Word choice Mark saw a cut-off hand on the ground. As Mark looked down at the concrete sprinkled with fresh rain, his eyes fixed on five fingers connected to a severed hand seeming to point him towards the cemetery gates in the distance.

Word choice The clown was really scary. Kyle’s stomach dropped as the clown’s head slowly turned towards him, the light reflecting just enough to reveal a distorted face painted into a grimace.

Word choice Using vivid verbs, adjectives, and adverbs Verbs – The action in the sentence. The boy ran around the school. Adjectives – Modifies nouns. The silly boy ran around the school. Adverbs – Modifies verb. The silly boy quickly ran around the school.

Word choice - words to avoid Fun Cool Exciting Awesome Interesting Weird Dumb Great Stuff Things Nice Funny Good Bad

Word choice – Use in moderation . . . Linking Verbs – Is, Are, Was, Were, Has, Have, Be, Been, Should, Could, Would The sidewalk is hot. The sidewalk burned my feet.

Vocabulary words Include as many as you can. Make it sound natural. Highlight the word before submitting

Writing center Wednesday Room 311 – Mrs. Owen Thursday Room 222 – Mrs. Engl

Verb Tenses (easy) Past Present Future Took Takes Will Take Ran Runs Will Run

Verb tenses (complicated) Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous I was running I had run I had been running We were cooking We had cooked We had been cooking

KISS – Keep it simple, Students Past Tense Eliminates unnecessary linking verbs Verbs stay unified Eliminates confusion

But what about dialogue? “I need to go to the store,” she said. Present “I will need to go to the store tonight,” she said. Future “I went to the store last night,” she said. Past

Rubric – What does it look like?   Beginning Approaching Meeting Exceeding Writing Unsure of writing process. Makes little change to improve writing. Writing lacks detail and development. Disorganized and weak in structure. Some appearance of using the writing process with some changes. Displays some detail and development. Somewhat organized. Structure is attempted. Writing process used to strengthen writing. Displays substantial detail and development. Well organized writing. Paragraphs help develop ideas. Writing process done with heightened effort and attention to detail. Displays illustrative detail and sophisticated development. Consistently well organized. Perceptive ideas and structure.

Grammar and vocabulary   Beginning Approaching Meeting Exceeding Grammar and Vocabulary Limited understanding of English conventions. Simplistic vocabulary and incorrect word choice. Limited understanding of vocabulary words. Inconsistent understanding of English conventions. Acceptable but limited word choice. Inconsistent understanding of vocabulary word. Attempts to incorporate into personal writing. Generally applies correct English conventions. Generally uses effective vocabulary. Shows an understanding of vocabulary words and incorporates into personal writing. Consistently applies correct English conventions. Uses rich and effective vocabulary, including figurative language. Shows a sophisticated understanding and can naturally incorporate into personal writing.

Story expectations Minimum 1 page, no more than 2 pages Must have at least one small moments Clear conflict with a resolution that makes sense At least 2 characters, no more than 4 Catchy introduction Conclusion wraps everything up nicely, no lingering questions, no cliffhanger

Unit timeline 7D Writing Reading Book Talk Sept 22 – Verb tense Sept 26 – grammar Sept 28 – peer editing Oct 13 – Story Due Sept 28 – Summative Reading Response Due Next week – Formatives for book talks Week after Break – Group 1 Book talks

Unit timeline 7A-7C Writing Reading Book talks Sept 25 – Verb Tense Sept 27 – Grammar Sept 29 – Peer Editing Oct 12 – Story due Sept 29 – Summative Reading Response Due Next week – Formatives for book talks Week after Break – Group 1 Book talks