Quarter(s): 4

Day(s): Wed

Open Spots: 2

Be part of a team! Join the Compass Collaborative newspaper staff. The Compass student newspaper is growing to include a faculty advisor to help coordinate and schedule the efforts of the student editors, writers, and contributors. The staff will be a mixed age team, with students from 6th-12th grade, where younger students will be informally paired with older students for peer review and feedback on their writing.

Students will learn to write with a purpose and create effective factual articles, interviews, and reviews. While taking notes, gathering data, and collecting details may happen outside of class, part of each weekly staff meeting will be dedicated to writing. In weekly meetings, the advisor will discuss examples from a variety of printed media to demonstrate what constitutes 'good' writing and what is less effective. The group will also learn about the formatting, layout, and graphic design elements that go into the newspaper. All staff members will practice editing skills to improve grammar, punctation, and overall clarity and accuracy in their writing.

Each quarter, the group will decide on writing assignments and divvy up responsibilities based on individual interests. Staff members will report on Compass news and events, interview teachers, review classes, cover clubs, and write about community happenings that would interest other homeschoolers. Students may opt to write reviews of books, movies, tv shows, games, restaurants, or field trips. They may compose editorials, short stories, or poetry. Some may wish to create an ongoing column about a particular interest such as pets, sports, or space. Staff members may submit their own artwork, comics, or photographs, but will also work with Compass art teachers to get scans of other students' works each quarter. Staff may also elect to include regular features such as a recipe, a puzzle, riddles, jokes, trivia questions, or student poll result in each issue. Staff members will each contribute at least 2-3 items to the Collaborative edition each quarter.

Student staff will serve not only as writers and contributors, but also as editors of works that are submitted by other students. One or two high school members will have the opportunity to serve as editors of the student paper, roles that demonstrate leadership and are favorable in the college application process. In addition, one or two other students will serve the layout editors and will be expected to learn newspaper layout using Microsoft Publisher. All students register for the same class, and roles and responsibilities will be reviewed and delegated during the first class meeting. Students will be expected to bring a laptop, notebook, and pen/pencil to each class meeting.

Quarter(s): 4

Day(s): Wed

Open Spots: 3

Exploring a deserted island, arriving in a magical world, evading pirates, and time travel. Great childhood adventures come from reading and dreaming about some classic works. But have you wondered how the story would transform if you changed key elements and penned a new ending? In this class, students will read and evaluate sample chapters from Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, Sir Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll, and Madeleine L'Engle. They will learn how to summarize chapters and identify the elements of the story. With an emphasis on creativity and imagination, the tween writers will first study six picture books by favorites Jane Yolen, Margaret Wise Brown, Eric Carle, E.B White, Roald Dahl, and Kenneth Grahame. They will write new endings to these classical children's stories. Students will also select a classic work from a list provided by the instructor. They will read the text and write a new ending to the classic tale. Students can even adapt a classic to a graphic novel-style ending. To develop a sense of audience, students will work on ending ideas, review drafts and in-progress writing with their peers and incorporate peer feedback as they develop their original endings. An anthology of new endings to classics will be published at the end of the quarter.

The Writers Workshop gives middle school students in grades 6-7 the skills they need for writing, reading, listening, and speaking that come from practicing by putting pen to paper. In class, students will share drafts and in-progress works to receive peer feedback and promote revising and editing skills. Each quarter, students will review samples of literature and write about popular themes using the story elements of that theme.

Imagination and creativity come easily to most young writers, but acquiring technical skills is also important. Each quarter, students will focus on specific skills in addition to specific genres as part of their "Writer's Tool Kit." These skills include: grammar basis such as parts and kinds of sentences, plurals, possessives, punctuation; learning how to use a dictionary and a thesaurus; and advanced middle/high school skills like summarizing, outlining, note taking, writing a book report, or citing sources.

Homework: Students are expected to write in a journal for a minimum of four minutes per day and respond to prompts that are sent home on an assignment bookmark. They will also be asked to read short assignments such as a chapter or excerpt in preparation for class discussions.

Topics in this Series: Creating Children's Books (Quarter 1); Time Travel- Fantasy & Science Fiction (Quarter 2); Time Travel- Historical Fiction (Quarter 3); and Reading Classics, Writing New Endings (Quarter 4).