Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Announcements and Reminders: 

• If you have not yet  handed in your December Book Assignment, hand it in TODAY.
• Hand in your hall passes if you are ready to not use any more. 
• We will be taking a retake on the main idea test and taking the post test on writing paragraphs.
• If you did not yet receive a response for your "Causes of Good Grades" Essay, see me. Tape the essay grading into your composition book, if you have not yet done that. 
• Do not forget to complete your spelling make-up assignment if you have one.
• When you are finished with your test, please quietly read or work on your spelling or another assignment.

1.  Individual Reading 

2.  How to Read a Prompt:  Use RAFTS.

Use Rafts to figure out what you are supposed to be writing.

Role

Audience

Format:  Essay? Letter? Poem? Story? 

Task: Verbs (action words)

Strong Key Words: Nouns and Adjectives (What is it about?)

3. Edit Using SMILES  

3.  Edit Using SMILES

S:  Use complete SENTENCES.

M: Use punctuation MARKS at the end of each sentence.

I:   INDENT to begin paragraphs.

L:  Use capital LETTERS to begin sentences and for proper nouns.

E:  EDIT for other conventions.

S:  Check for your own SPELLING problems.

4.  Main Idea Test -- Read the passage very carefully.   Check carefully for the central 

idea and carefully read to understand the details in the passage. 

When you finish taking the Main Idea Test, pick up and take the paragraph Post-Test. 

5.  Paragraph Post-Test  

Quick Review:

Parts of a Paragraph	Check your paragraph for --
Topic Sentence/Central Idea	1.     Did I write about EXACTLY what I was asked to write about?    2.     Is my topic sentence a complete sentence? 3.     Does it tell what the paragraph is about and make a statement about the topic? 4.     Did I include at least three major supporting details? 5.     Did I use transitions to show the relationships among sentences? 6.     Did I stay on topic through the whole paragraph? 7.     Did I avoid being too informal?      No slang      No texting abbreviations      No “dead words”        8.  Did I carefully edit my work?        9.  Does my paragraph feel finished?
Major Supporting Details: Use at least three.
Concluding Sentence

• When you are finished with your test, please quietly read or work on your spelling or another assignment.

Teacher notes: 

(Knock-Knock here and there) 

Birthdays?