Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Make up for the September Book-of-the-Month Club is available on Thursday, September 29.  Come to Ms. Dorsey's room for Cave Time.  Bring your book and notes.    Because this is a test, you may not do it at home.

When you come to do it, you will go to Friday, September 23, 2011 on this blog.

Self-Starter:  Pick up your composition books.  Pick up the tape-in from the back table. Follow the directions on the tape-in.  Complete this editing exercise based on a sentence from the novel Jack's Run*:  How'd They Do It - Capitalization, Etc.doc

How'd They Do It Caps Spanish.doc  (This may not be a very correct translation, but should give some idea of what our assignment is saying.)

Extra Credit Opportunity: (available all year)

Find errors (capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc.) in published material (books, magazines, newspapers, copyrighted Internet text) and show me the errors.

_________________
2.  Reading The Outsiders (and listening to the audio book) --
A1 from page 57  --(disk 45, track 1, 19:16) to page 80 (page 45, track 2, 30:48)
A2 from age  49 (disk 45, track 1, 7:19) to page 75 (page 45, track 2, 22:21)
A3  from page 51  (disk 45, track 1, 10:14) to page 75  (page 45, track 2, 22:24)
A4 from  page 58   (disk 45, track 1, 21:15) to page 82  (page 45, track 2, 34:34)

List episodes/events in your composition book.  

Extra Credit Poem Memorization

 

We did play a bit of Sparkle today to practice commonly confused and other often-missed spelling words. 

  __________________________________________

*Here is a description of the novel Jack's Run by Roland Smith

From Booklist  -- Gr. 5-8. In Zack's Lie (2001), after Jack's dad's arrest for drug trafficking, the family entered the Witness Security Program to hide from the dangerous drug cartel that will be exposed in court. As the story picks up in this action-packed sequel, Jack arrives in Los Angeles to stay with his college-age sister, Joanne, only to find that she has foolishly blown their cover. Kidnapped and flown to Argentina, Jack and Joanne show their mettle in a series of violent confrontations and other frightening situations. Filling in readers on the background from the previous book takes a bit of time, but once the pace of the story picks up, it never flags; both the heroes and the villains seem larger than life. Sometimes the story strains credibility but may be just the thing for readers who crave plot-driven fiction full of action and danger. Carolyn Phelan  Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

__________________________________________

Reminder:  Don't forget to study  your commonly confused words and to watch for them  -- and spell them correctly -- in your writing! 

Book-of-the-Month:  Find another novel, but in a different genre, and read it by October 25.   For example, if you read a fantasy book in September, you could read an adventure or historical fiction or other genre this month

To find our lists of recommended books and of books you may not use, go to
http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Recommended-Books

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

October 5, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:  Everyday Editing

Label your composition book with today's date.  

More on capitalization: Create a list with each of the capitalized words (or word sets/phrases from the following passage and tell for each one why it is capitalized. Are there twelve, thirteen? 

 

     Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom.  How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power.  Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step anonymous meetings -- alcoholics, gamblers, and overeaters -- was still her favorite.
     Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy.
                                                                              -- Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)

Here is the passage without the capitalized words (the specific details):
    A girl crouched in a wedge of shade behind the thing.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of the place, she listened as a man told the story of how he had hit rock-bottom. 

_____________________________

2.  Reading minute:  A1 Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

A2 The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

A3 none -- double next time

A4  Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

3. Ms. Dorsey showed and example and discussed filling out the character chart for the Book-of-the Month Assignment.

 

4. If the Internet is available, we will go to Computer Lab 223, and students will complete the district writing assignment.   

Bring along a book to read in case you finish early.

Important reminders:
Your October Book-of-the-Month Assignment is due October 19. Have your book read and bring it and your extensive notes on a character from the book.  You should be signing up for your book of the month.  The last day you may receive points for signing up is October 8.
If you were absent when we went to the lab to take these tests,  you will need to take the MyAccess writing test in computer lab (Room 223) during one Cave Time, and the SRI in the computer lab during another.
If you were here and did not finish the SRI, you may finish it in the computer lab (Room 223)  during Cave Time. For the SRI, print your results and bring them to me.

Your September Book-of-the-Month project was due on the 21st.  You may still hand it in for points minus 25% up until October 22nd.


Make sure you're up-to-date on your composition book at The Composition Book -- So Far.

Capitalization  Utah State Core Standard 2, Objective 3b.  Correct capitalization of sentence beginnings and proper nouns. Jeff Anderson (in Everyday Editing) suggests that students need to know about these reasons to capitalize: •    Proper nouns      - - specific names of people           - - specific places such as cities, states, countries, stores, restaurants                - - Brand names •   Proper adjectives       -- Proper nouns used as adjectives •   Titles      -- books      -- songs      -- TV shows and movies      -- poems •   first word of a direct quotation      -- dialogue      -- quotes form other works when it's the entire sentence •   titles used before a person's name      -- professional titles      -- government titles      -- personal titles initialisms (DVD) Anderson also shares misunderstandings you may need to clarify: •    Confusion about what makes things specific enough for capitalization (wanting to capitalize oak because it's a specific type of tree) •   Students who write in all capital letters (all caps) -- Don't do it. •   The height ratio between a capital letter and a lowercase letter -- The capital letter is about twice as high as the lower case letter.

October 14/19, 2009

 October 14/19, 2009


1. Time  for reading the Book-of-the-Month Club books.
Watch for what you're learning from the book, or what  you appreciate about your book.  What will you tell the author about your experience with this book?

I'm going to give you longer to read your October book.  You have until the end of the month to have it read and be ready to write your letter to the author. 

[ B1  looked at passage from a novel, and talked about why words in it are (and aren't capitalized). 

    When I was nine, my parents borrowed my grandmother's new Ford Mustang because it had air conditioning and because my grandmother insisted, and because there was no way our old Chevy could make the two thousand miles from our house on Mayo Avenue in Houston to Decker, Montana, where my father's old Army buddy owned a sheep ranch. . . . It was the first day after third grade at Pearl Rucker Elementary School, and I held the bag of peppermints Mrs. Dodge had given me, along with a note: "Thank you for being my star this year."  I didn't like peppermints, but they were from Mrs. Dodge, and I loved Mrs. Dodge.  So my two younger sisters wouldn't get a single one for the whole drive there and back.  We drew imaginary boundaries on the vinyl seat and dared each other to cross them.
 -- Kathi Appelt, My Father's Summers (2004)

--Why aren't "grandmother's"  and "grandmother" capitalized? ]

 

2. The Outsiders (Follow along and watch for information about your assigned character. Also watch for themes.)

Reading The Outsiders -- Watch for topics and themes.

B1 -- page 96, to page 118

B2 -- page 96 to page  (Help me out, please, students.  I didn't write it down.)

B4 -- page 109  to page 125
We also wrote about a quote from Johnny on page 121: "Sixteen years ain't long enough. . . '

A1 -- page 99 to page115  "I'm not going to show at the rumble tonight."

A2 -- page 107 to page 122 "A nurse appeared in the doorway."


A4 - page 109 to page 127 "Cherry Valance was sitting. . . "





B4 and A2 and         wrote to this prompt in their composition books:
Under writing, record today's date, then answer the question, "What do you want to see and experience and accomplish during your life?"  Johnny says on page 121, "I don't want to die now.  It ain't long enough.  Sixteen years ain't long enough.  I wouldn't mind it so much if there wasn't so much stuff I ain't done yet and so many things I ain't seen.  It's not fair."  So what do you want to see and experience and accomplish before you die?

Capitalization

Why capitalize?
Always for the pronoun "I"
to begin a sentence
to Begin a direct quotation
the first word of a greeting or closing of a letter
Proper nouns
    days of the week, holidays, and months of the year
    the name of a language
    
Proper adjectives
Initialisms
Forms of address (Mr., Aunt, President when used as part of the name)
    the official title of a human being when used with that person’s name
Initials in someone’s name
First and last word and important words in a title

October 8/9, 2009

 October 8/9, 2009
Bring your October Book-of-the-Month next time we meet. 
You should have your book read by October 20/21.  

If you haven't, sign up for your Book-of-the-Month-Club book.

If there are words among our Commonly Confused Words that you haven't yet mastered, or if you were absent and still need to take the test, you can (if needed) get another copy of the chart at
Seventh Grade Confusing Words for Term 1 (and on) Spelling

Please let me know if this works -- downloading the chart by using this link.


1. Lesson on Capitalization -- For what reasons do we capitalize words?
Find capitalized words in books, magazines, newspapers.    Determine why each one is capitalized.
Create categories and "file" the words under those categories.
See handout on our wiki:  http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/October-2009-Handouts

What capitalized words do you find in this passage, and why are they capitalized?
    Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom.  How he quit drinking and found his Higher Power.  Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step anonymous meetings -- alcoholics, gamblers, and overeaters -- was still her favorite.

     Sammy told of the day when he had drunk half a gallon of rum listening to Johnny Cash all morning in his parked '62 Cadillac, then fallen out of the car when he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger seat biting his dog, Roy.

--Susan Patron, The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)

Here is the passage without the capitalized words (the specific details):
    A girl crouched in a wedge of shade behind the thing.  Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of the place, she listened as a man told the story of how he had hit rock-bottom.


2. Zombie Haiku
Today we will write Zombie Haiku.   The  Haiku form we are using today is a three line poem using a specific number of syllables See the handout on our wiki: http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/October-2009-Handouts

Example of Zombie Haiku from Chris Crowe, BYU professor, author, and 'ku Master for the Central Utah Writing Project:

z’ bumper sticker:                      "z'" is an abbreviation for zombie.  "'ku" is an abbreviation for haiku.
“a brain is a terrible
thing to waste.” eat up.

Writing Zombie Haiku  
Each student is writing three (3) haiku -- about zombies or something else scary.

Three lines:                                            
1st Line – 5 syllables                       
2nd Line – 7 syllables                      
3rd Line – 5 syllables                        
Have fun!

zombie haiku are                 
highly addictive ‘cuz they       
get into your blood                

beware, seventh grade!          
Dorsey and other teachers    
get into your brains              
                              -- Ms. D.

And another one from Ms. D -- Added 1-28-11 to save it.
Zombie guys aren't jerks.
We want more than your body,
Loving best your brains.

3. The Outsiders (Follow along and watch for information about your assigned character. Also watch for themes.)

Reading The Outsiders -- Watch for topics and themes.

B1 -- page 83, top to page to  (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)

B2 -- page 85, chapter 4 to  (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)

B4 -- top of page 103 to   (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)
      

A1 -- page 73 ". . . a Halloween costume we can't get out of" to  (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)

A2 -- page 96 to  (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)


A4 --from page 93 -- halfway down -- not quite to the break yet -- to   (We didn't read any more from The Outsiders today.)

February 6/9, 2009

February 6/9, 2009
If you haven't, turn in your book approval. February 24th is coming up quickly, when your project is due. See the rubric for the assignment, and the example on the bulletin board by the classroom door.

Today we're checking your reading log to see that you're reading and writing and answering questions.

Today:
1. Lie/lay quiz. Do you know which form of the word to use when using the past, present, and future tenses of lie and lay?

2. Students watched part of the Words By Heart movie -- chapters 5 and 6.
They used their composition books to take notes.
Their reading logs were checked.

3. Mr. Christensen helped students review rules for capitalization, punctuation, and commas in a series.

Capitalization

There's a great chart of capitalization rules at http://www.eliterateeducation.com/site/capitalization.htm

October 24, 2007

October 24, 2007
Students finished handing in work today for Term 1. Next term I will strictly adhere to my policy (see the disclosure document), and no late work will be accepted after the deadline -- about one week before the end of the term.

Students had the opportunity to present their projects if they haven't. Students had the opportunity to finish up late or incomplete work.

We played a capitalization game.

We started watching the movie of The Outsiders. Where we left off, Ponyboy and Johnny have just arrived at the abandoned church at Windrixville.

October 22, 2006

October 22, 2006

1. Finish capitalization exercise if needed. After some correcting (the paragraph at the end), students handed in their paper.
2. We finished reading The Outsiders.
3. We answered questions about The Outsiders. (See below.)
4. Group Term Project Presentations
5. If time, we played a capitalization game for house points.
Reminders: If you haven’t handed in your Reading Bingo, talk to Ms. Dorsey.
Hand in your signed progress report.

Finishing Up The Outsiders
Answer these questions clearly and legibly, using complete sentences. Then hand in this paper to the top wire basket for your class. If you don’t finish answering this in class, finish it as homework and hand it in next time. Don’t forget!
Answer question #1 using the book.
1. Ponyboy explains that he writes the story of The Outsiders for what reasons? (page 179)
Answer question #2 using the on the separate sheet.
2. S.E. Hinton says she wrote The Outsiders when she was sixteen because. . .
Answer at least two of the following questions from your own experience sand understanding:
3. Are you an “insider” or an “outsider” at American Fork Junior High? Or are you sometimes one and sometimes the other? Explain.
4. What can you do, or what have you done, to help yourself become an “insider” at the junior high? Give at least one specific example.
5. How can you help others, or how have you helped others, who might feel like “outsiders”? Give at least one specific example.
(State Core: Standard 2, Objective 1: write about how a text relates to my own life
Preparing for Standard 2, Objective 2: recognizing author’s purpose)

Quoting S.E. Hinton: "I wrote The Outsiders because I was worried and angered by the social situation in high school. I saw two groups at the extreme ends of the social scale behaving in an idiotic fashion. I could see both sides of the situation, but I naturally had the most sympathy for the side that was treated the most unfairly. When a friend of mine was beaten up for no other reason than that some people didn't like the way he combed his hair, I took out my anger by writing about it."