This week our focus is on the scary stories we are writing in class. Revising is one of the most important parts about writing--when we continue to add details and descriptions, it helps our reader visualize.
1.) Please select a "HOT SPOT" in your scary story and 'ZOOM IN" to add more details! Remember a "HOT SPOT" is a place in your writing where you can add more description (Hint: you can add an action, a thought, a 'talk', and a feeling or focus on the five senses). 2.) Write out the original sentence or part of the story you'd like to revise and add more detail. 3.) Write out the revised paragraph below the original one. The purpose of this assignment is to practice revising and adding more detail! You can then add it to your story! Example: ORIGINAL SENTENCE: I walked down the street admiring the Halloween decorations. I always hesitated as I neared the Murdock Mansion. It was the creepiest house on the block. REVISED PARAGRAPH: I walked slowly down the street admiring my neighbors’ Halloween decorations. Across the street in a ranch-style home, sat a skeleton complete with bright green eyes. Large cotton spider webs stretched from tree to tree adorned with large, fuzzy, black spiders. On the front yard of the next house, sat a pair of witches legs sticking out from the green grass after looking like she crash-landed directly into her neighbor’s lawn. I chuckled. Gotta love Halloween. I continued walking and eventually approached thet the tall, dark house on the corner. The Merdock Mansion. The Merdock Mansion looked like a scene straight out of a scary movie, and certainly didn’t seem to belong in this modest neighborhood. I shivered as I walked past the dilapidated, unkempt, two-story home. The house, partially covered by unrelenting vines and bare tree branches lurking over the roof, was often the setting for haunted stories told amongst friends. Almost every person who has walked past the Merdock Mansion had a story about it. Kids claimed they’d seen skeletons dancing in front of windows and old ladies with no face rocking in chairs. Others swear they’d heard wolves howling, women screaming, and fingernails scratching at the door.
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This week, we will be begin writing scary stories! In order to write a strong story, it's important to understand story elements, such as setting, characters, the beginning, middle, end, and the problem and solution.
With this in mind, your assignment this week will be to identify the following parts of a story in one of the books you've read this year (think about the books you've finished for the 20 Book Challenge so far): Be sure to include: 1.) The SETTING (find a description of the setting using a quote from the story to support your response) 2.) MAIN CHARACTERS 3.) The PROBLEM AND SOLUTION (use evidence from the text to support your response). PLEASE IDENTIFY EACH STORY PART AFTER YOUR RESPONSE (SETTING, CHARACTERS, PROBLEM, SOLUTION). As always, include the title and author of the story. Example: The story, The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry, mostly takes place in both the Willoughby house and the Melanoff mansion (setting). Lowry describes the Melanoff mansion as "much larger than the other houses in the neighborhood, but it was unkempt. A wrought-iron fence around its yard was titled and twisted in places, and the yard itself was cluttered with pieces of discarded furniture" (p.19). The main characters include Tim, the eldest son, twins, Barnaby A and Barnaby B, Jane, Nanny, and Commander Melanoff (characters). The main problem in the book is that the children want to get rid of their parents, and the parents want to get away from their children, "Shouldn't we be orphans?." Another problem involves Commander Melanoff and his tragic story of the (supposed) loss of his wife and child (problem). These problems are solved when the Willoughbys adopt Nanny as their care-taker after their parents don't return home. Commander Melanoff marries Nanny and learns of the survival of his son and ex-wife (solution). We have been learning about the importance of written response to text. Written response is viewed as the highest level of comprehension because you are able to communicate in writing your learning and viewpoints.
Your blog this week is to answer one of the following questions using RACE (R: Restate the question, A: Answer all parts, C: Cite evidence, E: Explain your thinking). Steps: 1.) Choose one question you'd like to answer. 2.) Use RACE to respond ((R: Restate the question, A: Answer all parts, C: Cite evidence, E: Explain your thinking) 3.) Include the title and the author Questions: 1.) What is your favorite part of your book? Why? 2.) What character are you most alike? Why? 3.) What is the main idea of your book? Example: My favorite part of the book, The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry is (RESTATE) when the characters in the story dress up to scare away potential buyers of their house (ANSWER). It's my favorite part because I like the creativity the characters use. For example, "Tim dressed as a coat hanger, Jane became the rug, and Nanny dressed herself as a statue," (p.20) (CITE). This quote shows the clever way the Willoughbys tried to scare people trying to buy their home (EXPLAIN). |
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