October 23

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (“This year the leaves did not fall from the trees….”)
• Read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (If you forgot your pages, check out http://www.scc.k12.wi.us/faculty/lskaalrud/Cloudy%20with%20a%20Chance%20of%20Meatballs.pdf.)  This week you may count the time you spend reading Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs toward your writing minutes. 
• Use the plot graph to organize the most important events in the story.  (The example we used in class for The Elves and the Shoemaker will be a helpful reference.)

A note about writing minutes: Your writing minutes are used primarily to record the time you spend on your writing assignments from class.  If you have finished your writing assignments in fewer than 100 minutes, writing assigned from other classes may be counted toward your weekly total.  However, if your writing assignments have not been finished (or attempted) writing for other classes cannot be counted toward your total.

October 16

 

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting
• Finish Richard the Lion-heart (Some of you have finished this)
• If you have finished Richard the Lion-heart, outline Sparta or/and Athens (You can do one or both depending on how much time it takes.  And remember to stop at 100 minutes!). 
• Note:  For those of you who like to plan ahead, in two weeks you are going to choose one composition (Richard, Athens, or Sparta) to bring through the writing process.  If you’ve only had time to complete Richard, that’s OK.  That will be the one you choose.  If you’ve had time to finish Athens and/or Sparta, you will have more choices! 
• Use your Sparta and/or Athens outline(s) to rewrite the paragraphs in your own words.  (Remember to use your dress-up—verb—and openers—subject & prepositional!)

You’ve all been doing great work these past few weeks.  Keep it up!

October 9

 

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (How I escaped from Ninjas)
• Richard the Lion-heart paragraphs
• Make a keyword outline for each of the four paragraphs.  We did paragraph I together

I.

1.  3rd/son/Henry II / Eleanor of Aquitaine

2.  Mother’s/ favorite/ raised/ perfect/ knight

3.  age/ 11/ duchy/ Aquitaine

4. young/ distinguished/ tactics/knightly/ skills

5. courageous / leader/ Richard the Lion-Heart

6.  heroism/ praised/ sung/ troubadours

 

• Use your keyword outline to create four paragraphs.  Remember to mark one strong verb, one (1)subject opener, and one (2)prepositional opener (use your list!) We began the first paragraph in class.  Notice how we marked each element. 

(1)Richard I was the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.  He was his mother’s favorite son, raised as a perfect knight.  (2)At age 11 he was given the duchy of Aquitaine.

Note:  Many (thought not all) of you may not finish this assignment this week.  That’s ok.  Work for 100 minutes and stop.  If you are having difficulty adding or finding your dress-up and openers, do your best.  I’m planning to have quite a bit of in-class work time next week to “fill in gaps!”

October 2

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Glowing, crystal Florida souvenir)
• Compose two paragraphs.
  • Use the two remaining outlines (Dance Flies, Vulture Bees, Glaciers, Ice Shelf Glaciers, Effect of Music on Plants) to compose two new paragraphs just like you did last week.
  • Use and underline one strong verb (a dress-up) in each paragraph.

    Dress-ups are specific words included in each paragraph to help create vibrant writing.  In each paragraph you should intentionally choose one verb. Make sure that you pick a great word not just an ordinary word. Use a thesaurus if it would be helpful, but be careful not to choose a word that is new to you.

    Strong Verb

    A verb can show action, show being, help another verb to create shades of meaning, or link a noun to an adjective. Your strong verb will nearly always be action verb. Here’s an example of a sentence with a “boring” verb, and one with a strong verb.

    Grant ran to catch the bus.

    Vs.

    Grant sprinted to catch the bus.

    Notice that the meaning of the sentence is not drastically changed, but there is more information given with the strong verb. While sprinted does mean that Grant ran, it also suggests that he ran quickly and for only a short distance.

  • Use and mark with a (1), one subject opener in each paragraph.

    Good writing uses a variety of different sentence styles to keep a reader’s interest and create compelling prose. The easiest way to make sure that you are using an assortment of sentence styles is to start sentence differently.

    Subject Openers

    Subject openers are probably the easiest opener to use. This just means that the subject (and any modifying adjectives) comes first in the sentence. Subject openers are marked at the start of the sentence with a number 1. This helps you keep track of which openers you have used, and let’s me know as I grade what openers were intentional. Examples of subject openers are,

    David shivered under the tree.

    The six brown mice shivered under the tree

    Both of these sentences have a subject opener because the sentence begins with the subject or its modifying adjectives.

  • Use and mark with a (2), one prepositional opener

    Prepositional Openers

    Like its name, a sentence with a prepositional opener begins with a prepositional phrase. Use the accompanying list of prepositions to help you. Here are some examples of prepositional openers:

    In the late afternoon, David shivered under the tree.

    Up above the village, Peter sat and wondered how to relieve his boredom.

    

Each paragraph will be graded with the following checklist: