Thursday, January 22, 2015

Thursday/Friday, January 22/23, 2015


Announcements and Reminders:

Pick up your composition book and the handout on the front desks.

-- On February 4, 6, 9, and 11, we will be taking the Utah state tests on writing -- informative and argument.  Do your best to be at school and to be prepared for testing.  Part of your preparation should be getting enough sleep and eating healthy meals.


-- The first one to tell me the pun of the day and why it is funny will earn 5 extra credit points!


January Book Assessment: Historical Fiction
(Using Nonfiction Sources to Verify Information)
Due February 11/12
Here is the assignment:  

Students received the assignment paper on January 20/21.

Sample for January Book Assignment


Be prepared with your questions for when we go to the computer lab to look up answers.

Lists of Recommended Books


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Today's Activities:

Pick up your composition book and the handout on the front desks.

1.  Read and mark an essay prompt and sample essay

This is about RAFTS and about how to write an essay: The Essay

This is the handout from today:  Model Argument Essay Grade 7.docx

2. Finish your crime scene report as a detective on the case of the dead man at the bottom of the stairs.
More argument -- Writing up a report on the case 

Write a paragraph as a police report on what you have observed and what you think is true.

1. Your central idea (claim) will be either
"Mrs. Volupides is not telling the truth."
or
"Mrs. Volupides is  telling the truth."
2.
   The first piece of evidence . . . is. . . .
(Explain the general rule why this piece of evidence shows that your claim/central idea is correct.)
    The second piece of evidence . . . is. . . .
(Explain the general rule why this piece of evidence shows that your claim/central idea is correct.)
    A third piece of evidence . . . is. . . .
(Explain the general rule why this piece of evidence shows that your claim/central idea is correct.)
Provide two more pieces of evidence and explain how each proves your claim.
3. Conclude by restating your claim.

Acknowledge and counter opposing claims:   
For example:  Even though a person may tumble down the stairs and end up facing upward, there are several other pieces of evidence that clearly show that Arthur did not fall from the top of the stairs.  

Even though some people may think that Arthur could have tumbled down the stairs and fallen face up, there are other aspects of the way he is lying that show that he did not fall from the top of the stairs.

Even though some people may think Arthur could have tumbled down the stairs (show and explain evidence about glass). . . .

Students traded composition books with their twelve o'clock appointment and marked each other's writing for claim, transitions, conclusion and acknowledging and countering an opposing claim. 


3. Conventions in Sentences Investigation 
Capitalizing and Punctuating Titles  (A1 needs the handout -- quiz next time.) for A1

B-Day classes: 

Title it: Chunking to Imitate       January 20/23, 2015

Directions:  Copy the model and then copy the sentence that imitates it.  Then chunk both the model and the sentence that imitates it into meaningful sentence parts, using a slash mark (/).

1. MODEL:  His face was bloody, his shirt torn and bloody down the front.
                   Hal Borland, When the Legends Die
a. The day was perfect, the sky blue and perfect in the heavens.
b. His sister married someone they didn’t know, a stranger to the family.



2. MODEL: Big, rough teenagers jostled through the crowd, their sleeves rolled high enough to show off blue and red tattoos.
               -- Robert Lipsyte, The Contender

a. An old, large man reached for the available chair and sat down, huffing and puffing, before I could get there.
b.   Silent, silver fish moved through the tank, their bodies sleek enough to suggest larger and more dangerous predators.


4. Reading and commenting on arguments. ( A1 did not do this.)


5. The A1 class went to the media center for the last ten minutes of class to find historical fiction books or read their own books because they hadn't had as much time previously as the other classes had been given.