April 26

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (You are trapped in a boring sitcom with an annoying laugh track.)
• Any late or missing work (Contact me if you have questions.)
• Knight Essay OR a 7-paragraph essay on the topic of your choice.  (You may choose to use your notes and outlines on knights to write an essay, or you have the option of writing on a topic of your choice.  To write on a topic of your choice you will need to gather three sources---they don't have to be long---and use them to take notes and create a master outline for a 7-paragraph essay.)

Note: Our last class will be May 17th.  Please have the rough draft of your essay turned in no later than May 10th.  The earlier you finish your rough draft, the earlier you will finish your writing work for the year. :-)

April 12

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (A ball of fire streaked through the morning sky. "Alert the dwarfs at once!"
• Any late work (Choice Essay, Winter Activities, Three Favorites, Dolphins)
• Outline your 7 paragraph Knights essay (Remember we divided Becoming a Knight into three sub-topics:  Page, Squire, Knight Ceremony.)

April 5

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (A senile old superhero goes out to fight crime.  None of the younger heroes respect him anymore, but all of the villains have a soft spot for him.
• Writing.  We are at that time of year where everyone is working on something slightly different.  Here is a list of the writing assignments you may need to do in order.  If you're not sure which assignments are for you, give me a call, email, text, Facebook message, Marco Polo, Snapchat, or whatever works best for you!
• Final Draft of Essay (If you still need to)

THEN

• Winter Activities Essay (If necessary)

THEN

• Three Favorite Things Essay (If necessary)

THEN

• Dolphin Essay (If necessary)

THEN

• Chimpanzee outlines.  The is ONLY a note-taking activity, and only to be done after you have completed your Dolphin Essay.  ONLY complete individual outlines for each source and use them to create a master outline.  IF, however, you do have time to write an essay from your master outline, I will use it as extra credit.

March 29

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (He had lived in this house his entire life, but now he was standing in a hallway he'd never seen before.)
• 2nd or 3rd (Final) draft of your essay on the topic of your choice. (Most of you have completed this.)

THEN

• Winter Activities and 3 Favorite Things essays (Some of you may only need to complete one of these, and most of you have finished them already.)

THEN

• Use your four note-taking outlines to create a master outline.  We began this process in class.  Use your master outline to write a 5 paragraph (3 body paragraphs from your outline, an introductory paragraph and a concluding paragraph essay on dolphins. Remember your dress-ups and openers!

Our writing steps

• Choose your subject
• Ask yourself questions
• Gather Sources
• Read a simple source (encyclopedia)
• Brainstorm topics (make sure you have extra!)
• Choose your topics
• Create an outline
• Take notes
• Make a master outline
• Write!