Friday, March 30, 2012

Self-Starter:

The Bicycle -- Prompt

In the photo, to whom does the bicycle belong?  Why is he or she here?  Create a story (perhaps told as a play in response). Consider whether it should be written in first person or third person (or perhaps even second person).  

2. Share shell descriptions. 

3.  Model:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/52604512/The-Night-I-Won-the-Right-to-the-Streets#

4.  Creating a script --

http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Marley-&-Me.html  16.19

Turn your own stories into script -- You will turn them back.

Suzanne Collins -- Author of Hunger Games

http://hungergamesmovie.org/888/new-interview-suzanne-collins-talks-to-the-new-york-times/

Audio (listened on March 30, 2012 through 5:12):  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112119277 

"the cauldron of story" -- Children's literature expert Anita Silvey

Audio:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2012/03/06/148042865/spurred-by-success-publishers-look-for-the-next-hunger-games

The Bicycle -- Prompt

 

In the photo, to whom does the bicycle belong?  Why is he or she here?  Create a story (perhaps told as a play) in response. Consider whether it should be written in first person or third person (or perhaps even second person).

Revision and Editing

Qualities/Traits of an Effective Memoir

• enough detail
• sensory detail
• descriptive words
• similes and metaphors
• (emotions)
• length is not too long and not too short
• effective titles
• what else? 

Steps for Revision:
 ARMS
Add
Remove
Move
Substitute

Sentence Variety Chart.doc 

Examples of Effective Description

These descriptions are from Gary Soto’s A Summer Life, from the story “The Taps.” Soto’s writing provides examples of using description and imagery in a short story.
“A passenger train the color of spoons rushed by.”
“The asphalt was a soft, blackish river on which cars traveled, windows down, the passengers soaked in sweat.”
“A man the color of a sparrow walked near the tracks.”

 

Similes and Metaphors

Metaphor

"Bobby, one black apostrophe of hair over his forehead, saying, "Hey Fran Flynn. I guess if everyone likes you I might like you too."" Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen page 96


...her hair was a bundle of braided cotton candy on top of her head..." p.34 Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff 


"I dive into the stream of fourth-period lunch students and swim down the hall to the cafeteria." Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, page 7.


"The windows now had the closed blankness of night, a deadened look about them, a look of being blind or deaf." (John Knowles' A Separate Peace, page 158) 




Metaphors and Similes from Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes (740L):
Metaphor
pg. 40 "His mind was an aquarium, and his thoughts were darting around, this way and that, like little fish."


pg. 91 "Jasper's tail wagged in greeting.  His eyes were large marbles of the deepest brown with wide black centers; his nose was speckled with pink."


p. 125 "Raindrops stuck to the screen [on a screen door] in places -- an unfinished needlepoint stitched in diamonds."


Similes
pg.  41 The girl's [hair] was long, pulled back into a ponytail that swung like a pendulum when she chased after the dog."


p. 54  This was from a writing assignment in Mitch's English class, written by a girl he likes.
    Julie had written: " I have black hair.  But it is not as dramatically black and shiny as Mitch Sinclair's hair, which looks like crows' wings sweeping across his forehead and over his ears."  (Mitch had memorized this.)


p. 86  Describing Mitch's grandfather:  "His skin was darkly tanned and was laced with so many wrinkles it looked as if a child had scribbled all over him with a pencil."


from Hush by Donna Jo Napoli:
"Windmills on the grassy hills spin like children cartwheeling." p. 30 Simon Pulse paperback

Isabella says that if she had been born a cute little antolope and saw the cheetah coming she would just kick another cute little antolope in the shins so it couldn't run very fast, and the cheetah would get it instead of her. -Dear Dumb Diary #5  





"The tide was a poem that only time could create, and I watched it stream and brim and make its steady dash homeward, to the ocean. The sun was sinking fast, and a laundry line full of cirrus clouds stretched along the western sky like boas of white linen, then surrendered to a shiver of gold that haloed my father's head." (Pat Conroy, South of Broad, p. 80) 

Talons with bright red fingernail polish latched onto my parka. (Peak p.89) 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Self-Starter: Write about this Metaphor -- My Brain is a. . . . 
You could change the metaphor, but keep it focused on your brain.

There is a difference between a simple metaphor and an extended metaphor.


More of the Shell Game

Identify

Try another individually

Add metaphor or simile

illustration found here

This Week During Cavetime

Tuesday:  Talent Show for Seventh Grade in the New Auditorium

Wednesday:  Net Smart for Seventh Grade in the Old Auditorium

Thursday: No movie during Cavetime

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy New Term!

Minimal Day
Minimal Day

Time	Period	Minutes
8:15 – 9:15	1st Period	60 minutes
9:20 – 10:20	2nd Period/Announcements	60 minutes
10:20 – 10:45	First Lunch	25 minutes
10:50 – 11:50	3rd Period	60 minutes
10:25 – 11:25	3rd Period	60 minutes
11:25 – 11:50	Second Lunch	25 minutes
11:55 – 12:55	4th Period	60 minutes

Self-Starter:  

Prompts Added March 2012  Dewdrops -- Describe this as thoroughly as you can.

Helmet shell -- description from George Hillocks 
about eight inches long
nearly six inches in diameter at the widest point
tapers down gradually from the widest point for a couple of inches and then drops precipitously to a curlicue-like tai
At the opposite end, the whorls gradually increase in size form the tiny innermost ones to the large, most recent growths.
The outside is covered with smooth wrinkles, and there are regular protrusions around the top of the outer whorl.

Colors:
fudge ripple
caramel sauce
butterscotch
shadow
beaver
wet sand
vanilla - chocolate twist

Advice on Writing Humor

Have you ever tried writing humor?  According to this, it's hard, but Susan J. Morris gives some good advice and some funny jokes  -- including one I don't really appreciate, but you might.
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2012/03/making-people-laugh-the-secret-art-of-funny-fiction.html#more

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Self-Starter: 

Prompts Added March 2012

Shells?
Finish Headlines and stories to go with them.
Select and mark an entry in your composition book for me to check.

All of your children's books should have been handed in 

by the end of class today. 

Quote in honor of World Poetry Day yesterday:

 "Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone."
-Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Picture Prompt (snowman)  Prompts Added March 2012  or Prompt from list in your composition book.

2. Sharing Headlines and Stories
3. More on Memoir
       Example
       Questions to Ask for Story
4. Work on your own memoir.

Questions for Story Ideas

Setting:  Where does the story take place?  How is the place important to the story?  What needs to be explained?  What is going on?

Characters:  Who are the characters?  Which are important to the action of the story?  What do we need to know about them?

Initiating Action: What initiates or begins the action?  What causes a character to do something?

Attempts:  What attempts does the main character make?  To do what?  Why?

Results:  What are the results of the character’s attempts?  Does the result initiate a new action?

Responses:  How does the character respond to or feel about the initiating action, the attempts, and the results?

Dialogue:  What do the characters say to one another?

----  From Narrative Writing by George Hillocks

Friday, March 16, 2012

Self-Starter:  Punctuating dialogue

Punctuate these statements or bits of conversation (dialogue):

1.   The teacher said   In this class there will be no talking, chewing, breathing, unnecessary eye movements, or tap dancing

2.  I questioned   Are you up on the furniture again  you bad dog  Get down now

3.  I just finished reading The Lost Hero   she remarked

     So what did you think of it    I asked

     It was excellent    she exclaimed

     I agreed    I loved it too 

4.  I wish today were Friday     she said     I’ve been looking forward to it for months now

     How come   he asked

     Because finally I’m supposed to get my braces taken off.   At least that’s what my orthodontist promised

Checking Punctuating Dialogue

__________________________________________

The Low-Down on Punctuating Dialogue
Using quotation marks mini-lesson

Rules: Quotation Marks and Punctuation

• Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a direct quotation. Do not use them, however, to set off an indirect quotation.
  
  
  • Bob said, "I doubled my money in the stock market last month!"
  • Bob lied about doubling his money in the stock market last month.
• Punctuate a speaker's words with a comma, question mark, or exclamation point inside the quotation.
  
  
  • Bob cried, "I'm ruined!"
  • Bob wondered, "Am I ruined?"
  • "I'm happier than Lenny at a petting zoo," Bob's enemy said.
  •  
• Place a comma after explanatory words (he said, for example)
• In dialogue, begin a new paragraph each time the speaker changes and use a separate set of quotation marks.
• Use single quotation marks when using quotation marks inside of quotation marks.
  
  
  • He said, "I know she said, 'Let's go to the Dominican Republic, this summer,' but I'd rather go to Hawaii."
• Put a colon or semicolon outside the closing quotation mark
  
  
  • Here are things "not to do": thing 1, thing 2, thing 3.
• If a sentence that includes a quotation is a question or exclamation, place the question mark or exclamation point outside the quotation marks.
  
  
  • Are you familiar with "The Road Not Taken"?

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/19162.aspx#ixzz0zTmzP5wa

Thanks to Trent.

___________________________________

More on Memoir:
More examples.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/memoir/teacher/easing.htm

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/criticspicks/memoir/AnantV-OneStep.htm

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/criticspicks/memoir/ARynn-HotCombs.htm



For Students to do --
Pick a memory and jot down everything you can think of that anybody would have said.

More stuff for teachers: http://writingfix.com/genres/narrative.htm

Prompts Added March 2012

Photo by C. Dorsey  March 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Personal Narrative or Memoir

Self-Starter:  Select another prompt from your taped-in list of prompts and write at least a half-page.

Present Headlines

Memoir:
Read a "professional memoir."

What makes a bad memoir?
What, then, makes a good memoir?

Link to Source

Limericks

Limerick is a city in Ireland.  It is also a short form of poetry.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day we are going to write limericks.  

 See this link for how to write a limerick:
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/limerickcontesthelp.html


 Here is a famous limerick by Edward Lear:

Limerick There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!'

The Deseret News has an annual limerick contest.  Here are some winners: 
Deseret News 2011 Winners
FIRST PLACE — Don L. Milne
I watch "The Biggest Loser" show
Where lots of obese Utahns go.
Are we really the state
That packs on the weight?
My mirr'r shows a fat buffalo.

SECOND PLACE — Glen Crooks
The state takes all that I've got
And passes it on to UDOT.
They buy orange cones,
Double fines in work zones
And in traffic jams we are caught.

THIRD PLACE — Jed L. Ericksen
The Cougs have a star they call Jimmer
Whose fame is beginning to shimmer.
His NBA 3s
Are certain to please
As Ags, Wildcats and Utes only simmer.

FOURTH PLACE — Bonnie Beyer
Congress' spending ways fill me with dread,
Each new bill just increases the red.
I'm fully aware
To pay off my share
I'll be working long after I'm dead!

FIFTH PLACE — Glen Sherwood
At directions I've been known to guess,
I've been lost once or twice I confess.
My wife had the cure:
You'll get home now I'm sure,
Plug it in, it's your new GPS.

2010  First Place
If cyber-site news all the rage is,
We will miss the crinkle of pages.
To read news online
Is perfectly fine,
But how will we line our bird cages?
— Julie Reid, Orem

2009  first place:

FIRST PLACE

I went to bed rich, then awoke,
To find that I'm totally broke.
The old CEO
Is spending my dough.
I hope he'll eat truffles and choke.

2008:
1ST PLACE

My computer just went on the blink
And my printer it ran out of ink,
With my pencil in hand
I'll write Limericks Grand
But to do that, I still have to think.
— Glen Sherwood, Riverton

Writing Prompt: The Face

Can you spot the human face?

Crafting Characters

http://engage.reading.org/READING/Blogsnbspnbsp/BlogViewer/?BlogKey=c877dffd-1182-4ac9-8342-888e9daea3c0

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Self-Starter and Mini-Lesson by Ms. Bills:   Writing Unsent Letters

Computer lab to work on Child Books

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Self-starter:  Picture prompt   Write a 1/2 page or more response to this photo.  It  could be a story, a poem, or an amazing description.

Story Prompt:

Story Starters.doc

Partner Stops

Write for 15 - 20 minutes.

Sharing Partners for 3-6-12 Stop #1

Write for 15 - 20 minutes.

Sharing Partners for 3-6-12 Stop #2

Write for 15 - 20 minutes.

Sharing Partners for 3-6-12 Stop #3

Picture Prompts from Slide Share

http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe/story-starters

and other story starters:  http://www.planetesme.com/creative.html

another source of picture prompts:  http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/

And more:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/77757531042862513/?fb_action_ids=833381256735182&fb_action_types=pinterestapp%3Apin&fb_ref=77757668474752235%3A469769afdc324cb2af08