September 7

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (The phone rings.  The voice on the other end says, "We need you again," and hangs up.)  
• Do this if you need extra writing minutes 
• Write a paragraph (whatever you think a paragraph is) about any topic you choose (This can be fiction or non-fiction, serious or humorous). Your paragraph will be graded simply pass (you turned it in) or fail (you didn’t turn it in). 
• Writing Expectations can be found here.

January 5

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• 2nd Draft of Summary (Unless I am editing your draft this week)
• Picture Story Pre-write:  You need to plan what happened before the picture, what is happening in the picture, and what happens after the picture.
• Freewriting ("I wish I was _____________.")

December 1

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Santa's New Sleigh)
• Outline of Novel Summary
• Remember you're only focusing on the main ideas of the story.
• You will leave out most of the details
• Focus on the main problem that must be solved
• See below for an example outline of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I.

    1. World War 2 / Country / mansion / England

    2.  4 / children / sent / safety

    3.  Lucy / hides / wardrobe / Narnia

    4.  Tumnus / fawn / witch / winter

    5.  Edmund / Narnia / witch / enchanted

    6.  All / hide / wardrobe / Narnia

II.

    1.  Beavers / explain / prophecy / Aslan

    2.  Edmund / runaway / Witch

    3.  3 children / travel / Aslan / save / Edmund

    4.  Father Christmas / gives / magical / gifts

    5.  Flee / witch / wolves

    6.  Children / arrive / Aslan / army

III.

    1.  Witch / deal / Aslan / Edmund

    2.  Aslan / stone table / sacrificed

    3.  Peter / Edmund / lead / army

    4.  Aslan / resurrects / frees / captives

    5.  Alsan / battle / defeats / Witch

    6.  Children / Kings / Queens / Narnia

November 3

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Use your plot outline to help organize the big ideas in the story "Rikki-tikki-tavi".  You may watch the video below, if it will help you remember the story.
• Freewriting (Do this only if you still have time after completing your assignment.)

R-T-T Part 1

R-T-T Part 2

R-T-T Part 3

October 27

Homework

(in this order)

1. Writing Minutes
2. Final Draft of Dance Flies OR Vulture Bees OR Scorpion Fish OR Inca  (This is the edited paragraph I handed back to you this morning.)
3. Finish the Summary of The Elves and the Shoemaker (See outline and first paragraph below.  You do not have to create a new outline; use the one we did together. We wrote the first paragraph together; you only need to write paragraphs 2 and 3.  Notice that all dress-ups and openers are marked.)
4. Freewriting (Yesterday I shrank two feet)

Outline

I.

  1.  Once / shoemaker's / house

  2.  Shoemaker / poor/ his fault 

  3.  cut / leather / 1 / pair

  4.  lay / table / work / tomorrow

  5.  next / day / done

II.

  1.  sells / buys / leather / 2

  2.  cut / leather / 2 / pair

  3.  sells / shoes / good / price

  4.  weeks / not / poor

  5.  wonder / hide / night / watch

  6.  see / two / elves / clothes 

III.

  1.  wife / makes/ clothes / shoes

  2.  lay / clothes / hide

  3.  elves / surprised / dance / sing

  4.  run / seen / again

  5.  shoemaker / poor / happy

Summary

     Once a shoemaker and his wife lived in their house in town.  (1)He was poor, but it was not his fault.  One day he cut out his last bit of leather for one pair of shoes.  (2)At night he lay the leather on the table to work on it in the morning.  The next day he awoke and found the shoes finished.

October 20

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Use your plot diagram to write down the important action of  The Elves and the Shoemaker in one or two sentences.  See the example below for Cinderella.
• Freewriting (My Unusual Pet)

October 13

Homework

• Writing Minutes (Remember to do your assignments first, then do your freewriting.  Both assignments and freewriting count as Writing Minutes!)
• 2nd Draft of Dance Flies, Vulture Bees, Scorpion Fish OR Inca  
• Add dress-ups (strong verb) and openers (subject and prepositional) if necessary
• Learn the parts of a plot for a quick matching quiz next week!  See the chart below if you can't remember!
• Freewriting (I had just completed the most amazing contraption!)