Poetry - Showing not Telling

You next poem will be a figurative/sensory narrative poem that retells a major world event in 'showing not telling' language. Monday's H/W will be to select that event.

Use your social studies textbook to select a major event of the 19th, 20th or 21st Century.   More adventurous students can choose to select a topic from the links below.
http://www.awesomestories.com/featured-stories
http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/u/events.htm

All you need for Tuesday's class is the name of the event and a print out of the text you will use for your poem. see below
e.g.The Titanic Sinks!

The RMS Titanic, also known as the Unsinkable Ship, set sail on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. It was leaving Southampton, England to reach New York. This ship was the biggest ship ever and was created by White Star Lines and was constructed by Harland & Wolff. On April 14 a terrible disaster happened. The Titanic hit an iceburg. It was 11:40pm when she grazed the side of the iceburg. Three hours later it sank. Over 1,500 people died on that fatal night. The captain, Edward J. Smith ignored warnings from other ships about iceburg sightings. They tried to turn the ship so it would not hit the iceburg. They turned but not enough. The ship started to sink at bow, making the passangers move to the stern. She split in two and sank bringing everyone in the water down too. Many froze in the -28 degrees Fahrenheit water. About 706 people survived, living to tell this tragic tale.

Remember
The easiest way to do this is to just select a story from your Social Studies Textbook

Poetry

What did you learn about interpreting poetry today?

Brag Sheet - Sensory Narrative

This piece of writing truly touched me. Can you understand why?

As he held tightly to his mother's hand, tears welted in his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. Everybody wore black suits and dresses, but nobody cried as much as he did. Seven year old John knelt by the wooden casket every waking moment of the never ending funeral. His mother lay inside clutching a white beaded rosary. She dressed in a lacy, black dress and black shoes. Everybody did everything they could to cheer John up, but it seemed impossible. How could he ever live on without a mother? Know he would have to be passed back and forth with relatives and foster homes. He would be forced to change schools, and leave his friends behind. There was no way out of this terrible, unfair fairy tale that seemed to end now. There were no good endings, it was the end of the book. He pressed his clammy hand upon the smooth, wooden casket as the priest closed it forever. His mother already had a grave stone placed where the grave was to be, and it was beside his dad's grave. John carefully placed the red roses on the grave, sniffled, and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. His pale white face stared at the finished wood casket as his aunt generously rubbed his shoulder and whispered kindly in his ear that " Everything is going to be okay." Each and every friend and relative was at his side ready to face the challenges that lay ahead for him. " Maybe change is for the best" thought John as if to convince himself that everything really was going to be okay. "This unfortunate event could have happened to anyone, and out of all people it had to be me?" thought John. The cold stormy sky's rain pored down on John's neatly combed, brown hair. Each time he stepped, mud splashed up from the grass and dirtied John's black fancy pants. John wouldn't have missed this ceremony for his life. It seemed like the end of the road for him, but somehow he knew he would make it through. He knew that this was what his parents would have wanted for him.  by Maddie

Brag Sheet - Midwest Region Essay

Below is one of the few essays that scored the highest grade in the recent class writing assignment. Read this essay 'very' carefully and look how effectively it introduced a variety of 'unique' facts about the Midwest in an engaging and interesting way. Also note the use of GRAAB and SSS. I did make a few changes in red as examples of how you can all avoid repeating the name of the region continually through your essays and the word 'many'.(Hint Hint nudge Nudge...This is an excellent example of  the type of answer that will be required for Thursday's Midwest Test essay!)

Explain why the Midwest is referred to the "Unique region" in the US

By Ryan Ensor

As the glaciers melt away, in time the hairy buffalo slowly trot onto the plains with Nomad Indians close behind onto what will soon become one of the most distintive regions of a new country. There are a variety of reasons why the Midwest is referred to as the “Unique Region” of the US. Impressive historical monuments can be found nestled across this part of the nation. The Midwest may not be home to New York’s Statue of Liberty, or Arizona’s Grand Canyon, but Mount Rushmore is known throughout the world and has become South Dakota’s claim to fame.  Mount Rushmore portrays George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. It attracts a plethora of tourists everyday to stare at the carved faces in the side of the Mountain. The Crazy Horse Memorial is as important to Indian heritage as Kitty Hawk in the Southeast is to the Wright Brothers. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a huge statue of a horse and rider, although this marvel is not yet complete. The Sand Hills, located in Nebraska, are three hundred feet tall. These monuments are just some of the many marvels in the Midwest.

Sports teams, hot air ballooning, and winter sports are all popular hobbies in the Midwest. The Minnesota Twins are as important to Minnesota as the Red Sox are to Boston. The Ohio State Buckeyes and Wisconsin Badgers are popular college teams from Ohio and Wisconsin respectively.  Alternatively, multi colored hot air balloons filled the sky as they soar during a typical midwestern summer festival. Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime for  residents and visitors to the area alike and is also enjoyed nation wide! In most places, hot air ballooning is scarce, and this is one of the reasons the Midwest is so unique. Additionally, ice fishing, ice hockey, and ice skating are very fun for winters in across the land areras bordering the Great Lakes. In fact, ice fishing is as uncommon for other regions as a blizzard hitting the Florida coastline would be.

The history of the Midwest is as interesting as the history of the whole country. Glaciers, huge frozen blocks of ice, once covered the entire Interior Plains flattening mountains and trees. When the glaciers cleared away, buffaloes and Indians came on to the now settle in the Plains. Soon the French came into the Midwest exploring and looking for land to take for their own. In 1803, The US concluded the Louisiana Purchase.

To conclude, the Midwest is unique in many ways.  Mount Rushmore, Minnesota Twins, and hot air ballooning are just a few resons. As the red, white, and navy blue Minnesota Twins compete in the World Series foreign tourists gape at the granite faces of Mount Rushmore. The crowd roars in triumph when the Twins win the World Series making their mark on history, and the tourists realized what a unique region the Midwest truly is.

Coming Next Week

• Midwest Region Test - Thur
• Northeast Region -Research Skills Project
• Reading, Writng, and Interpreting Poetry

Don't forget your piece of fruit for Monday's class