verbs
  • The most basic form of a verb is the infinitive verb.
  • This is the verb before conjugation.
  • Conjugation means...
  • For Example:
  • Infinitive: to run
  • Subject: Jimmy
  • Tense: past
  • Sentence:
  Verbs in the Present Tense
  • When things...
  
  

  	Present - Happening	Present Perfect - Happened in the past but may still be happening	Present Progressive/Gerund  - Continually Happening
  1st Singular	I jump.	I have jumped.	I am jumping.
  1st Plural	We jump.	We have jumped.	We are jumping.
  2nd Singular	You jump.	You have jumped.	You are jumping
  2nd Plural	You all jump.	You all have jumped.	You all are jumping.
  3rd Singular	He/she/it  jumps.	He/she/it have jumped.	He/she/it is jumping.
  3rd Plural	They jump.	They have jumped.	They are jumping.

  
  
  Verbs in the Past Tense
  • When things...
  
  

  	Past - Already Happened	Past Perfect - Happened and is Complete
  1st Singular	I jumped.	I had jumped.
  1st Plural	We jumped.	We had jumped.
  2nd Singular	You jumped.	You had jumped.
  2nd Plural	You all jumped.	You all had jumped.
  3rd Singular	He/she/it jumped.	He/she/it had jumped.
  3rd Plural	They jumped.	They had jumped.

  
  
  Verbs in the Future Tense
  • When things...
  
  

  	Future - Will happen	Future Perfect - Will be completed in the future
  1st Singular	I will jump.	I will have jumped.
  1st Plural	We will jump.	We will have jumped.
  2nd Singular	You will jump.	You will have jumped.
  2nd Plural	You all will jump.	You all will have jumped.
  3rd Singular	He/she/it will jump.	He/she/it will have jumped.
  3rd Plural	They will jump.	They will have jumped.

  
  
  To Be
  • The verb “to be” is the most common verb used.  It shows a noun’s...

  	Past	Present	Future
  1st Singular	I was	I am	I will be
  1st Plural	We were	We are	We will be
  2nd Singular	You were	You are	You will be
  2nd Plural	You all were	You all are	You all will be
  3rd Singular	He/she/it was	He/she/it is	He/she/it will be
  3rd Plural	They were	They are	They will be

  
  
  Irregular Verbs
  • Irregular verbs are verbs that…
  • Examples of irregular verbs:
  • begin → began or had begun, not beginned
  • write → wrote or had written, not writed
  • draw → drew, or had drawn, not drawed
  • seek → sought, not seeked
  Vivid Verbs
  • Writing with vivid verbs (and synonyms) will make your writing...
  • Ran → scampered, sprinted, dashed
  • Said → exclaimed, declared, criticized
  • Walked → moseyed, parade, strolled

Create a Potion

Have you ever wanted to invent your own potion? Now is the time for you to develop one.

Invent your own potion:

• What would it be called?  
• What effect would it have on the person who takes it or what would be the purpose of your potion?
• What ingredients would be necessary to make your potion?  Where would you get those ingredients? (These ingredients can be real, imagined, and/or metaphorical.)
• How long would your potion last?
• What might be some of the potential side-effects or cautions if your potion is consumed?
• How might the person who consumes your potion act once it wears off?

Be as SPECIFIC and DETAILED as possible.  This is an opportunity to be CREATIVE so show us how DESCRIPTIVE you can be!

A Look Out the Window

Use your imagination to complete the rest of the prompt below. You’ll need to finish the incomplete sentence and then build upon whatever your creativity selects. Make sure you have some sort of beginning, middle, and end to your creative narrative:

While I’m sitting in ________ class, I occasionally look out the window and wish I was outside instead of in class. Usually I don’t see much going on outside; however, today is entirely different! As I take a peek outside the window, I see…

Procrastination

Think of something you have put off or something you keep telling yourself you'll do "tomorrow," "later," or "one of these days." Select one thing you have been procrastinating about and explain the following: 1.) one thing you have been procrastinating about, 2.) why you think you've been procrastinating on doing this thing, and 3.) what plan you have to work toward accomplishing this thing to no longer put it off. This "thing" does not have to be school-related!

To inspire you, read through the following poem:

Each morning he'd stack up the letters he'd write...tomorrow.

And think of the friends he'd fill with delight...tomorrow.

It was too bad, indeed; he was busy today and hadn't a minute to stop on his way.

"More time I'll give to others," he'd say...tomorrow.

But the fact is he vanished and faded from view and all that he left when the living was through was a mountain of things he intended to do...tomorrow.

~Unknown Author

Jolly Grammar Wednesday - Nouns

What If?

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?  Begin with writing down a dream that you would love to pursue if you absolutely knew you could attain it.  Then explain what steps you would have to take in order to achieve the dream. Wrap up with what you believe the outcome of this dream would be on your future life. Try to be as detailed as possible when you're developing all three parts of this What If? post.