Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Self-Starter: 

2. Another example of drama from Big River

3. Writing your scene. 
       List of characters -- with description
       Stage directions
       Dialogue

Illustration problems on books: 
Rylee N. 
Alexis L. 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Prompt:  Write about plays --  plays you've seen, plays you've been in, plays you've read, plays you'd like to see or read.  

Copy these notes in your writer's notebook.

Advice for  Reading Plays:

1) Read all the stage directions carefully.

2) Notice what the dialogue reveals about the characters.

3) Look for the conflict, problem, or tension.

4)  Notice the plot as the play unfolds.

5)  Take your time as you read. 

Explanation:  (You don’t need to copy all of this, but try to understand it.) Dialogue is meant to be heard so if you are reading it to yourself, you need to provide the feelings that go with the dialogue.  Plays are meant to be heard, so you need to visualize what is happening on stage.

6)   Expect some confusion in the beginning. 

  

Advice for Writing Plays:

1.    Outline the plot of your play before you start writing.

2.    Use play-writing format including a list of characters at the beginning and giving the name of the character before each chunk of dialogue.

3.    Write clear stage directions.

3.  Read from a play.

4.  Your assignment is to write one scene from a play about anything you wish.  Include a descriptive list of characters.    Use dialogue and clear stage directions to tell your story. 

___________________________
Finish Children's books:
Kiley Q.
Emma R.
Kalie T.
Lauren H.
Chandler T. -- convert to Word, and finish if needed

Why do we have to write today?

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-we-have-to-write-todd-finley?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-whywritewhy 

Or it is?!

Latte Art

I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but I do appreciate art!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/24/178841995/masterpiece-in-a-mug-japanese-latte-art-will-perk-you-up?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130425

Noticing and How to Take a Walk in the Woods

 See this post on NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/04/23/178467726/noticing-how-to-take-a-walk-in-the-woods?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130424

April 25, 2013

1. Self-Starter:  If I had a super power it would be. . . . . and I would use it to . . . 







2.  The "If I Ruled the World" assignment: 


3.  Mini-Lesson:  Paragraphing

Paragraphing -- Indent each new paragraph. 

     Nathan and Batman continued following the tracks until they came across a river where the foot prints stopped.

     “He must have crossed the river!” Nathan exclaimed as he grabbed Batman and flew him across the river. The tracks resumed along the trail. They got down on their hands and knees and crawled on the ground following the footprints.

     “OUCH!” Batman suddenly yelled.

     “What?” Nathan asked him.

     “This acorn hit me on the head!” he said holding up an acorn.

     “Are you okay?” Nathan asked him. Batman nodded and continued crawling.

     “OUCH! It hit me again!” he shouted. Nathan looked up and saw a bunch of squirrels laughing in the trees.

     “Batman, I think the squirrels are hitting you.”

     “Can you tell them to knock it off?”  Batman asked. Nathan turned around and flew up the tree to where the squirrels were. 

Thanks to Morgan W.

4. Computer Lab 
Turn in Children's book assignment -- on assignment on Edmodo -- after carefully editing.   Save and turn in the EDITED VERSION!

5.  If you are done, complete the If I Ruled the World assignment, and if you still have time, the I Am From assignment. 

For Our Writers -- You'll Understand These!

April 23, 2013

Write about this:  Earth Day -- Nature -- 
What does it mean to you?
see http://www.google.com/doodles/earth-day-2013



Work on Children's Books -- Finish and hand in on Edmodo. 
They must be edited and polished!

April 19, 2013

Self-Starter: 
A. Write for about five minutes, anything that comes to 
mind about "tragedy."


B.  For the topic "toys" or "joys,"  
make an alphabetical list of words you 
associate with that word. 

For example, if I were writing about school,
I could write
A - algebra
B -  "boring" -- that dirty word! , biology
C -  custodians, college, campus, creative writing, chemistry 
D -  Dworshak -- the name of my first elementary school; drama; 
E - elementary school, English Class
F - flunking (I hope not!), French class (and food)
G - grades
H - homeroom and Mrs. Horne, my first grade teacher and hiking, one of my favorite classes ever
I -  interest, 
J -  junior high
K -  Korean language, 
L - lunch
M - math, 
N -  newspaper (school) staff, 
O -  opportunity
P - physical education, professor, plays
Q - quality or quantity of work
R -  Mr. Ross -- my junior high teacher
S - social studies; Derek Smith, a great teacher; seminary
T - teaching
U - university, UVSC
V -  
W - Mrs. Williams, a favorite teacher, 3rd grade; 
X -  
Y -  The "Y"
Z -  zoology


Share 


2. Computer Lab  211 -- Finish Children's books
Turn them in on Edmodo.  Make sure you have carefully edited! 
Check yours off with the teacher. 

If you have extra time,  work on your newsletter article at 
http://afcreativewriting.blogspot.com/
Sign in with your email. 

April 17, 2013

Self-Starter:
Another Prewriting Practice -- Webbing 
In your notebook,  create  a full-page web for one of these topics:  seasons, holidays, clothes, popularity, friends, success, or your choice.

This is a sample of a web for prewriting.

2. Computer Lab  211 -- Finish Children's books
Turn them in on Edmodo.  Make sure you have carefully edited! 
Check yours off with the teacher. 

If you have extra time,  work on your newsletter article at 
http://afcreativewriting.blogspot.com/
Sign in with your email. 

If you have extra time and have finished all assignments, you may read, write, or 

play games at 

http://www.fun-with-words.com

Do not go to other sites or programs without asking Ms. Dorsey.

Ms. Hansen

April 15, 2013

 1.  Write about trampolines or bridges!

A trampoline bridge over the River Seine, Paris.
It's for real -- but only as a proposed concept so far! 
 See http://travel.cnn.com/trampoline-bridge-paris-206291

No computer lab today.

2.  The Power of Prewriting 
We practiced the following Prewriting Techniques: 
1) Freewriting: Just start writing and write for about two minutes about anything that comes into your mind. The point is to not stop writing during those two minutes. You're not writing about anything in particular, just whatever comes to mind. If your mind goes blank, just write blank, blank, or something else. This technique will sometimes free up your mind when you have writers' block, or may generate ideas you could write about.

2) Focused freewriting: 

 roads,  red,  or  rain.

Again, you are going to just write for two minutes without stopping. This time, you will focus on one of these words: roads, red, rain. Select one of those words, and write anything that comes to mind about that word during the two minutes. This can help you discover what you know about a subject, or help you think of different ways to look at it.

3) Asking questions: Select a subject you know about, then use the newspaper reporter's question words to generate information about that subject. Here's an example:

Baseball:

who: players, coaches, umpires, fans, .

 . .
what: play ball! bats, balls, mound, bases, backstop, hot dogs, baseball caps, uniforms,

 . . .
where: arena, field, Wrigley Field, back lot, school,

 . . .
why: fun! money for pros, fun to watch, for the hot dogs, The All-American past time, exercise, get outside

,
when: summertime, night games, day games, weekends, recess, P.E. . . .

Now you pick a topic and list answers to each of the "W's" 
another sport      a holiday      a event     a . . . . . .
3. Work on articles for our "newspaper" or on your children's books.
We will not have computer lab today.

Poetry -- The Value of a Good Poem

Creativity

April 11, 2013

Writing Prompt: 
1. Select a prompt from your list.
2.  Listen to the story Ms. Dorsey reads to you, then write anything you are inspired to write connected to that.  
Have your read a "dangerous" book? 
Have you had a book confiscated from you? 
Have you done something "dangerous" because of something you read or heard?


3. Play Exquisite Corpse  
See http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5619

"Adjective, Noun, Verb, Adjective, Noun."
an adjective describes a noun: red, fat, slimy, 
a noun names a person, place, or thing: hiccup, boy, desk, river, apple, flea, schoolhouse
verb:  an action word 

1. Adjective
2. noun
3. verb
4. adjective
5. noun

   
Example
The purple desk slides into jade green rivers.


The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine."

Slung trousers melt in a roseate box.
A broken calendar oscillates like sunny tin.
The craven linden growls swimmingly. Blowfish.
A glittering roof slaps at crazy ephemera. 
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5619#sthash.1wL0wkjA.dpuf



4. Work on Children's Books?  Lab 201?

April 9, 2013

Write something about Spring Break.  It can be fiction or nonfiction!

Work on Children's books.

April is National Poetry Month!

Resources: http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41