Proofreading

Oops!

http://www.incidentalcomics.com/2016/10/proofreaders-marks.html

Copywriter's Object to These Common Errors

Editing

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

September 15, 2010

Bell-Ringer: Pick up composition book.  See the overhead: [If you are absent, see the assignment here.  You could do it on a piece of paper to tape into your composition book.]
**************************************************
Everyday Editing -- Using colons with a list!

9/15/10

a. Sentences:  Read these sentences.  What do you notice?

The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and roll of grip tape for my skateboard.                                                          -- Carl Hiaasen, Flush (2006)

     "Empty your pockets!"

     Reluctantly, one by one, Hugo pulled out dozens of objects: screws and nails and bits of metal, gears and crumpled playing cards, tiny pieces of clockworks, cogs and wheels.

   -- Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)

The TSA employee emptied my backpack: three books, a journal, and 17 pens.                                                            -- Jeff Anderson                                                                                              

It’s your turn to imitate.  Use this pattern to create a sentence.

____________ told me to empty my ___________: _____________, _____________, and ______________. 

 from Jeff Anderson's Everyday Editing

 ******************************************************************
Everyday Editing: Colons to Precede a List docx

b. Also write a paragraph about the groups you belong to.  These could be sports teams, club, school groups, and other groups of people you belong to.

Reading Minute:
The Paper Doorway: Funny Verse and Nothing Worse  by Dean Koontz (Yes, the writer of horror fiction!)
___________________________________

Them and Us

 I wasn't invited to the party.
Oh, I'll set loose some wolves on them!
They're so very smart and so very arty.
Oh, I'll throw hives of bumblebees at them!
They'll all be playing games and having fun,
Till I stampede a herd of bulls through them!
They think they're so special, A-number-one,
They won't be special when I --

Wait.
Fate.
The mail was late.

Here's my invitation
To the celebration.

Oh, I've been invited to the party.
We are all so smart and very arty.
How sad that you should be so envious.
Not just everyone can be one of us.
_______________________________________

Classroom library
Class librarian:
A1 --
A2 --
A3 --
A4  --

The Outsiders 
Members of the Club --
Anticipation Guide --
List traits of characters in the composition book.
To what groups does Ponyboy (the narrator) belong? 


A1   to top of page 14
A2  to top of page 13
A3 to top of page 13
A4  to top of page 13?

Time to read independent books

Important reminders:
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 Book-of-the-Month project is due on September 21 -- next Tuesday!

There will be retakes (for those who have already taken it)  of the teachers' names spelling test during Cave Time on September 17 and 23.

Extra Credit:   Don't miss the opportunity for extra credit from memorizing the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost.   Extra Credit Poem Memorization 

March 22/23, 2010

March 22/23, 2010

Editing Self-Starter: 
Subject-Verb Agreement exercise taped into composition books, edited carefully, and corrected together

New seating assignments

We watched more of the Shackleton DVD.   B4 finished the DVD.

February 25/26, 2010

February 25/26, 2010

Important note:  Please check your scores on MYAccess.  Many students still need to revise and edit  their work on the Theme in Literature essay (your January Book-of-the-Month assessment)  and the Persuasive essay (based on The Giver).   A few still need to do one or more of these assignments. 

Reminders: 
-- The last day to work on either of these assignments for credit is March 12. However, if you do not submit before March 4, you will not be able to receive points for revising.
-- Your user name is your first name and student number.  Your password is 999 with your last name.
-- Check messages and comments on PowerSchool and when you log into MYAccess.

Activity 1 :  Self-Starter.  In your composition book, under writing, tape the small handout, edit the passage, and write in answer to the prompt. 

Activity 2: Spelling test today on the spelling words based  on the suffix "-tion":

-tion means act or state

Words: attention, population, operation, transportation

  

Extra Credit:  

trans = across

port = to carry

at = to 

"tend" = bend or stretch

  

oper = to work

populare  = people, to inhabit

New spelling list:
Vocabulary/Spelling #19            Test on  March 3-4
 Prefix to study:   un-  which means   not
1.    unable
2.    unfit
3.    unequal
4.    unearned
5.    undone


Activity 3:  Examples of Timeline and Who's Who.
   Upload the example of the Timeline here:

Project: Example of Timeline

   Upload the example of the Who's Who here: 

Project: Example of Who's Who

Your project will be due March 8, with no late work after March 12. 

Activity 4: Read Ice Story in Groups

Activity 5: Watch more of the DVD for Shackleton, an A&E movie about the Shackleton Expedition. 

February 23/24, 2010

Bring your nonfiction book today to read or to work on the external text feature you have chosen to create. 

Activity self-starter 1a. Prepare for spelling test by  completing a crossword or wordsearch.

Activity self-starter1b.  In your composition book, under writing, tape the small handout, edit the passage, and write in answer to the prompt.

1) Fix the punctuation and capitalization in this passage. (Editing)

growing up in westchester new york elizabeth cody kimmel did not find much in the way of sub-zero temperatures and blizzards to play in. In her imagination, however, each winter brought the frozen wasteland of antarctica to her doorstep, and in her dreams she explored the icy peaks and glaciers surrounding the south pole.

2) Prompt:  If you could go exploring, where would you go? Why? 

Activity 2: Class watches a clip from Ice Story.

Activity 3: Groups read from Ice Story, collect information for their external text features. 

Activity 4:  Time for individuals to read and work on projects for their own nonfiction books.

October 28/29, 2009

October 28/29, 2009

Zombie Alert: Check out yesterday’s “Zits” comic strip.  If you click on the red “Next” button under the strip, you can also see today’s Zombie strip: http://www.arcamax.com/zits/s-633189-374870

 Thank you to Chris Crowe.


1.  Reading/Writing Time:  You may use this time to either read your Book-of-the-Month or work on your "scary" story.

2.  Everyday editing: What do you notice?  (including Capitalization)

   He was lying in bed, a breeze was blowing through the screened in porch, and he was feeling comfortable for the first time in twenty-four hours.  It wasn't so much the heat that bothered him in Manteo, it was the humidity -- sticky, cloying, like swimming through warm chicken broth.

     The Greenes had moved to Manteo in November.  The weather was fine throughout the winter and spring, but when school let out in June, the heat wrapped Roanoke Island in the shroud of perpetual humidity.   The only relief can between five and eight o'clock in the morning, when an Atlantic breeze blew in from the Outer Banks.  The best place to catch a breeze was the screened-in porch overlooking their back yard.

 -- Roland Smith, Jack's Run (2007)  

3.  Selecting books for book groups
4.  More about the October Book-of-the-Month Letter to an Author 

We looked at examples of summarizing (Don't) and synthesis (Do!), and students created a chart in their composition books to record ideas for their letters to authors. 
The chart had three headings:  emotions, thoughts, and text-to-self connections.  Students filled in as much of the chart as they could for their October Book-of-the-Month.


Students received the Prompt for this letter, which we will be doing on My Access.  A student could begin the letter on My Access now, or just work on preparing ideas and a rough draft.  We will be in the computer lab November 3/4. 



Watch for the Term 2 Targets.

September 2/3, 2009

September 2/3, 2009
1. We had about 12-15 minutes of reading time/time to look for books in the classroom.

2. Students took the spelling test on their teachers' names, administrators, and counselor.

3. We corrected the tests in class.

4. Students received their new spelling assignment, which is the Seventh Grade Core Confusing Words. Each student got a chart of the words and selected one of the sets of words to present to the class (individually or with a partner or two). Words presented will be represented with a small poster, and some other way to help classmates remember which spelling is which!
For the chart of confusing words, go to http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/ or click on the words -- Seventh Grade Confusing Words for Term 1 (and on) Spelling
If you didn't get a chance to sign up for a word set and date to present, see Ms. Dorsey.
The test on these confusing words will be on October 6/7.

5. We did Everyday Editing.

How can you know what’s missing if you’ve never met it? You must know of something’s existence before you can notice its absence.
-- E.L Konigsburg, The View from Saturday (1996)
When we look first at model sentences, then we can learn what it takes to create successful sentences. Then we look at the same sentences, with changes, and look for what the changes are, and how they affect the sentence. We're practicing editing skills.

How'd They Do It? (What’s different?)
For each set, notice what is different between the original and the changed version.

Set 1:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.
-- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)


His room smelled of cooked grease Lysol, and age.

----------------------------------------------
Set 2:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.
-- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

His room smelled.

----------------------------------------------
Set 3:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.
-- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

His room smelled of cooked grease, lysol, and age.

----------------------------------------------
Set 4:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.
-- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

His room smell of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.

-----------------------------------------------
Set 5:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age.
-- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)


His room smelled off cooked grease, Lysol, and age.



6. Our vocabulary term for today was "character traits." What are traits?
We listed categories of traits we might use to describe a person, or an author might use to develop a character.

7. We looked at two poems that showed character traits of characters in them.
See Elements of Literature, pages 140 ("Immigrants" by Pat Mora) and 399 ("My Father is a Simple Man" by Luis Omar Salina).

A1 didn't get to this poem -- A2 didn't do poems --
My Father Is a Simple Man
Luis Omar Salinas

I walk to town with my father
to buy a newspaper. He walks slower
than I do so I must slow up.
The street is filled with children.
We argue about the price
of pomegranates, I convince
him it is the fruit of scholars.
He has taken me on this journey
and it's been lifelong.
He's sure I'll be healthy
so long as I eat more oranges,
and tells me the orange
has seeds and so is perpetual;
and we too will come back
like the orange trees.
I ask him what he thinks
about death and he says
he will gladly face it when
it comes but won't jump
out in front of a car.
I'd gladly give my life
for this man with a sixth
grade education, whose kindness
and patience are true . . .
The truth of it is, he's the scholar,
and when the bitter-hard reality
comes at me like a punishing
evil stranger, I can always
remember that here was a man
who was a worker and provider,
who learned the simple facts
in life and lived by them,
who held no pretense.
And when he leaves without
benefit of fanfare or applause
I shall have learned what little
there is about greatness.

_____________

5. We continued reading The Outsiders.
B1 --page 5, bottom of page
B2 --page 7, "You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?"
B4 -- top of page 5
A1 -- (Did not read from The Outsiders today.)
A2 -- (Did not read from The Outsiders today.)
A4 -- page

August 25/26, 2009

Self-Starter: Students finished filling in their interview papers by talking with classmates they hadn't "interviewed" last time.

1. Students set up their composition books. Any students who don't have their composition books should get them as soon as possible. If your family can't get one, please talk with Ms. Dorsey.

2. Today's vocabulary word: "background knowledge," also called "schema" = what you already know. Both this and yesterday's word will go in the composition book under vocabulary.

3. Poem -- as another exposure to poetry, and to show the importance of background knowledge to understanding. See nearby post for "Nancy Hanks" by Rosemary Benet.

4. Everyday Editing -- Share and Celebrate.

"Serial commas help combine sentences and expand ideas by using sensory detail -- specific nouns and verbs." p. 50 of Everyday Editing by Jeff Anderson

"Lists can be a way to add specifics to our writing.'" p. 51 (sensory details)

Model sentence:
His room smelled of cooked grease, Lysol, and age. -- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)

An IMITATION of the model sentence:
Hector's room smelled of gym socks, Hot Cheetos, and lies. -- Jeff Anderson

Ms. Dorsey's IMITATION of the model sentence:
My car smells of Armour-All vinyl cleaner, banana peels, and teenagers.

Students worked together to create an imitation, describing the interior of a car.

Then each student used this framework to create their own sentence in their composition book (first entry under "writing"):

[Place] smells of ____________, ____________, and ______________.

Students were given time to write independently, creating more description based on that sentence, or creating other "smell of. . . " sentences.

We listened to a song titled "That Smell," and smelled some room deodorizer.

Students shared and celebrated sentences.

5. Celebrating
In some of the classes, Ms. Dorsey read the book I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor to the class. This book encourages celebrating, observing, and making connections.

6. Spelling -- Students should have their lists of names to spell and should be PRACTICING. It's a good idea to come up with memory helps for the more difficult names. For instance:
"If you're going to throw something in tech. ed., you'd better not aim at that man -- not at Mr. Aiman."

or, picture Mr. Thornton, dressed as a knight in armor, wielding his sword to try to cut through a ton of thorns, or just picture his classroom filled with thorns so you remember how to spell his name.
What ideas do you have to help yourself and others remember how to spell the teachers' names? Extra Credit Opportunity for those who bring original ideas to me!

7. Disclosure Document -- Students received the disclosure document. Remember to return the signatures and VIP form by September 1.

October 1/2, 2008

October 1/2, 2008

(1) Students worked together on an editing practice. Here is the assignment: (If you were absent, you could cut, paste, double space the lines, print it, and make the corrections.)

Student Name ________________ Period ___ Score ___/15
1 – 10. Find and correct ten or more mistakes in this paragraph:

Jake barreled into the classroom, hoping he could make it too his seat before the bell rang. He new he had to many tardies already. As Mrs. Dorsey listened to Suzanne recite a poem for extra credit, she wondered why Jake just couldn’t seem to get to class on time she decided to talk with him about it after she got the student’s started on their point of view assignment. At the same time, Julie and Robert were handing in there reading logs, happy that they had completed the assignment for the week. Maria didn’t here Ms. Dorsey tell the students to begin
the self-starter cause she was busy reading The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.

11 – 15. Tell from which point of view the paragraph is told, and explain how you knew.

(2.) We introduced the personal narrative assignment.
-- We will do this assignment step by step in class.

A narrative is a story. A narrative can be either fiction or nonfiction, but this on will be be nonfiction.
"Personal" means it is about you, yourself. It will be about something that really happened to you.

a. We looked at examples of student attempts at writing narrative, and talked about which was best. See a nearby post.

b. Ms. Dorsey shared ideas for stories she could write about some of her own experiences.
c. Students received a tape-in for their composition books (to be taped into the back of the book), and started writing down brief summaries of experiences they've had that could be turned into stories.
This is the information on the tape-in. It is meant to help you remember events you could write about.

Finding Story Ideas
What experiences have made you feel really happy or very sad?
What experiences have been very alarming or really frightening?
What experiences have made you feel proud of yourself?
What have been the most difficult tasks you have had to undertake?
What contests or games have you tried hard to win?
What experiences have made you feel embarrassed?
What experiences have made you feel ashamed of yourself?
What experiences have made you realize that you truly care about someone?
What experiences have made you laugh a lot?
What other experiences have you had that are worth sharing?

(3.) We listened to and followed along in the book with The Outsiders and students filled in a space on their reading log for The Outsiders.
B1 -- pg. 87 - 95
B2 -- pg. 83 - 93
B3 -- pg. 88 - 101
A1 -- pg. 89 - 97
A2 -- pg. 91 - 96

Students filled out another "day" on the white reading log for character in The Outsiders.

September 23/24, 2008

September 23/24, 2008
Self-Starter: Homophone editing quiz (with a partner if you wish).
Circle and correct all homophone and other spelling errors in the following selection. Show each correction above the word you circled. There are twelve (intentional) errors.

Your going to have a “test” on your Book-of-the-Month Club book this week. Don’t forget too bring you’re book when you come to class on Thursday or Friday. If you still have alot of reading to do, you’d better get busy! (Don’t forget to keep a reading log as your read.) You’ll be expected to rite about your book using the computer program Word. It would be a good idea between now and then too look for passages in you’re book that show the setting and the point of view two. Be able to explain how you know what the point of view is. Its also important for you to be able to tell about conflict in that novel. Think, to, about what you did and didn’t like about the novel, or what you especially liked. What are it’s best and worst points?

Class Activities:
1. Correct quizzes.
2. Lesson on external text features with Mr. Christensen. Ms. Dorsey read to the students a picture book: Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad. We discussed external text features in the book.
We made a list of external text features including titles, pictures, photos, summary, table of contents, illustrations, headings, subheadings, index, graphs, charts, lists, text boxes, italics, bold face, underlining, change of fonts, change of font size, change of color of text.

3. The Outsiders

B1 - to page 75
B2 -- to page 74
B3 -- to page 79
A1 -- to page 74
A2 -- to page 75

We practiced finding the sorts of evidence in a text that you will need to find in your novel for the test on your book-of-the-month.