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Criswell - Writer's Workshop (Section Tues 5)

Instructor
Mrs. Meridith Criswell
Department
Language Arts
Terms
2019-2020 School Year


Assignment Calendar

Course Description

 

Class Title:

Writer’s Workshop

Code:

E325

Text:

Various Resources

Rating:

3

Prerequisite:

None

Grade:

5-­6

Fees:

None

Max:

15

Can be repeated? Yes
 

Description: Students will have fun using language to paint a picture with their own words. Students will engage in activities that will help them access their own creativity. This class will take a progressive approach to effective writing, in which students will start with sentence structure, word choice, and basic grammar, and then move into elaboration techniques, figurative language, and paragraph writing. Possible projects may include personal narratives, journaling, expository writing, fiction and poetry.

Posts

Sensory Images graphic organizer
Homework - Use the sensory images graphic organizer from class to write a paragraph (at least 5 sentences) describing a story setting. In class, we brainstormed ideas to write about a cool, rainy day. You may write about this, or any other setting/environment you would like. Be sure to use at least 4 of the senses to describe the setting, and try to write in a way that doesn't sound like you are just listing things (I saw ____. I heard ____.) Here's my example for the first few sentences:
As I arrived at Apex and got out of my car, I was met with a cool mist on my face. The sky was gray and gloomy, and I was surprised by how dark it was this late in the morning. Students hurried into the building, and the sound of their wet, squeaking shoes filled the air....

Homework

In class, students started revising their previous stories to add "show, don't tell" to describe emotions and feelings. For homework:
1. If you didn't finish in class, rewrite at least one "telling" emotion from a previous story so that it "shows" the feeling in 2-3 descriptive sentences. Complete this on your "Show, don't tell" handout from class.
2. Use a 3-box storyboard picture to plan your next personal narrative story. Then, write a first draft of the story. Be sure to include at least one example of show, don't tell. Skip lines! 
 
**Please remember to keep all your writing organized in a binder or folder so that you have access to it during class each week. We will often pull out old stories to work on revising as we learn new writing techniques and skills.

Homework

Please finish your "Show, Don't Tell" organizer from class. For each telling statement on the left side, write 2-3 sentences to show the emotion instead. For example:
Telling: My brother was angry.
Your SHOWING revision: My brother clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes at me. His face turned as red as a tomato at he screamed, "Give me back my toy!"
 
ALSO, there were SEVERAL students who did not turn in the personal narrative stories that were due this week for homework. Remember that it is extremely important to complete your homework before class. Not only does actually practicing writing make us better writers, but we often use the writing that was completed for homework for in-class activities and revising. If you didn't turn your story in this week, please complete it for next week's class.

Homework

Please finish the storyboard picture plan (beginning, middle, and end) that you started in class for your personal narrative. Then, write the story. Be sure to skip lines and try to aim for at least 4-5 sentences for each picture in your storyboard.

Writer's Workshop

Today, students shared their first personal narratives and practiced giving one another positive feedback. We also learned about generating ideas for personal narratives and started making categorized idea lists (people, places, objects, activities). Please finish your idea list for homework - a good goal would be to have at least 15 ideas listed that you could pull from for personal narrative writing.
 
Also, if you were not here for the first week of classes. please see last week's homework post for the first homework assignment. 

First Day Reminders

It was a great first day at Apex! Students wrote their first personal narrative today to give me some baseline information and so we can see how much we grow as writers by the end of the year. They should finish it at home and bring it back next week if it was not finished in class (this should be done without parent assistance).
 
Also, just a reminder for students to bring a 2-pocket folder and a have a section in their binder for this class. See you after Labor Day!