Day 1
Bellringers & welcome!
Day 2
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”
~John Donne
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Respond to this quote. What might it mean? Try
to write at least 5 complete sentences and create a
paragraph with your response.
Hint: Think about the idea of “community.” Is our
classroom a community? Is it important?
Day 3
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Watch Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG
4ZIJg
Write down at least 10 tips you learned from
this video-- be prepared to share with the
class.
Why are these skills important?
Hold on to the tips you wrote down. They
will be of use to you throughout this unit!
Day 4
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Very soon, you will be taking the
county-wide writing assessment that
looks at your knowledge of how to
write a persuasive paper.
Pretend you are a preparing to write an
essay on why there should be more
time in between classes.
Write down 5 reasons you would use to
convince your reader that more time is
necessary.
Day 5
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Please read the worksheet
“Introduction to the Student”
Copies are at the front of the room
Day 6
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Examine a self-portrait by Vincent
Van Gogh, a famous artist. Think
about how he expresses his voicehis style of personality. Look
carefully at the details.
What is he saying about himself?
How do you know?
Think about how you would paint
a self-portrait. What colors would
you use? What expression would
you have on your face? How would
you be dressed? What is the
background of the painting? Make
a simple sketch of your own self
portrait, and write a few sentences
describing what your self portrait
would look like.
Day 7
Write down the two nouns in each sentence. Some
nouns may be compound.
1.
Each February, there is a major snowstorm.
2.
The daisies in the garden are dying.
3.
The children on the merry-go-round were
laughing.
4.
There are no longer any animals in that zoo.
5.
Uncle Pete has been studying to become a pilot.
6.
After the party there were dirty plates everywhere.
Day 8
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No bellringer
Day 9
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In your Language Network book
(orange book under your desk) answer
questions 1 – 10 on page 5.
Day 10
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Listen carefully to Beethoven's Symphony
No. 9.
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What kind of “voice” does this music have?
Pretend the music is a kind of self-portrait.
Write two statements that capture the voice of
this “self portrait.”
Think about tempo (how fast the music goes)
and volume.
How does this music make you feel? What is the
music trying to convey?
Day 11
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In your Language Network book
(orange book under your desk) answer
questions 1 – 10 on page 10, part A.
Day 12
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Copy down these notes:
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Diction refers to the author’s choice of words. In order to write well, you
have to find the perfect word.
The perfect word is clear concrete and exact. In other words, it says
exactly what you want it to say, is specific, and creates just the picture
you see in your mind.
Some words are especially overused and tired, certainly not perfect.
These words have lost their freshness and impact. Avoid them at all
times!
Consider these words “forbidden” and eliminate them from your
vocabulary: good, nice, pretty, beautiful, fine, bad, thing, really, very,
terrible, wonderful, a lot
Words don’t simply have meaning. Words have denotation and
connotation.
Denotation is the literal meaning of the word, and connotation is the
meaning suggested by a word, the feeling evoked by a word.
Day 13
Fill in each blank with a noun.
1.
The _______ we saw was a _________.
2.
We went to the _____ to see a ______.
3.
_________ is not my favorite _______.
4.
In three ______ the _____ will be over.
5.
Many of the _____ were not ready for the ______.
6.
Put your ______ on the _______.
7.
We must remember that ______ is not a ______.
8.
Walking through the ______, they found a ______.
Day 14
A redheaded woman was there with Trout. Kate could see
her rummaging through the cabin, dumping drawers
and knocking things from the shelves of cabinets. (Louis
Sachar, Holes)
1.
2.
3.
What picture do you get when you read the second
sentence?
How would the meaning of the sentence change if we
changed some of the words? For example: Kate could see her
searching through the cabin, emptying drawers and taking
things off of the shelves of cabinets.
Write a sentence describing a small boy making a mess in a
restaurant. Choose words that are clear, concrete, and exact.
Use “perfect” words.
Day 15
Write the two nouns from each group and identify them as people,
places, or things.
1.
able baby musician
2.
rabbit really chair
3.
Prison mountainside write
4.
Misery rusty success
5.
Only forest swamp
6.
Sailor tiny explored
7.
Hunter nurse into
8.
Bedroom school rough
9.
Lion kindly kite
10.
Tame table dog
Day 16
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Free write for approximately 15
minutes. You can write about whatever
you want. (Add it to your bellringers
sheet). You can make up a story, write
about what’s on your mind, or use the
time to write down a concept you’ve
been learning at school– basically, get
in the habit of writing for a set amount
of time!
Day 17
He spent hours in front of the mirror trying to herd his
teeth into place with his thumb. He asked his mother
if he could have braces, but he asked at the wrong
time. (Gary Soto, “Broken Chain”)
1.
What is Gary Soto implying about the narrator’s teeth
when he uses the verb herd in the sentence?
2. How would the meaning change if the sentence were
written like this? He spent hours in front of the mirror
trying to push his teeth into place with his thumb.
3. Fill in the blank with a strong verb that creates a clear
picture in the reader’s mind like Soto’s does. Avoid
obvious verbs such as brush, comb, or fix. Be creative!
She spent hours in front of the mirror trying to ___________
her hair in place for the party.
Day 18
Identify each of the following numbered items as a fragment (F),
Run-on sentence (RO), comma splice (CS) or complete
sentence (S).
1.
The movie Double Jeopardy is about a woman who is
unjustly framed for murder.
2.
Because her husband fakes his own murder.
3.
The wife went to jail for six years, her son was taken away
from her.
4.
But when she got out of jail.
5.
She went to find her husband she wanted to kill him in
revenge for his framing her.
6.
She had already served time for the murder, and she
couldn’t be convicted twice.
7.
Illegal to be convicted of the same crime twice.
Day 19
Write a short description of a dog (at least 3
sentences). First, decide whether you want
to describe a fancy, pedigreed dog or a
scruffy mutt. Then capture the dog by
using strong diction. Don’t explain that the
dog is fancy or scruffy. Instead, use perfect
words to create a picture of the dog for the
reader.
Day 20
There was a scurrying around and then eight of them
snatched up their guns, formed into twos, and
marched out behind the office. He wheeled his horse
about and trotted toward me. I jumped back and
plunged for the tavern doorway.
1.
2.
3.
Look at the boldfaced word (snatched) in the first sentence.
Notice how clearly you can “see” the action because of that
strong verb. How would it change the meaning of the
sentence if it read… eight of them picked up their guns?
What does the use of the word plunged in the third sentence
tell you about the narrator’s attitude toward the other
characters in this passage?
Use the word plunged in a sentence, but instead of having
the word express fear and desperation, have it express
excitement and happiness. Remember that in many cases the
context of the word determines its deeper meaning.
Day 21
Use the following instructions to write your own original
sentences.
1.
Write a sentence about sports that includes one
proper noun and one common noun.
2.
Write a sentence about animals that includes two
common nouns.
3.
Write a sentence about an interesting place that
includes one proper noun and two common nouns.
4.
Write a sentence about your school that contains one
proper noun and one common noun.
5.
Write a sentence about music that includes one
common noun and two proper nouns.
Day 22
“n you at the ivory-n-ebony
crooning “I Left My Heart. .” to momma,
winkin n smiling n jazzin n profilin
n sangin n sangin
n sangin n soundin
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeee” (Crystal Williams)
1.
2.
3.
The words in this song imitate the way someone talks. Why do you
think Williams uses these kinds of words instead of standard English
words?
How would the impact of the passage change if we wrote the lines in
formal language? “And you at the piano/ singing to momma/ winking
and smiling/ and singing/ and sounding sweet.”
Now write a short poem that captures the way you sound when you
talk to your friends. Use slang (no bad words!) and creative spelling
to make your poem sound like talking when you read it aloud.
Day 23
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Imagery is a type of figurative language which uses words to
paint a picture in the reader’s mind & often appeals to the 5
senses.
Directions: Copy the paragraph below and underline the words
which “paint a picture” in your mind and/or appeal to the 5
senses.
“I opened one eye when my alarm clock buzzed. My room was
still dark, but I could smell coffee. When the scent of sizzling
bacon hit my nose, my mouth watered and my stomach
rumbled. I knew Mom would cook it until it was brown and
crunchy, just the way I like it. My feet met the cold, hard floor as
I leaped out of bed. I threw on my fluffy, red sweatshirt and
tattered jeans and headed for breakfast.”
Day 24
“When smoke crept over a green field. The
smoke teased people’s eyes and noses. And
it seeped into their clothes. Standing in the
smoke were some 5,000 reenactors.”
(Winkler, “Fighting for History”)
1.
Write down all the verbs in the sentence.
2.
Are these strong or weak verbs? How do you
know?
3.
Write your own sentence using strong
verbs.
Day 25
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Analogies are logic puzzles. You must look at the
words to determine the relationship in the first set and
find the matching relationship for the second
(incomplete) set.
Copy and start with these simple analogies:
1. Pistol : weapon :: rose : _______________
2. Light: dark :: low: ___________
3. Old : new :: beginning : ___________
4. Find : lose :: construct : ____________
5. Photographer: camera :: doctor : __________
Day 26
1.
2.
3.
“Filch hobbled across to his desk, snatched up the
envelope, and threw it into a drawer” (Rowling, Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Which words help you visualize what is happening in
this passage?
What is the mood of this passage? How are the
characters feeling? How do you know?
Create a sentence of your own that helps your reader
visualize what is happening. Create a mood and we
will try to guess it when you read it aloud.
Day 27
Fill in each blank with a proper noun.
1.
After much thought, he gave the bracelet to ______.
2.
The author she likes least is ______.
3.
On _______ there were two new houses being built.
4.
We finally decided to buy a _______.
5.
Some day I would like to see _______.
6.
After a heated contest, we beat _____ by two points.
7.
Television isn’t the same without _______.
8.
The explores crossed the _______ during their first
expedition.
Day 28
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Turn in your bellringers from this week on
my desk. You do not have one for today.
Make a separate stack of your study guides
on my desk.
Make a neat stack of your To Kill a
Mockingbird books on my desk.
Get out several sheets of paper and clear your
desk except something to write with (pencil,
blue or black ink pen).
Day 29
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What would you do with a million
dollars if you had to spend all of it over
the weekend? You can’t save any of ityou must spend it all!
Write a 7-9 sentence paragraph
explaining what you would do with the
money & how you would spend it.
Day 30
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Copy down these notes:
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Detail is what makes writing come alive.
Detail includes facts, observations, reasons, examples, and
incidents that a writer uses to develop a subject. Specific
details create a clear mental picture for the reader by
focusing on particular details rather than random things.
Detail helps the reader understand what you’re writing
about exactly as you want him/her to.
Details helps to focus the reader’s attention on important
ideas and shapes the reader’s understanding of a topic.
Detail allows the reader to participate as an equal partner
in the “world” the writer has created and to follow the
writer’s ideas in the way the author intends.
Day 31
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Think of a shopping trip to your favorite mall. Think about
everything you would look at in the mall.
Now make a list of details you might focus on when writing
about the trip to the mall.
Decide your focus: people, clothes, food, stores, things you
might find, or specific parts of the mall. You decide. Write
your focus!
Now write down your attitude or mood– are you thrilled,
critical, neutral, angry, or something else?
List as many details as you can to support your attitude.
Write a paragraph about your experience at the mall using as
many details as possible.
Day 32
“He was an old man. His blank, heavily wrinkled face was
surrounded by a halo of crinkly white hair and whiskers that
seemed to separate his head from the layers of dirty coats piled
on his smallish frame. His pants were bagged to the knee,
where they were met with rags that went down to the old
shoes. The rags were held on with strings, and there was a rope
around his middle.” ~Walter Dean Myers, “The Treasure of
Lemon Brown”
1.
What are all the vivid details of this passage? How do the
details help you understand the focus of the passage?
2. Using this paragraph as a model, write a similar paragraph
about an old cat. Use lots of vivid detail.
Day 33
“When he ran, he even loved the pain, the hurt of running, the burning in his
lungs and the spasms that sometimes gripped his calves. He loved it
because he know he could endure the pain, and even go beyond it. He
had never pushed himself to the limit but he felt all this reserve strength
inside him: more than strength actually– determination. And it sang in
him as he ran, his heart pumping blood joyfully through his body.”
~Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War
1.
What is the main idea (topic sentence) or focus of this paragraph? State
it as simply as you can. How do the details in this paragraph support the
main idea?
2.
The details in the first sentence describe the physical sensation of pain.
The next three sentences, however, focus on another characteristic of
pain. What is this other characteristic of pain? How do the details of the
last three sentences help the reader understand the other characteristic
of pain?
3.
Write a simple topic sentence about something you love to do. Then, list
all of the details you can think of that would help someone else
understand why you love what you do.
Day 34
Describe a room that is unbearably hot. In your
description, use words that are clear,
concrete, and exact. Use a vivid adjective to
describe an object in the room. The adjective
and object should help your readers
understand the feeling of the room.
Remember, don’t simply state that it’s hot.
Instead, create a picture for the reader,
capturing how the heat affects the
surroundings.
Day 35
“She’s this old wrinkled bat with bad breath, so
kids avoid her. I tried to sit downwind of her
breath, but it was right after lunch and she
kept burpin’ little bursts of garlic.” ~Tears of a
Tiger
1. Sketch a picture of this scene. What details are
in your sketch? Why are they memorable?
2. Write two sentences about someone you want
to sit next to. Use Draper’s sentence as a
model, substituting positive details for the
negative ones.
Day 36
“And his tears could fall unwanted on his sheet, but his
1.
2.
sobs were so gentle that they did not shake the bed, so
quiet they could not be heard. But the ache was there,
thick in his throat and the front of his face, hot in his
chest and in his eyes. I want to go home.” ~Ender’s
Game
What is this scene describing? How is the character
feeling?
Can you relate to this feelings? Write down a specific
story from your own life that is similar to this.
Day 37
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Metaphors, similes, and personification belong to a class of
language called figurative language.
Figurative language is any language that is not used in a
literal (meaning exactly what it says) way
We use figurative language because it’s a rich, strong, and
vivid way to express meaning.
Using it allows us to say much more using fewer words
When using figures of speech, be sure you are not using
cliché, stale and overused phrases (“quiet as a mouse” or
“pretty as a picture” for example)
Day 38
Metaphors compare two things directly; similes
compare things indirectly, usually using signal words
such as as, like, than, similar to, and resembles.
Fill out the following practice chart:
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Figure of Speech
I got a flood of mail today.
Alice sang like a cow.
Jeff was taller than the Empire State Building.
The shoes cost a king’s ransom.
Metaphor or simile?
Day 39
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We discussed similes and metaphors last time
(please review your notes). This time, we need
to know personification, which is a special
kind of metaphor that gives human qualities to
something that is not human, such as an
animal, an object or an idea. For example, “the
tree sighed sadly in the cold.” (a tree can’t sigh
like a human!)
Practice writing examples of metaphors, similes,
and personification for the terms listed here:
Day 39, continued
Literal Term
Metaphor
Simile
Friendship
Leah’s friendship is
a lighthouse.
Leah’s friendship is
like a lighthouse.
Football game
Cleaning your
room
Shirt
Cafeteria lunch
Personification
Leah’s friendship
wrapped my
sadness in a warm
blanket.
Day 40
“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi,
a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice” ~MLK
1. Identify two examples of figurative language in the
passage. Are the figures of speech metaphors or
similes? How do you know the language is figurative?
2. What does the figurative language add to the passage?
3. Rewrite this passage without figurative language. How
do the two compare?
Day 41
Solve the following analogy puzzles:
1.begin : end : : open : ___________________
2.detective : inspector : : teacher : _____________
3. incognito : disguised : : foolish : _____________
4.insect : mosquito : : dog : ___________________
5.nose : face : : elbow : ___________________
6.intelligence : stupidity : : beautiful : ___________
7.bird : parrot : : vermin : ___________________
8.tires : ambulance : : knob : ___________________
9.clue : hint : : cup : ___________________
10. boy : girl : : day : ___________________
Day 42
“He gossips like my grandmother, this man
with my face, and I could stand
amused all afternoon
in the Hon Kee Grocery,
amid hanging meats he chops . . .” ~”The Cleaving”
1. Look at the first line. Is like my grandmother a simile?
Explain.
2. Is this man/ with my face figurative? If so, is it a metaphor or
simile? Explain.
3. Write a poem or several sentences in which you compare
yourself to a family member or friend. You should have at
least four lines and use one metaphor.
“The Tangerine Times printed a special pullout section on the Lake
Windsor Middle School sinkhole. The photos were spectacular.
They had one huge shot of the splintered walkways sticking up
in all directions, like Godzilla had just trampled through the
store.
1.
Is the phrase the splintered walkways sticking up in all directions
literal or figurative? Explain.
2. …like Godzilla had just trampled through there is a simile. Why
is it a simile and not a metaphor?
3. Write one sentence that describes a park. First describe it
literally (how the park really is), then support your description
with the simile. Use this pattern for your sentence: The park
______________________________, like ____________________.
“My mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all
curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day,
sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding
you and and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before
you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her
side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near
her, the rain outside and Papa snoring” ~The House on
Mango Street
1. List the 4 metaphors and similes in this passage. Be sure you
can explain why they are what they are.
2. 2Why doesn’t she simply say, My mother’s hair smelled good?
3. Write a paragraph describing someone’s hair that you don’t
like. Use at least one simile and one metaphor.
“The camp faced a wide cove or white sand and palm trees.
The bay was so perfectly blue, it looked like it had been
retouched for a tourist brochure. Across the bay stood
protective mountains, shoulder to shoulder, across the
Concepcion peninsula.” ~Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants
1. Write the examples of personification in the third
sentence.
2. How would the sentence change if it were written like
this: There were mounts across the Concepcion peninsula.
3. Describe a place you like to go in the summer. In your
description use at least one example of personification.