Words, Words, and More Beautiful Words!

Students' first foray into poetry writing last week was quite impressive and inspiring!  Each student wrote a single line that they then put up for auction--anyone could take anyone else's line to use as a springboard for a poem.  As inspiration for the next poem, they were encouraged to listen to the music of words in their minds as they brainstormed a list of "beautiful words", or those they like the sound of, and then crafted a poem using them.  This week they will create imagery in the form of cinquains.  They will read and analyze some of Pablo Neruda's odes to onions, tomatoes, artichokes and salt, and then pen their own ode to a food.  In addition to writing poems, students are demonstrating their understanding of poetic devices by creating a page for each device that gives a definition, an original example in a line or short poem, an illustration of the example, and they'll be finding an instance of each device in a published poem.

Homework

Monday:  beautiful words poem due tomorrow

Tuesday:  device pg. #1 due tomorrow

Wednesday/Thursday:  Cinquains (minimum of 2) due Friday

Friday:  ode to a food due Friday, April 6

Shifting Gears Onto A Road Less Traveled

To usher in the official start of spring, we are seguing off the MCAS--essay--academic-reading-and-writing highway to a meandering, less trafficky road.  At times it will be smooth sailing, perhaps other times a bumpy ride--but on this road there are no flat tires or breakdowns when you hit a pothole!  Students will take the wheel, exploring new roads and forging new paths using the maps of their mind, heart and soul.

What is this road?  you might ask.  Poetry, of course!  Poetry is the perfect writing genre in which to play with language:  to learn (or coin!) new words; experiment with literary devices; play with punctuation (with purpose, of course); to shape words on a page unlike any essay ever written.  Best of all, poets can freely express their deepest thoughts and emotions, their humor, and observations of the world or life.  Topics can range from the sublime to the ridiculous; forms can encompass free verse to limerick, rhyme to concrete. Individuality is the key, as each poem a student writes expresses their own ideas, thoughts, and emotions in their own unique way.  

We'll read poems, too, peeling back layers and trying to unlock the mysteries they hold.  Students will come to understand that they may have to retrace their route with a poem, drive back over it, discover things they hadn't seen the first time down that road.  They will come to appreciate the deeply layered beauty of a poem--layers of meaning, layers of language--like the petals of a rose that smells ever more fragrant as as you pluck away petals to reach the inner bud.  They will chuckle at the rhymes of Jack Prelutsky, and maybe turn a bit introspective after reading "The Giving Tree".  They will become expert drivers as they navigate the language of poetry, identifying devices, form and structure and analyzing their purpose and effect.  Their reading and observation of poems will inform their own poetry writing, always with the goal of trying a new device or style, of traveling down a road less traveled to take readers of their poems on an exciting new journey.  

Homework:

Monday:  Prepare for book group tomorrow; vocab quiz Thursday (play quizlet!)

Tuesday:  Read for book group Friday; vocab quiz Thursday (quizlet!)

Wednesday:  Vocab quiz tomorrow

Thursday:  prepare for book group tomorrow; work on poem

Friday:  Finish your "beautiful words" poem; prepare as a final draft to turn in Tuesday 3/27

Beautiful Words Poem

Engaging the Writing Process

Students will have two class periods this week to revise their "Little Red" essays.  They are practicing the skill of transferring editing into revision and seeing the ways in which they can make their essays stronger.  In addition, they will be taking an MCAS practice test to familiarize themselves with online test taking, including format, user tools, and types of questions that will be asked.  These will not be scored but are simply practice in taking the test.  We will end the week with book group discussions.  Students who are absent on the day of a book group meeting should write a response to the chunk of reading they've done for it.  Responses should include the types of things that would be discussed:  any of the elements of fiction, author's perspective, language, connections, predictions, etc.

Homework:

Mon-Wed:  Read chunk #2 for Thursday; use sticky notes to mark/jot down things you want to talk about in your group meeting.

Wed:  If you didn't finish LRRH essay revision, please finish and turn in by Friday.

Spring Songbirds and Snow!

I'm hoping that the forecast for snow midweek doesn't silence the early morning chirpers I've begun to hear!  It's a sweet reminder that spring, indeed, is in sight.  Also in sight, for teachers' long term planning at least, is the end of the year and our final work together--so hard to believe!  We basically have another choice book, poetry reading and writing, and Greek mythology to take use through June.

Today we visited the library to get a choice book to read with a self-chosen partner or group.  Most students have chosen to read fiction, and a few have selected narrative nonfiction.  Students will be reading independently, and they will meet as a pair/group four times throughout their reading to discuss their books.  Topics will range from elements of fiction to connections students make to their books to language the authors use.

Students have been taking their essay writing skills to a new level by drawing evidence from multiple texts to support a thesis.  They practiced this skill in their "Little Red Riding Hood" essay as well as one on honeybees.  It reflects the writing expectation of the newest version of MCAS, which students will be taking in the first week of April.

There will be a short quiz on punctuation and capitalization this week (Thursday), and we will also dive into a new vocabulary list starting tomorrow.

Listen for the songbirds...and enjoy the snow if we get some!

Homework:

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday:  read a bit each night to finish chunk #1 for Friday's group meeting.  

Thursday night, write three ideas/comments/questions/wonderings/etc. that you can bring to your group discussion.

Punctuation/Capitalization quiz Thursday.

Vocabulary List #9