Don't forget your disclosure signatures if you haven't already handed that and the VIP form in.
You should have brought your composition book that you will leave in the classroom.
Remember to study your spelling every school day. The test is on September 9.
Sign up today for your Book-of-the-Month Club book.
1. Bell-Ringer: Everyday Editing
FYI: (This great information and today's examples are from Jeff Anderson's book, Everyday Editing.)
-- Commas can separate items or actions written in a series.
-- Lists consist of three or more items or actions.
-- Two items or actions are a pair, not a list, and do not require commas.
-- A comma separating the last item in a series may be omitted if and or or stand in and separate the last item. It's an issue of style. (In my class, I ask for the comma before the "and" or "or" to stay.)
About serial commas:
"Serial commas help combine sentences and expand ideas by using sensory detail -- specific nouns and verbs." p. 50
"Lists can be a way to add specifics to our writing.'" p. 51
Your task for the bell-ringer:
a. Label the page with today's date and copy these sentences into your composition book:
[If you were absent, you could copy them onto a separate sheet of paper and tape it into your composition book.]
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. -- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
Hector's room smelled of gym socks, Hot Cheetos, and lies. -- Jeff Anderson
My car smells of Armour-All vinyl cleaner, banana peels, and teenagers. -- Ms. Dorsey
b. Create your own sentence using a list with commas in a series by copying and filling in the blanks on this sentence.
[Write in a Place] smells of ______________, _____________, and __________________.
2. Today's Reading Minute by Ms. Dorsey
Add this to the list in your composition book:
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman ["Yes" or "No" whether you'd be interested in reading more of this.]
3. Sign up to do a Reading Minutes. Students will begin sharing in October. Watch for something you read that is well-written and interesting. You will write the title and author on the whiteboard, then read to us for a minute or so. Your reading minute could be from a book (fiction or nonfiction), a short story, one or more poems, a magazine, a newspaper editorial, etc.
4. Finish classmate interviews.
5. Noticing your inner voices while reading.
We'll practice using a difficult piece of reading from the book Pearl in China about Pearl S. Buck. As you read, watch for how Pearl is treated and how she feels about being different from most of the people around her. This is our first reading for our study about how we treat others who are different from us.
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