Posts Tagged ‘tips & directions’
Reading improves your vocabulary! As you are reading this week, pay attention to the new and interesting and challenging words you are reading. Choose 10 of them to complete the activities for Vocabulary BINGO.
For each word, you will need to
- list the appropriate part of speech;
- write the definition in your own words;
- and quote the passage from your book that contains the word. Document the excerpt using an internal citation (author’s last name and page number).
List the words on the vocabulary worksheetI gave you in class.
Then complete three of the activities listed on the BINGO card. Choose activities that complete a BINGO across, down, or diagonally. Here are links for examples of some of the activities.
- Make a crossword puzzle using all 10 words. You may use a webiste such as Puzzle Maker or write it by hand.
- Personification/Character sketch: Write a descriptive paragraph (at least 100 words) that personifies a vocabulary word. Use the six methods of characterization: appearance, actions, speech, inner thoughts and feelings, what others say, environment.
- Illustration: Illustrate the meaning of one vocabulary word using an original drawing, pictures from magazines or websites. Define the word or write an original sentence using the word for a caption.
- Create a worksheet that allows someone to practice using these words in creative ways. Include questions such as Draw someone who could be described as __________. What TV character could be referred to as ___________. Write and anser at five questions.
- Find the origin of 10 vocabulary words. Write these on the Vocabulary sheet. You can quickly find the language of origin on Dictionary.com.
- Write a creative story or poem using 1p vocabulary words.
- Personal Identification: Write a paragraph (at least 100 words) that illustrates three reasons why you personally identify with the word.
- Write 10 fill in the blank sentences using the vocabulary words.
- Context Clue: Write an original passage (at least 50 words) that contains a context clue to the meaning of the word. Ways to give a context clue: restate (give meaning in other words), contrast (new word is contrasted with familiar word or example), explain (clarify meaning with more detail), suggest (get a good idea of word’s meaning by understanding scene and characters’ states of mind), comparing (say how word is similar to familiar word or phrase).
Here is the infamous parrot. Can you make it come to life with vivid description? Leave a comment with your best sentences describing this parrot flying around my classroom. There will be prizes (one for each class–your choice from my book box) involved. This competition is open to my students in any class.
Now that you know what a widget is, here is how to get some for your blog!
How to Mess with Widgets by Brittany P
A widget is things you can have on your page and make it easier for you to go to a website or someone else’s page with out havening to type in all the information you need to go to the website.
How do you add, and change widgets to your blog?
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Click on your dashboard.
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At the top of the page “activate advanced adman” click that button.
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Find “appearance” click down arrow, choose widgets
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Find the widgets you want on your blog to show on your page.
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Drag them over to the box on the right that shows your active widgets.
Then if you want you can click on “visit site” at the top of the page and double check your widgets. You will find the widgets on the right side going down the page.
Here is great advice from last year’s bloggers on adding links to your blog page. You will want to make sure that you have included the links widget in your sidebar design.
How to add links by Ali B.
“What is a link?” “Why should I care?” “What do they do?” Are these questions running through your head right now? If not, you don’t need to worry about it anyway, wanna know why? Because I’m going to tell you, duh! First you must know what a link is, the definition of “link” is a whole paragraph long! (That’s way too much for a 4 letter word.) I’d so much rather read a few words, like, a shortcut to another place on the Internet. Much better, eh? Well, it’s not so hard to add them either.
You must first, obviously, find a website that you’d like to add a link to and copy it.
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Log in to your blog.
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Go to “Dashboard”. (make sure you’re on “Advanced Admin”.
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Scroll down the left sidebar to “Links”.
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Go down the little “Add Links” box and click “Add New”.
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Add a name if you’d like.
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Paste the website’s URL in the “web address” bar. (you may add a short description and/or add to a category.)
Once you’ve finished click the “Add Link” button on the right. There ya go!(: You’ve just added your first link! 😀 Way to go!
Now that you’ve mastered the art of linking, you can do it yourself.
ENJOY YOUR LINKING!
You can also add links within your posts. Here’s how from one of last year’s bloggers.
Adding Links to Posts by Hank J
The easiest way to create a link is not to do it, but if your being forced to like I am to do this. There are few very simple directions to do it.
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Go to edublogs.org.
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Sign in.
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Go to my dashboard.
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Go to new post.
- Open a new tab.
- Enter the website you want.
- Copy the url.
- Go back to new post.
- Click on the two intertwined ovals.
- Paste the url.
Then you’re done.
One of the most fun parts of blogging is getting comments. Just today (Wednesday) I got super-duper excited when I saw I had a comment from a real live author! Click over to my About Me page to see what Gae Polisner had to say.
As you get started on leaving comments, here is some advice from last year’s bloggers:
Commenting for Dummies by Ashton B.
In Mrs. Mcgriff’s language arts class, we get on blogs quite often. You have to post all your writing on this blog for other people to read and to comment on. Now knowing how to comment is vital because sometimes you have to comment for a grade. So here are a few tips.
- Go to kaymcgriff.edublogs.org.
- Scroll down and on the right side of the page look for Blogroll.
- When you find it click on which ever period you would like to look at.
- Read through the posts.
- When you find the post you would like to comment on, click on the title of it.
- Then scroll down to the bottom of the post.
- It will say leave reply.
- Fill out all the information below it.
- Write your comment.
- When you are finished click Submit Reply
If you don’t remember how to comment, re-read this, or ask Mrs. McGriff.
Have fun on the blog!
How to Leave a Comment for Mrs. McGriff’s Blog
In Mrs.McGriff’s language arts, you will get a blog. A lot of the stuff you write will be published on your blog. After you are finished blogging, and if you have time, you will go on others people’s blog and comment on what they wrote.
When you comment, the first thing you do is go on Mrs.McGriff’s blog. The second thing you have to do is scroll down on her blog and on the right hand side you will find a link that says blog roll. You will click on whatever period you want to read. You read there blog, and at the bottom of there writing it will say leave a comment. You will click leave a comment and you will comment on what they wrote. After you are done writing your opinion you will click comment. That is how you leave a comment for Mrs.McGriff’s language arts class.
How to Leave a Comment
Isn’t it nice to be complimented on something you worked really hard on? Doesn’t it feel good to make someone else feel good about something they worked really hard on? If so, comments are the way to go. It’s really pretty simple, this is how to leave one.
- First log into this website (http://www.kaymicgriffsedublogs.org)
- Next scroll down to the period you have language arts.
- Find the piece of writing you want to comment on, then click the title of the document.
- Scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and write your comment in the box.
- When you are finished writing your comment, click submit to enter your comment.
There’s nothing to it!
How to Write a Comment by Tequila L
You may want to leave comments because it makes other people feel good and let them know you’re reading it. It also starts conversation with new people so maybe you can meet new people and become friends.
- First, to leave a comment you have to log onto (http://www.kaymcgriffedublogs.org)
- Then go down to the period you have and click on it.
- Go to the person’s profile you want to comment on.
- Click on the post you want to comment on.
- Make sure you stay on topic and leave your name and your email. They are both required.
- Make sure you use correct punctuation.
- Once you have written what you want, click the submit button and your comment will be posted.
How to Leave a Comment and Read Ones People Left You
How can you leave a comment on somebody’s blog?
First you go to http://www.kaymcgriff.edublogs.org and go to somebody’s blog. Then you find a post you feel you can leave a reasonable sized comment (three to five sentences). Always make sure you’re being nice and only constructive criticism, to make them better not worse. After you are done you fill out the Spam blocker and there you have a nice comment that you have shared with your friend.
Stuff to think about:
- Always spell words correctly.
- ONLY put positive stuff in your comments.
- Always stay on subject when writing a comments on blog posts.
*BONUS* How to Find Your Comments on Your Blogs.
- First things first, you go to edublogs.org and sign in to your dashboard.
- Then you go to the middle top of the page to find a thing that says posts and comments (expert admin). Move your mouse over it and then click comments.
- Now you have found your comments that your classmates have sent you about your posts. Approve the comments unless it is spam. Then trash or spam the comment.
Now you know how to make and to find comments. Have fun.
How to Leave Comments by Meegan V
After you have done what you wanted to do on your blog, you can leave comments on your classmates’ blogs. You can see what your classmates have to say, and you can express what you have to say. Comments are fun to do in your free time and when you’re done on your blog.
- First, you log in as yourself.
- Then, you find Mrs. McGriff’s blog and look at comments or posts in any period you want or you can look at Mrs. McGriff’s posts.
- You find a post you like or want to comment on.
- Scroll down the post until you see “leave a comment” that goes along with the post, then click it.
- You will see that same post again. You scroll down and you see a box to type in. That is where you type your comment.
- When you are satisfied with what you have written, click “submit comment
- You will then see your comment along with many others.
Enjoy your comments and commenting!
Sometimes early drafts of writing are filled with tired, overused words. You want to avoid these in your writing! Instead, you want your poem–or other writing–to offer a word picture. One way to revise is to crack open these tired words to find the crystal clear image inside. It’s like cracking open a geode to find the sparkling crystals inside.
Here are some tired words and sentences that need cracked open:
- words like fun, nice, pretty, wonderful, scary, good
- It was a nice day.
- I had a lot of fun.
- The flowers were colorful.
- Snow is nice.
- She is a wonderful person.
What examples do you find in your own writing?
Questions are the hammer you use to crack open these tired words and sentences. What questions can you ask to discover the image inside? You can also use your imagination. Close your eyes and picture what a nice day might look and sound like. Be sure to use all five senses.
Here are some examples of what you can do with your writing:
It was a nice day =
The sun came up over the sea. Cold water splashed my feet sending a chill over my body. The air smelled of sweet salt water. The sun rays made the water glitter like fireworks. The sand felt warm on my frozen feet. The wet rocks made a beautiful shade of gray. The stars came up. The little sparkling dots made me feel safe in bed.
It was kind of dark =
The sun barely peeks through the curtain, making the empty living room dim, not the grim kind of dim, but a serene dim that leads the mind to creativity.
This lesson come from the wonderful Georgia Heard, in The Revision Toolbox (Heineman, 2002).
Image “Calcite” from http://www.flickr.com/photos/32192899@N06/5427194550 used with a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
First of all, you need your brain. Be sure to take it out of park and put it in gear, too. The second thing you need is attitude. Since you are eighth graders, I know you have lots of attitude. The kind you want to bring with you to class is one that is ready to work and learn and try anything. Besides that, there are a few tools that will make your life much easier:
- a three-ring binder (1 1/2 or 2 inches is best) with five dividers,
- lots of paper,
- pens and pencils (any color as long as it’s dark enough for my tired, old eyes to read),
- colored pens for editing (again, any color as long as it’s dark).
Some of the technology we have been using this year (the mobi and projector, for example) was funded through a grant. The organization that provided the funds for the grant would like to hear from you. Please take time to complete this survey. Click on the link and answer the mostly multiple choice questions.
School is almost out. I know some of you are counting the days until you don’t have to crack another book until August, but I invite you to reconsider. There are many reasons to read over the summer.
- Reading is rewarding.
- Reading builds a bigger vocabulary.
- Reading makes you a better writer.
- Reading is sometimes hard, and hard is sometimes necessary.
- Reading makes you smarter.
- Reading prepares you for the world of work.
- Reading well is financially rewarding.
- Reading opens doors to college and beyond.
- Reading arms you against oppression.
Best of all summer is the time for free reading: You can read what you want, when you want, and where you want.
Start thinking about how you can make reading a part of your summer. Remember all you have accomplished this year as a reader, too. Copy the questions below into a blog post and answer them:
- What are all the different types of materials people read through the course of a day or week?
- What magazines or newspapers match your interests? How can you get access to them?
- What reading do you do online–texting, Facebook, MySpace, blogs or websites?
- What books, genres, authors do you enjoy or want to explore?
- How can you connect with other readers–through the library summer reading program, my blog, Good Reads or Shelfari?
- How many hours did you read this year?
- How many books did you read this year?
- What other materials did you read this year?
(Reasons for reading from Reading Reasons by Kelly Gallagher (Stenhouse Publishers, 2003)
All year I’ve had the responsibility of evaluating your reading and writing. I must admit this year’s Pioneers have been among my favorites. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you as readers and writers. Now it’s your turn to evaluate me. What did you like? What can I do better? Type your answers in the boxes below and then click submit. Your responses are anonymous.
