Life Lesson #2
Life lesson #2 of the week–never tell your students that your family is doing better and that you will not be missing any more days in the near future. Anyone want to guess where I am today? That’s right–the stomach bug continues! The grandparent that was going to watch my sick one today, has now fallen ill. Guess who that leaves? ME! I HATE HATE HATE that I am missing again today, but I have to get my little guy feeling better and eating again!
So, here is the plan for today! (I hope after our little “talk” yesterday that all of you are checking the blog today for directions and will complete the items listed below! 😉
- Silent read. You should silent read for 20 minutes today. WITH YOUR OWN BOOK!
- Yesterday only Block 1 started the RUPR exercise. I’d like to continue that with the rest of the classes today. Go to back to this post to get the writing prompts. (Block 1–you can do the exercise again–it will NOT hurt!) 🙂
- Pick any prompt you like
- Read it
- Underline key words and phrases (format, audience, key words)
- Prewrite!
- If you were going to write a 5 paragraph essay on this topic–what would you want to include? Don’t worry about it being right at this point. Just write down everything that comes into your brain! Make sure you address ALL parts of the prompt! Before you think you are finished-go back and look at the prompt and be sure that you haven’t forgotten anything! You should prewrite for at least 5 minutes. Watch the clock–if it has only been 3 or 4 minutes–KEEP THINKING! This is your foundation for your entire essay and you want to make sure you haven’t left anything off. (Remember–grocery list!)
- Once you have finished writing everything that popped into your brain–organize it. What would go into paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5? This will make your writing flow and make it easier to write!
- Then, think about the yo-yo writing we talked about yesterday. (Go back and look at yesterday’s prompt if you need to see the handout again.) I want you to write a matching beginning and ending based on the prompt that you have chosen. (Remember–the middle is not important in this step.)
- Transitions
- Another important component of getting a higher score on your ISTEP writing is to be sure you know how to use transition in your writing. Since I am not there to have the conversation with you–I will include some items below that you need to read thoroughly and be sure you understand.
- Transitions in Writing handout (Open and read!)
- Tools for Writing: Transitions (Open and read!)
- Here is another transition reference. I’d open this and save in your “ELA” folder that I’m confident all of you have!
- I’d like you to practice a little with transitions. Here is some practice. Open this doc. It should work in Open Office. You should be able to type right on the page. When you finish–save it and we will look at it tomorrow together. TRANSITION WORD PRACTICE
- Here is one more. This one is a PDF file. I’m pretty sure I was able to change it around this morning, so you can write on it. Transition Words-typable
- Don’t forget to blog today! Talk about RUPR, Transitions, etc!
GOOD LUCK TODAY! Please stay quiet and focused for the sub!!! I will really try to make this my last day out for a while! 😉
mrs. yates class 