Oct 31, 2012 Happy Halloween and Plot Diagrams!

Homework: Group evaluations due Friday (in e-mail)

Today we continued with our plot diagrams of the Spongebob video.  We re-discussed all the various parts of the plot diagram and then put the events of the video in the correct places on the diagram.  We also practiced speaking "like a reporter" during this exercise.  What does this mean??

Today in class we discussed with students that they would need to begin "Reading like a detective" and "Writing like a reporter".  When reading and discussing we are going to say things like "prove it", "find it", "show me", "where's your evidence?".  This forces them to find evidence in the text that supports their answers and thoughts.  This will help them to get a deeper understanding of what they are reading in a text.  We also discussed writing like a reporter, which involves using complete sentences so that if anyone picked up a paper or sample of their writing, they would know what they are writing about because they have all of the important and relevant information included and would have used complete sentences.  Sooooo, during our discussion of plot diagrams, they had to answer every question in a complete sentence!  It was tedious but I think REALLY helped make the discussion more clear and will help their writing in the long run! 

We also heard from Mrs. Barscz about Battle of the Books and how to sign up for this awesome competition.  If you have any questions please see her and consider signing up!  

Tomorrow we will continue with Touching Spirit Bear and will complete a plot diagram of the story.  Have a great night!