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Writing an Essay- How to paraphrase (and not plagiarize)!

We have talked a lot about citing your sources and giving credit to another person's writing and thought.  Before you begin to research and take notes, let's review how to paraphrase by watching this Brain Pop video.

Click here to watch the video


Click here to take the Brain Pop quiz on paraphrasing
Print out a copy of your quiz and hand it in.

Short Story Unit Review

You have your Short Story Unit Test on Tuesday.  Use the quizlet flashcard and review games to learn the Elements of Short Stories.
Click here to go to the quizlet set

Short Story Unit Review

1.  Elements of Short Stories-

Review list and be able to identify elements

2.  Reread the Short Stories- Click title to go to a copy of the story

“Monkey’s Paw”

“The Raven”
interactive version of "The Raven"

“The Tell Tale Heart”

“The Lottery”

“The Most Dangerous Game”

3.  Use Graphic Organizers to study-
Be able to identify main characters

Literary devices/elements

Plot structure

Authors
Review notes and annotations on stories

"The Most Dangerous Game" Pre-reading survey

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

Click here to read some Background information on Shirley Jackson

Read the New York Times article on "The Lottery"

"The Lottery" Survey

Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day"

Edgar Allan Poe--"The Raven"

Before we read Poe's famous poem, "The Raven," watch The Simpson's version in their House of Horrors series.


Click here to read "The Raven" 

Click the image below to read "The Raven"online.  Use the interactive tool to enhance your understanding of the poem.

Introducing the expert of horror...Edgar Allan Poe

EDGAR ALLAN POE

 "Poe is the supreme short story writer of all time."

     ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"What a strange, though enormously talented writer, that Edgar Poe!"
     ~Fyodor Dostoevsky

"You might call him the Leader of the Cult of the Unusual."
     ~Jules Verne

Today you are going to begin learning about the great American Short Story writer, Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his horror stories and his haunting poems.


You can also watch this biography from Scholastic

Use the resources below to complete the Scavenger Hunt.
Scavenger Hunt Worksheet
 
Resources
Poe Museum Student Page
Poe Museum Poe's Life
Knowing Poe
Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe 

The Tell Tale Heart-
How well do you know the story?  Click here to take this trivia quiz to find out!

Creating Tweets about your Reading

Find out what your friends are reading and share your books... in 140 characters or less!
This week your job is to create at least three tweets about the book(s) you are reading.

• What would someone need to know about the book? 
• How could you convince someone to read your book in only 140 characters (a character is a letter or space)?
• Create some catchy hashtags to go along with these tweets. 

Write your tweets on the Twitter Handout.  Be sure to write clearly and neatly and check for spelling.  These will be displayed on the bulletin board.

NOTE:  You are writing your tweets on PAPER and putting them on our classroom bulletin board...not creating a twitter account to post your TWEETS...

Neal Shusterman

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

"Try to see things differently.  It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life." ~Neal Shusterman

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

The 8th graders are going to hear Neal Shusterman speak about his writing and books on October 15th at Winnacunnet High School.  To prepare for the field trip, we are going to research Neal Shusterman and his books.  You can view our presentation below.

 Click here to add to our PowerPoint.

National Parks

Today you are going to learn more about our country's National Parks. 

Click here to watch some more video clips from the documentary 

Click to learn more about the Park Profiles-

   
Other Resources:
List of National Parks 
National Parks Timeline 

Your assignment:  Create a slide for our National Parks Presentation.  You will need to find at least one image and five facts about the National Park you chose. Put your information on a Google Drive document and share with Ms. Casassa.  Then use this information to create a Google Presentation as a class. Click here to go to the Google Presentation.

Welcome Back!

The Year in Review-Create a Jeopardy Game!

It's hard to believe that we are entering the final week of the school year.  This week as a review, you are going to create jeopardy questions for a Jeopardy Review Game.  First we'll brainstorm a list of all the topics we covered this year, and then write questions in the format of a jeopardy game.
Example:
Answer:  Brian used this to create fire.
Questions:  What is a hatchet?
Click here to go to the Jeopardy Lab 
The 6th grade Template is barnardla (username & password)

Click here to play the 5th Grade Jeopardy Game
Click here to play the 6th Grade Jeopardy Game
Click here to play the 7th Grade Jeopardy Game

Example of a Jeopardy game--

Learning about William Shakespeare

On Wednesday, grades 5-8 will be learning about William Shakespeare.  We will watch a video that gives an overview of his life, learn about the rich language we have inherited from Shakespeare and read some famous scenes from a few plays.  I hope you all enjoy an afternoon with the Bard!

Learn About William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre

Do you use any of these common phrases and sayings from Shakespeare?

Ready to see what you know about Shakespeare. Try taking this quiz. Stumped? Go on line and find the answers! Click here to take the quiz

Anne Frank: What happens after the Secret Annex?

We finished the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank on Monday.  Today, we will learn what happened after they were discovered in the Secret Annex.

Anne changed the names of the occupants in the Annex.  See the real names below:

View the video clips below to learn what happened after their fateful arrest.

Video 1- Discovered and Arrested
Video 2- The Fate of the People in Hiding
Video 3-Two Helpers Arrested Too
Video 4- Otto Frank tells his Story

Click here to read Meip Geis Interview 
Watch Meip's Interview below:

Independent Reading Book Project

For your next Book Project, you are going to create a "fake" social media site for a character in your book.  Choose an important character--probably the antagonist--and create either a Fakebook page, a message exchange between that character and another in the book, or a fake twitter account for the character.  Remember to speak like the character would speak.  For this assignment it is appropriate to use abbreviations that you would see on these sites/mediums.  The links to the three projects are below.  Have fun, be authentic, and show me your best work!

 Click here to go to the Fakebook generator.  be sure to add a password so you can go back and edit your work.

Click here to go to the SMS generator and create a message exchange between the character and a friend (or for)

Click here to go to twister--the fake twitter generator--to create tweets from your character.

Learning about Anne Frank

The Diary of Anne Frank:  Exploring the Secret Annex:

  Today you will begin to explore The Secret Annex and learn about its inhabitants.  Visit The Secret Annex and answer the questions on the handout.  Please take your time, explore the different sections, watch the videos and read the descriptions.  There are so many interesting things in this site to do and learn about.  Click here to download the worksheet.

 

Click here to visit The Secret Annex

Poetry Slam Program Information

Learning about The Holocaust

We will be creating a Padlet Wall to hold all our resources and information on The Holocaust.
  Click here to see the padlet.

Oral Tradition- American Tall Tales and Folklore

We are beginning a new unit!  We will be studying Oral Traditions and storytelling, starting with the study of American Tall Tales and Folklore.  Today you will learn about some of the New Hampshire folklore and some legendary heroes in American Folk history.  Complete the questions on the handout and enjoy learning about some bigger than life heroes!

 Quizlet-  Oral Tradition Flashcards.  Study the definitions of important terms you need to know during this unit.

Complete the worksheet on Folk Heroes (click here for a copy of the worksheet)-  Use the sites below to find the information.

American Folklore-  Use this site to find tall tales from different parts of the country
Tall Tales -the basics  A lot of good links to different tall tales
American Tall Tales-  good site with some videos to watch
Animated Tall Tales- a fun, interactive site to learn more about tall tales
Myths, Folklore and Fairy Tales- Read different myths and legends from around the world
Aesop's Fables- online collection of Aesop Fables

Performing your Poem

Congratulations!  So many of you have already memorized your entire poem.  WOW!  I am in awe and so impressed by your ability to learn your poems.  As you all know,  I am still struggling to learn more than the first stanza of mine!  Now you need to start learning how to "perform" your poem.  How will you say your poem outloud?  What words will your stress?  How should your stand?  Where should you pause, speak louder?  How to you show the meaning of the poem in the way you recite it?  To help you out, we will start watching students perform their poems in the Poetry Outloud Contest.
Click here to watch the performances.  Good luck!
 

Tips for Performing your Poem

5 Tips for Performing Poetry 

1. Score your Poem-Go through and highlight words you might want to emphasis, speed up, pause or slow down for effect. Make choices that are natural for the poem.
2. Find your pace-A poem is a little story. Be sure your audience understands the entire story. Be careful about how to handle line breaks. Save pauses for where you see punctuation.
3. Use good diction-this mean clear pronunciation of the words. Every word is important!
4. Use natural movement—This is probably the area people have most trouble with. Keep it simple and natural! Let the poem inform your movement.
5. Be natural and have fun! Have fun practicing your poem until it becomes second nature!

 Adapted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cca7SRzsbBw

More Poetry Writing Sites and Ideas

Write a Poem about your Hero-  this poem will be displayed along with your hero stamp and letter during the Celebration of Learning Night this spring.  Two possible poem types that would work for this assignment are the cinqauin and the septet.
Forgot who your hero was?  Click here to view your stamp.

Click here to find more poetry writing ideas and templates

Creating a Works Cited with EasyBib

Today 7th and 8th graders are going to learn how to use EasyBib--an online citation generator.  Click here to go to EasyBib.  Then using the MLA Worksheet, create a works cited page.  Use the handout I gave you last week.  You will be amazed at how easy it can be!

Click here to access the list of resources you need to create your Work Cited List

Choose one of the lists above and create your works cited page using EasyBib.  Remember to type Works Cited at the top of the page.  Sources need to be listed in alphabetical order.  Have fun!

Poetic Elements and Types of Poetry Review

Click here to study the types of poetry and poetic elements on quizlet

Getting started on writing poems!

Not sure how to begin?  Not sure what type of poem to write?
First, click here to go to Shadow Poetry to learn about different types of poems.
Click here to go to a poetry template site.  Choose your poetry form from the list of links.  Then just add words to make the poem your own.  When you finish be sure to print out a copy.

Click here to write about a childhood memory.  Read the poem, listen to the poet and then try to write your own.

The Author Responds!

It's always a wonderful experience to have an author respond to your letter.  The author of One For The Murphy's found Maddie's Book Trailer on my YouTube channel and wrote her a response.  Very exciting!  Congratulations, Maddie!

Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad Thinglink

Click here to get to Thinglink

I made a Thinglink account for 5-8 Language Arts-

• username:  barnardla@barnardschool.org

• password:  barnardla58

Your information from the Thinglink we started yesterday can be found on Google Drive--

• Click here to get to  document
• log into barnardla@barnardschool.org

Choose one of the Nonfiction books on the efollet book shelf and research Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad.  Try to find some new or unusual information on the topics--things we have not discussed or read about.  Find at least two new facts and add them to the Thinglink above (click on Thinglink to add your information).  Add one link to a brief video, website, a song the slaves might have sung or a picture related to the topic.  Use the same icon for all your links so we can tell who has added what information.  Have fun!

Poetry Outloud--Memorizing a Poem

You are going to choose a poem of at least 15 lines to read, learn and memorize.  You may choose any poem, but it should be a poem that you like and has some significance to you--is about a topic you are interested in, an emotion you have felt, a place you enjoy spending time, a favorite season, etc.  I have poetry books in the classroom and you may look at the sites below to find a poem.

Click on the name to go to the site:

Ms. Casassa's Evernote Notebook with Poems to Memorize
Poetry Out Loud- Find a Poem 

Other Resources:
Poetry Out Loud- 25 lines of fewer
Committed to Memory
Poem in Your Pocket
Great Poems to Teach
Poetry 180 
Robert Frost

Click here to listen to Ted Kooser recite his poem "Abandoned Farmhouse"
Click here to read "The Abandoned Farmhouse" by Ted Kooser

Listen to some Poetry Outloud!

Harriet Tubman: Guide to Freedom

We are going to read Harriet Tubman: Guide to Freedom a story that describes the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman's role in helping free the slaves in the south in the 1800s.  Before we read the story in our textbook, you are going to learn a little about The Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman by watching a video, completing a web quest and completing an interactive journey on The Underground Railroad yourself.

Watch Underground Railroad on PBS. See more from History Detectives.

Click here to watch a video about Harriet Tubman 

Your assignment is to complete the web quest on Harriet Tubman. Follow the directions on the sheet and learn more about Harriet Tubman. You may write your answers on the back of the paper.

Click here to go to interactive Underground Railroad site

Persuasive Writing Resources

Here are a variety of resources for you to use as you research, plan and write your persuasive essay or letter.

For Research

Click here to go to Instagrok

 

Online Interactive Graphic Organizer(you can't save this, so print out each time you log out)

Click here to use interactive persuasion map

Graphic Organizers (you may print these out to use)

• Argumentative Writing Graphic Organizer
• Outline for a 5 Paragraph Argumentative/Persuasive essay
• Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer

Thesis Generator--click here to go to an online Thesis generator to help practice writing your thesis

Create a Bibliography (if you are using Instgrok you can create a bibliography within the site)

• Easybib

How to section...

• write a lead that works!
• write a strong conclusion
• transition between paragraphs
• write a strong thesis
• find the right transition word 

Further Reading 

• Introduction to the Persuasive Essay
• Anatomy of Persuasion

Explaining Paraphrasing and Plagarism

First, we are going to watch Moby and Tim explain pharaphrasing and plagarism.
Before you begin researching, let's review how to paraphrase, cite sources, and not plagiarize!
Click here to watch the video

Click here for a quick review of what plagiarism actually is.

And here's a quick quiz to see if you can determine good paraphrasing!

Beginning Research on Your Argument Essay or Persuasive Letter

Click here to watch the brief video on how to organize your research information 

Click here to try InstaGrok--a great search engine. Create an acount and you can save notes and sources online.

Click here to create a works cited page using EasyBib.  You can create an account with EasyBib to save your information or just copy your citations as you make them and paste them onto a Google document.

Maya Ying Lin--"Always to Remember"

Before we begin reading Always to Remember:  The Vision of Maya Ying Lin we are going to learn a little about the Vietnam Memorial and Maya Ying Lin.  Complete the first section of the KWL chart, listing what you already know about the Vietnam Memorial and Lin--it's okay if you don't know anything.  Now, complete the middle column, listing what you want to know about each.  As you look at the images of the Memorial, listen to the videos and then read the story, complete the third column, what you have learned.

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Choosing a Topic for your Argumentative Essay

You need to choose a topic that you are interested and care about to write an argumentative essay. You will research--and find the positions for and against --the topic.  In your final essay, you will persuade the reader of the merit and value of your position!

Click here to review the list of possible topics.
Click here for a bibliography of other topics.

Writing an Argument Essay

Today you will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of drinking chocolate milk. After considering both sides of the issue, you decide: is chocolate milk good for you? Now, persuade your teachers and principal that the school should, or should not, continue to offer chocolate milk in school.

Want more information? Click here to find more resources on the topic.


Chocolate Milk In School | Learn about Chocolate Milk In School on instaGrok, the research engine

Jack London- Background Information

 

Click here to learn more about Jack London

Women in the Yukon Haiku Deck

The Call of The Wild

7th graders are about to travel to the Yukon and begin a great adventure with Buck.  Before we actually start reading Jack London's classic novel, The Call of the Wild, we are going to learn a little bit about the Yukon, sled dogs and what it takes to make it rich during the 1800s.

 The Call of the Wild:  Background Information

Skookum Jim Mason, Dawson Charlie and George Washington Carmack found gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory. Their discovery set off one of the greatest gold rushes in history.

All kinds of men (and women too), sold or gave up everything they had, and tried to strike it rich. A few actually did (mostly the early arrivals), some decided to profit from the gold fever of others. Some had to move back to wherever they came from, broke and broken, and many didn't make it at all. The Canadian Mounties (their organization began during this tumultuous time) tried to keep order, but there were scams and hoodlums and all kinds of unsavory characters. You had to watch your back, as well as the weather.

Jack London wrote vividly about life during that time, and the effects the harsh environment and circumstances had on the men and animals who lived through it. Now it's your turn.

(Pic from: University of Washington Libraries, text from http://leckrone321.blogspot.com/2011/05/call-of-wild-webquest.html)

Click here to begin The Call of the Wild web quest. 

If you have trouble getting onto the Web Quest, click here to get to the list of research topics and websites.

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

Click here to view presentation in full screen

Book Project #4- Create a Trading Card to sell your Book!

Assignment:  You are creating a trading card that will make people interested in reading your book. 

To make your Trading Card-  Click here to go to BigHugeLabs (you will need to create an account in order to save your work).  Scroll down and click on Trading Cards.  Start creating!

Your Trading Card must include: ·      Title of Book ·      Author ·      Genre ·      Writing that will “sell”  your book.  This could be a hook, a brief summary, description of the plot/problem. ·      Image (book cover)

Rubric _______/5  Title of Book _______/5  Author _______/5  Genre _______/25 Writing that will “sell”  your book. _______/5 Image (book cover _______/5   Print out two copies _______/5   Post onto the blog _______/50 Grade and Comment:

****Be sure to save your trading card.  You should download a copy.  You can also email a copy to yourself. 

****Post as a widget on your blog

My Trading Card

 

The Twilight Zone- The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

7th graders-- Today we begin a new play, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. This is a screenplay, a play that was written for television. It was written as an episode for a show called The Twilight Zone. Ask your parents about it--many of them will remember watching it. We will watch a clip today of the opening scene of every Twilight Zone show. Rod Sterling, the writer and narrator of The Twilight Zone began every show the same way. His opening introductions are a good example of a lead that really pulls you in and makes you want to know more! Click here to watch the epilogue of The Monsters are Due on Maple Street