How To Teach Creative Writing To Middle School Students

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High schoolers are an easier group of students to teach creative writing to than middle school students, but as businesses are putting more and more emphasis on the importance of writing, it is becoming increasingly important for children to start learning about writing from an early age. If you are either the parent of a middle school child or a teacher in charge of lots of middle schoolers, you can give each student a leg up on the future by teaching them basic creative writing skills and exercises at this early stage.

While preparing your creative writing lessons, you should make sure you are including a lot of writing assignments, as the best way for each student to learn about creative writing will be through the process of actually writing. As you plan these lessons, you should divide them into a pair of categories: One category should be assignments that will help your students "loosen up," by being creative and having fun, and other category should be assignments that encourage your students to "tighten up," taking a more stringent approach to the rules of proper grammar, spelling, et cetera.

Eventually, you will want to begin combining the two types of lessons into one, grading your students (or gauging their progress) based on both their creativity and their ability to adhere to basic writing rules; also, if you are teaching your students other things at the same time you are teaching them creative writing, you can combine creative writing principles with projects for other subjects!

Finally, the most important thing of all is for creative writing to feel like "fun" instead of feeling like "work"; you can accomplish this in a number of ways, but a couple things to consider is changing the setup of the room completely when you are going to be doing creative writing, and to participate in the assignments yourself, so your students can see what you come up with!

When you put all these elements together, you will be able to train your students in the basics of creative writing, which will lay a foundation for them that will grow into success in the future!

Record All of Your TV Shows in One Place

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When it comes to finding something to watch on television today the options are endless. The choices become endless when you broaden the rage out to cable television. A huge amount of shows that they get hooked on is not uncommon for people to find. The only problem is that with busy lives we may not have the opportunity to stay up to date on all of them. VCRs and recordable DVDs have given us options to record them for later.

These options are unfortunately not very efficient though. The space they can record on is very limited for both. A VCR is by far the worst of the options since you cannot jump from show to show. Instead you will need to watch the tape through or fast forward and guess where to stop. The media is expensive to buy on the DVD even though it doesn't have these same issues. Each DVD also only offers small amounts of space to record on.

TiVo TCD746320 Premiere DVR.

The best option for recording TV shows is a DVR. The DVR does not need to use media in order for them to record shows on it. The shows are recorded onto the device itself instead. A tremendous amount of space is available on DVRs when they are compared to a VCR or a DVD. You can watch at your leisure a bunch of different shows on the DVR. If you wish to record the same show every week you just need to set it for that. The need to set it up for recording every time is eliminated.

Technology that has been left in the past for recording shows should be left there. Instead get a DVR that will allow you to record all of your shows in a very efficient manner. Digital TV is great to pair up with your DVR as well, allowing the DVR to pinpoint shows you want to watch and record them with ease. The solution to all of your recording needs is the DVR.

A Cheaper Way to Enjoy Luxury Coffee

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Many families have cut back on what they consider to be luxuries as a result of the current economic environment. Coffee is one of the most common luxuries and often the most common one eliminated from budgets. Starbucks is a company that is seemingly on every corner. Their coffee is considered to be one of the best by people all over as they become more and more popular. They also realize that many people cannot afford to buy coffee from them daily anymore, so they did their best to accommodate these customers.

One of the ways that they decided to expand their business in order to cater to more customers was to offer their coffee to be brewed at home. Customers can visit any Starbucks location in order to purchase bags of coffee. These bags can then be brought home to be brewed whenever it is convenient. This brought the many customers who had cut back on luxury coffee back into that world since this is an affordable way to enjoy it.

Starbucks Sumatra Coffee Whole Bean 12 Ounce Bags.

One of Starbucks most popular coffee beans is the Sumatra bean. This bean is known for its full bodied quality and syrupy consistency. It isn’t acidic which allows the coffee flavor to hang around on your palate for longer periods. It can also be considered a little bit spicy and herbal which add to its signature earthy taste. All of these qualities work together in order to create the flavor those Starbucks lovers have come to expect in the Sumatra bean.

You can still enjoy daily luxuries in different ways even if you have had to cut back your spending in these specific areas. Starbucks coffee that is bought at the store each day may not be affordable anymore but you can still brew it at home and enjoy it as well. Brew some Sumatra beans today buy picking up a few 12 ounce bags from a store near you!

Taking A Look At Things To Check On Your Car Before A Road Trip

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A road trip, by nature, is often a spontaneous sort of adventure, and even those road trips that have been planned in advance have a tendency to take on this persona, but in spite of the fact that "spontaneity" and "adventure" might be part of the fabric of your road trip, there are still some things you will want to make sure you are planning. If you are taking a fairly new car on a road trip, you will probably be perfectly fine to pack up the car and go, but while this might be the case in a car that is a few years old, it might also not be the case, and for this reason, any car that is a few years old should be checked thoroughly before you leave in it for a road trip.

Safety is the first thing people tend to think of when it comes to "checking a car," but if you are on a road trip, the first thing you will notice is comfort; if your cruise control goes out on you early in the trip, or if your air conditioner stops working, you will not enjoy the drive very much, so get these things checked before you hit the road, and you will avoid any serious discomfort!

Another thing that will help you if you keep it in mind is the fact that some small things might cause your car to get worse gas mileage than it should, and on a road trip, this can make a big difference; make sure your tires are properly inflated before you head out, and make sure your engine is running smoothly, without any hitches or problems.

And of course, safety is definitely a concern when you are taking a road trip, so make sure the oil in your car has been changed before you head out, and have the engine looked over to make sure nothing will happen to it while you are on the road; also, check the lug nuts on the tires, check the safety features, and before you hit the road, make sure your car is prepared to bring you back home in one uninjured piece!

Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist"

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Now that it is summer, one of the things a lot of people will be looking for is a "light, breezy read" that they can pick up when the mood strikes - enjoying the book out by the pool or out in the sun. If you do not do much reading, it can be tough to know exactly what book you should pick up, as there is a seemingly endless pile of options when it comes to books; but one book that you certainly cannot go wrong in reading is Paulo Coelho's masterpiece The Alchemist.

Paulo Coelho is a native of Brazil, and The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese, and while Coelho is fluent in English, he did not translate the work himself; the book was popular when it was published in English, but it especially caught fire when Julia Roberts was photographed reading it, and the book has now been translated into nearly seventy languages and has sold over sixty-five million copies!

The book has also gained its fair share of detractors, especially with how popular it has become; the good news, however - should you read it and become a detractor yourself - is the fact that the book is a short, breezy read that will not rob you of much time or energy.

As Coelho approaches the book with the intention of encouraging people to follow their dreams - and the entire story is wrapped in this idea - lots of people view the book as a "parable" more than as a work of literature. But whether or not The Alchemist is a great piece of "literature" - or is instead just a great "parable" - it has had an inarguable impact on the lives of millions, and if nothing else, it is worth reading for the pure, simple joy that Coelho pours into the story.

Consider picking up a copy of The Alchemist this summer; the worst case scenario is that you fall among the detractors and wish you had not used a few hours of your life on this book; but the upside of reading this book is extreme, as you just might find yourself among those millions who have had their lives changed by this jewel of a book.

Planning A Wedding Guest List

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Unless you have unlimited space at your wedding, one part of the wedding planning process that is usually among the least fun is choosing your guest list, as you will quickly realize that there is not nearly as much space as you thought – or rather, that the people you want to invite take up space a lot more quickly than you would have imagined. And while you might have entered the whirlwind of wedding planning imagining you would easily be able to invite all of your friends, once you realize that you have to account for not only your significant other’s friends, but also for their family and your family as well, it can start to become overwhelming; this is why it is tremendously important that you follow the proper procedure in order to plan your wedding guest list.

Four different lists to be created in order to start to planning of the guest list; the bride-to-be should create a list of her own, the groom should create a list of his own, and both sets of parents should create lists of their own, as this should cover all the bases as far as who might be invited to the wedding.

The second step of the planning of the guest list should bring the people who helped create all four lists together so they can go through the four lists, making sure you (that is, the bride and groom) know who are the most important to attend, and who it might be okay to leave off the list; realize, of course, that each person who makes their list will want most of the people on their list to be able to attend – but sacrifices will certainly have to be made!

In the third step, the bride and groom can come together and start making these sacrifices; without the input of the parents on either side, the bride and groom should begin to pare down the list, deciding who from all four lists is a “must stay,” who is in the middle ground, and who can be cut out completely. Eventually, of course, many of the names on the middle list will also have to be cut out; but this is best done between the bride and groom together, without the help of others — and after much time and lots of effort (and perhaps a few fights!), the final guest list can be presented at last.

Building Believable Characters In Writing

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Many people who are just starting out writing have a tendency to make the mistake of thinking all they need to do in order to write a good story is have a good plot, but in addition to needing a good plot, you must also be able to write well – and perhaps, even more important than writing well, is being able to create characters in your story are absolutely believable. Truly writing believable characters can take a lot of time and practice – as it is not usually something that “just comes naturally” – but as you practice, and as you keep the following tips in mind, you will soon be creating stories full of characters who feel as real as life itself.

Rather than opening the computer and starting to write right away, you should get to know your characters before you begin your story, and one of the best ways to do this is to create character profiles; a character profile is exactly what it sounds like – simply a list of things but the character, such as where they grew up, who their parents are, what their likes and dislikes are, and anything else you can think of that pertains to their personality.

Another great way to begin getting to know your characters, after you've come up with character profiles, is to write flash fiction stories of your characters; flash fiction is short fiction – anywhere from 300 to 500 words – and with these stories, you can start to get your know your characters a little bit better, figuring out how they talk, how they act, and how they will react to different situations.

And perhaps the biggest key of all when it comes to creating believable characters is having patience; you will sometimes have to wait much longer than you thought you would in order to begin writing your story, as it may sometimes take a while to work out all the kinks in your characters. But it will be well worth your time if you make sure you get to know your characters; in time, you will be writing stories with characters who feel real to the reader – which will make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.

Knowing The Basic Supplies You Need For Painting

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You might think that “talent” is one of the basic supplies you need in order to get started painting, but actually – as long as you have the proper supplies for getting started painting – you can have a lot of fun painting (and can even sometimes paint something that is halfway decent!) without any real talent at all! You will be able to sit down (perhaps in the park, with a beret on your head!) and just have fun with the canvas once you have all the things you need in order to get started painting – seeing what comes of your experiment.

The cost of canvases will certainly not break the bank for you, and of course, canvases will be important, as you will need something to paint on; look for canvases that are of a moderate size at first, as it is unlikely you will want to display your early paintings, but you will probably not want to throw them out, either, and smaller canvases will be easier to store.

You will definitely want to make sure the paintbrush set you get gives you plenty of options, as you will have fun experimenting with the effects of different brushes as you get started with your painting; take the time to shop around a bit, and find good deals on great brushes (this great set is only 8 dollars on Amazon).

Of course, before you can actually start painting, you will also need some paint, and if you are a beginner painter, acrylic paints will be the best route for you to go; the Reeves Acrylic Paint Set is a highly-regarded set of acrylic paints, and they are priced extremely reasonably, especially for those who are just getting started with painting!

Once you have these basic supplies in your possession, the only thing you will be missing is some old clothes (which will be necessary, so that you do not ruin any of your good clothes with wet paint!) and a pleasant day when you can go outside and have a bit of fun splashing paint on a canvas!

Make A Homemade Bird Feeder!

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If you have children, one thing they might particularly enjoy is a bird feeder - but while it can be simple and fun to go out and buy a bird feeder, it can often be even more fun to make a bird feeder with your child! There are lots of different ways to make a bird feeder on your own, but here are a few different ways to keep in mind that are both easy and effective!

Orange peel feeder: This is a really fun one, and all you will need is an orange, some peanut butter, and a pile of bird seed. Simply peel the orange in a circular manner - making sure it comes off in a long, circular strand - then coat the inside of the orange peel in peanut butter, sprinkle it with bird seed, and then you can hang it from a good tree branch!

Pine cone feeder: As was the case with the orange peel feeder, the only additional items you will need once you have the pine cone is some peanut butter and some seeds! Hold the pine cone upright and coat it with peanut butter - making sure you get down into all the crevices - then fill it up with bird seed and hang your new "feeder" from a tree!

Paint your own feeder: There are also a number of different options that enable you to buy a fully functional feeder and paint it yourself, which can be a fun way to put up a bird feeder that your child feels has a touch that is uniquely "theirs," without having to make a bird feeder on your own. If you decide that one of these feeders is right for you and your children, make sure you take the time to paint it with them, as it will be a memory that sticks out in their mind every time they look out the window to watch the bird feeder!

Bird feeders can be entertaining and educational - and when you build one yourself, they can also be a whole lot of fun!

Cooking On An Open Fire

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You might not know what you are missing if you haven't ever cooked on an open flame. Cooking over an open fire is both an art form and a technical skill. With the help of some great tools, you can go a long way with it.

Of course you can always stick a bratwurst or a hotdog on a stick and roast it over an open fire, but your options go way beyond this if you are willing to learn a few skills. You will find you have quite a few options with a good set of cast iron pans.

What makes cast iron so great is that they distribute heat evenly when the coals you cook over may be uneven heatwise. It works great for cooking eggs, pancakes, and bacon off of.

You can also wrap your veggies like potatoes and corn on the cob (still in the husk) in aluminum foil directly in the hot coals. After you finish cooking your steak, you can pull out the veggies to go along with it. We loved using the cast iron sandwich makers as kids to make hot pie filled treat, grilled cheese, etc.

You can use what ever filling you want and simply place a piece of buttered breat on either side of the cast iron. The sandwich maker is then closed and heated over the fire to the desired doneness. This can really make for some great eats.

A rotisserie and grill grate is also a handy tool to cook on. You can run a rotisserie by hand along with providing a grill grate to cook on. Making a wonderful roasted chicken. Nothing will impress your neighboring campers more then you being able to cook an entire chicken over an open fire.

Painting A Landscape

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One of the aspects of painting that tends to really appeal to people who are just starting out is the idea of landscape painting. And while there are many aspects of the technicalities of landscape painting that are similar to any other painting, there are also a number of differences. You need to make sure you take some time to study if you want to learn the points about landscape painting that will help you to get to where you want to be.

One of the big aspects of landscape painting will be speed, as you will need to be able to paint a lot of things in a short time. After all, there is nothing terribly wrong with painting a landscape from memory or from a photograph beside you, but in order to truly capture the beauty you want to capture, you need to paint outside - with the landscape right in front of you.

When it comes to painting an entire landscape quickly, it does not necessarily mean you have to be able to paint every detail quickly. Really, this simply means that you need to learn how to capture the essence of an entire landscape - without even painting all the details at all!

Even when it comes to paintings that look incredibly detailed from far away, most of them actually have very little in the way of detail when you look at them up close. What the artist has done is, they have learned how to convey a certain aspect of landscape using a simple technique. The more techniques you learn - and the more you practice - the faster you will become at being able to use these techniques to capture a landscape.

The work of Bob Ross is probably the best place of all to go in order to find materials on techniques that will help you to effectively paint a landscape. Ross wrote a number of books - and even had a number of videos - in which he gave you simple instructions on everything you need!

When you are able to get outside and paint a landscape, it can be extremely relaxing; and once you are able to paint a landscape well, it can also be rewarding!

How To Make Your Fantasy Football Message Board Fun

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For some people, simply playing fantasy football will be enough for them to enjoy it, as they will not really care what league they are playing in or who else is in their league, as long as they are getting to play fantasy football, but for others, the thing that will make fantasy football especially fun is the camaraderie built through interacting with and competing against a group of their close friends. One of the best ways to promote "interaction and competition" in fantasy football is to get the guys in the league to all participate in the message board together - but if you are wanting to get all the guys to participate in the message board, it will be important for you to realize that it will not happen naturally, unless you know how to promote such interaction.

If you want to get message board banter and participation going, the most obvious approach is to start different discussion threads each week; these discussion threads can be related to the league, to football in general, or to fantasy football, just so long as you can come up with something that others will enjoy chiming in about.

Posting "Power Rankings" on the message board each week is another great idea; post these Power Rankings in the same way such sites as ESPN do, giving each team's ranking in order, and giving a humorous or clever reason behind your having ranked them in that particular position.

And because of the huge role that statistics play in fantasy football, one thing that is a lot of fun is to explore some statistics in your message board posts - but rather than simply exploring stats that relate directly to fantasy football, you should also explore stats that relate to your league specifically, as you just might find that this creates the most discussion and banter of all!

Of course, even without these things you can have fun with fantasy football, but if you have a fantasy football league with people you are close to, it can become a whole lot more fun if everyone participates in weekly message board banter.

Maximizing Your Use Of Amazon Author Central

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One of the most important things for you to do after you have finished writing a book is for you to successfully market the book - after all, marketing the book will enable people to know that the book exists, and if people do not know a book exists, they will never be able to take the step of purchasing it! There are plenty of ways to go about getting the word out about your book, but considering that Amazon is one of the places where people visit most frequently, one of the best places for you to focus your attention is also on Amazon - using Amazon Author Central.

People are likely to look at the "reader reviews" when they look at a book on Amazon, but they are also likely to look at the reviews posted in the "Editorial Reviews" section; this is the section where you can take great snippets from official reviews of your book, posting them on the Amazon page of your book in order to encourage readers to make that leap toward purchasing your work.

You will also find that many Amazon pages have strange characters and formatting in the description of the book, due to the manner in which certain fonts translate onto the Amazon web page; in Amazon Author Central, you can change the description so that these odd characters do not show up.

Also, people will be able to click on the author's name, and be taken to the author's "Home Page" on Amazon, if the author uses Amazon Author Central; on this page, you can link to your blog and your Twitter, and you can even write a letter to readers - which provides you with a great way to share your thoughts on the book with prospective readers.

Amazon Author Central is just one of the things you can do in order to get the word out about your book, but it is a big thing, as Amazon is one of the most visited sites on the internet, and being in control of what readers see when they visit Amazon is certainly no bad thing!

Make Your Own Pizza & Ice Cream

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Looking for a good idea for your next summer part, try making homemade pizza and ice cream. This fun idea is a great way to really get your kids interested in making their own food. Most kids love piza and ice cream, and this can make for a great way to combine both.

Making homemade pizza doesn’t mean you necessarily have to make everything from scratch. Many companies have been making premade crusts like Mama Marys wholewheat pizza crust. There are also a number of different pizza sauces that are easily available in stores, usually found by the spaghetti sauces. This is where you can really have fun. Chop up the pepperoni, onions, bell peppers, black olives, mozzarella cheese, pineapple or anything else you think your kids might enjoy. Typically they bake within 15 to 20 minutes depending on the oven and the amount of stuff they put onto the pizza.

You can make your own ice cream by using an electric ice cream maker or using an old fashioned turn crank ice cream maker The old fashion crank ice cream maker can be very fun because everyone can take a turn making the sweet treat. If you stock up on fun additions to the ice cream to allow everyone to make their own ice cream. Some fun additions include gummy bears, mint chocolate pieces, chocolate syrup, nuts, and caramel. The list doesn't stop there, it is only limited by your creativity.

This is a great way to motivate your kids into learning how their food is made. Children from kindergarten up can really get a kick out of doing this.

Tips For Making Money With Your Camera

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If taking pictures is something you enjoy doing, you should be aware of the fact that it is entirely possible to make a living with photography; making money with your photography is a great way to bring in some extra cash and even eventually, perhaps, to even have a career doing a hobby that you enjoy - and even if you do not make much money at all, making a little bit of money with your photography will at least be a good excuse for you to have that expensive camera you have been wanting!

When you want to make money with your photography, the first step will be investing a little bit of money in books and even lessons that will help you to find out everything you need to know about your camera, your camera's settings, and taking pictures in general; this extra knowledge will go a long way in making your pictures better than they could possibly be if you only knew how to point and click.

Taking pictures of others and having them pay you to take these pictures is a great way to make money with your camera; you can go about doing this by taking pictures for people's weddings, by taking engagement pictures of couples, by taking senior pictures, by taking family pictures, or even by taking pictures of people's babies!

And if taking pictures for others does not especially interest you, and you are instead looking to make money off the pictures you are already taking on your own, you should realize that this is a tougher path to take, but that it is certainly doable if you start getting creative; selling your pictures as stock photos is one great way to make money with them, as people can pay to use your pictures their websites and blogs, and another great idea is to talk to your local coffee shop, finding out if they would like to host an exhibition of your pictures, through which you can make your pictures available for purchase as well.

As you start to look for ways to make money with your camera, you are more likely to come across more ideas - and somewhere down the road, you may even find that you are able to make a living, doing something you love!