Plan on a new seating chart by the end of the week.
You'll receive your 1st term grades on Friday.
Have your books (for Book-of-the-Month) read by Friday, October 30.
A draft of your letter will be due November 3//4. Find information about the contest at http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/
Our Book-of-the-Month Club books for November/December will be historical fiction.
Today:
Sign up for a new class job today -- first come, first serve.
Pick up your composition book.
1. The Outsiders
(Finish the video, if needed.)
Themes, Lessons, Responses
2. Using "Strong Language" -- nouns, verbs, adjectives, and sometimes adverbs to create images in the reader's mind. SHOW, NOT TELL.
Mood -- An author can create mood in a story or scene.
Purpose for your writing today: Be frightening (and maybe funny, too).
Audience: your teacher and classmates, and perhaps other people you'd like to share with. Collect strong words that help to create images in the reader's mind.
We discussed words that would be better than just "scary."
We read a passage from the short story "Three Skeleton Key" and looked for words and passages that could be recycled -- used in a story you might write.
We collected strong words in small groups -- from "Three Skeleton Key," from a list compiled by Miss Wilkinson, and from our own background knowledge (and for some of the classes, from "scary" books). We wrote them on the page(s) in the composition book (under writing) just after the chart comparing The Outsiders book and video. Don't forget to date this entry. 
Your assignment: Collect at least 50 words that would add power, detail, description ot a frightening story.
Then write a frightening scene, at least a page long, creating a mood and images in the reader's mind. This is in your composition book. Don't forget to date this entry.
3. About Book-of-the-Month letters -- What does it mean to "respond" and "reflect"?
Your assignment: Divide a page into two columns. Title one column "Thoughts," and the other "Feelings." List thoughts and feelings you've had and are experiencing as you read your October Book-of-the-Month.
