Activities

Activity 1
What we call people carries a meaning -- sometimes cultural, sometimes personal. I call my //maternal// grandparents "Nana" and "Charlie Pops". Everyone in my family called my //maternal// GREAT-grandparents "MomBack" and "PopBack" (Back was their last name). Many grandparents today come up with very creative names for themselves. My children call my parents "Grammy" and "Poppy" and my husband's parents "Grandma" and "Pap-paw". I want you to make a class chart with each student's name and the list of what they call their grandparents.

Here is a chart of the words used in other cultures for grandparents:

Polish -- Babcia and Dziadek German -- Grossmutter and Grobvater Korean -- Halmonee and Halabujee Greek -- Ya-ya and Pa-pu Japanese -- Oba-chan and Oji-chan Chinese -- Popo and Gong-gong Italian -- Nonna and Nonno Spanish -- Abuela and Abuelo French -- Grand-mère and Grand-père Latin -- Avia and Avus

I want each of you to write a short paragraph about what you want to be called when you are a grandparent and why you chose that name.

Activity 2
Our next performance date is a week from Monday. It is poetry with no theme and no rhyming. However, our //next// performance after that is mandatory prose about Dreams/Nightmares. This next activity should get you thinking about that.

Get in a circle. Yes.... move your bodies. Move the desks, or get in the floor, or do whatever so that you are in a CIRCLE. This isn't hard folks. One of you will need to be the time keeper. This person needs to be a multitasker, who can watch the time, listen to the speaker, and think at the same time. The timekeeper will also need the bell off my desk.

Below are a list of topics, but I encourage you to create your own. You MIGHT want pen and paper in case you get a really cool writing idea while you are doing this activity; however, I'm not expecting you to write anything down from this. We will do this activity again, but be prepared to talk to me about how this goes and suggestions for making it better when I am back next class.

One person will start by saying either something they have done or something they dream of doing, and pose it as a question. (Have you ever been to Disney World? [an example of something you have done] or Have you ever dreamed of going to Disney World? [an example of something you dream of doing]). Then go around the circle and each person has **THREE MINUTES** to tell a story about this question. You only get three minutes, the time keeper needs to be harsh, ring the bell, and let the person finish their sentence only, not the whole story. If you don't have a story, or haven't dreamed of doing this, then you //__make something up__//. Go all the way around the circle, and the person who posed the question gets to answer it last. There should be no commentary or discussions. Pose the question, go around the circle giving everyone three minutes to answer, then the next person in the circle poses a new question and it starts all over.

Ideas... Did you ever... see a lion go swimming go on a boat take a cruise go to a beach visit an art gallery stay on a farm sleep in a cabin or tent go to a fair go berry or vegetable picking plants something and grow it successfully (or unsuccessfully) see a circus act in a play see a scary movie get a bad grade win a prize believe in good luck make something you are proud of move to a new house, state, school have a pet cook a meal play an instrument