HA! HA! It Pays to Proofread. . . and Think Before You Write!

These are supposed to be actual statements found on insurance forms on which car drivers attempted to summarize the details of an accident in the fewest words possible:

*  Coming home I drove into the wrong  house and collided with a tree I don't have.
*  The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.
*  I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.
*  I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.
*  A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.
*  The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
*  I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.
*  In an attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone pole.
*  I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.
*  I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
*  I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.
*  As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.
*  To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck a pedestrian.
*  My car was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle.
*  An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.
*  I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.
*  I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.
*  The pedestrian had no idea which way to run as I ran over him.
*  I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car.
*  The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.
*  I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.
*  The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of the way when I struck the front end.



And these are newspaper headlines collected by columnists and posted on the Internet: 

Police arrest everyone on February 22. 
Federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons 
Missippi's Literacy Program Shows Improvement
Threat Disrupts Plan to Meet About Threats
Man Accused of Killing Lawyer Receives New Attorney
 -- from www.huffingtonpost.com

More: 
1. Something Went Wrong In Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers
3. Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4. Drunk Gets Nine Months In Violin Case
5. Survivor Of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6. Farmer Bill Dies In House
7. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
9. British Left Waffles On Falkland Islands
10. Lung Cancer In Women Mushrooms
11. Eye Drops Off Shelf
12. Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
13. Reagan Wins On Budget, But More Lies Ahead
14. Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
15. Shot Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus  [a famous golfer]  to 66
16. Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
17. Plane Too Close To Ground, Crash Probe Told
18. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
19. Juvenile Court To Try Shooting Defendant
20. Stolen Painting Found By Tree
21. Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
22. Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years In Checkout Counter
23. Killer Sentenced To Die For Second Time In 10 Years
24. Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in '84
25. War Dims Hope For Peace
26. If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
27. Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures
28. Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
29. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
30. Deer Kill 17,000
31. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
32. Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge
33. New Study Of Obesity Looks For Larger Test Group
34. Astronaut Takes Blame For Gas In Spacecraft
35. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
36. Chef Throws His Heart Into Helping Needy
37. Arson Suspect Is Held In Massachusetts Fire
38. British Union Finds Dwarves In Short Supply
40. Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
41. Local High School Dropouts Cut In Half
42. New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
43. Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
44. Deaf College Opens Doors To Hearing
45. Air Head Fired
46. Steals Clock, Faces Time
47. Old School Pillars are Replaced By Alumni
48. Bank Drive-In Window Blocked By Board
49. Hospitals are Sued By 7 Foot Doctors
51. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies



 

Thursday/Friday, November 1/2, 2012

iRead  -- Basic 8 #3 Sign-up  and read your book!
           --  Optional field trip with permission slip*

 


     

 





Highly recommended horror/fantasy:
The House with a Clock in Its Walls 
and The Dark Secret of Weatherend
   by John Bellairs
and The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase





iWrite -- Argument Practice
If you missed school today do the following: 

1. Watch the video at the end of this article:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/20/vegan-is-love-book_n_1441699.html
2. Pick up the handout for the writing assignment that goes with it and complete that here or at home. 
3. You could also watch the video and complete the writing assignment during cavetime.

 



iWrite-Right -- Sentence variety -- order, strength, length

If you missed school today do the following either in your composition book or on a piece of paper that you could tape into your composition book:
Select one of the sentences below and follow the directions: 

-->

Combine your set of short sentences and fragments into one sentence.

1.    The tree fell on the house. This was a sycamore. Because of the high winds. But my grandmother wasn't hurt.

(or)

Combine your set of sentences using a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, nor).

1.    Students have to park far from their classrooms. They are often late for class.

 

iLearn -- The Giver   characters  
                                  setting













Homework:  
          Have you brought back your               signature sheet?                                             

        Are you reading your Book #3?

Tuesday/Wednesday, October 30/31, 2012

Some interesting (maybe) links:  (There are more links at the bottom of this post that just might help you earn some extra credit.)

Term 2

Something You May Not Have Known About Ms. Dorsey

Today

iRead:  Read your book (hopefully your fantasy or science fiction book for your next Basic 8 Book) and fill out your reading log.  

Basic 8, Book #3 

Book #3.  Science Fiction/Distopian or Fantasy 

Book #4.   Science Fiction/Distopian or Fantasy   (Use the one you haven't already.)

Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

Defining Fantasy and Science Fiction

Books Not Allowed for the Outside Reading Assignment

If you weren't here today, watch this PowerPoint for Science Fiction and Fantasy: Science Fiction Fantasy.ppt

Ask a classmate to show you how to create your "Book Shelf" page in your composition book.  

 

 

iWrite: If I Were in Charge of the World 10/230. Read the poem by Judith Viorst and create your own version.

In case you're absent, or don't finish in class:  "If I Were in Charge of the World"
You may do it in your composition book or write it on a paper to tape into your composition book. 
Write at least 8 or 10 lines.

 

iWrite Right: Commas “Use a comma when you are listing more than two things in a sentence.”
If you weren't here today, view this PowerPoint: Commas.ppt
Write down a rule and two sentences using the serial comma (commas in a series). 


iLearn: The Giver  -- 
This slideshow applies to our classroom books as well.
Join our Book-Savers Club for a required five (5) points.

How to Open a New Book

Taking Care of Library Books from William Breitsprecher

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Extra Credit:  See Ms. Dorsey to pass off any of these.

Extra Credit Poems

Extra Credit: Nothing in Heaven Functions As It Ought

 No extra credit for this one, but you might want to read one or more of these scary books: 

Neil Gaiman's Recommended Scary Books

Lois Lowry, Author of The Giver

Lois Lowry, age 12, when her family lived in Tokyo.

Lois Lowry, age 12, is on the far left, second row in this class picture.

Something You May Not Have Known About Ms. Dorsey

Sometimes she hangs out with very strange people!
And they have fun times!
Extra credit if you can tell me what the vampire we're with is called:
Dracula, Edward, Nosferatu, Count Orlock, or Chocula?

These pictures were taken, not at a haunted house, but after a play presented at UVU a couple of years ago.  The  girls are my daughters.  The vampire, I believe, is not related to us.  

Extra Credit Poems

How does this poem by Rita Dove  fit with themes found in  The Giver?
Memorize it for up to 8 points of extra credit.  (This offer expires May 23.)

Poem: 

The First Book, by Rita Dove   

Open it.
Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well...maybe a little.
More a nip, like. A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.
You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.
Sure, it's hard to get started;
remember learning to use
knife and fork? Dig in:
you'll never reach bottom.
It's not like it's the end of the world-
just the world as you think
you know it. 

--found at http://thechocolatechipwaffle.blogspot.com/2009/02/poem-first-book-by-rita-dove.html 

 ______________________________________________________________________________

How could you relate this poem to The Giver?  Earn up to ten points of extra credit.  (This offer expires May 23.)

When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
          -- Walt Whitman

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;

Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

 

 _______________________________________
A "science fiction" poem:   Up to 15 points for memorizing the whole poem.

This poem works as a riddle.  Can you  figure out what is being described and who is seeing it that way. You could call this a "science fiction" poem!
Here is the poem: (By the way, May Swenson originally came from Utah. She was born in Logan, attended the University of Utah, and became a world-famous poet.)

Southbound. . .
By May Swenson

A tourist came in from Orbitville,
parked in the air, and said:

The creatures of this star
are made of metal and glass.

Through the transparent parts
you can see their guts.

Their feet are round and roll
on diagrams or long

measuring tapes, dark
with white lines.

They have four eyes.
The two in the back are red.

Sometimes you can see a five-eyed
one, with a red eye turning

on the top of his head.
He must be special—

the others respect him,
and go slow

when he passes, winding
among them from behind.

They all hiss as they glide,
like inches, down the marked

tapes. Those soft shapes,
shadowy inside

the hard bodies—are they
their guts or their brains?

_________________________________________
More poems:
A welcome to winter:  http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/093.html

A grammar poem:  http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/106.html

Extra Credit: Nothing in Heaven Functions As It Ought

Up to 15 points are available for learning this poem.
What does this poem have in common with the novel The Giver?

Nothing in Heaven Functions As It Ought

Nothing in Heaven functions as it ought:
Peter's bifocals, blindly sat on, crack;
His gates lurch wide with the cackle of a cock,
Not turn with a hush of gold as Milton had thought;
Gangs of the slaughtered innocents keep huffing
The nimbus off the Venerable Bede
Like that of an old dandelion gone to seed;
And the beatific choir keep breaking up, coughing.

But Hell, sleek Hell hath no freewheeling part:
None takes his own sweet time,
none quickens pace.
Ask anyone, How come you here, poor heart?--
And he will slot a quarter through his face,
You'll hear an instant click, a tear will start
Imprinted with an abstract of his case.

by X.J. Kennedy


Illustrations: 
Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates
slots for coins
The Venerable Bede -- shown with a nimbus (a halo)
cherubs -- who could be some of the "slaughtered innocents" -- the babies who were killed by Herod in his attempt to get rid of the one who the Wise Men told him would be the new king (Jesus).

Vocabulary:
Peter -- Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ;
traditionally, the keeper of the gates of heaven.

Bifocals – eyeglasses, having two portions, one for near and one for far vision.

His gates – The gates of heaven, the Pearly Gates

Milton -- John, 1608–74, English poet.

Nimbus -- a shining cloud sometimes surrounding a deity when on earth.

Venerable Bede -- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Benedictine monk, priest, historian, Doctor of the Church, d. 735.

Venerable: commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity -- The suffix “-able” turns a word into an adjective, and means “capable of.”

Beatific: serene, exalted, angelic, rapturous.

Freewheeling: moving about freely, independently, or irresponsibly.

Abstract: a summary of a text, scientific article, document, speech, etc.

Neil Gaiman's Recommended Scary Books

You really shouldn't miss reading The House with a Clock in Its Walls and other John Bellairs books!
Ms. Dorsey recommends Neil Gaiman's  The Graveyard Book.

Friday, October 26 and Monday, October 29, 2012

Friday the 26th was the last day of first term.

To keep the A-Day, then B-Day schedule going, we are using October 29 to finish up watching The Outsiders.   For B7 and B8, the Venn diagram will count on the new term. 

Reminders:  Your next book assessment book -- Basic 8, Book #3 -- will be a science fiction or fantasy novel.  Watch for further instructions, the book sign-up, and a parent approval form.

• See suggested books under the tab above for Required Reading. 
• Check also the Do-Not-Read List. 

• Books you may NOT use for the Book-of-the-Month assignments

•  Special notes on Do-Not-Read:  
• You may not use The Giver or any book you are reading for a literature class.   
• Your book must be from the assigned genre, be over 100 pages, be a book you haven't read before,  and must be approved by the teachers or you will receive a zero on your book assessment. 

Today: 
1. Short iRead  -- DO NOT pick up your composition books.
2. iWatch and iShow-What-I-Know 

Watch the rest of the video of The Outsiders -- if the class is   prepared and has behaved well enough.
Fill in a Venn Diagram for The Outsiders.
BookMovieVenn.doc


Don't forget to hand in your Venn diagram!

Friday, October 26 is the last day of Term 1.   
Friday, October 19 is the last day 
to hand in late or revised work.

Finish watching the video of The Outsiders -- if the class is prepared and has behaved well enough.

How is the video similar to and different from the book?

originally posted October 9, 2012

Wednesday/Thursday, October 24/25, 2012

Reminders:  Any reading log make-up work must be handed in by the end of school on October 25.

1. iRead:  Individual reading and fill out reading log!
    You may spend this time cutting out, gluing, and hanging your cube.  If you do, on your reading log write "hanging cube."










iWrite: Heroes 10/24. Are Ponyboy, Dally, and Johnny heroes? Why/why not? What does a hero look like?









iwrite-right:  Complete Sentences?  Subjects?  Verbs?  Oh, my!

SubjectVerbID.doc

Begin watching the video of The Outsiders -- if the class is   prepared and has behaved well enough.
Fill in a Venn Diagram for The Outsiders.
BookMovieVenn.doc

Today we read		from page	on audio	to page	on audio
A1	The Outsiders video to 24:29	92	Chapter 6, 13:13	about 104?
A3	The Outsiders to 16:56	94	Chapter 6, 16:22	105	34:18
A4	The Outsiders to 19:00	90	Chapt. 6-- 9:32	Darry crying at the hospital	23:15
B7	The Outsiders	83, top	We crouched. . .  34:10	to chapter 7 -- page 100	Chapter 6, 24:46
B8	The Outsiders	95, top	Chapter 8, 17:08	p. 107	Chapter 6, 38:08

Originally posted on October 9, 2012. 

Monday/Tuesday, October 22/23, 2012

 Reminders:
Your Basic 8, Book #2 is due today. Your final copy (cardstock cube) is due today. 
Today by 4 pm is the last opportunity to receive points for the Basic 8, Book #2 assignment. 

No more late or revised work is accepted this week, except the reading make-up log. 

If you need to do reading log make-up, hand that in by Thursday.

1.   iRead and work on cubes  -- Finish them up to share them  and hand them in today. 

2.  iWrite: The Outsiders Character 10/22. Pick a character. Why or why not would you advise hanging out with him/her? Why or why not? (Which character would you like to hang out with?)

 

3. iListen/Read The Outsiders and put cubes together

4. iShow-What-I-Know: Share my Cube and listen to other about theirs


5. Hanging the cubes and listening to more of The Outsiders 

Your Basic 8, Book #2 Assessment is due today. This is a firm  deadline since we are in the last week of the term when no late work is accepted. 

Not finished with your Basic 8, Book #2 Assessment?

Today we read		from page	on audio	to page	on audio
A1	The Outsiders	92	Chapter 6, 13:13	about 104?
A3	The Outsiders	94	Chapter 6, 16:22	105	34:18
A4	The Outsiders	90	Chapt. 6-- 9:32	Darry crying at the hospital	23:15
B7	The Outsiders	83, top	We crouched. . .  34:10	to chapter 7 -- page 100	Chapter 6, 24:46
B8	The Outsiders	95, top	Chapter 8, 17:08	p. 107	Chapter 6, 38:08

 Create a tweet or a headline: 

 

Today's Google Banner -- Moby Dick!

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/1018/Herman-Melville-books-Remembering-the-author-of-Moby-Dick

Charlotte's Web Turns Sixty

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162735079/some-book-charlottes-web-turns-60

Article about Tim Burton -- and Other Artists

I'm hoping that this link to Scholastic Art works for you because this is a great magazine with interesting information about Tim Burton this month.

http://art.scholastic.com/issues/11_01_12/book#/1