Look Closely.

You, too, can become a famous author!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Self-Starter:   Look Closely.

Computer Lab 201 -- Child's Book
Edit CAREFULLY!

If time:  a bit of  Hormone Jungle

 Have a lovely spring break and a joyous Easter!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Self-Starter:

Computer Lab 201 -- Children's Books

Monday, March 25, 2013

1. Self-Starter:  Write a response to this photo sequence. This could be a poem, and brief story, or. . . . 

2. Create storyboards for Child's book.

3. Computer Lab 201 to work on children's books. 

If you haven't yet signed in to work on your class newspaper articles, please do it soon. 
Our "newsletter" blog is at http://afcreativewriting.blogspot.com/

March 21, 2013

Bring a coat or jacket!  

1.  Self-Starter:  What do you remember about first grade?  Write about it.  If you're not sure whether some memories were kindergarten, first grade, or second grade, that's okay.  You can include them.  

2. Fieldtrip to Legacy to interview children.

If extra time, begin planning books for the children. 

Please hand in anything that needs to go on this term!

Children's Books -- Some of Our Favorites

Are You My Mother?   P. D. Eastman

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 

Robot Zot!  David Shannon and Jon Scieszka 

Around the World in Eighty Days, illustrated

The Monster at the End of the Book 

Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Three Little Pigs

All the Places You'll Go

Love you Forever, Love You Always

Go, Dog, Go

My Pet Boa

If You Take A Mouse to the Movies

Click Clack Moo

Green Eggs and Ham

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

Jumanji

There's a Wocket in My Pocket

Goodnight, Moon

The Cow That Jumped Over the Moon

Five Little Monkeys

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Tarzan

Lily and the Plastic Purse

Magic Treehouse

Wodney Wabbit 

When We Were Very Young           

Prompts from Gale Carson Levine

Pick a prompt (suggested by Gale Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted):

• I have one green eye and one brown eye.  The green eye sees truth, but the brown eye sees much, much more.
•  The ghost was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
•  "Be nice," my father said.  "After all, he's your brother."
• I am the most famous twelve-year-old (or thirteen-year-old) in the United States.
• If somebody didn't do something soon, they were going to have a catastrophe on their hands.
• Jason (or another name) had never felt so foolish before, and he hoped he'd never feel so foolish again.

Rules for Writing from Gale Carson Levine: 
1. The best way to write better is to write more.
2. The best way to write better is to write more.
3. The best way to write better is to write more.
4.  The best way to write more is to write whenever you have have five minutes and whenever you find a chair and a pen and paper or your computer.
5.  Read!  Most likely you don't need this rule.  If you enjoy writing, you probably enjoy reading.  The payoff for this pleasure is that reading books shows you how to write them.
6.  Reread!  There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.  When you do, the words get inside you, become part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.
7.  Save everything you write, even if you don't like it, even if you hate it.  Save it for a minimum of fifteen years.  I'm serious.  At that time, if you want to, you can throw it out, but even then don't discard your writing lightly.    (fromWriting Magic, page 5)

We also read part of her chapter from Writing Magic about "Show and Tell."

See  An Author's Blog.

March 19, 2013

Bring a favorite children's book!

What book(s)  did you love when you were in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade?    Bring a favorite child's book if you have one.  If you don't have it, be prepared to describe it and tell why you enjoyed it.

Self-Starter:  Write about this illustration.


Practice Interview.

Share books.
Share Me-Bag Stories.










Our shared blog for our newspaper articles:
http://afcreativewriting.blogspot.com/

March 15, 2013

 Self-Starter:  " If you give a . . . .  a. . . . . " (Write at least 12 lines.) 

Next time:  Bring a favorite children's book.
March 21: Fieldtrip to Legacy to interview children





Computer Lab 201:
Type your best limerick. Revise it if needed to make it better. 
Add illustrations. (Google images for St. Patrick's Day, etc.)
Make it look great!
   Due today.

Finish and Print Me-Bag Stories.

"Classic" Poems

Memorize any of these poems -- in whole or part -- for extra credit.

A. E. Housman. 1859–

33. "Loveliest of Trees"

LOVELIEST of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,	5
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,	10
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow. from http://www.bartleby.com/103/33.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [in Just-] BY E. E. CUMMINGS in Just- spring          when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles          far          and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it's spring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far          and             wee and bettyandisbel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it's spring and          the                   goat-footed balloonMan          whistles far and wee

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

1. Self-Starter:  What's at the End of the Rainbow?  Write at least a half page.  This could be a poem, a brief story, an explanation, etc.

2.  Time to work on newspaper articles.


3. Writing Limericks

Limericks

And because you deserve some more serious poetry, too: 

_________________________

Some of our results:

I'm sitting here in a school

but I'd rather be at the pool.

I'd catch a beach ball

'til the principal makes a call,

and I end up back at the school.     -- Emily H.

 

There once was a frog -- no  a toad --

 And when into the  road he strode,

He was hit with a splat

and now he is flat.

He should never have gone in the road.   -- Braden P. 

There once was a boy called Sam

who really enjoyed eating ham.

He ate it all day

causing people to say,

"You should really try bread and jam."     -- Hailey W.

On the ship on the ocean by me,

there's a man that you won't like to see.

His face is all haggard,

and this week he staggered,

and fell off his boat into the sea.       -- Keziah A.

  ________________________

 

More examples of limericks:

2010 Student Limericks 

Teacher Tube video examples of limericks:  http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=28167&title=Limerick_Poems

 Originally posted March 19, 2012

The End (of the Term) is Near!

No late or revised work or extra credit will be accepted after Friday,  March 15. 

Fieldtrip: March 21

We will be going to Legacy Elementary on March 21 to interview children in preparation for creating individualized books for them.

March 11, 2013

1. Self-Starter: Poem Response
1)  Read this poem and free write about it for about three minutes.  Just write whatever comes to mind.  Time Somebody Told Me

2)  Borrow a line or more and use it to create something new.

2.  Writing a newspaper article:   Study this information.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers/pdf/language/Newspaper_Article.pdf
In your notebook, list the 5 parts of a newspaper article.

3.  About interviewing: 

• Make an appointment.
• Prepare a list of questions.
• Listen well to the answers.
• Arrive on time.
• Be courteous.  
• Ask your most pressing questions first.
• Watch for statements that would make good quotes.
• Don't overstay your welcome.
• Say thank you. 
• Take what you need:  paper and pencil, (a recording device is a good idea), well-prepared question list.

22 Rules of Storytelling

http://laughingsquid.com/22-rules-of-storytelling-by-a-pixar-storyboard-artist/

Time Somebody Told Me

Self-Starter: Poem Response 

1.  Read this poem and free write about it for about three minutes.  Just write whatever comes to mind.  Time Somebody Told Me

2.  Borrow a line or more and use it to create something new.

Time Somebody Told Me

by Quantedius Hall

Time Somebody Told Me

That I am lovely, good and real

That I am beautiful inside

If they only knew

How that would make me feel.

Time Somebody Told Me

That my mind is quick, smart

and full of wit

That I should keep on trying

and never quit.

Time Somebody Told Me

How they loved and needed me

How my smile is filled with hope

And my spirit sets them free

How my eyes shine, full of light

How good they feel when they hug me tight.

Time Somebody Told Me

So, I had a talk with myself

Just me, nobody else

‘cause it was time

Somebody Told Me.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Self-Starter:  
Respond to this picture with a detailed description, a poem, a brief story, a commentary, or. . . . .










Journalists
writing for a newspaper or magazine

What about our school or community are you an expert on?
or
What would you like to learn more about?

How would you find out more?


How could you best report it? 


2.  Discuss creating leads for news and other newspaper-type articles.  You should include the who, what, where, when, and perhaps a why and/or a how?
     a. Ms. Dorsey gave an example
     b.  Other student example(s)
     c.  create your own example

3.  Brainstorm items you'd find in a newspaper.  We are going to create our own newspaper.
Audience:  students and others at American Fork Junior High
Purpose:  to inform and entertain

4. Students took time to consider what sort of item each would like to write.  We will be doing this on our blog.

Possible Assignments
    "Police Beat", take and report a poll about favorite 

electives at A.F. Junior, peer tutoring, honor society?

Hand in:
Your name, what you propose to write about, how you're going to find out about it. 

Articles Chosen:

• The Talent Show
• Lunchs -- Where does the food come form, how is it prepared, etc. 
• Talent Show
• Questions boys have for girls and girls have for boys
• concerts at our school 

• Mr. Green
• paranormal activity?
• Why are we called the Cavemen?
• The history of our school
• Illness and injuries at our school -- Mr. Dickerson
• Advice column
• Mr. Wright
• Inspirational speaker
• Mr. White -- sports at A.F. Junior
• Track Stars
• AFJr. comic strips
• Great Art at AFJr. -- Student artists

Jacob's Writing Site:  http://assemblywriters.webs.com/
 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Self-Starter:   Jelly-Bellys and Paint Chips and Powerful Description

2. Go to your computer and Google Jelly Belly. Find 3 interesting facts about the Jelly Belly Company. You could even go  to careers to discover all the interesting college degrees needed to run this highly successful company.

After you have collected all this information, you need to create ONE paragraph. There is no limit to the size of a paragraph. A paragraph always needs at least 3 sentences, but one paragraph could be 3 pages long.  (Adapted from http://hsbapost.com/2009/10/30/description-of-a-jelly-belly-writing-assignment/

3.  Get onto MyAccess and finish your Me-Bag assignment.

If you are done with the above, and still need to finish and check off your found or "inspired by" poems, do that. 

BYU Writing Camps

These cost, but if you are interested and able, they should be great:
http://ce.byu.edu/cw/writing/

And then there's a REALLY short story: