April 25

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Well, at least we know the fire alarms work!)
• Essay Draft (Either a first or second draft of the essay on the topic of your choice.)
• Fractured fairy tale

April 11

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?)
• Essay Draft (Either a first or second draft of the essay on the topic of your choice.)
• Begin writing your fractured fairy tale

Happy Easter!

April 4

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (While you are on the subway you scratch your ear, accidentally signaling to a member of a secret society that you are one of them.)
• 5 Paragraph essay on the topic of your choice (if you still need to finish your rough draft)
• Fractured Fairy Tale 
• Continue working on your character sketch---the four sections we began in class.  
• Once you are comfortable with your character begin writing some notes on the plot (what happens) of your story

March 21

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (You were thrown into the volcano as a sacrifice.  The volcano spit you back out.)
• Begin work on your 5 paragraph essay.  (You have 2 weeks to complete the essay)
• Choose your topic (your choice!)
• Ask yourself questions
• Gather a source (The World Book Encyclopedia at Digital Maine Library is a good place to begin!)
• Skim your source
• Brainstorm topics
• Choose topics
• Create an outline
• Take notes
• Write (Remember to include your new dress-up--an adverb--in each paragraph.)

March 14

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (S/He looked into the mirror and did not see a reflection....)
• Finish Bee Essay 
• 5 paragraphs (Intro, Topic 1, Topic 2, Topic 3, Conclusion)
• Topic and Concluding sentences for each body paragraph
• Dress-ups and openers in all 5 paragraphs
• Add a lead (first sentence(s) of introductory paragraph)
• Reflect lead in the last sentence of your essay
• Any late, missing, or corrected work (Inca essay, Saturn essay)

March 7

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting ("Can someone please explain why I was assigned this mission?")
• Take notes and begin writing the essay on bees.

February 28

Homework

• Writing Minutes 
• Freewriting (I would have won the race had it not been for that boy and his obsession with mashed peas.)
• Add a conclusion paragraph to your Saturn essay.

February 14

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting 
• Finish Saturn Essay
• Finish writing (Remember dress-ups, openers, topic & concluding sentences)
• Add introductory paragraph
• Background information
• Mention topics
• Any very interesting facts that you might not have been able to find a place for elsewhere in your composition.

February 7

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting ("I'd just like to know how you got the car on the roof.")
• Final Draft of Narrative Summary (if necessary)
• Inca Paragraph (if necessary)
• Outline and begin writing about Saturn. (Go only as far as you can in your 100 minutes.  You are not expected to complete this assignment this week!)

January 31

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (There are 800 penguins running around my front yard!)
• Summary Final draft (if necessary)
• Inca paragraphs (Remember to include your dress-ups, openers, topic sentences, and concluding sentences!)

January 24

Because of the slippery roads yesterday, co-op was cancelled.  Use your writing time this week to continue working on previous assignments.  Please check the gradebook (you and/or your parents should have been sent a link) for missing assignments---especially Writing Minutes!  Any completed writing can be emailed to me.

January 17

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (When I went to get the results of my blood test, I was told the results were classified.)
• Final Draft of your Narrative Summary (if you still need to hand that in)
• 3 volcanoes paragraphs (if you still need to hand that in)
• Inca notes (Inca Source).  We will use your notes to complete a class outline next week

I.  Religion

   1.

   2.

   3.

   4.

   5.

   6.

II.  Lifestyle

   1.  farmers / hand tools / irrigation

   2.  clothes / wool & cotton / decorated / rank

   3.

   4.

   5.

   6. 

III.  Transportation

   1.  network / roads / linking / empire

   2.  llamas / carried / goods

   3. 

   4.

   5.

   6. 

January 10

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting ("I demand to speak to a human!" he shouted.)
• 3rd Draft Narrative Summary
• Add topic and concluding sentences to each of your paragraphs in your volcano essay. (This should me somewhat easier to do than our practice in class as you know exactly what information is contained in each of your paragraphs!) Here is a link to the handout from class just in case yours didn't make it home. :-)

December 13

Homework

• 2nd or 3rd draft of summary (If I am currently editing your draft, then there is nothing for you to do until your edited second draft is returned. :-) )

Have a merry Christmas!  See you back in class on January 3!

December 6

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting ("You are the worst hero ever!")
• Finish the second draft of your summary if you needed extra time
• Begin writing about volcanoes.  Below is the outline we completed in class.  You may add to the outline, or change parts of the outline to include information you find more interesting.  :-)

I.  Location

   1.  same / area / earthquakes

   2.  "Ring of Fire" /  encircling /  Pacific Ocean

   3.  +125 / active / Indonesia

   4.  all / form / land / many / ocean

  (5).

  (6).

II.  Parts / Inside

   1.  magma / melted rock / below / surface

   2.  magma chamber / below / crust

   3.  central vent / channel / magma to surface

   4.  caldera / crater / mouth of volcano

  (5). some / secondary vent / magma

  (6).

III.  Effects

   1.  mudslides / from / steam

   2.  lava / ash / mud / cool / new land / mountains

   3.  Tambora / Indonesia / 1815 / 92,000 killed *

   4.  ash / chemicals / enrich / soil / fertile

   5.  sulfur deposits / rubber / fertilizer

   6.  source / geothermal / energy / ocean / ecosystems

*  You may wish to change this entry to something you prefer.

November 29

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Great!  Now I'm stuck.)
• 2nd Draft of Summary
• Read through your Volcanoes source to prepare for next week!

November 15

Homework

• Any late or missing work. (You can check the gradebook online. Let me know if I need to resend your link!)

 

November 8

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (What would you do with an empty town?)
• Turn your outline into a 3-paragraph summary of your book.  (Remember your dress-ups and openers!  Here is a grading checklist to help you. :-) )

November 1

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (There was a flash of shiny red ribbon.)
• Use your plot diagram to create an outline for a three paragraph summary of the book of your choice.  Only the outline is due this week.  The most difficult part of this week's assignment is to focus on main events and leave out the details, even though those details might be the part we like best about the story!  Our example is below.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I.

   1.  4 children / WW2 / country / mansion

   2.  playing / wardrobe / hide / Narnia

   3.  Mr. Tumnus / fawn / winter / Christmas

   4.  Edmund / Narnia / witch / enchanted

   5.  hiding / wardrobe / find / Narnia

II.

   1.  Mr. & Mrs. Beaver / prophecy / Ed / disappears

   2.  Ed / witch / children / find / Aslan

   3.  Santa / gifts / children

   4.  find / Aslan / deal / witch

   5.  witch / kills / Aslan / Ed / free

   6.  Peter / Narnians / prepare / battle

III.

   1.  morning / battle / begins

   2.  Aslan / alive / frees / stone / people

   3.  Aslan / kills / witch / Narnia / free

   4.  children / kings / queens / years

   5.  lamppost / wardrobe / home / children

   6.  tell / professor / believes

October 25

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (NASA receives a mysterious message from an astronaut that got separated from his spacecraft and flew off into space twenty years earlier.  He says he's at the edge of the universe.)
• Begin summarizing your novel
• Choose a novel (chapter book) you have read recently and enjoyed.  
• Fill in the plot diagram you were given in class to order the major events in your book. (You only have three paragraphs in which to summarize an entire book, so you are looking only for the big ideas!)  Here is the example from class.