Write a lead for this picture in the comments' section. Be sure to include your name.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Writing Leads
In baseball, a leadoff batter is the table setter. Someone who gets on base, gets the crowd excited, and gets the pitcher nervous. A leadoff batter sets the tone and often foretells how the game is going to go.
The same is true for writing. A strong lead draws a reader in and keeps the reader reading.
Here are some samples from well-known books:
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved with anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."
From Jeanne DuPrau's, The City of Ember:
"When the City of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
'They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,' said the chief builder. 'Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.'
'Is that long enough?' asked his assistant.
'It should be. We can't know for sure.'"
From Kate DiCamillo's, The Tale of Despereaux:
"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive.
'Where are my babies?' said the exhausted mother when the ordeal was through. 'Show to me my babies.'
The father mouse held the one small mouse up high.
'There is only this one,' he said. 'The others are dead.'
'Mon dieu, just the one mouse baby?'
'Just the one. Will you name him?'
'All of that work of nothing,' said the mother. She sighed. 'It is so sad. It is such the disappointment.'"
Click here for some student examples of writing leads from 2007. They practiced by writing interesting leads and poor leads.
The same is true for writing. A strong lead draws a reader in and keeps the reader reading.
Here are some samples from well-known books:
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved with anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."
From Jeanne DuPrau's, The City of Ember:
"When the City of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
'They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,' said the chief builder. 'Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.'
'Is that long enough?' asked his assistant.
'It should be. We can't know for sure.'"
From Kate DiCamillo's, The Tale of Despereaux:"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive.
'Where are my babies?' said the exhausted mother when the ordeal was through. 'Show to me my babies.'
The father mouse held the one small mouse up high.
'There is only this one,' he said. 'The others are dead.'
'Mon dieu, just the one mouse baby?'
'Just the one. Will you name him?'
'All of that work of nothing,' said the mother. She sighed. 'It is so sad. It is such the disappointment.'"
Click here for some student examples of writing leads from 2007. They practiced by writing interesting leads and poor leads.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
No Concert Tonight- Haikus & "Red Writing Hood"
Archery is postponed until tomorrow.
Word Choice:
Students were asked to come up with one interesting word that came into their head with the following prompts. Here are the results:
Prompt/Student Responses-
1. My mom:
fun, loving, snuggly, awesome, protecting, responsible
2. Tonight's postponed concert:
shocking, disaster, lucky
3. Math:
Awesome, interesting, confusing, grrr
4. Pinguard:
painful, dangerous, injustice
5. Iowa:
Molly, nose, CRAZY, flat, wheaty, corn
6.Domino's Day:
delicious, greasy, tasty
7. Harry Potter:
magical, mystical, Guy
8. Mr. O's hair:
fluffy, scarce, stylish, sideburns, bald (ouch!)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
If Not For the Cat ...Haikus
Today in class we read a great poetry book by Jack Prelutsky called If Not for the Cat. Prelutsky has written 17 haiku riddle poems describing different animals. The tie-in to our writing class is Prelutsky's examples of interesting word choice. We wrote a few haikus in class. Look here in the near future for some examples of student haikus. Here is a sample:Chicken
On my precious egg
I contemplate the future
Destiny nugget
On my precious egg
I contemplate the future
Destiny nugget
The video below is from a warm-up activity we did to reteach syllables. We picked 8 great words from the story, divided them up into syllables, and had groups of students chant the individual syllables. A volunteer student, that had left the room, had to come in and guess what the word was.
Homework: Finish A-Z booklet, Finish math packet and white circle sheet. Complete blue math sheet.
Tomorrow is the last day for the 2nd trimester AR goal and Valentine's Day. Students are encouraged to bring in Valentines, treats, and mailboxes.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Amelia Rules!
Today in writing we looked to Amelia's 6th-Grade Notebook by Marissa Moss for inspiration in writing with voice. This fun book is similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid in that it shares the joys and sorrows of middle school life. From ogre-like teachers to navigating the cavernous hallways of a never-ending school, this book is about the ups and downs of being a middle school kid.
For our writing assignment students had to create a fictional student, middle school, and host of teachers. Then borrowing inspiration from Amelia they had to give their creative touches and comments from the perspective of a new (and overwhelmed) middle school student.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wacky Web Tales
Holiday Sing-Along
A New Winter Sport
Twelve Holly Days
Create your story, copy the text and paste it in the comments section.
A New Winter Sport
Twelve Holly Days
Create your story, copy the text and paste it in the comments section.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Leadoff Batters and Leadoff Sentences
In baseball, a leadoff batter is the table setter. Someone who gets on base, gets the crowd excited, and gets the pitcher nervous. A leadoff batter sets the tone and often foretells how the game is going to go.
The same is true for writing. A strong lead draws a reader in and keeps the reader reading.
Here are some samples from well-known books:
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved with anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."
From Jeanne DuPrau's, The City of Ember:
"When the City of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
'They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,' said the chief builder. 'Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.'
'Is that long enough?' asked his assistant.
'It should be. We can't know for sure.'"
From Kate DiCamillo's, The Tale of Despereaux:
"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive.
'Where are my babies?' said the exhausted mother when the ordeal was through. 'Show to me my babies.'
The father mouse held the one small mouse up high.
'There is only this one,' he said. 'The others are dead.'
'Mon dieu, just the one mouse baby?'
'Just the one. Will you name him?'
'All of that work of nothing,' said the mother. She sighed. 'It is so sad. It is such the disappointment.'"
Click here for some student examples of writing leads from last year. They practiced by writing interesting leads and poor leads.
The same is true for writing. A strong lead draws a reader in and keeps the reader reading.
Here are some samples from well-known books:
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling:
"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved with anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."
From Jeanne DuPrau's, The City of Ember:
"When the City of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
'They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,' said the chief builder. 'Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.'
'Is that long enough?' asked his assistant.
'It should be. We can't know for sure.'"
From Kate DiCamillo's, The Tale of Despereaux:"This story begins within the walls of a castle, with the birth of a mouse. A small mouse. The last mouse born to his parents and the only one of his litter to be born alive.
'Where are my babies?' said the exhausted mother when the ordeal was through. 'Show to me my babies.'
The father mouse held the one small mouse up high.
'There is only this one,' he said. 'The others are dead.'
'Mon dieu, just the one mouse baby?'
'Just the one. Will you name him?'
'All of that work of nothing,' said the mother. She sighed. 'It is so sad. It is such the disappointment.'"
Click here for some student examples of writing leads from last year. They practiced by writing interesting leads and poor leads.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
More Legs on the Table
Homework Help:
Click here for practice with rounding numbers.
Today we continued to work on making our writing stronger. We talked about adding supporting details to a main idea and how they help support the main idea like legs on a table. To go further, we talked about making the supporting details stronger by expanding on them, or giving examples.
Homework:
Finish story "What I Want To Do" (jobs, places to visit, experiences)
Math: 2.4 Rounding- one sheet only (says RW9) on the bottom corner.
Phy. Ed. tomorrow (Mile Run!)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tonight's Homework
Today in writing we talked about tables. Like a table, a main idea needs legs to support it. Students picked a topic for example, the pros/cons of being the youngest/oldest/middle/only child and came up with a main idea sentence (the table). They then had to come up with the legs (interesting details/reasons) to support it. Look here tomorrow for some of their work.
Homework:
Reading- Finish Main Idea Stories (see above)
Pages 8 and 10 in reading workbook
Math- 2.2 all three sheets
Art and computer tomorrow.
Have a great night.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Writing- Voice
In writing class we started a unit on Voice. Voice is the energy and personality that makes your writing uniquely yours. It is energetic and spunky and makes the reader enjoy reading and want to read more. Today in class we took some writing samples that were weak in Voice and revised them.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)