Writing With Our Noses

What role will your nose play in this week's 100 Word Challenge? 

Library Visit  Happy Monday! We discovered on Friday that some of you were never issued Language of Literature textbooks at the beginning of the school year. We will pay a brief visit to the library today so that those of you that need a copy receive one. Now you can all complete your assignments related to "The Circuit" at home. 

This Week's 100 Word Challenge: Can You Smell It?  Congratulations on completing your first 100 Word Challenge last week! I was so impressed with the quality of your writing, especially your use of descriptive details and imagery. Many of you have already received feedback from readers from around the world. How exciting!

This week's challenge is another intriguing one. The prompt is: . . . I could not believe the smell . . .  

There are endless possibilities here. I can't wait to see what you come up with. You can find the document 100 Word Challenge: I could not believe the smell in your Language Arts folders.

Since 'smell' is such an important part of this week's challenge, I am providing you with some lists of specific sensory words that appeal to your readers' sense of smell. 

Describing the way something smells is no easy task. Check out the way some published authors have described the way things smell below.  

Looking for additional resources on capturing smells in writing? You can find a list of "pleasant" smell words here and a list of "unpleasant" smell words here. Additionally, you can find a how-to-guide on describing smells here. Finally, keep in mind that even though the sense of "smell" is a special focus of this week's challenge, the imagery in your writing should still try to appeal to your readers' other senses as well. 

A Student Example  My eight year old son Owen was very excited about this week's prompt and decided to write his own story as part of the 100 Word Challenge. Here is what he came up, with just a little help from his dad. The link to his story is here. I know Owen would love your feedback.   

Telling a Scary Story?  There are so many places you could go with this week's prompt. Perhaps there is a very scary story lurking behind that smell. If you're interested in incorporating "I could not believe the smell" into a scary story, you may consider using some of the words from the 'scary word' list here. 

The short video below is also helpful in explaining some of the things you may want to consider when conceiving a scary story. 

Homework  (1.) Start writing your 100 Word Challenge: I could not believe the smell story. (2.) Read your A.R. book at home for at least 30 minutes and make a digital Reading Log entry. (3.) Scholastic Book Orders are due tomorrow! 

Reading 'The Circuit' and Publishing Our Writing

Guided Reading: The Circuit  Today we will finish reading from The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez. You can find the reading selection on pages 264-271 of your Language of Literature textbook. We will also continue to analyze literary devices using the document The Circuit - Literary Devices and visualize descriptive writing using the document The Circuit - Visualizing. These assignments will be due next Thursday, October 16. 

Publishing to Kidblog  Today we publish our first 100 Word Challenge creative writing pieces to our blogs. Review your 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again story one last time. Double-check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Next, copy the text from assignment's text box and then head over to Kidblog and login. Locate your blog and click on "New Post". Now give your entry the title "100 WC: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again." Next, paste your story into the text box below and then click "Publish". 

Finally, if you're feeling brave enough and are willing to share your story worldwide and receive feedback from readers all over the world, consider submitting your story directly to 100 Word Challenge using the link here. Let me help you if you're unsure about how to do it. I'm excited to see what sort of response you all get. And I'm so proud of you for participating in this challenge, sharing your writing, and to making a commitment to becoming even more amazing writers!      

Videos of the Day  This week's 100 Word Challenge was inspired by the good work of Sightsavers which is working to restore the sight of people from developing countries. Below, meet Winesi before his life-changing surgery and then watch as the bandages come off and he is able to say, "Suddenly I am able to see again." 

          
            

Homework  Make sure you read for 30 minutes at least once over the weekend and make an entry on your Digital Reading Log. I will be grading this week's Reading Log on Monday, October 13. 

The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez

 Today's Learning Objective   Understand the author's use of description and explain the effects of literary devices (personification, simile, imagery)

Guided Reading: The Circuit  Today we will be reading from an excerpt of The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez. You can find the reading selection on pages 264-271 of your Language of Literature textbook. 

As we read our job is to pay special attention to Jiménez's use of literary devices. You will use document The Circuit - Literary Devices (in your Language Arts folders) to make note of the imagery and figurative language, such as similes and personification, that you come across. 

Additionally, we are going to use Jiménez's use of figurative language, imagery, and descriptive details to practice visualizing. When you form a mental picture from a description, you are visualizing. You will use the document The Circuit - Visualizing (in your Language Arts folders) to describe the mental pictures you form form the details in the story.  

Homework  (1.) Read your A.R. book at home for at least 30 minutes and make a digital Reading Log entry. (2.) Complete a final draft of the 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again. Due: Tomorrow, Friday, October 10. (3.) Complete The Circuit - Literary Devices and The Circuit - Visualizing. Due: Next Thursday, October 16.   

Previewing The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez

 Today's Learning Objective   Understand the author's use of description and explain the effects of literary devices (personification, simile, imagery)

Build Background: The Circuit  Today we begin reading an excerpt from Francisco Jiménez's memoir The Circuit. Like an autobiography, a memoir is an example of nonfiction and is a true account of a person's life written by that person. However, while an autobiography is typically longer and focuses on a large portion of a person's life, memoirs tend to be shorter and focused on a singular event or a certain part of a person's life.

Author Francisco Jiménez

Jiménez's The Circuit is focused on his early memories of his life a young Mexican American boy in a family of migrant farm workers. Many of you in this class who are the children and grandchildren of migrant farm workers can probably relate to Jiménez's experiences as a boy, when he went by the name Panchito. 

Francisco (Panchito) Jiménez, as a boy

For additional background on life as a migrant farm worker, reference the text box below.

To understand a little more about the basic story of The Circuit, watch the video preview below.

Literary Devices  One way that good writers, like Francisco Jiménez, make their stories come alive for their readers is by using literary devices, such as imagery, similes, and personification. Literary devices can help readers understand a character's life and surroundings. They also help readers form mental pictures of a story's setting and events.  

We talked a lot about imagery yesterday, so today let's focus on similes and personification, which are examples of figurative language. In figurative language, writing goes beyond the actual meanings of words so the reader gains new insights into the objects or subjects in the work. When you describe something by comparing it to something else, for instance, you are using figurative language. 

A simile is a comparison of two things that have some quality in common, and usually contains a word such as like, as, resembles, or than. For some examples of similes check out the short video below. 

Personification is another type of figurative language. Personification is the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or an idea. To see how personification works watch the video below.  

Tomorrow, as we begin reading from The Circuit, be on the look out for imagery and examples of figurative language, such as similes and personification. 

Homework  Read from your A.R. book for at least 30 minutes and make a digital Reading Log entry. 

Writing with Imagery

What is Imagery?  Words that appeal to readers' senses are referred to as imagery. Writers usually try to describe places, characters, and events in ways that help readers imagine how they look, feel, smell, sound, and taste. 

As writers we use imagery to help create mental pictures in the minds of our readers. We want to show our readers what is happening, as opposed to just telling them. 

How do we go about incorporating more imagery and sensory details into our writing? How do we show our readers what is happening as opposed to just tell? The video below gives you a few ideas. 

Descriptive Writing Resources  To be successful writers, students need tools and resources. Featured below are word lists that you can reference to help make your writing more descriptive and interesting. (A document with these words has also been placed in your Language Arts folders.) 

Writing: The 100 Word Challenge  We will now continue working on 'the 100 Word Challenge' stories we started. But today our focus is on making our writing more descriptive and interesting. Look over your writing. Is there a way you could describe something that would better allow the reader to visualize what is taking place? Is there a more precise verb you could use? Are there sensory details that you could include, which might better appeal to your readers' five senses? 

We've also arrived at the point where some of you may need to consider revising and even cutting parts of your narrative. This week you only have a total of 107 words to tell your story. Word choice becomes very important. Use your words sparingly. Make sure the words you choose make an impact, are important and necessary to the story, and help your reader visualize what is happening. Additionally, avoid repetition. If you've written a similar idea once, there is no need to say it again. Be concise and precise!  

You can still find the assignment 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again in your Language Arts folders. Let's start writing! Please have a close to publishable final draft ready by Friday, October 10. That's the day we publish our stories to our blogs and decide whether to formally submit our writing to the 100 Word Challenge.

Scholastic Book Order  Tired of the books in the school library? Looking to buy a book just for you? I will be distributing a Scholastic Book Order catalogue today. Look through it. If you see something to your liking, consider buying it. By buying books through Scholastic, not only do you find great book at great prices, but you have an opportunity to earn points for your class so we add more books to our classroom library. 

You may buy books in several ways. You may bring in your order form with cash or a check made our to Scholastic Reading Club. Or you can simply order books online at scholastic.com/readingclub. Once you get there make sure you enter our class code: FMRJ4. 

The deadline for ordering books for this order will be: Tuesday, October 14. 

Homework  (1.) Read your A.R. book at home for at least 30 minutes and make a digital Reading Log entry. (2.) Complete a final draft of the 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again. Due: Friday, October 10.

Introducing the 100 Word Challenge

What is the 100 Word Challenge?  Are you ready to take your writing and blogging to the next level? Are you ready to publish your writing and have it read by people all over the world? If so, the 100 Word Challenge is certainly for you. 

What's the 100 Word Challenge all about? According to 100 Word Challenge: "We ask children to write in school but often there is no apparent purpose that they can see other than pleasing their teacher! This can prompt some very reluctant writers in our classrooms. The 100 Word Challenge seeks to address this problem. It is a weekly creative writing challenge for children under 16 years of age. Each week a prompt is given, which can be a picture or a series of individual words and the children can use up to 100 words to write a creative piece. This should be posted on a class blog and then linked to the 100 Word Challenge blog."


100 Word Challenge Student Samples  A few weeks ago, for example, students were asked to write to the prompt "… but it is yellow…" That's it. That was the prompt. Using only 100 words students were tasked with creating a short creative narrative story, incorporating those four simple words. Below you can find a a few samples of what students from around the world came up with.

Tom, Year 7, Christchurch, New Zealand

Niamh, Year 5, Lincolnshire, UK

Ashaylia, Year 4, Australia

This Week's Challenge  The prompt for this week's 100 word challenge can be found below. For additional background on the prompt, visit the site here. 

How can you weave those words into a creative story of roughly 100 words? How can you also incorporate some of the elements of narrative writing, including sensory details, imagery, transitions, and dialogue? That is your task. 

Tomorrow we will discuss the elements of narrative writing in more detail. But today decide on your basic story and start writing. Before ultimately publishing our stories to our blogs and possibly sharing with a worldwide audience, we will start writing using a Google Doc. You can find the assignment 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again in your Language Arts folders. Let's start writing! Please have a rough draft ready for tomorrow. 

Homework  (1.) Read your A.R. book at home for at least 30 minutes and make a digital Reading Log entry. (2.) Complete a rough draft of the 100 Word Challenge: Suddenly I Was Able to See Again. 

Quizzing and Blogging

"Call of Duty" Quiz  We have spent the past week with Jose and Zenit, as we've read their incredibly true story in "Call of Duty." Now it's time to demonstrate what you've learned. You can find the quiz here. You may refer back to the reading selection during the quiz; you can find it here. I will read each question and answer set aloud and then provide you extra time afterwards to finish your quiz. If you finish early, you may silent read and/or take A.R. quizzes until your classmates are done as well.

KidBlog: Getting Started  Mr. McGinty has a blog. Shouldn't you have a blog of your own? Today each of you will have the opportunity to set up your very own blog using the site Kidblog. 

After arriving at the site, click on "Students" in red, and then enter your class code: 
Period 2 - dgkz35, Period 3 - gjp279, and Period 5 - kmuv56. 

Next, try signing up by linking your Google account. Once you're logged in and if you have time, try making your first blog post. Entitle it "About Me" and introduce yourself to your community of fellow bloggers. Without using your last name, tell your readers about yourself, your background, your interests, your passions, your dreams, etc. Have fun! 

We will hopefully be using KidBlog a lot this year, as a way to express ourselves, improve our writing, and connect with people from around the world. 

Video of the Day  And now for a dancing interlude. Watch these young people from Korea bring it. And then this weekend, let's all spend a little less time on our couches, in our chairs, and in our beds, and a little more time being present in the moment, moving our bodies, and experiencing life. Yes, We Can!  

Homework  (1.) Make sure you read for 30 minutes at least once over the weekend and make an entry on your Digital Reading Log. I will be grading this week's Reading Log on Monday, October 6. (2.) Due to Back to School Night, we postponed the date to turn in your weekly assignments to Monday, October 6. Make sure have the following assignments completed: Identifying Nonfiction Elements - "Call of Duty" and Close-Reading Questions - "Call of Duty", and Central Ideas and Details - "Unbroken" from last week.