December 11

 

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Outline for “The Rescue of Maid Marian”
• Summarize “The Rescue of Maid Marian”
• 2nd or 3rd draft of Richard (if necessary)
• Outline and Summary of “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” (if necessary)

December 4

 

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Richard Final Draft (if it’s not already finished)
• “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Outline and Summary (if they are not already finished)
• Place the events in “The Rescue of Maid Marian” on the plot diagram
• Freewriting

There was no new information presented in class.  Look below for examples and helps if you need them!

November 20

 

Homework

This week everyone’s homework is slightly different depending on where you are in the writing process.  If an assignment is listed that you have completed or you are waiting for it to be returned, that is not an assignment you are responsible for this week!

• Writing minutes
• Richard (2nd or 3rd draft)
• “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Summary.  Look at the examples in previous blog entries if you need a reminder or examples.  (Remember to mark your dress-ups and openers!  Use the guide and checklist below to help you.)

 

_____ Is my name on my paper?

_____ Is the date on my paper?

_____ Is my paper double-spaced?

_____ Did I put a title on my paper?

_____ Did I underline my dress-up? (strong verb)

_____ Did I put a 1 beside my subject opener (see below) and a 2 beside my prepositional opener (see below) in each paragraph?

Paragraph I

_____ strong verb (action word)

_____ subject opener (The person or thing the sentence is about is one of the first words in the sentence.  If your sentence begins with the words A, An, The, I, We, You, He, She, It, They, or a name, then you most likely have a sentence that begins with a subject opener!)

_____  prepositional opener (The sentence begins with one of the words on your proposition list.  Sometimes you may have to rewrite a sentence to begin with a preposition.)

 

Paragraph II 

_____ strong verb (action word)

_____ subject opener (The person or thing the sentence is about is one of the first words in the sentence.  If your sentence begins with the words A, An, The, I, We, You, He, She, It, They, or a name, then you most likely have a sentence that begins with a subject opener!)

_____  prepositional opener (The sentence begins with one of the words on your proposition list.  Sometimes you may have to rewrite a sentence to begin with a preposition.)

 

Paragraph III

_____ strong verb (action word)

_____ subject opener (The person or thing the sentence is about is one of the first words in the sentence.  If your sentence begins with the words A, An, The, I, We, You, He, She, It, They, or a name, then you most likely have a sentence that begins with a subject opener!)

_____  prepositional opener (The sentence begins with one of the words on your proposition list.  Sometimes you may have to rewrite a sentence to begin with a preposition.)

 

Here’s a checklist you can save and print off for yourself!

November 13

 

Homework

• Writing minutes
• Outline “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”
• Summarize “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” using your outline (the same way you did for “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs”. 
• Can’t remember how?  Look at the example of “The Elves and the Shoemaker” in previous blog entries.  
• Having a hard time understanding what happened?  This cartoon version is actually pretty good, and it might help!

Rikk-Tikki-Tavi

November 6

 

Evidently, the blog didn’t update last week.  So, I’ll try again

 

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting
• Richard the Lion-heart second draft.  (Most of you handed this in already, but for the few of you who didn’t I’ll post it just as a reminder!)
• Turn your “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” outline into a summary.  Here’s an example of “The Elves and the Shoemaker.”

I. 

1.  Shoemaker’s/ house/night/near/Christmas
2.  Shoemaker/poor/ not his fault
3.  wife / kind
4.  cut /last/ shoes/ night
5.  morning / shoes/ fixed / mystery

II.

1.  man / buys/ shoes / $
2.  2 / shoes/ fixed / morning
3.  sells / $/ becomes/ rich
4.  Shoemaker / wife/ curious
5.  spy/ night

III.

1.  see/ elves/ making/ shoes
2.  wife/ makes/ clothes
3.  elves/ take/ clothes/ dance/ sing
4.  elves/ never/ return
5.  Shoemaker / wife/ wealthy

One night sometime around Christmas, a shoemaker sat in his house. 1. The poor shoemaker was penniless through no fault of his own. Happily he had a kind wife to share his trials. 2.On this night he cut out his last pair of shoes and left them on the table to complete in the morning. However, when he awoke in the morning, the shoes were mysteriously fixed.

That day the shoemaker sold the pair of shoes for a good price. 2.With the money he was able to purchase enough leather to cut out two pairs of shoes, which, again, were finished for him in the morning. 1.The shoemaker sold the excellently crafted shoes for a good price, and over time he became wealthy. Eventually the shoemaker and his wife became curious about the shoes that mysteriously finished themselves overnight. They decided to stay hidden one night and spy on the shoes.

As midnight approached the shoemaker and his wife were surprised to see that elves entered their house to make the shoes. 2.To thank them, and because they were shockingly underdressed, the wife decided to make them some new clothes. The next night when the elves arrived they discovered their new clothes and began to dance and sing. After that night the elves never returned to the shoemakers home. 1. The shoemaker and his wife, though, remained happy and wealthy until the end of their days.

October 30

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting
• 2nd Draft of Richard I (You may want to type this out, or have someone type it for you.  It will make your final draft much easier!)
• Create an outline for your summary of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Remember!

Here’s what belongs in each section!
I. Setting & Characters

~ Who is in the story (internal & external

                  characteristics)?

~ When does the story happen?

~ Where does the story take place?

~ What is the problem that needs to be solved?

II. Plot & Conflict

~ What happens next?

~ What do they think?

~ What do they say and do?

III. Climax & Resolution

~ How is the problem solved?

~ What happens after?

~ What is learned?

 
So our outline for The Shoemaker and the Elves looked something like this.
I. 

1.  Shoemaker’s/ house/night/near/Christmas
2.  Shoemaker/poor/ not his fault
3.  wife / kind
4.  cut /last/ shoes/ night
5.  morning / shoes/ fixed / mystery

II.

1.  man / buys/ shoes / $
2.  2 / shoes/ fixed / morning
3.  sells / $/ becomes/ rich
4.  Shoemaker / wife/ curious
5.  spy/ night

III.

1.  see/ elves/ making/ shoes
2.  wife/ makes/ clothes
3.  elves/ take/ clothes/ dance/ sing
4.  elves/ never/ return
5.  Shoemaker / wife/ wealthy

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.