August 21/24, 2009
Today's Self Starter: Pretest on editing sentences.
1. Students took the test
2. and corrected their own -- honestly because this is being used to see where students are in their understanding of certain aspects of proofreading.
3. Today's vocabulary word: Setting. When we talk about setting, it means more than just the place something happened or where a story took place. We must also talk about the time something takes place. Is it in the present day, Medieval or Civil War times, in the future?
Is something happening during the day or at night? Is it winter or summer?
4. Everyday Editing: During Everyday Editing, we are looking at sentences that can teach us something. Normally students will do some writing in response to the sentences. (Don't forget to bring a composition book if you haven't yet.) Today we just discussed them.
During today's Everyday Editing, we made inferences and predictions, and noticed how the author used words and punctuation:
1) Miss Karpou was young, she was pretty, and she had been nice to
me. I didn’t want her to be sad.
2) Orville smiled a big, nasty, gap-toothed smile, and said, “I’m gonna
turn you into dog meat.”
3) I could see only one place where no one would look for me.
The dumpster.
The Mancatcher would be coming through the door soon. No time to think – only to do. I ran across the loading dock, grabbed the lip of the dumpster, and swung my leg over the edge.
When I looked down inside I almost changed my mind. Four feet below me waited a smelly mass of banana peels, bread crusts, half-eaten hamburgers, and things too gross to mention. I considered turning back. Then I heard the door start to swing open.
5. The teacher read an excerpt from My Teacher Fried My Brains. We discussed the setting and discussed what qualifies a book to be considered science fiction (genre).
6. We also read a poem -- "Southbound on the Freeway" -- see nearby post, which is also "science fiction," and discussed the setting of the poem.
7. Students interviewed each other as they rotated around the room.
8. Students received a spelling homework assignment.
Homework
First Spelling Assignment
Prepare to be tested on correctly spelling (with correct capitalization and punctuation)
the names of your teachers, counselor, and administrators.
Be ready to take the test on these names on September 2 (B-Day) or September 3 (B-Day).
The names of your teachers for this term:
(Include the title each prefers: Mr., Ms., etc.)
1. ________________________________
2. ________________________________
3. ________________________________
4. ________________________________
5. ________________________________
6. ________________________________
7. ________________________________
8. ________________________________
Your seventh grade counselor:
9. Mr. Thompson
The names of our administrators
10. Principal: Mr. Farnsworth
11. Vice-Principal: Mr. Young
12. Vice-Principal: Mr. Dalley
