Writing Class--Week of February 11th

We are finishing up writing Persuasive Letters and Biographical Sketches this week.  Here's what you need to do:

Grade 7:

Persuasive Letter-

1.  Make final corrections to your persuasive letter.  Ms. Casassa should have seen it and corrected it twice!  You want your letter to be error free.  You are trying to make a good impression and persuade your reader to agree to your suggestions!

2.  Print 2 final copies

3.  Hand in all drafts, graphic organizers and copies of your Persuasive letter (put them in the bin).

4.  Put your letter in your addresses envelop, put on a stamp, put letter in the bin!

Poetry-
1.  Look at the different types of poetry you can write on this site:  Poetry for Kids.  Check out this site for ideas on how to write poems as well:  Creative Writing Now!
2.  Choose 2-3 types of poems and write one of your own.  Be sure to follow their model.  All of these poems have a specific structure.  You may write your 1st drafts in your R/W Notebook or on Google Drive (share with me).

Grade 8:

Biographical Sketch

1.  Make final corrections to your Biographical Sketch.  Ms. Casassa should have seen it and corrected it twice!  You want your essay to be error free. Remember you should be revising for sentence fluency on this piece.

2.  Create a Bibliography--Your bibliography should be on a separate page.  Type and center the title Bibliography on top of page.  You need to include all the sites you used for research.  EBSCOhost can provide  its own citation information.   Click here to use EasyBib 

3.  Print 2 final copies

4.  Hand in all drafts, graphic organizers and copies of your Biographical Sketch (put them in the bin).

New piece or Poetry option-
1.  If you have a peice you are already working on you may continue this.  If you need an idea, look at the different types of poetry you can write on this site:  Poetry for Kids

2.  Choose 2-3 types of poems and write one of your own.  Be sure to follow their model.  All of these poems have a specific structure.  You may write your 1st drafts in your R/W Notebook or on Google Drive (share with me).

Identifying Figurative Language in Poetry

We are going to begin to study how figurative language is used in poetry.  Use these two sites to find definitions of the following poetic terms:  Alliteration, Assonance, Simile, Rhyme

Glossary of Poetic Terms
Shadow Poetry


Look at some poems in the poetry books I have in class.  Read some of the poems and find some that has examples of the poetic terms you just defined.

Looking for more poems?  Try these sites:

Giggle Poetry

poetry4kids

Poetry.com

Poem Hunter

Comparing Poetry and Prose

You have read "The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson and an encyclopedia article about Eagles. Now think about how the poem and prose are similar? How are they different? Create a Venn Diagram using your notes (click here for a copy of What is Poetry? Contrasting Prose and Poetry Worksheet) on the two pieces and knowledge of both genres.

 Click here to create your Venn Diagram. Be sure to print copies for your entire group!

Persuasive Letters- Student Models

Congratulations!  You have completed your research on your topic and gathered actual data from your surveys.  Furthermore, you have identified three claims and have evidence to back them up.  What's next?  It's time to write your letter.  So...who are you writing to?  Who is your audience?  remember, you are actually going to send these letters and hopefully persuade the recipient to change their views on your topic.  Who knows, you might be chewing gum in class soon!  Or playing dodge ball in gym class this spring.  Below you can read three student examples of persuasive letters.  You can also view the PowerPoint on how to write a powerful lead. 

Click here to view the Powerpoint on writing a strong lead

Click on the title to read the Persuasive Letter- Student Models

• Why gum should be allowed in school
• Why upper and lower grades should have a different recess
• Why Barnard school needs a spring sport

Researching your Writing Topic

You will begin researching your topic in writing.  Initially, I just want you to read and get familiar with the topic.  Don't take notes yet, just "bookmark" good sites.  

1.  I have created a Google document that you can use to keep track of your websites.  You can "bookmark" these sites by copying and pasting the URL address into the document.  Include a title and brief note about the site so you will remember why you saved it later on.  When you open up the Research Chart, go to file and click create a copy.  Rename it "Your Name" Research Resource Chart.  Take notes on that chart!
Click here to open up the Research Resource Chart

2.  Two resources need to come from EBSCOhost- our online library database.  Create an account and save the two articles into a folder on EBSCOhost.  You create an account after you log in to our Barnard School EBSCOhost account.  7th graders, ask an 8th grader for help with this!
  Click here to go to EBSCOhost.  (username:  Barnard   password: 03827)

3.  7th graders: Persuasive Letter- You need 3 strong claims in favor of your position and 3 pieces of evidence for each claim.  Each claim needs to be strong enough to write an entire paragraph--with facts--on it.  As you read today be sure that you have a strong enough topic to fufill this requirement.

  8th graders- Biographical Sketch- You need to find 3 interesting and/or unusual or unique things about your author.  Each of these facts will need to fill an entire paragraph--7 strong sentences.  If you.  IF YOU CAN'T FIND THREE GOOD FACTS, FIND ANOTHER AUTHOR!

Verb Practice

You will have a test on Action Verbs (Transitive and Intransitive), Linking Verbs and Auxiliary (Helping Verbs) tomorrow. Here are some online quizzes to help you study. 

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Click here to take the Identifying Transitive and Intransitive Verb Quiz
Click here for another online quiz on Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Direct Objects
Still having trouble?  Maybe you need to review direct objects.  Click here for an online review!

Axillary (Helping Verbs)
Click here for review on Axillary (Helping) Verbs

Linking Verbs
Click here to take an online quiz on linking verbs

A Christmas Carol Thinglink

Today you are going to create a Thinglink on Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol. Choose two of the topics on the picture to write about You may need to research the topic if your choose Charles Dickens or Dickens' London. Then write a couple sentences about your topic. If you finish creating both links, you can add an image, video or website to your icon. Remember to check spelling and punctuation. These links will be read by other people: your peers, parents, and other people interested in the topic.

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

A Thinglink on Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad

Click the icons on the pictures to learn more about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman.
Or click here to go directly to the Thinglink the class created.

Characters Development in A Christmas Carol

You have finished reading the play A Christmas Carol and worked on analyzing the different literary elements.  Today you are going to create a Voki and a comic strip using Go Animate.

For the Voki-  Choose a character the play.  Write a brief paragraph introducing the character,  speaking in the character's voice, using words they might use.  Be sure to show us what the character is like by what he/she says.  If the character is dynamic and has changed, create 2 Vokis--one that shows his behavior before and another that shows his behavior after the transformation.

Click here to go to Voki--You can create an account on Voki.  be sure to write all your account information on your tech sheet.  When you finish your Voki, create a new post and embed the Voki there. 

Go Animate--Then, choose a scene that you feel is very important to the play--it represents the turning point, shows an important character's personality, includes part of the theme or the message of the play.  Create a brief storyboard of this scene, being sure to write the dialogue.  Then go to Go Animate and create this scene there.

Click here to go to Go Animate--Again, you can create an account with Go Animate.  Be sure to write down your account information!.  When you finish your cartoon, embed it in your blog as a new post

Learning about Charles Dickens

Click here to watch a biography on Charles Dickens.  There is an interactive element to the video as well as games to learn more about Dickens.