October 30/November 2, 2009

October 30/November 2, 2009
Reading/Writing time


Everyday Editing -- How Did They Do That?


How'd They Do It?

Mentor Sentence (Copy it into your composition book with today's date.): 
The phone rang, but Mack did not get up to answer it.    -- Roland Smith, Jack's Run (2007)

Look at each of these altered sentences.  Find the difference between it and the mentor sentence, and figure out why the change is a problem.   If you are absent, write down what the changes were and why the original sentence is better. 

The phone rang, but Mack don't get up to answer it.

The phone ranged, but Mack did not get up to answer it.

The phone rang, Mack did not get up to answer it.

The phone rang, but mack did not get up to answer it.

The phone rang, for Mack did not get up to answer it.

Share scary stories
 Ms. Dorsey's scary story and how to plot a plot
(introduction, exposition, rising action which introduces and develops a conflict, climax, resolution)

Students shared theirs in small groups and selected the best to be shared with the whole class.

More about writing your letters about literature
We talked about corresponding instead of just complimenting.  Most students received the prompt we will be following in My Access -- which they could begin on MyAccess, or they could just begin preparing ideas and hopefully a rough draft.

Introduce Book Groups
Students found out which book they were reading for in-class book groups and recorded their titles on a worksheet they'll use next time.

I hope you have or had a fun, safe, trouble-free, happy Halloween!  

Special Notes

See the list of required entries in the composition book in the post

Term 2 Composition Book

See the October Book-of-the Month Assignment in the post, and the link below that takes you to a sample letter, showing the format for your letter (the way it should look when you type it.

Letters to Authors -- October Book of the Month

Sample Letter (and Format) for Letter to Author

Student Targets (I-Can's) for Term 2

Student Targets (I-Can's) for Term 2

If you click on this link, you will upload the document to your computer. 

Targets (I-Can's) for second term

 

Zombie Poetry

Here are some samples of zombie haiku from students in Ms. Dorsey's English classes:

Enjoy your life now.
You might not live very long.
Zombies are coming.
-- Kristen O.

Halloween is here.
A lot of zombie costumes
but are they costumes?
-- Kristen O.

limp and weak, breathless
undead, bones and skin decay –
This makes a zombie.
-- Lizzie M.

walking slowly, dead
searching, brains fill their nostrils
There’s one  behind you.
-- Leslie V.

sleeping very sound
hearing dead footsteps coming
your door opens. . .  run!
-- Leslie V.

Parents, don't read this one:
look, it's a zombie
he's gonna eat my mommy.
no more chores for me.
       -- Jane T.



Look! zombies are near.
It is time to run in fear.
Your scream they can't hear.

      -- Jane T.

Beware of zombies.
They could be under your bed.
You are not alone.
    --- Mellissa P.

We're attracted to. .
Your yummy brains and your lungs
which are very good.
  --- Mellissa P.

A claw and a thrash
and off comes your head rolling.
The zombie wants brains.
    -- James R.

Mmm!  I want some brains!
Legs sound just as good as brains!
Pass some arms down here!
   -- Cassidy K.


Infectious undead
They're coming for you today.
Beware!  They're hungry.
--- Brennan B.

Early in the day
when you least expect the worst
zombies will invade
  -- Kortnee C.



Comes with no warning
Foulest stench is in the air
Hide to stay alive.
-- Katie W.



roar, roar, roar, roar, roar
the zombies are coming.  Run!
roar, roar, roar, roar, roar
  -- Matt M.

Lightning in the sky
zombies will conquer the world
It begins today
   --Moses C.

Make sure you get F's
It's really great when you're smart
until zombies come.
  --- Brighton G.

Carry a shotgun
with a supersonic lens
must get rid of them
 --- Jared Bradshaw

And a new one, added 10/19/09 from Buzz B.:

oh shuff'ling undead

that I could be as you are:

tenacious, focused 

And another, from Willow V., added 10-26-09: 

Squishy, squirty mush
That funky smell, I'd know the
smell of rotting brains 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPNqub966Tw&feature=player_embedded

Recommended Historical Fiction Books

This article is about "Why Historical Fiction is Important for 21st Century Kids."


Recommended Historical Fiction Books

The Passion of Dolssa  added 2-4-16

Salt to the Sea added 2-4-16
http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sea-Ruta-Sepetys/dp/0399160302
Scroll down to the book trailer under "Related Media."


The Newbery Award winner for 2011 is an historical fiction book.

Moon Over Manifest  by Clare Vanderpool (Author) 

January 2011 -- I've read Moon Over Manifest, and it is a wonderful book with action, humor, well-developed characters and relationships among characters, and the reader learns many things about the Great Depression, Prohibition, World War I, and more.

from lexile.com

March Toward the Thunder  -- Joseph Bruchac 

Fifteen-year-old Louis, an Abenaki Indian from Canada, enlists in the U.S. Army in 1864 and serves with New York’s Irish Brigade. Basing the main character on his great-grandfather, Bruchac takes readers close to the Civil War soldier’s reality, from grimy field hospitals, where the term sawbones was a horrifically accurate term for a doctor, to the grim battlefields, which experienced soldiers entered only after pinning the pieces of paper to their shirts that would identify their bodies. Although written in third person, the story includes Louis’ thoughts in italics, a device that brings readers closer to this laconic but sympathetic character. In lighter moments, Louis and his Mohawk friend, Artis, trade barbs, to the discomfort of fellow soldiers who misunderstand their brand of humor. Appended are an author’s note on his family history, another on the Irish Brigade, and a bibliography of source materials. A fine choice for readers who want war stories that include plenty of action, as well as reflection. Grades 7-10. --Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Note:  I have not yet read all of these books.

Numbering the Bones by Rinaldi, The Midwife’s Apprentice by Cushman,  Steal Away to Freedom by Armstrong,  Sacajawea by Bruchac,  Charlotte’s Rose by Cannon, The Legend of Jimmy Spoon, Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express, Sounder, Tucker's Travels, Run of the Arrow,

You might be interested in knowing that Lois Lowry (author of The Giver)  has written historical fiction books:
Numbering the Stars and
just out on January 1, 2011--    Like The Willow Tree (Dear America) by Lois Lowry

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez: Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her 12th birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared without a trace, and the government’s secret police terrorize her remaining family because of their suspected opposition of el Trujillo’s dictatorship.

Find more information about selecting books for your Book-of-the-Month at

http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Recommended-Books

Feel free to use these (or others) for your individual novels:  
Remember that you can check for lexile levels at lexile.com     Generally the best book for you will be one that is somewhere form 100 lexiles below your tested level to 50 above.

I'll add to this list over the term.
Find another list of recommended historical fiction at 
 http://cavemanenglish.pbworks.com/Historical-Fiction


Rebel Hart by Hemingway and Shields -- a young female confederate spy runs away from home to join a band of rebel raiders.
Bull Run by Fleischman -- the first battle of the Civil War told by sixteen different voices
Pirates! by Celia Rees -- Did you know that there were girl pirates?


Civil War :  Shades of Gray by Reeder, (There's another Shades of Gray by James that is written primarily for adults, but is supposed to a "clean" historical romance),  True North by Katryn Lasky, The River Between Us by Peck, and more; Ballad of the Civil War by Stolz, Mary 680L: Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Wells

Communist Europe: I Am David by Holm

Disease: Fever 1793 by Anderson

Exploration: Blood on the River by Carbone: The King’s Fifth by O’Dell

Immigration;
1919 (from Russia) -- Letters from Rifka by Karen Hess (660L)

Industry and Exploitation: The Mill Girls by Selden

Israel and Palestine: Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye,

Japanese Internment during WWII: Journey to Topaz, Farewell to Manzanar, Caged Eagles, The Journal of Ben Uchida, Bat 6, The Lucky Baseball by Lieurance,

Korea: Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook-Nyul Choi -- North Korea during Japanese occupation; When My Name Was Keoko and A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

Medieval Europe : Crispin by Avi, Catherine Called Birdy, Matilda Bone

Prohibition: Black Duck by Lisle 790L

Revolutionary War: My Brother Sam is Dead, Johnny Tremain

The Russian Front: Burying the Sun and others by Gloria Whelan, The Endless Steppe by Hautzig

Slavery and Segregation in the U.S.: Witness by Hesse, True North by Katherine Lasky; : My Name is Not Angelica by O’Dell, Steal Away Home by Ruby.

Westward Expansion:  Riding Freedom by Ryan

War and its effect on young people: Breadwinner (life under the Taliban in Afghanistan) and others by Ellis

World War I: All’s Quiet on the Western Front (a classic)

World War II: Soldier Boys by Hughes, Code Talker by Bruchac
Nonfiction Article:  Rosie the Riveter:

http://www.rd.com/slideshows/rosie-the-riveter-history/?trkid=NL-RANDOM-060214&_cmp=&_ebid=6/2/2014&_mid=7447&ehid=9CF05F5B5231871F8233D7EE680C4F3FA07B5964#slideshow=slide10

Holocaust: The Hiding Place, Milkweed by Spinelli, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by Boyne; The Book Thief (for mature seventh graders or above);  The Devil’s Arithmetic, Marika; The Upstairs Room by Reiss,

Others (I can't remember if all of this set are actually historical fiction): Across the Lines by Reeder, Carolyn 1000L; Dia's Story Cloth by Cha, Dia; Long Hard Journey, A: The Story of the Pullman Porter by McKissack, Patricia C. and Frederick 1050L; Shuttered Windows by Florence Crannell Means
Cold is the Sea and others (fiction and nonfiction about submarines) by Edward L. Beach

The media center is highlighting historical fiction in a display.

Constituting American recommends these books:
Recommended Reading List Suggested Reading List Compiled by the Educational Advisory Committee of Constituting America.
http://constitutingamerica.org/reading.php
JR. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS:
Avi: The Fighting Ground
James Collier: Bloody Country
Deborah DeFord: An Enemy Among Them
Howard Fast: April Morning
Esther Forbes: Johnny Tremain
Jean Fritz: Early Thunder
Joan Goodman: Hope’s Crossing
William Lavender: Just Jane
James Lincoln and Christopher Collier: My Brother Sam is Dead
Scott O’Dell: Sarah Bishop
Ann Rinaldi:
Cast Two Shadows
Finishing Becca
Time Enough for Drums
Elizabeth George Spear:
Calico Captive
Sign of the Beaver 

Here's another that I haven't read yet, but have seen it recommended for 7th grade and up:
PERIL ON THE SEA
by Michael Cadnum

FROM THE BOOK JACKET:

It is the summer of 1588 and the privateer "Vixen" is
sailing directly toward the Spanish Armada. At the helm is
Brandon Fletcher, one of England's most notorious pirates.
On board are the aspiring young author Sherwin Morris and
the beautiful noblewoman Katharine Westing. Although most
Englishmen are willing to battle the Spanish and defend
Queen and country to the death, Captain Fletcher is
leading Sherwin and Katharine on a voyage of a more
lucrative nature. But when the scores of heavily armed
warships of the Spanish Armada sweep in from the Atlantic,
every ship and every mariner are pressed into the fight to
save England from a foreign invasion. In spite of vowing
to avoid the conflict, Fletcher finds his ship, her crew,
and himself bracing for battle alongside other English
vessels. The fight will be harrowing and bloody, and the
unfolding tumult will challenge the character of everyone
on board--including Sherwin and Katharine, who are about
to discover the deeper meaning of both strife and honor.

The fates of a colorful cast of unlikely shipmates are
expertly interlaced in Michael Cadnum's new historical
adventure, a raucous tale of danger, mayhem, and surprise.
_________________________________________________

Do Not Use: 
You may select a book that is not on these lists, but don’t use The Diary of Anne Frank (an eighth grade class book which is also not fiction), Getting Away with Murder or Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe, books already on your “Do Not Read” list, any Dave Peltzer (not fiction) books, or books being read in the Reading Literature classes. Make sure the book is approved by a parent and by the teacher. You may use Words By Heart by Ouida Sebestyen since we most likely will not read that in class this year.

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.

Letters to Authors -- October Book of the Month

Prompt for Letters About Literature Contest Entries

Log-in to MY Access with
username: firstnamestudentnumber
password: 999lastname

Select this prompt:     Letters About Literature
You may revise through November 24. 
No work on this assignment will be accepted after that day.

Books have wings. You can’t see them, but they are there just the same. On books’ wings, readers can soar to new places where they meet intriguing characters and experience exciting adventures. But a book’s wings can also help a reader rise above difficult situations — like peer pressure, bullying or prejudice, or to cope with disappointment and loss.

Have you ever felt the power and lift of literature? Has one book — or perhaps one author — inspired you to change your view of yourself or your world? If so, we encourage you to enter this year’s Letters About Literature writing competition. All you have to do is write a personal letter to an author, explaining how his or her work affected you.


HOW TO ENTER

Before you can enter, you have to write the letter. And before you can write the letter, you've got to think about how YOU responded to the book.

First, reflect and connect!

Select a fiction or nonfiction book, a short story, poem, essay or speech (sorry, no song lyrics) you have read and about which you have strong feelings. Explore those feelings and why you reacted the way you did during or after reading the author’s work. Consider one or more of these questions when writing your letter:

    *
      Did the characters, conflict or setting mirror your life in some way?
    *
      What strengths or flaws do you share with a character or characters in the book?
    *
      What did the book show you about your world that you never noticed before?
    *
      What surprised you about yourself while you were reading this book?
    *
      Why was this work meaningful to you?
    *
      As  you were reading, what did you remember about yourself or something you experienced in the past?
    *
      How did the book's characters or theme help you to understand that past experience?

Your letter need not -- and in fact, should not -- answer every one of the questions above. The questions are just prewriting prompts to get you to start reflecting (or thinking) about your reader's response to the book.

Second, write a personal letter (not a fan letter or a book report!)

Express yourself! A letter is less formal than an essay or research paper. Write honestly and in your own voice, as if you were having a conversation with the author. Those are the best letters to read and the most fun to write! Keep in mind these two tips:

• Correspond, don’t compliment! Your entry should inform rather than flatter the author.

• Do not summarize the book’s plot! The author wrote the book and already knows what happened. What the author doesn’t know is how the book affected you.


Third, prepare your letter for submission.

• Entries for Level 2 should be no less than 300 words and no more than 600 words.*

*Recommended lengths.

Please refer to the Contest Entry Guidelines in Rules #4 of the Official Rules found at www.loc.gov/letters for complete information on how to prepare your letter.



HOW WILL THE LAL JUDGES ASSESS YOUR LETTER?

All entries will be judged on the following criteria:

• Exposition (the writer’s use of language skills, organization and grammar).

• Content (the writer’s achievement in addressing the contest theme).

• Writer’s Voice (the writer’s style and originality of expression).

Each criteria will be scored on a scale of zero (0) to five (5), where five (5) is excellent and zero (0) is not fulfilling the judging criteria.

 Your letter will also receive a holistic (overall) score on MY Access.

from http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/how_to_enter
   You can find examples and more information at this site.