This week's vocabulary list includes words from cordial to chaos, virtue to grovel. When our new vocabulary springs up in dialogue or writing, I know that they've been written into memory--I'm hoping to see some peppering students' short stories, which they should begin drafting later this week.
Students have been immersed in short story pre-writing activities, including brainstorming sensory detail for the setting, charting out their plot, getting to know their characters inside and out, practicing "show not tell" language, and studying and applying the correct punctuation for dialogue (they can use their choice novels as a model!). Handouts for these activities are linked in last week's blog.
While they are busy writing in class, students are reading a novel of their choice at home, monitoring their thoughts as they read. After viewing their first round of sticky notes, I'll be showing them how to dig deeper into their thoughts by explaining more of their feelings, responses, and connections to what they read rather than just summarizing a plot event or pointing out something interesting. I'm pushing them to get to the "why" and "because" of their statements in order to think and write about them more extensively.
Homework:
Monday-Friday: read with sticky notes
Thursday: be ready to turn in sticky notes tomorrow (Friday)
Friday: vocab quiz next Tuesday 12/11
Vocabulary Quizlet
