Writing Contests

Writing Contest: The Utah League of Cities and Towns is sponsoring the "Why I Like My Community" essay contest.  It is open to students in fourth and seventh grades.  There are cash prizes.  If you think you may be interested, ask me for more information and an entry form. Or try downloading this PDF: www.uen.org/utah/downloads/essay_contest.pdf

Check the poster just inside the classroom door for another writing contest. 



The 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are now accepting submissions! Go to this site to register. 
www.artandwriting.org 

September 30, 2010

Bell-Ringer: Pick up your composition book.
Write a response to the painting on the overhead -- a poem? short story?  description? commentary? ?

About writing short stories:  What makes a good or bad story?

Computer lab 223: Type a short story.

September 28, 2010

Writing Fiction
1.  Bell-Ringer:
a. Responding to a painting
b. Begin listing all the books (novels/chapter books) you've read -- in your composition book.  Label it with today's date. 

Problems in Fiction/Conflict
What are problems we have seen in fiction?

"The successful writer of fiction creates a world, one so complete, plausible, and seamless that readers slip into its rhythms and feel as if they live in the text."   

". . . most published novels and short stories are about two things: a particular person or group of people, and the particular problems that one or more of them are facing."  -- Nancy Atwell p. 21 in Lessons That Change Writers

problem, difficulty, challenge, conflict

2.  In your composition book create a list of "Problems in Published Fiction"

"What about a chocolate factory that makes fantastic and marvelous things -- with a crazy man running it?"
   -- note Roald Dahl wrote to himself about a "what if" idea for a story.

3. Read part of a short story, looking for conflict
4. Time to work on writing a short story.
Next time we will spend some time in the computer lab, typing short stories. 


Conflict in Published Literature:

Eragon – hiding the dragon

Fablehaven I and II  --  some of the magical creatures are trying to take over

39 Clues – family conflict – trying to find the treasure

Maximum Ride –  the kids are trying to stay free from the scientists

Lightning Thief – Zeus vs bolt thief

Percy Jackson – free someone from an ogre

Inkheart – where you want to be – story people caught in reality and real people caught in a book

Among the Hidden – family trying to protect their child from population  police

The Host – aliens vs. humans

Princess of the Midnight Ball – curse –

Sun and Moon and Ice and Snow – wanting to stay home, but being taken away

Gathering Blue – village – girl alone – they won’t let her live in the village

Twilight – Bella vs. James

Fever – fever killing people

The Tale of Desparo – saving the Princess

Tail of Emily Windsnap – getting her dad back

Goose Girl – she is betrayed, has to get crown back

The Golden Compass – cutting away the children's "souls"

Fearless Fourteen – guy stole 9 million dollars – police trying to get money back

Uglies – whether or not to be turned into pretty – whether or not to betray

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – problems with brother, with school, embarrassing

Just Ella – she doesn’t like the prince!

Spiderwick – goblins  vs. humans

Heartbeat -

September 24, 2010

QuickWrite:  Picture Prompt C


Weather permitting we'll go outside.
Activities:
1. Circles -- small groups --
2. Human Cameras (Three pictures each.)  -- pairs -- stop each time to record the shot.

3.Computer lab -- Wiki -- Write on your page in the Outside folder.
Log In.
Find the folder labeled "Outside" and open it.
Find your name and open that page.
Click on edit and type your best piece from our outdoors experience.
Don't forget to save and log out.

Reflections Contest

2010- 2011 PTA Reflections Contest

Entries Due October 20th by 4:00 p.m.

“Together We Can . . .”

Click Here for Entry Forms and More Information

Our Class Wiki

Go to http://cavewriting2010b1.pbworks.com

1. Log in using the user name and password you have been given.  Do not lose them, and do not share them with any other students. I suggest taping the paper strip into you planner or copying the user name and password, then destroying the paper strip. 
2. In the "Navigator" box at the right, click on the file folder for "Memoir."
3. Find your name, alphabetically by first name.  
4. Click on your name to open your page.
5. Find the tab at the upper left marked "Edit" and click on it. 
6. You may now edit your page.  For September 22, 1010, you will copy your finished memoir and paste it on the page. 
7. Fix any formatting problems (font size, etc.).
8. Don't forget to click on "Save" at the bottom left. (Otherwise you will lose your work.)
9. To get back to the main page, click on the "Wiki" tab at the top.
10. Log out by clicking on "log out" at the upper right.

 Important!

• Please do not edit anyone else's page.  Make sure you are in edit mode only when you are on your own page. You will see your own name at the top when you are on your own page.
• You may make comments in the comment box for another student's page.  Keep the comments polite, helpful, and friendly.  

Remember these rules for wiki use:

-- Use ONLY first name or first name/last initial.

--Please post only APPROPRIATE comments.

--NEVER give out personal information on the web.

-- Don't giver your username and password to anyone else.  Don't lose them!

--DON'T delete someone else's info.

                    --- Thanks to Mrs. K's School Is Cool Wiki

September 22, 2010

September 22, 2010
Revision:
Sentence Fluency -- Do you have a variety of sentence lengths and sentence beginnings?
Sentence Variety Chart.doc

Type "final"/quality draft of your memoir in the computer lab.
A quality copy of your memoir is due today -- posted on the wiki. 

September 20, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:  Select a prompt from the long-list of prompts in your composition book and write 1/2 page about it.
2. More memoir examples.
3. In your composition book:  Qualities/Traits of an Effective Memoir

• enough detail
• sensory detail
• descriptive words
• similes and metaphors
• (emotions)
• length is not too long and not too short
• effective titles
• what else? 

4.  About ARMS

Add
Remove
Move
Substitute

using your eyes and ears to revise 

Next time we'll finish typing the memoir.


Schedule for memoir:
September 10 -- Type and print a draft.
September 14 peer review -- revision
September 16 -- Revise in computer lab.
September 22 -- Final revisions and editing in computer lab -- ready  to hand in.

Video about Creating Characters

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/videos/category/about-writing/

September 16, 2010

September 16, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:  Select a prompt from the long-list of prompts in your composition book and write 1/2 page about it.
2. More memoir examples.
3. Students worked more today on their memoir essays.  

Using quotation marks mini-lesson. 

Rules: Quotation Marks and Punctuation

• Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a direct quotation. Do not use them, however, to set off an indirect quotation.
  
  
  • Bob said, "I doubled my money in the stock market last month!"
  • Bob lied about doubling his money in the stock market last month.
• Punctuate a speaker's words with a comma, question mark, or exclamation point inside the quotation.
  
  
  • Bob cried, "I'm ruined!"
  • Bob wondered, "Am I ruined?"
  • "I'm happier than Lenny at a petting zoo," Bob's enemy said.
• Place a comma after explanatory words (he said, for example)
• In dialogue, begin a new paragraph each time the speaker changes and use a separate set of quotation marks.
• Use single quotation marks when using quotation marks inside of quotation marks.
  
  
  • He said, "I know she said, 'Let's go to the Dominican Republic, this summer,' but I'd rather go to Hawaii."
• Put a colon or semicolon outside the closing quotation mark
  
  
  • Here are things "not to do": thing 1, thing 2, thing 3.
• If a sentence that includes a quotation is a question or exclamation, place the question mark or exclamation point outside the quotation marks.
  
  
  • Are you familiar with "The Road Not Taken"?

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/19162.aspx#ixzz0zTmzP5wa

Thanks to Trent.

Schedule for memoir:
September 10 -- Type and print a draft.
September 14 peer review -- revision
September 16 -- Revise in computer lab.
September 22 -- Final revisions and editing in computer lab -- ready  to hand in.
 

Finding Information on This Blog

Scroll down and then, if needed, click on "Older Posts" (at the bottom of the page), and continue to scroll down until you find what you want, or check out the "Blog Archive"  (table of contents) at the right, or use the search box at the upper left.

Look at the Blog Archive for posts on various subjects. Click on the arrow by a month to see all posts for that month.

You could use the search bar at the upper left to look for particular subjects.

On blogs, newer posts appear at the top, so as you scroll down, you are reading older posts.

Another useful item is the calendar in the margin at the right.  Some of the events provide more information when you click on them.  B-Days are marked because that is the day we meet in our Creative Writing classes.

FYI: You can access the district calendar on the district website or here.  

This post was originally posted August 16, 2010.

NPR Writing Contest

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129752769&sc=fb&cc=fp

Quote from the site linked above: 
Our contest has a simple premise: Listeners send in original short stories that can be read in three minutes or less. We're looking for original work no longer than 600 words.
Each round, our judges throw out a challenge. This time, your story must begin with the line, "Some people swore that the house was haunted." It must end with, "Nothing was ever the same again after that." 
Deadline September 26.

If yours is posted by NPR, you get an A for the term!

September 14, 2010

Please print a copy of your memoir (whatever you've written so far -- rough draft) and bring it to school today, or (if you can't get it printed) bring your thumb drive. 

1.  Print (if needed) and continue to work on your memoir (handwriting).  
2. More examples of memoir
3. Peer Review
4. More time to write and revise. 


Schedule for memoir:
September 10 -- Type and print a draft.
September 14 peer review -- revision
September 16 -- Revise in computer lab.
September 22 -- Final revisions and editing in computer lab -- ready  to hand in.

Extra credit for a Useless Fact: The ZIP in Zip code is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.  Tell me this fascinating factoid and earn 3 points of extra credit.  

ZIP is an acronym, "a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words." (Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.)

Contest -- Write About a Book

This is sponsored by Scholastic, and I just found out about it today.
The entries must be postmarked by September 20, so if you'd like to do it, you'll need to hurry.


For information about the contest, the prize, and how to enter (including the form that must be filled out), go to

http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/essaycontest.htm



To enter, print clearly/or type an answer to
the following question on 81/2 X 11 paper: 
“What is the book you will always remember and why?”
Entries must be fully original, must not exceed 250 words and must be in the English language.

If you're a winner, you get an A for the term!

September 10, 2010

Bring your thumb-drives on September 10.



Bell-Ringer:  Select any of the prompts from your taped in list to write about in your composition book.
Examples and non-examples of memoir.

Your memoir needs a "so-what." 

Computer lab 223 for working on your memoir.  Bring your thumb-drive.  You may also email it to yourself.
Schedule for memoir:
September 10 -- Type and print a draft.
September 14 peer review -- revision
September 16 -- Revise in computer lab.
September 22 -- Final revisions and editing in computer lab -- ready  to hand in.

Extra credit for a Useless Fact: The ZIP in Zip code is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.  Tell me this fascinating factoid and earn 3 points of extra credit.  

ZIP is an acronym, "a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words." (Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.)

September 8, 2010

September 8, 2010
Bring your thumb-drives on September 10.

Bell-Ringer:  Pick up composition book.  Tape into your composition book, read and respond to "Rambling Autobiography."  Follow the directions on that sheet.


Me-Bags
September 8 (Don't forget over the long weekend!)

Hannah
Monica
Katie
Emmalee
Miranda

Elise
Libby
Drew
Kyle
Austin
Kastan
Brody

Finish me-bags and do writing:  my favorite item, a striking item from someone else's bag.

More prewriting. brainstorming--  school
trees and spider webs  -- holidays

Collecting ideas for writing memoir. (receive handout to tape in your composition book)

What makes a bad memoir?  a good one?  

Memoir assignment:  You will write about a memory from your own life.  It will include enough detail to make it interesting and have a "So What?"

Possible Examples --
Restaurant
Disneyland (overhead)
if time -- "Lies"

Writing Workshop

September 3, 2010

September 3, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer: Write creatively about the photograph shown.  You can see it here (the top picture) at

More Creativity

2. Me-Bag Presentations
September 3

Hannah
Rachel
 Monica
Kennedi
Kenzie
Heidi
Madi
Robyn
Skye
Taylor H.
Katie
Courtney
Emmalee
Miranda

3.  Prewriting -- What do you do before you write?
 Notes and prewriting exercises should be recorded in your composition book. Label the page "Prewriting" and include today's date.

• observing
• collecting experiences
• free writes
• focused free writes
• brainstorming
• trees and spider webs
• 
  

September 1, 2010

Don't forget to bring your Me-Bag if you signed up for today:
Liam
Hannah
Rachel
Karla
Megan
Brogan
Brice
Monica
Kennedi

Bell-Ringer:  Students read a poem called "A Slice of Life" and responded to it in their composition books.
2.  We discussed the Writing Process, and students wrote about their own writing process.
3.  Students presented Me-Bags.