“My son has been homeschooled since Kindergarten using Oak Meadow. He is graduating high school this year, has been admitted to the University of Wyoming with a full academic scholarship, and is starting in the Honors Program at the University. Ours has been a very positive and successful experience."
“Teen Read Week™ is a national adolescent literacy initiative created by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). It began in 1998 and is held annually in October the same week as Columbus Day. Its purpose is to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.” http://teenreadweek.ning.com/
It’s Teen Read Week! October 8-14, 2017! Support your local library!
I love this! If you have read any of these books vote for up to three that are your favorites. You have until the 15th of October to vote. http://www.clipartkid.com/teen-school-cliparts/
If you are in the 8th grade with Oak Meadow, you have the opportunity to choose a place to volunteer in your community as a community service project assignment. There are a variety of ways to provide service in a community.
My students have done projects as simple as picking up trash in their neighborhood, walking their neighbor’s dog, or playing cards once a week with a grandparent. Others have reached a bit further into the community by volunteering at a local Red Cross, community kitchen, or recreation center.
If you are wanting to do some community service and are undecided as to what to do, I encourage you to find the nearest public library during Teen Read Week and ask if you can volunteer. If the library doesn’t have positions for students your age, substitute your volunteering assignment with joining the teen club at your library. Most public libraries in the United States have teen clubs. Read for the fun of it!
Banned Books Week is celebrated each autumn in the United States. This year Banned Books Week is September 24-30. There are many events happening during the week at your local library or bookstore. Check it out!
The American Library Association is the main sponsor of the event because it is an event that proclaims intellectual freedom and the right of all to have free and open access to information. It is a time to consider censorship and how it impacts our communities and society.
Banned Book Week promotes our freedom to choose, and the importance of the availability of books on all topics and about all viewpoints for those that want to read them. ALA: Banned Books
Check out the list. I’ll bet you’ve read some of these books such as The Hunger Games, And Tango Makes Three, or The Golden Compass.
This is from the ALA website today:
Banned Books Virtual Read-Out! Readers from across the country and around the world will participate in a “Stand for the Banned Read-Out” during Banned Books Week 2017. Visit our “Stand for the Banned Read-Out” playlists to view videos from past participants which include videos from Judy Blume, Chris Crutcher Stephen Chbosky and Dav Pilkey, as well as actors Jeff Bridges and Whoopi Goldberg!
Do you think that any book should be banned? Have you read a book that is on the list?
This blog post is brought to you by Oak Meadow teacher, Michelle Menegaz.
Hello Middle Schoolers!
This is a very important alert about the shark-infested waters of the Plagiarism Sea into which many middle school students dive at one time or another. It always starts out as a search fortreasure…the quick path to a wonderfully phrased and well-edited essay or report, but quite soon, the unsuspecting student becomes tangled in strands of broken copyright seaweed and the sharks begin to circle!
As an Oak Meadow teacher, I often notice that some of a student’s writing is almost word for word the same as parts of material in the sources used. (This, by the way, is one of the reasons for including citations for all sources. If no sources are cited, I can not be sure the work is original.) It’s really important that you always write in your own words and not copy sentences or paragraphs from other sources. Copying from other sources is considered cheating and is taken very seriously at Oak Meadow. The first time it happens teachers give a warning, and if it happens again, it will more seriously affect grades.
Please take time to read more in the Oak Meadow Parent Handbook, in the section called “Original Work Guidelines.” This can go a long way towards ensuring that you avoid the weeds and sharks on the way to the true treasure…an original, well-crafted piece of writing or research. I can also recommend the Purdue OWL website. It has some very good content that you could use.
Plagiarism is a very tricky thing to define at times, since excessive paraphrasing can also be considered copying of a sort. There are many reasons why students plagiarize their work, and there is definitely a learning curve about plagiarism in all its forms, especially with use of the internet. Using three reliable sources at all times and taking very brief notes from these sources can be enormously helpful. Another possible path to try would be to do the work in your own handwriting, in your own words of course, so there are not cut and paste errors. It is extremely time consuming for an Oak meadow teacher to verify plagiarized work. Once the first warning is given, any further work that is plagiarized will need to receive a failing grade. Let’s avoid this!
In summary, here is what to do:
Review the “Original Work Guidelines” in the Oak Meadow Parent Handbook.
Pay special attention to the bibliography piece called “Citing Your Sources.”
Discuss with your parents how to use your own words.
Welcoming a new school year is exciting! Here in New England I think I can actually feel the excitement in the cooling air of autumn. Getting ready for a new school year can mean finding the best spot for studying, getting your supplies in order, and setting up your desk space. Setting up your own “work space” allows for you to separate work from play. Look for a quiet, comfortable space with few distractions, and good lighting. Looking ahead in the curriculum to see what supplies you may need is a great way to set yourself up for successful learning. Get out your favorite pencils, pens, crayons, and notebooks!
For those of you in the middle grades (ages 11-14), if you don’t yet have your very own dictionary and thesaurus, now is the time to find them! Both will become your best friends as you go through the year. Printed book versions are great to just have next to you as you read and write. With a book at hand you won’t be distracted by your device (computer, kindle, phone, ipad) and you can mark up the pages any way that you like! You can often find used ones at second hand book stores. If you are looking for a good dictionary that will last you through the junior high years, look for Merriam-Webster’s Intermediate Dictionary. Also recommended is the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. (Try to get the most recent additions.) For a good thesaurus, try Merriam-Webster’sCollegiate Thesaurus.
Also really useful is a good atlas for discovering new places in the world and helping you illustrate maps. I like Rand McNally’s Goodes World Atlas, but look through a bunch at the bookstore or library until you find one you like. These three items will serve you well for many years to come!
Have a wonderful beginning!
Hello! Here in New England we have had a good summer and it isn’t over yet! There are still weeks to go in August of lazy summer days and cool nights. Here at Oak Meadow one event we are all looking forward to is the upcoming eclipse on August 21, 2017. The following is a quick blast of great information from DeeDee Hughes, our Oak Meadow colleague: Hi Folks, We are all a little eclipse-crazy here in Corvallis, Oregon since we are in the “zone of totality” for viewing the total solar eclipse on August 21. I did some research and found this cool interactive map that shows the path of eclipses for years to come. I found a page where you can type in a city name and see what the eclipse will look like from there–I couldn’t resist checking out where friends and family members live. It’s fun to compare different places: Brattleboro VT Santa Cruz CA Corvallis OR Seems like everyone in the country will be seeing something cool. Oh, and this article has good info about the solar eclipse glasses and how to tell if you have safe ones. I was wondering why the upcoming eclipse is being called “Eclipse of the Century” when they happen all the time, so I dug deeper. A total solar eclipse is different than an annular eclipse, but both have the moon lined up exactly in between Earth and the sun. In an annular eclipse, the moon moves fully in front of the sun but because the moon is further from the Earth at that time, there will be a “ring of fire” seen around the moon, rather than having the moon block the sun entirely the way it does in a total solar eclipse. The difference between an annular and a total solar eclipse is the distance between the moon and Earth. Here’s an article with a cool “ring of fire” photo. That’s my two cents on cool eclipse fun! DD
I’ll also add that EARTHSKY has a very good “Eclipse Day” checklist for getting ready for viewing. Be prepared, have fun, and enjoy the “Eclipse of the Century” with family and friends!
If you live in an urban area where nature is elusive, don’t assume that there’s no nature to be found! Go for a walk with your eyes wide open and see how many signs of nature you can “collect” along the way. Take photos or make sketches so that you will have a record and can try to identify plants, insects, and anything else once you are home. Photo Credit: Julie Tower-Pierce (Oak Meadow) First off, cultivate a healthy relationship with the sun. If there are few trees to offer a shade canopy, a hat is a good idea. If you are surrounded by pavement and cement, the sun’s rays can reflect uncomfortably up as you walk. If you start feeling uncomfortable in the glare or the heat, stop in shady spots along the way. If there is no shade, use an umbrella to carry some shade around with you. Can you find bits of moss or stray plants growing in a sidewalk crack? Look up at the sides of buildings and out along fences, retaining walls, train tracks, etc.. What types of plants seem to like to grow in different places? Did you know that weeds can have flowers, pods, or seeds? Review the life cycle of a plant and see if you can find plants at various stages of the life cycle. Photo Credit: Van Kleeck Family (Oak Meadow) Look up! The sky and the clouds are part of nature. There are often birds in urban areas. What might attract birds to your city? Where do you think they nest? Can you spot any nests? When it rains, what happens to the water? Go outside and trace its path from the roof to the storm drain. Where does it go from there? Is there a river in your city? Are there any signs of nature in or around the river? Some urban rivers are polluted, but some have been cleaned up by thoughtful, committed citizens. How healthy is your city’s river, if you have one? One of the most impressive things about finding nature in urban settings is the number of plants that seem to be growing against all odds. What is the most unlikely place that you’ve found a plant surviving or even thriving? Photo Credit: Cindy Wallach (Oak Meadow) See if you discover any rooftop or community gardens. What do you see growing there? Many city dwellers use containers to plant vegetables, herbs, flowers, and even tall trees. What can you find growing in containers in your city? Is there a park, picnic area, or playground nearby with natural features? Can you tell which plants were placed there by humans and which ones moved in on their own? What are the clues that inform your answer? How far would you need to travel to visit a nature preserve, public garden, or national park? What would you find there that you can or cannot find at home? Photo Credit: Lynn Nash (Oak Meadow) In what ways do humans intentionally help to encourage nature to grow and thrive in urban areas? And how do we unintentionally support certain kinds of plants or animals? What things could you and your family do to invite nature into your home life? While walking, did you encounter any plants or animals that you had never seen before? Look them up and get to know them! They are your neighbors, too. Next time you go outside and see them, you can identify them by name. Find out whether there are any groups or initiatives promoting nature in your city. You might be able to meet some people who are also interested in exploring nature in an urban setting. Nature exists all around us, sometimes against the odds or in surprising places. Even if you have no backyard and your neighborhood is more gray than green, chances are good that you can find a bit of nature to enjoy. Try it and let us know what you find!
Every year, we celebrate student poetry throughout the month of April with our annual Poetry Extravaganza. We hope you have enjoyed the poetry our students have shared here! You can find more Oak Meadow student poems on Instagram and Twitter. If you’re a high schooler or a parent of one, you may be interested in our high school poetry course, Word: The Poet’s Voice. Be sure to read Oak Meadow teacher Antony Yaeger’s recent blog post, On Poetry.
Photo Credit: Reane Loiselle (Oak Meadow) Sappy Love Poem by Cadie Baglin Oak Meadow, Grade 11
I wish I could erase
All the time a replace
You with someone new
Who cares about me too
Someone I could talk to
Someone I could cry to
Someone who loves me as much as I love you
You’re the only one who has my heart
The only one I see
And when you said you didn’t want me
I saw no fish in my sea
You were the only one I could find
In this deep blue ocean we call time
But my time is running out
And you’re the only one I’ve found
I know we’re young and it’s never gonna last
But you should know I fell really fast
My head was over my heels before I even knew
All I do I trip over you
Over the memories we share
Over how much I care
Over every little stare
But now all I do is compare
I compare myself to her
Wonder what I could have done
Compare my self to her
Wonder why I’m not the one
The one you want to see after ever game
The one you want to see at the end of the day
The one you want to see in the morning and at night
‘Cause you’re the only one I see and it’s giving me a fright
I try and pretend there are no feelings
That I don’t care anymore
But every time I see your name
No matter who it’s attached to
I realize I’m still attached too “Why I wrote this; Being a dramatic teenager is hard, especially when you know you’re being silly. I wrote this poem to help myself get over a boy. Ahh the teenage life.”
Photo Credit: Shirley Tanzella (Oak Meadow) Paper Revolution by Claire Kern Oak Meadow, Grade 9
I twist the cap of my pen
between my teeth, ink
stains on molars, the page
still blank, void of words,
still lacking the power,
still failing to affect change.
Wanting, wanting, wanting to affect change,
Trying to force revolution out of my pen.
Building weapons to battle the power
hungry war-machine, but my ink
spills over to form broken words,
broken images on the page.
Frustrated, I rip the page
into pieces, that’s my change.
I reach for a new sheet, that new words
might follow. Afraid my pen
cannot erase the ink
of others, the permanent stench of the power.
Lead boot prints of power
tear holes in my page,
black and blue ink
bruises beat me, no change
they scream, breaking pens
and banning new voices, new words.
The banished words
hold all the power,
and the gunpowder pen
burns my palm and page,
demanding I write the call for change
demanding I carve new voices in fresh ink.
Progress is marked by ink
lines drawn in blood, battle words
and wounds whose mouths cry change.
Bury the patriarchy, power
drunk bastards with blood pages,
scar their rank flesh with my pen.
Ink tears bleed power,
and I craft words on torn pages,
changing, changing, changing the world
with my pen…
Here in the Meadow, we celebrate student poetry throughout the month of April with our annual Poetry Extravaganza. We invited our enrolled students to submit their favorite original poems, and we’ll be sharing some of them here over the next few days. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Park Family (Oak Meadow) The Nest In The Road by Emma Agudelo Oak Meadow Grade 10
Ghost of care dropped from above
Left crevice in tree or chimney vacant
Of cracked hairs of yester summer light
Batted by wind till as a globe they spin,
Snatching life from cars’ roaring tumult
Asphalt its sky, air the arm of Fate;
A hollow of youth, entertainment
Between whirling black and silver sheen
Joy a motion, emotion innate;
Tumbling as it’s wards overhead
Positions reversed, seasonal change;
The dance of a nest in the road.
“This poem was written for a poetry workshop with Mr. Yaeger, inspired by a prompt he gave to write about spring. I didn’t have any idea what I would write until two days before the workshop when I happened to glimpse an old bird’s nest rolling in the street as cars rushed past. It wasn’t exactly a beautiful moment, but I thought it an interesting one that I would like to share.”
Once I Knew Two Who Died by Lucy Enge Oak Meadow Grade 10
Once I knew two who died–
Both kind good people who left
At the same time of hour.
Chills went down deep
Into the fire with its high flame–
Down my back bent in sorrow–
To save my tears from running out.
I cared for both perhaps one more,
Life comes and leaves–
Without consent from the godly persons
Or even those who might be sinners.
Minding wanders to thoughts of heaven–
Do souls live in eternal rest?
Or are we gone from Earth forever?
Never to see the green and blue again.
Death mysterious as life–
I will question until my time.
Deep within my flaming soul,
I ponder all but do not seek–
The keys and parts of life. “This poem was inspired by the works of Emily Dickinson and was for one of my Oak Meadow Literature and Composition II lessons.”
Questioning by Nurbanu Alptekin Oak Meadow Grade 10 Photo Credit: Laura Nance (Oak Meadow)
Did talking about how?
Lead to knowing about what?
Should I have asked where?
Should I have asked who?
Who might have taken her when
I was watching her snooze, why
would they take a little girl, who
knew nothing of life or what
to do, if she needed to know why
she wasn’t in bed when
dawn came, she asked about where
they were going and how
she got there, and where
she was at with who?
Where was I when she needed me most in a time of questioning why life was so cruel? Why? “This was a poem I wrote for English class here at Oak Meadow. This type of poetry is called a sestina. What’s unique about it is that every stanza repeats the same six words in a different order at the end of each line. This poem isn’t about a real life experience (thank God). I frankly don’t know how I came to write this, it was a spur of the moment type of thing.”
Here in the Meadow, we celebrate student poetry throughout the month of April with our annual Poetry Extravaganza. We invited our enrolled students to submit their favorite original poems, and we’ll be sharing some of them here over the next few days. Enjoy!
Chess by Benjamin Almquist Oak Meadow, Grade 9 Photo Credit: Vivian Harder (Oak Meadow)
Chess
A game of strategy
Where made prodigy
Is calmness and skill
Where thrill
Comes through movement
And Thought
Life
can be a mere
Game of peer-
S with everyone
The worldpawn
Salvation
of the Castle above
Side to side
To bide
Timestress
With death far and few between
For their are only two
Death
When moves are void
No way to avoid
The impending deaththrill
Chess “I wrote this poem for an experimental poem assignment.”
If your only emotion was happy by Katherine Almquist Oak Meadow Grade 9
They have emotions
I have but one
Restricting
me
Feelings of sadness
I know none
Surprise…. I can not understand
Anger…. Passes through me as a wind through a ghost
feelings of many I know not
Happiness I know only
To me
People of many feelings are emotionless
Unless happiness is sensed
Wenst it is seen on the faces of theirs
This happiness which lights the faces of theirs
Is routine on the face of mine
Free are they
Chained am I Photo Credit: Doughty Family (Oak Meadow)
How
Are
Pleasantries
Possessed
In
Nature
(W)enst
Solitude (created by a single emotion)
Surpasses (the rest)?
The answer? I have not.
For only in I lives happiness
Emotions, I do not have “I was inspired to write this poem for a Oak Meadow literature assignment. I was required to write an experimental poem and I decided on a topic that I had written about in an essay before, but made it more professional and put the concept into a poem.”
Bunk Bed by William Aldredge Oak Meadow, Grade 9
High in my perch,
I gaze upon a room,
Like a monkey in a tree,
But i do not utter a sound.
For a cat has entered the room,
And like a jaguar,
It will climb up here,
And take me away,
To a world of solitude,
An icy moon,
Somewhere far off in the universe,
And then i fall asleep.
My dreams take me even further,
To a new place,
Dusty and red,
At first it seems abandoned,
Then a lone robot comes,
And sends my picture to the space people,
When the skygate opens,
And i am sucked away,
Back to the bunkbed of dreams,
Except it is a jungle,
And there is a jaguar,
And the jaguar jumps up,
And asks me,
“Are you ready?”
But then i awaken,
To a persian cat licking my face,
But it is not an awakening from the dream,
Merely an awakening to another dream,
Angels surround my bed,
And carry me off to the clouds,
Where i lay down to sleep.
But then i awaken,
To a cat licking my face,
I think it is a dream,
But no,
The cat is there,
I feel its hot breath,
So i let it be,
And it stops licking me,
But then,
Something strange happens,
It says to me,
“Come, you are not dreaming”,
So i go with it,
Off to an eternity of wonder,
But then the eternity ends,
With 42 bees,
Who sting me back to reality,
And now i am,
On a small green planet,
With a hole at the poles,
And i look inside,
To see a lamp,
It is a lampshade,
I realise,
With nobody but me,
31G-350125 is here,
And he shoves me into the planet,
I expect heat,
And receive a hard thump,
on the lamp,
So i call for the cat,
And arrives mystery,
Who takes me away,
back to the bunkbed,
And stays a while,
But then leaves,
Here comes the cat,
Who licks me to sleep,
I awaken once again,
To the cat licking my face,
I sit up and look at him,
“Your secret is safe with me”
___________________________________________________________ Paper Revolution by Claire Kern Oak Meadow, Grade 9
I twist the cap of my pen
between my teeth, ink
stains on molars, the page
still blank, void of words,
still lacking the power,
still failing to affect change. Photo Credit: Shirley Tanzella (Oak Meadow)
Wanting, wanting, wanting to affect change,
Trying to force revolution out of my pen.
Building weapons to battle the power
hungry war-machine, but my ink
spills over to form broken words,
broken images on the page.
Frustrated, I rip the page
into pieces, that’s my change.
I reach for a new sheet, that new words
might follow. Afraid my pen
cannot erase the ink
of others, the permanent stench of the power.
Lead boot prints of power
tear holes in my page,
black and blue ink
bruises beat me, no change
they scream, breaking pens
and banning new voices, new words.
The banished words
hold all the power,
and the gunpowder pen
burns my palm and page,
demanding I write the call for change
demanding I carve new voices in fresh ink.
Progress is marked by ink
lines drawn in blood, battle words
and wounds whose mouths cry change.
Bury the patriarchy, power
drunk bastards with blood pages,
scar their rank flesh with my pen.
Ink tears bleed power,
and I craft words on torn pages,
changing, changing, changing the world
with my pen…
At Oak Meadow, we celebrate student poetry during our annual Poetry Extravaganza. In April, we invited our enrolled students to submit their favorite original poems. We hope you will enjoy their poems as much as we do!
Photo Credit: Melissa Lewis (Oak Meadow) Desserts by Danica O’Donohoe Oak Meadow Grade K
Sweet treats
Bake cake
Kids want to scream for ice cream
Yummy in my tummy!
___________________________________________________________ Photo Credit: Tracey Watts (Oak Meadow) An Angel and a Bird by Carlos Checa-Sacasa Oak Meadow Grade 3
Once there was a bird
who heard a whisper in the air
the bird flew towards the voice
and saw an angel there
Feathers, flowers and light
it was quite a sight
An angel and a bird in flight
___________________________________________________________ Photo Credit: Laura Kelly (Oak Meadow) Freddy Lives On By Deanna Oakes Oak Meadow, Grade 6
In front of the fire,
At the foot of the bed,
In the warm sun,
At the homestead,
Freddy is gone.
Freddy is gone, but his memory lives on.
He rode in the truck,
He played with his toys,
He snored real loud,
But he didn’t like noise.
Freddy’s memory lives on,
He will never truly be gone. “Last year, my librarian’s friend was grieving the passing of her dog, who had recently passed away. Her friend was very sad, so Mrs. Hoffman, my librarian, asked me to write a poem in memory of Freddy, the dog. She told me a little about Freddy, and I used what I learned about him to write this poem. It was wonderful to gift this poem to her; she loved it.”
___________________________________________________________
