Coming this week

• Monday - Class discussion of 'All Summer in a Day' - Make sure you bring the story to class with your thinking written in margins or on sticky notes
• Tuesday - Writing 'Openings' for Memoirs 
• Wednesday - More reading skills on character
• Thursday - Preparing for Student Led Conferences (Strengths and Goals) 
• Friday -  Assessed Book Club Discussion (Speaking and Listening Grade) - You will be told the story on Monday to read for this discussion

A comment on the importance of reading. Do you read to a younger brother or sister, ever?

Weekly Reflection

Parts of Speech Assessment

Use this link here to go to your test: Parts of Speech assessment. Once the entire class has finished the assessment, you will be automatically sent your scores in your email. Once you finish the online part, organize your purple cards into the 8 parts of speech. In order to receive an 'A' on this part of the assessment, you must turn x2 cards over in each section and add words of your own. If you choose not to do this, then the highest score for this section (if all correct) would be a 'B' - Ready to challenge yourself?

Writing Class

Today we discussed 'transitions'. Transitions are part of your 'structure' grade on assessments. 

What to watch for in stories...

Recap of what we need to always be on the look out for when reading stories:

• Good readers notice when author's use the setting to set the stage for events
• Good readers notice how events set the mood or tone of a piece
• Good readers look for objects or symbols reappear frequently
• Good readers listen for when the author repeats details or focuses on something
• Good readers pay attention to when the author makes an important statement that can hint a future action or be significant later in the book (turning point)

H/W

Be prepared for 'parts of speech' assessment for tomorrow.

For Monday: Make sure you have read the story in your blue package: "All Summer in a Day" - -linked. MAKE SURE you show your thinking about the story by making notes in the margins. We will discuss this story as a class on Monday. How effectively will you be involved in the discussion?

Your next reading response about a character will be set in two weeks!

Structure of Stories

For Thursday - DO NOT forget your sticky notes about your short story. You will need them for class

Reflection
We learned a great deal today about the 'structure' of a piece of writing. From now on you will be able to classify writing by types of scenes and not by beginning, middle, and ends.

H/W (Due Fri)
Make a copy of the file below
a) Read the memoir  here and categorize  the following scenes based on the structure below:

1) Setting descriptions

2) Character descriptions

3) String of action shots

4) Inner thought shots

5) Dialogue

b) Add any other descriptors to the scenes where possible. e.g. flashback, change, learning, background etc.

You should come to class with the text color coded story. Additionally, this story is an excellent resource to show you want a final memoir paper reads like. It does not have to be printed.

I STILL DON"T KNOW WHAT MY THEME IS FOR MY MEMOIR!

Bring any questions you have about your memory paper to Friday's session. I have attached a list of 'cliched' themes here . If you are still searching for direction in your memoir piece, these might help.
Persevere. Often, you will find your theme in the process of writing your piece...

Growing Theories about Characters

Today, we discussed growing theories about characters. Remember the steps we followed in order to grow a theory:

We introduced our new set of  Greek and Latin roots - Which meanings do you remember?

H/W
Finish the story you were asked to read in class and write an  extended sticky note theory about the character.  You should bring a sticky note(s) to class that shows your thinking about your character. Your final piece should be a maximum of x2 sticky notes long.
(Due: Thur)


Reminder: Parts of Speech assessment is Friday. (Are you using your purple cards to learn?)