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: