Saturday, March 3, 2018

Lesson 16: Author's Purpose with the Realistic Fiction piece "Lunch Money"

The Target Skill in this lesson is Author's Purpose

Concept Question: Is the Author's Purpose supported by the Characters, Setting, and Plot of the story?

Lesson 16 Slides

Lesson 16 Grab-And-Go Resources

From Journeys:
Author’s Purpose In “Lunch Money,” details about the main character, the setting, and the plot help reveal the author’s purpose, or reason, for writing. As you read, record text quotes and details in a graphic organizer like the one below. Then use text evidence in the organizer to help you infer, or figure out, the author’s purpose.



Authors of fiction have different purposes, or reasons, for writing. They may want to share a theme, create realistic characters and plots, or simply entertain their readers. To achieve their purpose, they develop the appropriate characters, events, settings, and other elements in their writing. By looking closely at the details in a work of fiction, you can understand the author’s purpose.To determine the author’s purpose in “Lunch Money,” examine the author’s description of the main character, the setting, and the plot events. What overall impression do these elements create? What is revealed through the details and story elements about the author’s reason for writing the story?A graphic organizer like the one below can help you use details and elements in the story to determine the author’s purpose.

Introduction to Reading Skills: Author's Purpose



Introduction to Reading Skills: Author's Purpose 2

Realistic Fiction
Realistic fiction includes characters and events that are like people and events in real life. As you read, look for: challenges and conflicts that might happen in real life and characters’ feelings that seem believable.


Spelling List 13 – Unit 4 Lesson 16
Word
Verb
Root
Part of Speech
Definition
prehistoric

adj.
From or of a time before recorded history.
sludge

n.
A thick, wet, squishy substance that is often dirty or unsafe.
featured
feature
v.
To have as a main, important, or noteworthy part.
publishing
publish
v.
To prepare and produce a piece of writing for public consumption.
doodling
doodle
v.
Informal drawing without planning.
record

n.
A piece of evidence of past events OR the best or most of something ever seen.
villain

n.
A character in a story whose actions or motives are important in the story’s conflict.
tribe

n.
A distinct community in a traditional society, often linked by a common language, religion, and traditions.
mental

adj.
Having to do with the mind.
collectable

adj./n.

adj. Able to be collected.  n. A rare or valuable item that is suitable for a collection.

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Writing Unit 4: Realistic Fiction

-> Click for Unit PowerPoint <-

This writing uint will have students writing a piece of realistic fiction.

Target Skills: Theme and Characterization

For Writing Unit 4, the students will be creating their own works of realistic fiction.  This writing will make use of the story structure that we have been learning about throughout the year to create an original work of fiction that depicts realistic characters and themes that real people can relate to.  

Theme
Each student should first decide on a theme for their story.  Since a theme is bigger than any specific story, students do not need to already have developed characters or a plot when choosing a theme.  On the contrary, the students should first decide on a theme and then use it as a foundation to build a story on top of.

Choosing a theme: The first step to choosing a theme is choosing a topic.  The topic can be just one word, for example, love, family, friendship, loneliness, struggle, or fear.  Once a topic is chosen, decide what you want to say about the topic.  For example, if the topic is "friendship," then a possible theme could be "friends can help you through difficult challenges" or "it is important to choose your friends wisely."  Once you have decided on a theme, you can begin planning your story.

Characterization
Good characters drive a story.  Different people will do different things in different situations.  When creating characters, it is important to understand their motivations (why they do things).  It's okay to base your fictional characters on real people.  This helps make them realistic.  As you write your story, use your characters motivations, thoughts, and actions to communicate your theme.  For the theme "friends can help you through difficult challenge," you could create a character who always wants to do things by herself without any help.  The character can then learn that it's okay to get help from friends sometimes.  For the theme "it is important to choose your friends wisely," you could create a character that at first just wants to be friends with the cool, popular kids, but then learns that they are not real friends.  

Story Structure
Once you have a theme and characters, you can begin to plan your story.  In addition to characters, you also need a setting and a plot.  Remember that the plot includes a conflict, events, and a conclusion.  Be sure to plan your story using a graphic organizer before you begin to write.


Rubric for Realistic Fiction Total: 30pts
Format
5-Original Title, Date,
Single Space, Indented ¶,
Pencil or Black Pen
4- 4/5
3- 3/5
2- 2/5
1 1/5
Length
5-Five complete
paragraphs
4-Five paragraphs,
some incomplete
3-Four Complete
paragraphs
2-Less than five
paragraphs, some
incomplete
1-Less than five
paragraphs,
most or all
incomplete
Narrative
Structure
5-Gripping opener,
3 supporting
paragraphs, satisfying
conclusion
4-Opener, 3 supporting
paragraphs, conclusion
3-Narrative lacks
a conclusion or
enough support
2-Narrative is
largely incomplete
1-Not realistic
fiction
Story Structure
5-Contains well
developed characters
and a clear theme
4-Contains well
developed characters
or a clear theme
3-Contains characters
and theme with
minimal development
2-Characters are
generic and/or
theme is unclear
1-Characters are
generic and theme
is lacking
Revision
5-Notebook shows a
clear, multi-stage
revision process
4-Notebook shows
a general revision process
3-Notebook shows
a limited revision
process
2-Notebook shows
only minor revisions
1-No evidence
of revision
(only 1 draft)
Spelling and Grammar
5-Only 1 or 2 minor
spelling or grammar
mistake types
4-1 or 2 major spelling
or grammar mistakes
types
3-Generally correct
spelling and grammar
with frequent mistakes
2-Evidence of
incomplete editing
1-No evidence of
editing (full of grammar
and spelling mistakes)


Use these Graphic Organizers to help you plan your story.

Lesson 25: Main Ideas and Details with the Narrative Nonfiction piece "Lewis and Clark"

The Target Skill in this lesson is  Main Ideas and Details Concept Question:  Does the piece make sense without this idea?  If not, it may ...