HW from Thursday, 9/29/16

Due on Tuesday, 10/4/16

1)  Keep reading for your Reading Log and writing in your Gratitude Journal even though I neglected to give you the October calendar today.  (You will have to keep track of the reading you do today through Tuesday on another piece of paper.)  My apologies!

2)  Your "Descriptive Setting" paper is due on Tuesday, 10/4.  You will write a descriptive paper about a favorite place.  Do not tell a story, although you may insert yourself into the description if you wish.  NOTE: See the * below—or check your email!—for some clarification sent on Friday morning at 9 a.m.

Remember:

* Be descriptive (i.e. don't give a "weather report") without being flowery (i.e. don't overdo it and make it silly).

* Incorporate at least one example of good figurative language (simile, metaphor, or personification) in your description (as discussed today in class). Please highlight it with a colored highlighter in Draft 1 so I can find it easily. Do not highlight it in Draft 2.

NOTE: If you have any questions about how to do any of these things in your word processor, check with your parents or an older sibling or friend.  If you still need help after trying that, feel free to call me.  I am happy to help.

Please observe the following parameters for your paper:

* Length: at least 200 words (but can be up to 300 words)

* Format: 1-inch margins, automatic double-spacing, no extra lines, 12-point font (Times New Roman or Garamond)

* Header set to automatically show up on top left of each page, with 3 single-spaced lines as follows:

Full name (First Last)
Date due (October 4, 2016)
Title: (Descriptive Setting—Draft 1 (or Draft 2, whichever is appropriate)

* Footer set to automatically show up on bottom center of each page, with page number

* Two drafts in addition to the ten numbered descriptive sentences you wrote for homework last Tuesday:

--> Draft 1 must be proofread first by you, then by a parent and one other person (get signatures).  

--> Draft 2 should be the corrected one, based on your feedback from the two who proofread your paper.  

Staple the three papers together: Put the homework sentences on the bottom, then Draft 1 (with signatures and highlighting of figurative language), then Draft 2 (the beautiful, corrected copy) on top.  Do not fold your papers.

3)  Also, please begin to learn and memorize (as we go along) the different types of figurative language we're studying.  (There are five of them, including three that are good to use in creative writing—simile, metaphor, personification—and two that we want to avoid in creative writing—hyperbole, idiom.  We discussed these at length in class today, with examples given.) 

I would encourage you (and your parents) to visit the class website often, to keep informed of what we're studying and to make sure you're retaining it.

Also, daily:

+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along. 

+ Write in your Gratitude Journal, aiming for three things but listing at least one thing you are thankful for daily. When you have done so, place a check mark in the top corner of your Reading Log calendar for that day.

The October Reading Log is due, signed by a parent, on Tuesday, November 1.

------- OPENING (Bible verse and prayer):

For Tu, 10/4: Joshua (CWA); Katie (CWB)

For Th, 10/6: John (CWA);  Michael (CWB)
For Tu, 10/11: Logan (CWA); Luke (CWB)
For Th, 10/13: Chase (CWA);  Caleb (CWB)
For Tu, 10/18: Zach (CWA); Haddon (CWB)
For Th, 10/20: Zayden (CWA);  Daniel (CWB)
For Th, 10/27: Caelie (CWA);  Gabrielle (CWB)
For Th, 11/3: TBD (CWA); Lorena (CWB)

For Tu, 10/25: Victoria (CWA); Leena (CWB)

For Tu, 11/1: TBD (CWA); Josiah (CWB)

For Tu, 11/8: TBD (CWA); Nicholas (CWB)

-------- * From an email I sent at 9:00 Friday morning:

Hello, creative writers! 
I received a great question, and my answer is probably something all of you should read, just to clarify:

The ten descriptive sentences you wrote were intended to give you a head-start on your paper in that it got you thinking (and writing creatively) about the place you had chosen for your paper. Feel free to use any of those sentences in your paper as you write your first draft! That said, if you have changed your mind and would like to write your paper about a different place, that's fine, too. Feel free.

Once you've written Draft 1 of your paper, you will proofread it carefully to make sure it makes sense and you've caught all the errors you can find. Then have a parent AND one other person read over it, making suggestions for improvement or marking errors they see, and then sign it. 

For Draft 2, you will revise and correct the proofread Draft 1 paper based on your proofreaders' suggestions.

Does that make sense? Feel free to call if you have more questions!

LS

HW from Tuesday, 9/27/16

Due on Thursday, 9/29/16

1) Decide on the place you'd like to write your descriptive paper about. Think about it in terms of your five senses, and for each sense, write up to, but no more than, three descriptive sentences, for a total of ten. You do not have to write a sentence for taste if your place doesn't lend itself to that. But feel free to, if it does. See * below and email sent at 9 a.m. Wednesday for clarification.

2) Using the "Writing Techniques" and "Writing Terms" sections of your Writer's Inc book, look up the following terms and write the definitions: simile, metaphor, personification, sensory details, figurative language, hyperbole, exaggeration, idiom.

3) Bring your Gratitude Journal to class with you on Thursday.

4) Your signed Reading Log is due on Thursday—the last class day of the month! (See details below.)

Also, daily:
+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along.

+ Write in your Gratitude Journal, aiming for three things but listing at least one thing you are thankful for daily. When you have done so, place a check mark in the top corner of your Reading Log calendar for that day.

The September Reading Log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

NOTE: If you still need to make up your low quiz grade, please plan to meet me Thursday in our classroom at 8:00 a.m., or in The Hub at 10:30 a.m. If you absolutely cannot make either of those two times, send me a text or email to schedule a meeting at another time.

* Copy of email sent at 9 a.m. Wednesday:

Hello, creative writers!

I just want to send the following clarification regarding your homework sentences, as there has been some confusion.

You don’t need to use the words for the five senses in your sentences! It’s okay if you happen to, but don’t try to! Just write descriptive sentences while thinking of each of those ares so that you include sensory details in your descriptive sentences.

Some example sentences:

LOOK: The sunlight filters through the clouds and casts a magical, golden hue on the pine straw floor.

SMELL: The pungent scent of pine and earth wafts through the air, deepening wth each step I take into the forest.

TASTE (though not mandatory): The smell of manure and mulch is so strong that it lingers in my mouth as an earthy taste.

SOUND: All sorts of chirps and tweets and rattles and rustles rise from the trees with each passing step.

FEEL: The tickle of pine needles brushing against my skin causes the hair on my arms to stand straight on end, and I look down to see tiny dots of sticky sap all over my wrist and fingers.

Have fun! I can’t wait to read what you come up with!

LS

HW from Thursday, 9/22/16 (Flood Day – No Class)

Due on Tuesday, 9/27/16

Previous Assignments (due today—or earlier—and which I will now collect next Tuesday):

* You have completed four pages of work using the Schoolhouse Rock videos. See the entry on the HW Blog from last Thursday for details.
* You have completed (and checked, and rechecked) Copywork #2.
* You have made (or acquired) your Gratitude Journal, and you have begun writing in it daily.
* You have studied for your re-test if you are one of the students who did not do well and needs to take the quiz again. I have contacted you by email if this applies to you. If you didn't hear from me, you did fine on the quiz. I will return them on Tuesday.

New Assignments (for next Tuesday):

1) Make sure you have done everything listed above, and that the assignments are filed safely in your binder.

2) In your Writer's, Inc. book, read the following pages. As you read, jot down a few notes about anything that strikes you as important or useful on that page:
p. 1
p. 3
p. 45 (Think about writing in your writer's notebook as you read this.)
p. 85
p. 87-88
NOTE: Page numbers are from new (green) edition.

3) Locate a written passage—from a book or a magazine, but not online—that describes either a place or a weather event. Make a copy. (Please scan and print it if at all possible! If not, you may type or write it out as long as you give all copyright information about the source—including the title(s) and author—and your parent double-checks that you made no errors in your transcription.

Also, daily:
+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along. The September Reading log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

+ Write in your Gratitude Journal, aiming for three things but listing at least one thing you are thankful for daily. When you have done so, place a check mark (✓)  in the top corner of your Reading Log calendar for that day. The September Reading log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

Missing Class on 9/22/16

I just sent the following email to a group email list I created this morning. If you received that email, I did everything correctly. If not, please contact me ASAP so that we can figure out what's wrong and why you're not getting the group emails.

I will update the blog throughout the day today so that you will know what to do for homework before our next class on Tuesday. For now, though, I'm going out to breakfast with my daughter! (And yes, I've added the to my Gratitude Journal!)

Talk to you soon...
LS

Dear creative writers,

I am sad that we’re not meeting for class today! My first order of business for the day was creating this mailing list of all of you. I will continue to update the blog throughout the day as I figure out how I want to handle our missed lessons today. (Hint: I will be trying to make a video and send it to you! We’ll see how that goes!)

For now, I will update the blog with news that you should be receiving this email. If you have received it, it worked when I created the group, and we’re all in contact as a class.

Hopefully we’re all connected now as a group, and it is easy to email all of you. I’ll be in touch with your lessons and assignments later.

Happy rainy day! (Go write something in your Gratitude Journal, then curl up someplace comfy and take the extra time to read lots of your Reading Log book!)

LS

HW from Tuesday, 9/20/16

Due on Thursday, 9/22/16

1) Complete Copywork #2 according to the instructions on the page. Pay attention to detail, and be very careful to copy it exactly as it is in the sample I gave you. It must be absolutely perfect to receive a ✓+.

2) Be sure that your homework from last Thursday (the four pages your created about noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) are safely filed into your notebook and ready to turn it in during class on Thursday.

3) Select (or make*) the notebook you will use for your Gratitude Journal. (We discussed the spiritual, physical, and emotional value of daily thankfulness during today's opening devotional. You can read more about that here.)

Each day, I would like you to record at least one thing that you are grateful for. (Research shows that writing three things is more effective at turning us into thankful people, but you are only required to write one. If you can write three, that's better!) These can be "big things" or "small things"—just jot them down as you think of them throughout the day. If you get to the end of the day and you have not written anything yet, take the time to think of at least one thing and write it down before bed.

4) Visit this page from our class website. (Our class website looks like a page from a yellow legal pad.) Be sure you know how to get there in the future so that you can check it frequently and make sure you're keeping up with all the things we are learning. It is located in the left column under "Topics of Study, Quarter 1." Please visit there and read the seven ways that are listed under "Enhancing Description." If you text or email me the seventh way—the last one listed, which we have not studied yet in class—I will give you an extra credit + in my grade book, as long as the text or email is sent before 9 p.m. tonight (Tuesday).

Also, daily:
+ When you have written your thing(s) in your thankfulness journal for the day, put a check mark (✓) in the right corner of the square for the day on your Reading Log calendar. I would like for you to keep track of this just like you're keeping track of your reading. If you did it, put a check in the corner—starting today (Tuesday, 9/20/16). NOTE: Put a check in the corner of your Reading Log calendar (for writing in your Gratitude Journal) even if you didn't read on that particular day. Try to read every day, and try to write in your Gratitude Journal every day as well!

+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along. The September Reading log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

* You may certainly buy a small notebook for this purpose, but you can make a simple gratitude journal by taking a few sheets of computer paper, folding them together ("hamburger-bun style," not "hot dog-bun style"), and treating them like a notebook. Feel free to decorate the notebook in any way you would like. When it is time to write in your gratitude journal, just write the day and date and write at least one thing—three is better!—that you are thankful for that day. 

HW from Thursday, 9/15/16

Due on Tuesday, 9/20/16

1) Continue chanting your memorized this list of the five senses (in this order and using these words):
LOOK
SMELL
TASTE
SOUND
FEEL
Practice saying it several times so you don't forget them—in this exact order, using these exact words.

2) Make sure your CW binder is in order. Get the tabs labeled and placed in your binder in the correct order with the correct pages filed into each section:

1 – Writing/Grammar Lessons
2 – Copywork / Memory Work
3 – Homework
4 – Reading Logs
5 – Quizzes / Tests

3) Read the following two pages in your Writer's Inc. book (the newest edition, the green one):
p. 87 – Writing Complete Sentences
p. 95 – Combining Sentences

For p. 95, don't worry at all about learning or memorizing the names of the techniques they say you can use to combine sentences. Just carefully read each of the examples sentences they give about tornados, noting the different ways they were able to say things differently by combining the ideas from the choppy, little sentences at the top into the nicer, longer ones at the bottom.

4) Visit the following web links to listen to the School House Rock songs for nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. As you listen to each song, write down the definition of each part of speech (according to the song) and give as many examples of that part of speech as you can from the song itself. (Often, there are twenty or thirty or more specific examples of each part of speech listed out in the songs!)

Use a new sheet of paper for each part of speech/song!

* NOUN A Noun Is a Person, Place, or Thing
* ADJECTIVE Unpack Your Adjectives
* VERB Verb: That's What's Happening
* ADVERB Lolly Lolly Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here

5) Be prepared for a quiz on Tuesday on everything we've discussed so far in class. Pay particular attention to our writing lessons, where we've discussed five ways to enhance description in your writing. I would encourage you to visit our Creative Writing Blog (see the right sidebar in this Homework Blog for the link) so that you can see the things we have discussed / will be discussing this quarter, and review the material to be sure you haven't missed anything.

Also, daily:
+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along. The September Reading log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

HW from Tuesday, 9/13/16

A quick note from Mrs. Sitterding:
I'm so proud of all of you! It isn't easy getting back into the groove of a school year after a long summer break, especially with a new teacher—and tricky new things to do on the computer! You're doing a great job! I'm happy to show you grace and drop the low homework grades that were related to getting up and running with the computer. Glad you've all figured it out and we're now ready to go... (Please call me if you still have any questions or concerns about how the homework blog works.)

Due Thursday, 9/15/16

1) Memorize this list of your five senses (in this exact order and using these exact words):
LOOK
SMELL
TASTE
SOUND
FEEL
Practice saying it several times so you don't forget them—in this order, using these words.

2) Read all of p.141 in your Writer's Inc. book, the sections entitled #4 ("Hooking Your Reader") and #5 ("Keeping the Reader Interested"), including the boxes containing the sections "Use sensory details," "Use specific action," and "Use dialogue."

3) Read p. 143, entitled "Sample Personal Narrative" (called "The Game").

[NOTE: In the old edition of Writer's Inc. (the gold one), this material isn't exactly the same, but you can at least read the "Sample Personal Narrative" (called "The Game") on pp. 148-149. Please borrow a green edition of the book to read the other sections if at all possible, or I'd be happy to meet you early before KEYS on Thursday so that you can read it then. I'll be there by 8:00 a.m. Call or text to let me know if you're planning to meet me early on Thursday.]

4) Write a good, descriptive sentence to take the place of the dull sentence, "The child cried." (This is like what we did in class today using, "The man walked.") Use some of the five ways we talked about to enhance description in your writing to write a good, descriptive sentence. Show us, don't tell us!

Also, daily:
+ Read your (approved) book for pleasure, aiming for 30 minutes daily. Mark the number of minutes on your Reading Log (in multiples of five, rounded down) as you go along. The September Reading log is due, signed by a parent, on Thursday, September 29.

-------------
Special thanks to Caleb, for pointing out that the homework blog—though updated at 2:30 this afternoon—was not displaying the update until I just checked on it after receiving Caleb's email. I'm not sure what happened. We will keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't happen again. My apologies!

HW from Thursday, 9/8/16

Due on Tuesday, 9/13/16

1) Those who didn't complete the last homework assignment should do it first, before completing anything else. Email it to me ASAP. Let's get rid of that zero quickly! Don't forget to include an explanation as to why your first homework assignment was not done in a timely manner.

2) Read over the sheet entitled, "CW Homework Assignment #1 Grade Report," noting especially the part entitled, "A few words about homework assignments." Both you and your parents should sign this sheet and return it to class on Tuesday, 9/13. This indicates that you've read it and understand it.

3) Send me an email from right on this page where you are now. Just click on the link in the right sidebar that says, "Email Mrs. Sitterding" and send me an email, both from your own email account (if you have your own) and from your parent's email account. This enables me to easily save your address(es) into my contacts without typing anything wrong or making any mistakes. Note that you will send two separate emails (if you have your own email account).

4) Repeat the procedure with a text or a phone call from both your and your parent's cell phones (if you have your own cell phone).

5) Choose your first book for your Reading Log and get your parent's signature of approval on the Reading Log book list. Return this to class on Tuesday, storing it in your notebook.

6) Begin your Reading Log reading, which officially begins today, 9/8. The goal is to read at least 30 minutes per day. Record the number of minutes read on the calendar I gave you, in increments of five only. (Always round down to the nearest five. In other words, if you read 34 minutes, record 30 on your calendar; if you read 18. write down 15; etc.)

7) Complete Copywork #1, following the directions carefully. (See the handout I gave you in class today.)

8) Before class on Tuesday, make sure you have all the supplies you need for class, that your notebook is in good order with all the right handouts, and that you have the correct edition of the book—you need green writing on the cover, not golden orangey. (See the copyright information on the KEYS class website or the handout I gave you.)

Please don't hesitate to call, text, or email with any questions or concerns. I really am excited to get this year started! I can't wait to start reading your stuff! :)