What would you do if you woke up one morning to find yourself invisible?

Write a list of at least 35 things that make you feel good.

What would you do if you were able to communicate with animals?

If and when I raise children, I'll never...

What would you do if you were locked inside your favorite department store overnight?

Imagine yourself in a different century and describe an average day in your life.

I have never been more frightened than when...

Persuade a friend to give up drugs.

Three goals I have set for myself are...

Chocolate Milk

Schools should keep serving chocolate milk. There should be chocolate milk because kids like
it, it gives vitamins, and it gets kids in good habits. Many kids love chocolate milk – it makes them happy to see it in the cafeteria, their lunch box, at their kitchen table. Research shows that, overall, chocolate milk is pretty good for kids.

Its especially important that kids like chocolate milk. It turns out that more kids drink milk,
when they can get chocolate milk. When you interview a lot of parents, like Katie Couric did,
they’ll say that their kids only drink milk if they can get chocolate milk. So at least they’re drinking milk. In a survey of students in this school, 84% said that they would drink more milk if they had chocolate milk available. Of those same students, 28% said that they wouldn’t drink any milk at all unless it were chocolate.

Surprisingly, chocolate milk turns out to have vitamins. A nutritionist from the Dairy Association, demonstrates that chocolate milk is a good source of vitamin A, D, E, and calcium.
That’s a lot of vitamins and they’re in something kids actually like to drink! In her information
session, the nutritionist is with kids who drink chocolate milk. Their bright teeth and glossy hair
illustrates that kids who love chocolate milk will be that healthy.

There’s one more reason why chocolate milk should be served in schools. The famous nutritionist argued that chocolate milk has a lot less sugar and carbohydrates than soda and power drinks like Gatorade. So if kids get in the habit of drinking milk in school, then they’ll probably skip the sodas outside of school. The chocolate milk that is served in our school, for instance, is low fat. So it is a lot better for kids than soda. It’s true that Jamie Oliver, a chef and enemy of chocolate
milk, argued that chocolate milk does have added sugar. Jamie is a famous English chef who is
involved with lunch for kids in schools in Los Angeles. In a shocking video, Jamie shows a
school bus filled with sugar to show how much sugar school kids get from chocolate milk. But
there are a lot of schoolkids in the US, and if you divide that busload up between all the kids, it
will not be such a shocking amount. And if you put next to it a bus filled with the vitamins
A,D,E and calcium that kids get, the picture might seem very different.

That’s why we should keep serving chocolate milk at school – it gets kids to drink milk, it gives
them vitamins, and it builds good habits. Personal, insider experience supports this claim. As a
fifth grader, this investigator was part of an experiment to ban chocolate milk in his cafeteria.
Fifth graders, though, are allowed to go out for lunch. With no chocolate milk, this luncheon seeker started going out for pizza and coke. Gone were all the vitamins and calcium. Jamie Oliver doesn’t necessarily know what happens inside schools. When something is taken away at
lunch that is even a little good for you, it’s not always replaced by something better, or anything
at all. In fact, the vitamins from chocolate milk may possibly be the only ones some kids get in school lunch. So keep chocolate milk, kids’ main source of vitamins, good habits, and happiness.

Invent and describe a new food.

Write about your favorite childhood toy.

Arguments and Claims Practice

Claim: John is a good quarterback. Reason: [Because] John threw for thirty-nine
touchdowns last season.

Claim: John is a good-looking guy. Reason: [Because] John has gorgeous hair, nice skin, and a handsome smile.

Claim: John is a good friend.  Reason: [Because] John is always there for you when you're down.  He loves to make people smile. 

1. What might the argument of this essay be?
a) John is a popular kid.
b) John is a great football player.
c) John, Doritos, and anchovies don't mix.

2. Make up some evidence to go with each claim about John.   

Is it possible that your reason and your evidence might be the same thing?

Book Reports

Ally:  5 sketches    Jace, Michael, Adam:  Talk show    Nicole, Whitnie, Ellie:  Game show
Mavrick, Danyon, Tony, Bryce:  Play   Makiah, Iz, Sara, Madi:  Making a movie
Quincee, Kiley, Mikaeli: Video- TV show   Kira, Mattie:  Puppet show  
Gavynn, Jaxon, Brady, Nick:  Game show

Argumentative Writing- Arguments, Claims, Reasons and Evidence

Vocabulary
argument (position): the stated point of view that the author is trying to convince others about
claim: a statement made supporting the argument as true
reason: an explanation for why a claim is true
evidence: something that backs up a reason (research and data that can actually prove a reason or claim is the best type of evidence)