April 14/15, 2010

April 14/15, 2010

A Reminder of the March-April Book-of-the-Month Assignment

Your Book-of-the-Month Club Project is due today!

Preparing for Core Testing.

Students took a brief practice test for the State Core Test

Practice for Core Test
B1 watched a PowerPoint about Main Idea.  If you were absent, see the PowerPoint and other materials at http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Finding-the-Topic-and-Main-Idea 

All B-Day classes took notes on topic, main idea, and internal text structures (A-Day did this last time.)

Notes on Finding a Topic

Use these clues when looking for the topic of a passage :

illustrations, captions

titles, headings, subheadings

repeated words

synonyms

pronouns

Notes on Finding or Creating a Main Idea

Main Idea = topic + the idea the author is stating about the topic

Main Idea and Topic Sentence are synonyms.

We usually talk about the "Main Idea" when we are talking about nonfiction.

The "main idea" in fiction is called the theme.

The Main Idea must be a complete sentence.

The Main Idea will NOT be a question.  It must be a statement.

Most Common Places in a paragraph or passage to Find the Main Idea:

1.  Beginning/First Sentence

2.  End/ Last Sentence

3.  Middle

4.  Not there!  This is called Implied or Unstated  (Those two words are synonyms.)

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We learned about using the verbs lay and lie and reviewed subject-verb agreement.  

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verbs lay and lie:
verb              meaning     forms: 1. present, 2, present participle (with helping verb), 3. past, 4. past participle (with helping verb)
"lay" means "to place"   forms:   1. lay, 2, laying,  3. laid, 4. laid
"lie" means "to recline"  forms: 1. lie, 2. lying, 3. lay, 4. lain

Notes on Lie/Lay Confusions

Lay, laid, laid  = to place   -- Notice that this verb takes a direct object.  That means it is acting on an object.  In the following sentences the object is the book.

Present tense (happening right now):  I __________ the book on my desk. (lay)

Past tense (happened in the past): Yesterday I __________ the book on my desk.  (laid)

Past participle (has happened in the past and may still be happening):

       I have _________ that book on my desk every day for a week.  (laid)

Lie, lay, lain = to recline   -- Notice that this verb does not take a direct object.  It is not doing something to an object. 

Present tense:  I ___________ on the couch right now.   (lie)

Past tense: Yesterday I __________ on the couch.  (lay)

Past participle:  I have ___________ on the couch every day for a week.  (lain)

 

Using the Irregular Verbs Lie and Lay  -- See this post for more information.

 

Attention B4:

Finding the Topic and Main Idea in a Passage/Paragraph
If you were absent or would like to review, find downloads of materials used in class at
  http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Finding-the-Topic-and-Main-Idea 

The download for B4 is here:

Work for B4 to do at home and hand in:  (Other classes may do these as practice.) 

You could download and print, complete the exercises and hand it in, or complete the exercises and then attach to an email to me.

April 12/13, 2010

April 12/13, 2010

If you were absent today, complete the practices for finding topics and main ideas linked below. 

Language Arts Core Testing Window: April 19 - 30    

Please come rested, eat breakfast, have a healthy lunch, bring a clear bottle of water, and you may chew gum while testing as long as we don't have to see or hear it. 
      Bring a book to read in case you finish early.  Your next Book-of-the-Month assignment is your choice of genres as long as it is at your reading level and 100 pages or more.   

Do not forget that your Book-of-the-Month Assignment is due NEXT TIME!

A Reminder of the March-April Book-of-the-Month Assignment

April is National Poetry Month 

Self-Starter:  Sampling poetry.  Students had the opportunity to read from several different poetry books.   Next week, bring a favorite poem to share. 

Finding the Topic and Main Idea in a Passage/Paragraph
If you were absent or would like to review, find downloads of materials used in class at
  http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Finding-the-Topic-and-Main-Idea 

The download for B4 is here:

Work for B4 to do at home and hand in:  (Other classes may do these as practice.) 

You could download and print, complete the exercises and hand it in, or complete the exercises and then attach to an email to me.


Not all classes got beyond this point:
Write  paragraphs with a main idea and supporting details using three internal text structures:
Write these in your composition books:
chronological: Write a paragraph in time order. 
Example:   As I was growing up, my family moved several times.  I was born in 1952 while my parents were farming in a small community just south of Burley, Idaho.  Then in 1961, when I was nine years old, our family moved to Dietrich, Idaho, an even smaller community.   After my freshman year in high school, we moved to Jerome, another Idaho community, but one that had a high school about sixteen times larger than the school I'd been attending.  I loved the opportunities and new friendships available at a larger school.  Before my junior year we moved to Filer and I attended my third high school, graduating as a valedictorian before moving with my parents to Richfield.  
 

sequence: Write a paragraph that tells about something that should be done in a certain sequence. 
Example: You can follow these steps to make Tammy Card's Chex Treats.  First mix one box of Rice Chex cereal with one can of cocktail peanuts in a large metal or glass bowl.  In a saucepan boil one cup of sugar, one and a half squares of margarine or butter, and one cup of corn syrup for two minutes.  Pour the sugar mixture over the cereal and nuts. Toss lightly, then add and toss in one bag of M&M's.  This is a great after-school snack that goes together really fast.  

 

descriptive: Write a paragraph describing something. 
 Example:  (showing several drafts) 

First Draft:

    An old skinny man sat alone in an open field. His dusty and tattered hat sat on his head. Under a broad and wrinkled forehead that looked like rows of dirt in a farmer's plowed field gleamed two eyes. Thin, grey straw-like hair stuck out from under the hat. (Add a few more sentences to complement a list of ten nouns).

Second Draft: (adjust nouns and adjectives, and look at verbs and adverbs)

    An old skinny man sat alone in an open field. His dusty and tattered hat quietly rested on his rounded head. Thin, grey straw-like hair poked its way out from under the brim of the dusty, tattered hat. Two contemplative eyes calmly spoke of hope from under a broad and wrinkled forehead that looked like a farmer's plowed field.

Third Draft: (change all verbs to present tense active verbs)

    An old skinny man sits alone in an open field. His dusty and tattered hat quietly rests on his rounded head. Thin, grey straw-like hairs poke their way from under the brim of the dusty, tattered hat. Two contemplative eyes calmly speak of hope from under a broad and wrinkled forehead that looks like a farmer's plowed field.

Fourth Draft: (add transitions)

    Today, an old skinny man sits alone on a park bench. People passing by fail to recognize that his dusty and tattered hat quietly rests on his rounded head. Thin, grey straw-like hairs poke their way from under the brim of the dusty, tattered hat waiting for someone to gift him with a simple glance. Two contemplative eyes calmly speak of hope even though hope seems to pass him by. From under a broad and wrinkled forehead that looks like a farmer's plowed field he silently searches for even one gentle smile.

from http://whs.wsd.wednet.edu/Faculty/Zobel/DescriptiveParagraph.html

Main idea in poetry: More from the Hormone Jungle
 and Emotion

from page 24
Internet Lies
Planning for the Future
Horses and Boys
Aunt Aurora's Promise
The Dance
Yuck!
Twenty-Five Hours
p. 48 The Girl-Crazy Alien Body Snatcher
Complicated
Yellow Bus Blues
Hormone Madness
The Messenger
Jungle of Love
Talent Torture
Plain English
Unwritten Rules
Emma's Dilemma
Left Out
p. 63 Bored
The Valentine Wimp
p. 72 Old Friends (prose)
8th grade
p. 80
In My Time of Need?
What Goes Around
Just a Friend
Map Manipulation
Lies, More Lies, and a Moment of Truth
Glory and Defeat
Makeover Man
Dawn at Sunset
Daze of the Week
Heartbreak Insurance
Low-Down, Two-timing Scum Sucker
Respiratory Failure
Pom-Pom Poison
Imperfect Me
The Brightest Star *
106 An Unnamed Star (prose)