March Book of the Month 2016

March Book of the Month: Nonfiction  

     Your task is to keep track of how individuals, ideas, and events interact in your nonfiction book.  You are looking for ways that one influences the other(s).  How does an individual influence events or ideas?  How do events influence an individual or group?  How do ideas influence an individual or group?   As you read, list as many of these interactions as you can.

Sign up by March 25.  Project Due: April 12/13 – or Sooner! 

Nine correct entries = C     Twelve Entries = B     Fifteen Entries  =  A

My book’s title is ____________________________

The author is ___________________________________ # of pages: _____

Page	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that is influencing or affecting something else	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that being influenced or affected	How is the one influencing or affecting the other?
Examples from The Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin
8-9	Yellow Fever -- Event Two of Benedict Arnold’s sisters die from yellow fever	Benedict -- Individual Benedict’s show-off behavior becomes more extreme.	Benedict became more of a daredevil, doing dangerous things, seemingly to show that death couldn’t easily take him.
26-39	Benedict -- Individual Benedict wanted to capture the cannons at Fort Ticonderoga for the Americans fighting the British.	American government leaders -- Individuals/Group The Massachusetts Committee of Safety was in charge of the Americans fighting the British at Boston.	Benedict convinced them to send him to gather soldiers and capture Fort Ticonderoga, so he becomes a military leader.

Examples from How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg
67+	Mozart's Father -- Individual Mozart's father was a musician himself.	Mozart -- Individual Mozart's musical abilities and how they were used were affected by his father.	Mozart learned to play by watching his father teach his sister.  His father encouraged his talents and took him and his sister on tour when he was young. Mozart became famous at an early age.
135+	Darwin -- Individual  Darwin came up with his theory about evolution.	Scientific Thinking -- Ideas	Eventually his theories became the generally accepted way scientists looked at the development of life on earth

127+

Situation -- The president at the time did not have any type of guards.

James A. Garfield -- Individual

Garfield was shot and eventually died as a result of the wound.

127+

Ideas -- Doctors  did not understand the need to wash their hands.

James A. Garfield -- Individual

Garfield's gunshot wound became infected because the doctors poked around in it with dirty fingers.  He died as a result of infection.

 Examples from Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka

	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that is influencing or affecting something else	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that being influenced or affected	How is the one influencing or affecting the other?
pg. 19	Jon Scieszka as a boy	His brother Jim Jim liked to argue -- and to trick Jon	Because Jon argued back --- which often let to wrestling -- he says he made Jim better at arguing, so when he grew up Jim was a better lawyer because of Jon (according to Jon).

   Examples from An American Plague 

pg 1	It was hot in the summer of 1793.	the swamps marshes and rivers -------------------------- dead fish ----------------------  insects including mosquitoes --------------------	dried up rotted and stunk increased in numbers

Examples from Vampires by Stephen Krensky 

Page	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that is influencing or affecting something else	Individual, idea, event, setting, situation that being influenced or affected	How is the one influencing or affecting the other?
9-10	Human nature	Causes belief in vampires	People want to explain why people die in their sleep or why some people act so strangely, so they use the idea of vampires to explain those things.
26-27	A real life count in the country of Transylvania named Vlad Tepes whose father was known as the dracul (the dragon), so he was the son of the dragon or in their language, Dracula	Vlad was cruel to his many enemies.  An author named Bram Stoker heard about him.	Over six years he impaled thousands of people on wooden stakes and left them to die.  Stoker used the location and the name Dracula when he wrote his book about a vampire.

Examples from Idaho – Thank you to Anne C.

p. 14-15	The Spanish brought horses to Idaho	Changed the Native Americans’ life	They lived longer and they were able to hunt easier.
p. 40	One of  Idaho’s dams is the American Falls Dam on the Snake River	The people of American Falls City had to be moved.	The reservoir created by the dam now covers the town except for the grain elevator that stands very tall.

Utah State Core   --  Reading: Informational Text Standard 3 

Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).            Key Words: analyze, interactions, influence

Definition of Analysis:  an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relationships in making up the whole    Definition of Component:  a part of a larger whole

Here is the handout:  March Book of the Month- Analysis.docx

Click on the link then click on the Download tab to access it. 

Tuesday/Wednesday, March 22-23, 2016

SAGE Writing Test --

Just for Fun -- Laughter is Good for You!

To login, you will use your FIRST name and your SSID number (found on your ticket).

Also use the test session ID which I will give you.

Then click the SIGN IN button.


You will look for the WRITING TEST to select.

Stop and listen for the directions I will give you.

Reminders about the SAGE Testing Platform 

(examples from a training test)

Your passages are on the left and your prompt is on the right. 

• Read the prompt carefully! 
• Also read the passages, but don't take a lot of time doing that before you begin writing. 

You can expand the passages for easier reading:   

 Notice the arrows to expand and collapse.

If you are typing along,  and you lose what you have written, 

first try the "undo" button."  

If that doesn't work. . . . 

If the "undo" button doesn't work. . . . 

click on the three lines at the top right, and try 

"Select Previous Version."

You have a notepad available.  Open it using the icon to the right.  

SAVE if you want to save what you have written on it. 

You can also highlight text in a passage.  Select the part you want to highlight, then click on the three lines at the upper right, and select "Highlight."  If you click on it when it says "Reset Highlight," it will delete your highlighting. 

Notice that you have a dictionary/thesaurus.  

Open it using the icon found at the right. 

• As far as we know you cannot use copy and paste from the passages to your essay.
• Last year the indent for paragraphs did not work. You can space in at the beginning of a paragraph and/or leave an extra line between paragraphs. 
• If you have not finished both essays, click "Pause." Then click "Log Out." 

Friday/Monday, March 18/21, 2016

Happy Vernal Equinox 

Announcements and Reminders:                                                                   Friday, March 18, is/was the last day of the term.        All extra credit, make-up work, and revisions were due by Friday, March 11.  The only exception was that you could turn in revisions for your informational essay through Wednesday, March 16, and not after.  Happy New Term!                                                                  Find a nonfiction book to read during individual reading time and to use for some class activities.  Have your book chosen and checked off by March 21.   We will go to the media center next time.  Be prepared to find a book.  Your nonfiction book could be a biography or autobiography, or literary nonfiction (told like a story) about a single subject. You were able to hand in unused hall passes any day during the last week  of the term -- if you do not think you will need to use them.   We will be taking the SAGE Writing Test beginning March 22.  Come prepared to think clearly and write to the BEST of your ability.

Targets for Today: I can write about my own experiences, and activate my background knowledge to prepare to read. I can pick out the important ideas details in a passage or excerpt I am asked to read. I can recognize what I am being asked to do in a test question or prompt.

Today’s  Agenda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amDo-KqUjpA Cool Water  Sons of the Pioneers, 1947 All day I've faced a barren waste without the taste of water, Cool water. Old Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that cry for water, Water. Cool, clear water. [Chorus:] Keep a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan, he's a devil not a man and he spreads the burnin' sand with water. Dan, can you see that big green tree where the water's runnin' free and it's waitin' there for me and you. Cool, clear water. The night are cool and I'm a fool. Each star's a pool of water, Cool water. But with the dawn I'll wake and yawn and carry on to water, Water. Cool, clear water. [Chorus:] Keep a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan, he's a devil not a man and he spreads the burnin' sand with water. Dan, can you see that big green tree where the water's runnin' free and it's waitin' there for me and you. Cool, clear water. The shadows sway and seem to say tonight we pray for water, Cool water. And way up there He'll hear our prayer and show us where there's water, Water.  Cool, clear water. [Chorus:] Keep a movin' Dan, don't you listen to him Dan, he's a devil not a man and he spreads the burnin' sand with water. Dan, can you see that big green tree where the water's runnin' free and it's waitin' there for me and you. Cool, clear water. Dan's feet are sore. He's yearning for just one thing more than water, Cool water. Like me, I guess, he'd like to rest where there's no quest for water, Water.  Cool, clear water. found at and adapted from http://www.songlyrics.com/sons-of-the-pioneers/cool-water-1947-lyrics/ Sign up for your Book of the Month.  (nonfiction) Composition Book Prompt:   Label with the title "Water" and with today's date. Answer any or all of these questions.   Have you ever been really thirsty, or ever been short of water?   Explain. Do you know of any stories or books or movies or other shows in which the characters were short on water?  Explain. What do you know about drought?  What do you know about deserts?  Explain. 2. Picking out Key Details from an Article -- With Mrs. Mace http://magazines.scholastic.com/Top-News/2015/12/drone-control 3.  Best Testing Practices Don't forget to pick a nonfiction book by Monday! 4.  A Long Walk to Water

If You Were Absent: See above.

Suggestions for timed essay tests:

• Make a clear statement about your point and purpose near the beginning. Continue to support your thesis throughout the essay by providing examples and description. Avoid restating it without support.
• Budget your time for a) organizing thoughts, b) composing, and c) checking/revising.
• Do not worry about spelling and grammatical mechanics -- until you check after you are finished writing.
• Structure your paragraphs clearly. Make sure each has a topic sentence and that each paragraph focuses on a single point.
• Use examples, facts, stories, hypothetical situations, and explanations to support your ideas. If teachers only see generalized statements--even if they're on-topic--they will not be at all impressed!
from http://writing.markfullmer.com/

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/teststress/article10.html