Mrs. Zana’s Class

a place to read and write together

Archive for the ‘English’


Your First Middle School English Homework

Due: Thursday, September 4, 2008
You may do this assignment as a comment on the blog. If you do so, you must also turn in a paper and write on it, “I did my homework on the blog.” Please only list your first name and last initial on the blog; no last names.

This homework assignment is perhaps the most important one I will give you all year! Why? Not because it’s hard. The reason why this assignment is so important is because you will be showing me what kind of student you have chosen to be at Mulholland. Will you be responsible and do all your work? Will you do the work, but forget it at home? Maybe you’ll do it, but leave it in that brand new locker of yours. Perhaps you’ll turn in the assignment all crumpled up, since you shoved it to the bottom of your backpack. Or, horror of horrors, will you choose to play video games, talk on the phone, and watch T.V. instead of doing your work? I hope EVERYONE gets a great start and you all manage to turn in this assignment tomorrow.

Copy and complete each question. You do not need to copy the explanations in parentheses.

1. The chapter books that have been read aloud to me are ______  (List the titles. List the authors if you remember them).

2. The chapter books I remember reading on my own are ____  OR I have read too many books to possibly list them all. My five all time favorites are _______ and the last book I read is ______( Again, titles and authors if you remember them. If you have never read a chapter book on your own, don’t worry. You will this year!)

3. I have seen these movies that were adapted from books, AND I also read the books______.

4. I have seen these movies that were adapted from books, BUT I have not read the books________.

Grading:

100% A: Answers written on separate sheet. Correct heading on paper. All questions answered. Paper is neat and not crumpled. No ragged edges from spiral notebook paper. No broken holes from notebook paper.
85% B: Same as A, but paper is messy.
75% C: Same as B, but not all questions answered
50% F: Paper is late. Whether one hour or four months late doesn’t matter.
0%: F: Paper is never turned in.

Handlebars

Click here to see the video on YouTube (blocked at school)


Download

Write your reactions to the song and the video

The Flobots – Handlebars lyrics
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars (2 times)

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it’s good to be
ALIVE
and I’m a famous rapper
even when the paths’re all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “De Colores”
And “I’m Proud to be an American”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let’em all die in exasperation
Have’em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like’em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust (6 times)

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars (2 times)

Your First Middle School English Homework

Due: Thursday, September 6, 2007
You may do this assignment as a comment on the blog. If you do so, you must also turn in the paper I handed out in class and write on it, “I did my homework on the blog.” Please only list your first name and last initial on the blog; no last names.

This homework assignment is perhaps the most important one I will give you all year! Why? Not because it’s hard. The reason why this assignment is so important is because you will be showing me what kind of student you have chosen to be at Mulholland. Will you be responsible and do all your work? Will you do the work, but forget it at home? Maybe you’ll do it, but leave it in that brand new locker of yours. Perhaps you’ll turn in the assignment all crumpled up, since you shoved it to the bottom of your backpack. Or, horror of horrors, will you choose to play video games, talk on the phone, and watch T.V. instead of doing your work? I hope EVERYONE gets a great start and you all manage to turn in this assignment tomorrow.

1. List any chapter books that have been read aloud to you. List the titles. List the authors if you remember them.

2. List any chapter books you remember reading on your own. Again, titles and authors if you remember them. If you have read so many books that you can’t possibly list them all, then tell me your five favorites and the last one you read. If you have never read a chapter book on your own, don’t worry. You will this year!

3. List any movies you have seen that were adapted from books AND you both saw the movie and read the book.

4. Now, list the movies you have seen that were adapted from books that you have not read.

Grading:

100% A: Answers written on separate sheet. Correct heading on paper. All questions answered. Paper is neat and not crumpled. No ragged edges from spiral notebook paper. No broken holes from notebook paper.
85% B: Same as A, but paper is messy.
75% C: Same as B, but not all questions answered
50% F: Paper is late. Whether one hour or four months late doesn’t matter.
0%: F: Paper is never turned in.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Discussion (Answer these questions on the blog.):

1. What message is Dr. Seuss trying to get across about a person’s destiny? What do you think your destiny is? Why do you think you are destined to go down that path in life?

2. Do you believe that people have a choice where they end up in life? How do you know this? Give examples to support your response.

3. Even as a 6th grader, what difficulties have you faced in your life that you feel you need to overcome in order to be successful?

4. The poem talks about “strange birds” you will get mixed up with in life. Who are these strange birds and do you see any of them in your life right now? What are you going to do about those “birds?”

5. What “mountains” do you plan to move in the future?

Extension Activity (Do this by hand or in Microsoft Word; you can post it on the blog once it’s perfect):

Write a poem in which you describe how you plan to make a difference in this world. Be sure to mention the obstacles you may face along the way and those people whom you will need to help you get there. (For example, friends, special family members, teachers, neighbors, strangers, etc.)

Cleaning Out My Closet

EMINEM LYRICS

“Cleanin Out My Closet”

Where’s my snare, I have no snare in my headphones, there ya’ go, yeah, yo’, yo’…

Have you ever been hated or discriminated against, I have, i’ve been protested and demonstrated
against, picket signs for my wicked rhymes, look at the times, sick is the mind of the
mothe****in’ kid that’s behind, all this commotion, emotions run deep as ocean’s explodin’,
tempers flaring from parents, just blow ‘em off and keep goin’, not takin’ nothin’ from no one,
give ‘em he** long as i’m breathin’, keep kickin’ a** in the mornin’, an’ takin’ names in the
evening, leave ‘em with a taste as sour as vinegar in they mouth, see they can trigger me but
they’ll never figure me out, look at me now, I bet ya’ probably sick of me now, ain’t you mama,
i’ma make you look so ridiculous now…

[CHORUS]

I’m sorry mama, I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to make you cry, but tonight i’m
cleanin’ out my closet, {one more time}, I said i’m sorry mama, I never meant to hurt you, I
never meant to make you cry, but tonight i’m cleanin’ out my closet…

I got some skeletons in my closet and I don’t know if no one knows it, so before they thrown me
inside my coffin and close it, i’ma expose it, i’ll take you back to ‘73, before I ever had a
multi-platinum sellin’ Cd, I was a baby, maybe I was just a couple of months, my f****t father
must have had his pantie’s up in a bunch, cause he split, I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye,
no I don’t on second thought, I just f***in’ wished he would die, I look at Hailie and I
couldn’t picture leavin’ her side, even if I hated Kim, I grit my teeth and I’d try, to make it
work with her at least for Hailie’s sake, I maybe made some mistakes but i’m only human, but i’m
man enough to face them today, what I did was stupid, no doubt it was dumb, but the smartest
sh*t I did was take them bullets out of that gun, cause id’a killed ‘em, sh*t I would have shot
Kim and him both, it’s my life, i’d like to welcome y’all to the Eminem show…

[CHORUS]

Now I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition, take a second to listen who you
think this record is dissin’, but put yourself in my position, just try to envision witnessin’
your Mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen, bi***in’ that someone’s always goin’
through her purse and sh*ts missin’, going through public housing systems, victim of
Munchausen’s syndrome, my whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t ’til I grew
up, now I blew up, it makes you sick to ya’ stomach, doesn’t it, wasn’t it the reason you made
that Cd for me, ma, so you could try to justify the way you treated me, ma, but guess what, your
gettin’ older now and it’s cold when your lonely, and Nathan’s growing up so quick, he’s gonna
know that your phoney, and Hailie’s getting so big now, you should see her, she’s beautiful, but
you’ll never see her, she won’t even be at your funeral, see what hurts me the most is you won’t
admit you was wrong, b***h, do your song, keep tellin’ yourself that you was a mom, but how dare
you try to take what you didn’t help me to get, you selfish b***h, I hope you f***n’ burn in
he** for this sh*t, remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me, well guess
what, I am dead, dead to you as can be…

[CHORUS]

Going Under

Title: Going Under lyrics
Artist: Evanescence

Now I will tell you what I’ve done for you

50 thousand tears I’ve cried
Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you
And you still won’t hear me
Don’t want your hand this time, I’ll save myself
Maybe I’ll wake up for once
Not tormented…Daily defeated by you
Just when I thought I’d reached the bottom

I’m dying again…

(Chorus)
I’m going under
Drowning in you
I’m falling forever
I’ve got to break through
I’m going under

Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies
So I don’t know what’s real and what’s not
Always confusing the thoughts in my head
So I can’t trust myself anymore

I’m dying again

(Chorus)

So go on and scream
Scream at me
I’m so far away
I won’t be broken again
I’ve got to breathe
I can’t keep going under

(Chorus)

The Time Is Now

John cena
The Time Is Now

[chorus: John Cena]
Your time is up, my time is now
You can’t see me, my time is now
It’s the franchise, boy I’m shinin now
You can’t see me, my time is now!

[John Cena]
In case you forgot or fell off I’m still hot – knock your shell off
My money stack fat plus I can’t turn the swell off
The franchise, doin big bid’ness, I live this
It’s automatic I win this – oh you hear those horns, you finished
A soldier, and I stay under you fightin
Plus I’m stormin on you chumps like I’m thunder and lightning
Ain’t no way you breakin me kid, I’m harder than nails
Plus I keep it on lock, like I’m part of the jail
I’m slaughterin stale, competition, I got the whole block wishin
they could run with my division but they gone fishin -
- with no bait, kid your boy hold weight
I got my soul straight, I brush your mouth like Colgate
In any weather I’m never better your boy’s so hot
you’ll never catch me in the next man’s sweater
If they hate, let ‘em hate, I drop ya whole clan
Lay yo’ a** DOWN for the three second TAN

[chorus]

[Tha Trademarc]
Yeah, uhh
It’s gon’ be what it’s gon’ be
Five pounds of courage buddy, bass tint pants with a gold T
Uhh – it’s a war dance and victory step
A raw stance is a gift, when you insist it’s my rep
John Cena, Trademarc, y’all are so-so
And talk about the bread you make but don’t know the recipe for dough though
Aimin guns in all your photos, that’s a no-no
When this pop, you’ll liplock, your big talk’s a blatant no-show
See what happens when the ice age melt
You see monetary status is not what matters, but it helps
I rock a timepiece by Benny if any
The same reason y’all could love me is the same reason y’all condemn me
A man’s measured by the way that he thinks
Not clothing lines, ice links, leather and minks
I spent 20 plus years seekin knowledge of self
So for now Marc Predka’s livin live for wealth

[chorus - repeat 2X]

Song Lyrics: As Far as I Can Go

You walk away from life,
through the desert of the souls.
I follow for awhile,
to help you find your goal.
You insist you’ll find the truth,
and that you’ll pay it with your youth.
I try to understand,
after all I am your friend.

As far as I can go
always – everywhere,
there’s a grey spot of despair,
a solitary pain,
that is filling up the air.

As far as I can go.
Is this the end. a final goodbye?
Is this the tears of fading life?
Is this the place.
where you are gonna die?
You hold the book of truth,
an aging, shakin’ hand.
But the only thing I see,
is a palm full of sand.

As far as I can go.

Song Lyrics: Jesus of Suburbia

GREEN DAY LYRICS
“Jesus Of Suburbia”
[Part 1]
I’m the son of rage and love
The Jesus of suburbia
From the bible of none of the above
On a steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin
No one ever died for my sins in hell
As far as I can tell
At least the ones I got away with
And there’s nothing wrong with me
This is how I’m supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That don’t believe in me
Get my television fix sitting on my crucifix
The living room or my private womb
While the moms and brads are away
To fall in love and fall in debt
To alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane
To keep me insane and doing someone else’s cocaine
And there’s nothing wrong with me
This is how I’m supposed to be
In a land of make believe
That don’t believe in me
[Part 2: City Of The Damned]
At the center of the Earth
In the parking lot
Of the 7-11 were I was taught
The motto was just a lie
It says home is where your heart is
But what a shame
Cause everyone’s heart
Doesn’t beat the same
We’re beating out of time
City of the dead
At the end of another lost highway
Signs misleading to nowhere
City of the damned
Lost children with dirty faces today
No one really seems to care
I read the graffiti
In the bathroom stall
Like the holy scriptures of a shopping mall
And so it seemed to confess
It didn’t say much
But it only confirmed that
The center of the earth
Is the end of the world
And I could really care less
City of the dead
At the end of another lost highway
Signs misleading to nowhere
City of the damned
Lost children with dirty faces today
No one really seems to careeeeee
[Part 3: I don’t care]
I don’t care if you don’t
I don’t care if you don’t
I don’t care if you don’t care
[x4]
I don’t careeeeeeeeee
Everyone is so full of s**t
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave
We are the kids of war and peace
From Anaheim to the middle east
We are the stories and disciples
Of the Jesus of suburbia
Land of make believe
And it don’t believe in me
Land of make believe
And I don’t believe
And I don’t care!
I don’t care! [x4]
[Part 4: Dearly beloved]
Dearly beloved are you listening?
I can’t remember a word that you were saying
Are we demented or am I disturbed?
The space that’s in between insane and insecure
Oh therapy, can you please fill the void?
Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed
Nobody’s perfect and I stand accused
For lack of a better word, and that’s my best excuse
[Part 5: Tales of another broken home]
To live and not to breathe
Is to die In tragedy
To run, to run away
To find what you believe
And I leave behind
This hurricane of f*****g lies
I lost my faith to this
This town that don’t exist
So I run
I run away
To the light of masochist
And I leave behind
This hurricane of f*****g lies
And I walked this line
A million and one f*****g times
But not this time
I don’t feel any shame
I won’t apologize
When there ain’t nowhere you can go
Running away from pain
When you’ve been victimized
Tales from another broken home
You’re leaving…
You’re leaving…
You’re leaving…
Ah you’re leaving home…

Song Lyrics: Heart Without a Home

Westlife – Heart Without a Home

Girl I love to watch you
You’re like candy to my eyes
Like a movie that you’ve seen
But you gotta watch just one more time
But that smile you’re wearing
It’s a beautiful disguise
It’s just something you put on to hide the emptiness inside
And you seem so lonely

But you don’t have to anymore..
[Chorus:]
If you’re a heart without a home
Rebel without a cause
If you feel as though
You’re always stranded on the shore
Like a thief in the night
Let me steal your heart away
Baby if for reasons, what you’re looking for
I’ll be yours

I’ll be yours
I’ll be a new sensation
One you never had before
I got a feeling if I gave you some
You’d probably want some more
Did you know that Baby
You’re the bluebird in my sky
I only wanna make you happy cause
I love to see you fly

And if you feel lonely
You don’t have to anymore
[Chorus]

I’ll be yours, I’ll be yours
I’ll be the raft in the tide
I’ll be yours
I’ll be the truth in the light
And what’s more
When no one opens the door
I’ll be the hope that you’re looking for
[Chorus]

I’ll be yours…