Friday, October 3, 2008

October 3/6, 2008

October 3/6, 2008

Reading Logs
B-day classes: Hand in your first October (character) reading logs for the Book-of-the-Month. A-Day should have handed them in yesterday.

Spelling Test Reminder -- We were supposed to do this today, but I decided to wait for next time.
Next time we will have the spelling (name of teachers, administrators, and your counselor) retake for those who need a higher score.

Homophones Test Reminder -- We were supposed to do this today, but I decided to wait for next time.
Next time we will also take the test on homophones. Be able to recognize which homophone of a pair or set would best fit a sentence. For example: "George and Ringo got all the way to London before they realized they'd left (they're, there, their) suitcases in the hotel room in New York City." or "Ponyboy and Soda (ate, eight) chocolate cake for breakfast."

Study your homophone chart or "Walk-About," or see an earlier post on this blog -- Go to the posting for September 5th, and take the link from there to the homophone chart.

Today:
1. Self-Starter: Add to your ideas for stories about your own experiences. Pick the best two you'd like to share.

2. Lesson on Plot Structure. -- See below.

3. Share story ideas in a small group. Ask and answer questions about those story ideas, helping the writer to figure out what details he or she needs to include.

4. Let's "Sparkle"! We played a spelling game to review the seventh grade homophones.

5. The Outsiders (and students filled in a space on their reading log for The Outsiders.
B1 to page 102
B2 to page 100
B3 to page 109
A1 to page 103
A2 to page 100

________

Lesson on Plot Structure

Personal Narrative -- One Episode
Plot Structure (also called Story Grammar / Story Map/ Plot Line)

Exposition: (Students received a paper to keep in their binder. )
Setting -- Where? When? What is going on? What needs to be explained?
Characters -- What do we need to know about them?
Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution
➢ an initiating event
➢ an internal response
➢ an attempt to achieve the goal
➢ a consequence of the attempt
➢ a reaction to the consequences

and maybe. . .
an attempt to achieve the goal
a consequence of the attempt
a reaction to the consequences
and maybe . . .
an attempt to achieve the goal
a consequence of the attempt
a reaction to the consequences


Questions for Story Ideas:

Setting: Where does the story take place? How is the place important to the story? What needs to be explained? What is going on?

Characters: Who are the characters? Which are important to the action of the story? What do we need to know about them?

Initiating Action: What initiates or begins the action? What causes a character to do something?

Attempts: What attempts does the main character make? To do what? Why?

Results: What are the results of the character's attempts? Does the result initiate a new action?

Responses: How does the character respond to or feel about the initiating action, the attempts, and the results?

Dialogue: What do the characters say to one another?