Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Mini-Lessons from the Aug/Sept. Book Project

Central Idea:
When you write the first sentence (topic sentence) for a paragraph or essay, include the subject (topic) of what you are writing and a statement about it.   If you are writing about a book, tell the title of the book in that first sentence, and perhaps the author's name, too.

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What is Intended Audience? Looking at magazine covers may help you to understand what is meant by "intended audience."  


The dedication is not the intended audience.

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How to Write Book Titles:
When you are handwriting the title of a book, underline it.
When you are typing the title of a book, italicize it.

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How to Write Legibly: 
If you need to, work on improving your handwriting or hand printing.  Especially watch how you form upper case and lower case letters.

If you are having a hard time with Capitalization, click on that link.

If the problem is forming the letters, here are a few common problems that I see:

Lower case "a" and "o"  are closed at the top.  The letter "u" is open at the top.
For me to tell whether you can spell a word or not, you need to form your letters properly. 

Do not make block letters.  This is just to show that the upper case S is about twice the height of the lower case s. 

I see a lot of "p's" floating all over the place.
The upper case P has its "tail" above the line, and resting on the line.
The lower case p has its tail below the line.
For me to tell whether you know what to capitalize,
you need to write in capital and lowercase letters. 

The terms upper and lower case come from the days when printers used metal type.  The letters were kept in divided cases, and the "upper case" letters were kept in the upper case.  The "lower case" letters were use more often, so they were placed where they were easy to reach. 

In case you are not sure how to form the upper and lower case letters, here is a useful chart:

Upper and Lower Case Alphabet



Carefully show that your lower case r's are not n's and vice-versa.

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How to Spell Correctly:
Notice those words you frequently misspell, and learn how to spell them correctly! 
Here is a study method that helps a lot of students:   Procedure for Studying Spelling Words

When you are editing major assignments to hand in, look up the spelling for every word you are not sure of.

Easy Spelling Hint:  When you have a word right in front of you already -- such as in a writing prompt or in a book you are writing about -- look at how that word is spelled, and spell it correctly in your own writing.



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Do not use the ampersand [&] as an abbreviation for "and." Write out the word.

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