Thursday, 3/20

Hello all.

We're going to do things differently this week regarding our weekly creative writing assignment. For now, please hold on to the "donkey" stories, and be sure to have them tomorrow (I will definitely be there!!!).

Since it's the craziest week of the school year, and you've got show nights up until Sunday, I do not expect you to write a short story over the weekend. Instead, let's complete it in class today. Don't forget about the length requirements!

Today's writing prompt:

A national crisis has forced our government to look for a very special leader. It's a Tuesday morning, you've just finished your Eggos and are in the middle of brushing your teeth when a Secret Service agent arrives at your home. She informs you that you've been elected to be the President of the United States of America, effective immediately.

In today's short story, tell me what the crisis is, how you plan to help resolve the crisis, and anything else you plan to do as president.

If everyone finishes their stories, you may print them out and play a round of Sparkle for Units 12 and 13.
6A Sparkle leader - Anna
6B Sparkle Leader - Patrick

See you all tomorrow.

Writing Portfolio Info/Assignment for 3/17

Hello everyone,

Your portfolios should be in the following format:

- A section in your binder (remember to use a hole-puncher for your stories)
 OR
- A folder

I will be completing portfolio checks periodically to ensure that you are keeping up with it. During these checks I will be looking to see that you have all of your assigned stories in the right place.

For the first six portfolio assignments, this is how grading will work:
1. You will be given a creative story prompt on the blog on Fridays to be completed over the weekend. The story will be due the following Monday (for a completion grade). It will need to follow the same format as my previous post - same font, spacing, etc. ***Please remember to keep the story between 150-250 words (250 maximum).
2. I will return your stories to you on Wednesday. You will have until Friday to edit your story and make any corrections I've noted. Then you will hand your final draft in on Friday, which I will grade for grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.

For the remaining portfolio assignments, your stories will be assigned on Fridays, and final drafts (to be graded for grammar, spelling, etc.) will be due the following Tuesday. I will not correct your first draft and hand back to you for these pieces.

Your new creative writing assignment (due Monday, 2/17) is to write a story based on the picture below. Remember that a story needs a conflict and a resolution, even when it's short! Have fun!

Grammar Assignment AND Creative Writing Assignment

Helllloooooooo!

Tonight's assignment is below. Feel free to print this out if you'd like, or you may write your sentences on a separate sheet of paper. ***Please see instructions for your new creative writing assignment AFTER the grammar questions.***

Run-On Sentences A run-on sentence is a sentence with at least two independent clauses (complete thoughts) which are forced together instead of being properly connected.

To correct these sentences, you have several options:
 1) Separate clauses using punctuation.

2) Separate clauses using a conjunction.

3) Rearrange the sentence (you may add or remove words).

Run-on sentence: He put on some sunscreen, the sun was so extremely hot, and he
wanted to go inside.
  "He put on some sunscreen"  1st clause

"the sun was so extremely hot"  2nd clause

"he wanted to go inside"  3rd clause

Corrected sentence: He put on some sunscreen because the sun was extremely hot. He
wanted to go inside.
  In the corrected sentence, we separated the 1st and 2nd clauses using the conjunction "because", and we removed the word "so". We also separated the 2nd and 3rd clauses using a period.

Note: Just because a sentence is long does not necessarily mean it is a run-on. Some long sentences are grammatically correct, while some short sentences are run-ons.

Note: Simple, short sentences are the easiest to read and understand!

Directions: try to correct the following run-on sentences.

1. My mother and father and sister are coming to dinner tonight.



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 2. I like learning English it makes me tired.



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3. My sister was taller than me when we were young now I am the tallest it is fun.



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 4. I love school, I love learning, my teacher is nice.



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 5. I don’t want much for Christmas just some chocolates and a little toy car.



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 6. Blue is my favorite color it is the color of the sky and the sea and it reminds me of my favorite insect which is the butterfly.



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 7. When I get older I want to have a big family I like big families.



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 8. We usually leave at 11:00 but today is different we are leaving at 10:30.



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 9. I like Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I like Fridays because the weekend starts on Friday.



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 10. We should get moving there’s no time to waste.



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****************************************************************************

Creative Writing: Portfolio Piece 2
DUE Monday, March 10th (print before class)

Length:  150 words

Format: 11 point font, Calibri
              Standard margins
              Double-spaced

Prompt: You know that noise we hear coming out of the heating unit in our classroom? The weird  
              one that randomly sounds like there's a creature trapped inside, or maybe a small army of
              imaginary people? Tell me what it is. I'd like to know who or what is in there, what it's
              called, why it's there, and what it's doing. Be as descriptive as you can - tell me what it
              (or they) look like.

Grading: Appropriate length (around 150 words) - 10 pts
               Creativity - 10 pts
               Correct format - 6 pts
               Grammar - 10 pts
               Spelling - 10 pts
               Final draft (to be completed after corrections) - 4 pts

*Please double-check your paper for punctuation, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, correct capitalization, and so on!*
              
              

Mad Libs!

Hello everyone! Let's review parts of speech again today with a Mad Libs activity.

Here are the instructions for your packet:

1. Write a short story on the First Draft sheet (approx. two paragraphs).

2. Using the second page (I've listed the clues for you), find ten words which fit the clues and highlight them. For example:

Your first part of speech (or "clue") is an adjective. Find the first adjective in your story and highlight it.
Your second clue is a noun. Find the first noun in your story and highlight it.
Keep going until you've highlighted all the clues and have all the parts of speech on the clue list.

4. Rewrite your story on the Final Draft page - but leave the words you've highlighted in your first draft out of the story. Instead, keep those spaces blank.

5. Pair up with a classmate and, on a separate sheet of paper, have your friend supply ten words that match the clue list (an adjective, a noun, and so on). You will do the same thing for your friend. (Everyone has the same clue list so you can just look at your clue list to make up the words.) Then fill out your final draft page with your friend's words and give it to your friend to read. Now everyone's got a silly story to share. :)

Creative Writing Assignment Tuesday, 2/25

Please bring your creative writing assignment tomorrow. The required length is three paragraphs. Choose from the following:

1. You have stumbled upon a wand and an instruction manual. You can do pretty much anything with this magical device, but it is probably best to keep it semi-secret for the time being. Describe your first couple of weeks with this new found life hack.

2. You live in a world where cars are obsolete because griffins take everybody around (starting around 1990). How does this change traffic patterns and roads? Are you still late to school or work because of your "vehicle?"

3. The world you live in is essentially the same...present day, same technologies...except everybody lives in castles and is trying to work their way up to knighthood (including women). Detail a typical day in your life.

4. You must go on a quest to save the world from impending doom! What do you bring, who do you bring with you, and what is this evil presence that is threatening the planet?

5. You wake up in the morning and you have become a centaur. Are you the only one? How are you going to go to work or school like this? What changes have occured in your life after this transformation.

6. You are taking your dog for a walk when he starts talking to you. In fact, all the animals in the world have just become extremely conscious and have begun talking to their masters. How does this change things? A new civil rights movement, perhaps?

7. Create your own fantasy world using any of the following elements: magic, elves, secret dungeon, a captured prince, and a self-replenishing bag of gold.

8. During a tornado, your house flies away "Wizard of Oz" style and ends up in a fantastical realm. Where is it and how do you go about your quest to get home?

Grammar Video

Hello all! It's the Rainbow Unicorns here with all the info you need for your grammar video, which is due on TUESDAY, FEB. 18.

The video your group makes must:
1. Include the following information we've learned about complete sentences:
     - The subject of a sentence is who or what the sentence is about (the nouns). Multiple subjects =
        a compound subject.
    - The predicate tells what the subject is or does (the verbs). Multiple predicates = a compound
       predicate.
2. Give examples of the information above.
3. Be at least one minute long. (Please, no longer than 4 minutes.)
4. Include a song or a rap being sung/performed by one or all of the group members.

Remember, your video can feature your group members, puppets, animations, anything. Be creative! Also, please remember to let me know if your group needs to use the school video camera. We will have class time to work on this project, but I encourage you to get together with your friends outside of school and film this at home with all of your awesome devices and software. Show us what you can do!

You will be graded on:
1. Grammar Rules/Examples (Did you explain the subject/predicate rules well? Does the audience now understand what subjects and predicates are?)
2. Song or rap component
3. Length
4. Creativity
5. Teamwork

Have fun!

"Stuff to know" for Cleo...

I. Review the characters (your crossword puzzle is a good resource!)
II. Things to think about:
     A) Why Cleo thought she'd be a good ruler//Why the Egyptians hated Ptolemy
     B) What Cleo disliked about the Appian Way
     C) Why Egypt thought Alexander the Great was the Messiah
     D) How Cleopatra disguises herself when she visits the village
III. Be SURE you've read the whole book AND the Epilogue (you don't need to have read all the extra "stuff" in the back, just the story and Epilogue). You will be asked to put parts of the plot into chronological order.
IV. We will review again tomorrow, as well as discuss the major literary elements of the story (plot, theme, etc.)