The students received their quizzes back today.  They are doing a great job reading like writers!  I am including a photo gallery with examples of strong work on the quiz. Homework: Choose a topic for your extended narrative.  Prewriting will begin tomorrow.  Remember that you can write a fictional narrative, a place narrative, or a personal narrative.

We have been working hard on "reading like writers".  On Friday, we will have a quiz on this skill.  You will be given a snapshot moment and you will highlight particular writing strategies in the piece and make comments in the margins.  You will be looking for places where the writer uses voice, sensory details, conventional artistry, and slows time down.

We had some very deep discussions today based on the short story, "A Sound of Thunder".  Never in my career as a language arts teacher, have we discussed the space time continuum in so much detail!  Our brains were hurting by the end, but it was worth it.  We came up with some new understandings about how veering off our path, even minutely, can greatly affect the future. Oh, and Nathan Matchett is a time traveler from the future who has been sent back to rescue the JV Boys soccer team. Homework: Highlight "A Sound of Thunder", looking for places where the author effectively: 1. uses sensory details 2. creates snapshot moments 3. writes - other things that stick out to you about the author's writing -Mrs.Cabel

Today we read a fictional narrative, "A Sound of Thunder", by Ray Bradbury.  The students LOVED the story!  We will be working with this text over the next few days.  We will be focusing on the writer's style and on deeper comprehension of the text.