October 11

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting ("I wouldn't do that if I was you. Dwarfs don't like McDonald's.)
• Write summary of "The Elves and the Shoemaker."  We completed the following outline in class.  (Remember to mark your strong verb, subject opener, and prepositional openers in each paragraph!)

The Elves and the Shoemaker

I.  

   1. long ago / shoemaker's shop/ shoemaker

   2. make / shoes / poor

   3.  cuts / last / leather / sleep

   4.  wakes / shoes / made

   5. sells / shoes / $

II.

    1.  $ / buys / leather

    2.  cuts / leather / table / sleep

    3.  wakes / shoes / made

    4.  continue / Christmas / shoemaker / wealthy

    5.  shoemaker / wife / curious

III.

    1.  hide / midnight / elves / clothes

    2.  wife / makes / clothes

    3.  watch / night / elves / clothes / sing

    4.  elves / leave / seen again

    5.  shoemaker / wife / happily ever after

October 4

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (The narrator was running late and just showed up to a story already in progress.  S/he doesn't know who the heroes and villains are or even what genre the story is.)
• Review story elements and plot graph.
• Find the story elements and pieces of the plot in The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Class Review

Story Elements

• Plot:  What happens in a story
• Character(s):  Who the story is about
• Setting:  When and where a story takes place.  The setting can be very specific (June 10, 2018 in New Gloucester, Maine) or general (Long ago and far away).
• Theme:  Ideas from the real world that are present in a story (We will not be focusing on this element this year!)

Plot (See Chart)

• Exposition:  Introduction to the characters and setting.  What is normal in the world of the story.
• Inciting Incident:  The problem is introduced.  The reset of the story is spent trying to solve this problem.
• Rising Action:  The characters try to solve the problem presented by the inciting incident.  Most of the story is rising action.
• Climax:  Often the most exciting part of a story.  The correct solution to the problem is presented.
• Falling Action / Resolution:  The problem is solved.  The characters actively solve the problem.
• Denouement:  The problem is solved and the characters resume their lives (assuming they survived the story).

  

September 27

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (We thought the employees in costume at the amusement park were only pretending.  We were wrong.)
• Create a keyword outline from your King Tut source.  You should have four short paragraphs outlined.  
• Use your outline to write (recreate) four short paragraphs about King Tut.* (Remember to use and mark one strong verb in each paragraph.  Also begin one sentence with the subject and another sentence with a preposition in each paragraph!)

Your outline should be set up something like this

King Tut

I.

   1.

   2.

II.

   1.

   2.

   3.

   4.

   5.

   6.

   7.

   8.

III.

   1.

   2.

   3.

   4.

   5.

   6.

IV.

   1.

   2.

   3.

   4.

   5.

* Write as much of this as you can with your 100 minutes.  Some of you may be able to finish everything, others of you may only get partly finished.

September 20

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (Green mist swirled inside the only bottle among the empty jars.  The peeling label read, "Do not touch!")
• Finish your outline for the three Charlemagne paragraphs. (See below for what we did in class.)
• Write three paragraphs about Charlemagne from your outline.  Remember to underline one strong verb in each paragraph.  (You will have a total of three underlined verbs*** in your assignment.)

Charlemagne

I.

   1.  giant / man / history / stature

   2.  6'4" / unusually / height / time

   3.  powerfully / built / large / shoulders / chest

   4.  massive / build / curious / son / Pepin the Short

   5.  extended / kingdom / France / Germany / Spain

   6.

II.

   1.

   2.

   3.

III.

   1.

   2.

   3.

   4.  

***Need some help?  Here's a Verb Review to help you review verbs!

September 13

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting * (The last message from the starship was, "Let us drift.  It's for your own good."
• Use the outlines you completed for homework last week to create paragraphs.  Here's an example.

Pearls

1.  Oysters / food / pearls

2.  pearls / form/ object / sand / oyster

3.  causes / irritation

4.  secretes / mother-of-pearl-forming / substance / object / irritation

5.  layers / substance / pearl / formed

6.  Japanese / way / encourage / pearl / artificially

7.  3-4 years / pearl / form

becomes the paragraph:

     Oysters can provide both food and pearls.  Pearls are formed when an object like sand enters the oyster.  The sand causes irritation.  The oyster secretes a mother-of-pearl-forming substance which covers the object and prevents irritation.  After layers of the substance have covered the object, a pearl is formed.  The Japanese have cleverly discovered a way to encourage oysters to form a pearl artificially.  It usually takes three to four years for a pearl to be formed.

Statue of Liberty

1.  huge / monument
2.  located / Liberty Island / NY
3.  built / copper / 100s ft.
4.  given / US / France / 1884
5.  symbol / friendship
6.  2 million  / people / come
7.  monument / freedom / famous

becomes a paragraph that looks similar to

The Statue of Liberty is a huge monument. It was erected on Liberty Island near New York City. Made from copper, this gracious lady stands hundreds of feet high. Originally given to the U.S. by France as a symbol of friendship, the Statue of Liberty remains an American landmark. Today, over two million people visit the statue every year. The Statue of Liberty remains a world famous tribute to freedom.

*Complete Freewriting after all other assigned writing is complete.

September 6

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting* (Take out the book closest to you.  Open to page 55.  The second sentence on the page is your writing prompt.)
• Create keyword outlines form the two sources you chose (George Washington, Tarantulas, or Genghis Khan).  You do not need to write from your outlines this week!
• This is what we learned today:
  • Our first unit focuses solely on creating a writing outline.  You do not need to choose the words or decide on sequence.  Just like an artist copies famous works of art, we will be copying a good paragraph.  And just like the student-artist copies to learn, not to take credit for another’s work, we will use this unit to learn how to take notes, understanding that we’re not creating anything of our own.
  • First, we read our paragraph.
  • Second, we count the sentences and create that many entries in our outline
  • Third, we read each sentence and choose the key words for that sentence. 
  • We should choose 3-5 words (numbers and symbols don’t count toward the count!)
  • We should choose only important words.  Words like the, and, it, to, etc. should not be considered key words.
  • These key words are to help remind you about the content of the sentences.  Each person may choose different key words.
  • Here is what we did in class:

Pearls

1.  Oysters / food / pearls

2.  pearls / form/ object / sand / oyster

3.  causes / irritation

4.  secretes / mother-of-pearl-forming / substance / object / irritation

5.  layers / substance / pearl / formed

6.  Japanese / way / encourage / pearl / artificially

7.  3-4 years / pearl / form

* Complete Freewriting only after you have finished the rest of your assigned writing.

August 30

Homework

• Writing Minutes
• Freewriting (It was then that I knew peanut butter was the solution to all my problems.) *
• Write for 100 minutes on any topic in any form.  (If you're stuck, you may use the Freewriting prompt above!)

*Complete Freewriting after your writing assignment if you still need something to work on to complete your 100 Writing Minutes.