Writing Dialog

 This month we are learning how to add dialog to our stories to make them more interesting. 

We brainstormed a bunch of words to use instead of "said"
because, let's face it, "said" doesn't really have much personality.

------- Our April work sample is to write a dialog using the checklist below. -------

A few students sent in their creative dialogs, so I thought I should share them with the world. 

Feel free to leave a comment for any of our authors.

Rosie + Lovers

By Rain

"I wish you weren't in that cage," purred Rosie.

"I like my cage!" squeaked Lovers, who was hiding in her house.

"If you were not in a cage we could run and play chase all day," wickedly replied Rosie. Rosie mumbled to herself," That would be a very fun day."

"I am quite happy inside my cage where it's nice and cozy," responded Lovers.

Rosie scampered off angrily knowing there is no use trying to get Lovers to come out and play.

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Xbox + Teagan

By Teagan

My Xbox asked, "What would you like to do today?"

"I would like to play MW3," I replied.

"What mode would you like to play?" my Xbox asked.

I replied, "Survival."

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Cat + Dog + Lizard

By Mia

"I do not like the rainy weather!" exclaimed the cat.

"Bad weather means no birds," she muttered.

"I don't like the rain either!" barked the dog. "If I get muddy I will have to take a bath!" he barked.

 "I wish I could feel the rain!" argued the lizard. "I live in an aquarium now, and I don't get any rain anymore. I imagine it is so warm and soft!"

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Mom + Zee + Amaya

By Amaya

"MOM!" Zee shouted, "They are here, they are here!"

"Who's here?" Mom said in a puzzled voice.

"The zombies," Zee said while shaking, "They are going to take over the WHOLE population of humans!"

"Well," Mom said in a low tone, "you better hide. I hear moaning!"

"Okay," Zee said nervously, "where?"

"In the CLOSET!" Mom shouted.

Amaya walked down stairs wearing a costume.  "Where is she?" Amaya whispered.

          "In the closet," Mom said quietly.

 "Okay thanks," Amaya whispered. "BAH!" Amaya said when she opened the door.

 "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Zee screamed, "Hey, that’s not funny!"

 "Rude," Zee smirked while Amaya was rolling on the floor laughing.

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Book + Shelf

          By Bethany

"Oh, I'm so tired!" cried the book. “I have to get picked up and read almost every day!”

           "You wimp!" replied the shelf. "I have to hold you and your friends for longer than it takes them humans to read you!

            “My work is pretty hard also!” exclaimed the book.

            “I wasn’t saying that your work ISN’T hard I was just saying that in my opinion my job is harder.”

            “There is only one way to solve that…”

  

                   JOIN US NEXT TIME FOR THE BOOK AND THE SHELF RETURN!

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Fridge + Table

By Abigail

"What a beautiful morning!" exclaimed the table. "Everyone is so happy and cheerful."

"I wish I could be happy," cried the fridge.

"Why are you sad?" asked the table.

"Well, I'm sad because no one has come to see me this morning," responded the fridge.

"Well you don’t need to be sad," assured the table.

"Really!" yelled the fridge.

"Well why not, the morning has just started," said the table.

"Wow thank you so much for cheering me up you’re a good friend," replied the fridge.

"That’s what friends are for," laughed the table.

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 For the complete April Writing Dialog assignment packet, click here.

I'm excited to read more dialogs from my talented students, so keep them coming!

Vamp is Blogtastic!

Have you heard the news? Vamp has finally created her very own blog! She is so excited, that she wanted me to share it with you!

Vamp's Blog of Awesomeness

If you are in Computer Literacy, you can use Vamp's blog as an example of Assignment 6S. She has everything listed on the assignment check off sheet. She decided to add a few extras, and you can too if you want. You can see the breakdown below.

 

[click here for a printable copy]


Here is the scoring guide, assignment instructions, and blog privacy info...

[click here for printable copy]

If you would like to see student-created blogs from
first semester, click here. More to come!

Literature Circles

I ❤ Literature Circles! What a wonderful way to teach teamwork and independence simultaneously. Students enthusiastically read and discuss books of their choosing with a small group of five classmates. These "book clubs" require minimum class time with major benefits. Each student has a different job: Definition Detective, Summarizer, Illustrator, Quotation Finder, and Discussion Leader. After reading the assigned pages/chapters, students complete their page and prepare for their next group meeting. I have students meet twice a week for about 30 minutes each time.

It's fun to walk around the class and listen to each group excitedly engaged in their discussions... sharing, analyzing and debating. Who doesn't like a good ol' book discussion with buddies? I know I do!

If you are new to Literature Circles, or if you are looking for a printable, here is what I use. This packet includes all five roles. After 1-2 books, you may decide to skip the formalities and just let kids discuss their novels. I enjoy the structure of "jobs" but once the students get the hang of it, you can have them meet and chat about the book they are reading as a group more often.

I also created this single sheet for whole-class literature discussions. Whether you are reading aloud to the class, reading as a group or independently, this can be used to help students organize their thoughts and prepare for discussions.

 

[click here to download complete packet]

For Literature Circle book ideas, visit the websites below!

Literature Circles Resource Center

Popular Literature Circle Books (Goodreads)

Student Recommended Chapter Books

Oh, the Weather Outside is...

                        ...frightful? 

                                            ...delightful?

                                                                   ...sunny?

                                                                                    ...cloudy?

Here is a fun science + language arts printable for students to complete when learning about the weather. You can use it as a journal booklet or print separate activity pages for your kiddos to work on. I use the "When it's ________ I like to..." writing and illustration pages to create a super cute bulletin board display!

Click on these samples to get a closer look...

To download a copy, scoot on over to my TPT page where you will also find many FREE printable journals.

Enjoy!

50 Teen-Approved Novels

The following 50 books (and series) were enthusiastically recommended by the high school freshman in my homeroom class. If you are a fan of young adult fiction, print out this list and take it with you to the library or your favorite bookstore. This list may also come in handy as you do your holiday shopping!

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Acceleration by Graham McNamee

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Beauty by Bill Walace

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Build Your Self Esteem by Glenn Harrold

Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima 

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

Gone by Michael Grant

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Haunting Tales by Mary Downing Hahn

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

Lady Grace Mysteries by Grace Cavendish

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien

Magyk by Angie Sage

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

Penguin Anthology of 20th Century Poets by Rita Dove

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Connan Doyle

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren

The 39 Clues by Gordon Korman

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton 
The Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Secret and The Magic by Rhonda Byrne

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John

The Wrecker by Clive Custler

Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Warriors by Erin Hunter

What I Saw and How I Lied By Judy Blundell

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

William series by Richmal Crompton

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

Text Formatting Assignment

In Computer Literacy, we are learning about formatting pages and text in word programs like Microsoft Word. To check for understanding, I created this end of unit assignment using an excerpt from The Outsiders (a novel many of my students are reading in their English courses this semester).

You will need three files for this assignment.

Instructions:

Original Text File:

Sample of Completed Page:

 

This assignment asks students to change the margins, format text, create columns and add a header and footer. I have gotten positive feedback from my Comp Lit kids AND it's a fun one to grade!

If you would like to download a printable copy of the instructions and the sample, click the link below.

The Outsiders Text Formatting Instructions

Then, copy/paste the excerpt below into a Word or Writer file for kids to manipulate:

An Excerpt from The Outsiders

By S. E. Hinton

Dally was waiting for Johnny and me under the street light at the corner of Pickett and Sutton, and since we got there early, we had time to go over the drugstore in the shopping center and goof around. We bought Cokes and blew the straws at the waitress, and walked around eyeing things that were lying out in the open until the manager got wise to us and suggested we leave. He was too late, though; Dally walked out with two packages of Kools under his jacket.

            Then we went across the street and down Sutton a little way to The Dingo. There are lots of drive-ins in town--- the Socs go to The Way Out and to Rusty's, and the greasers go to The Dingo and to Jay's. The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot. We walked around talking to all the greasers and hoods we knew, leaning in car windows or hopping into the back seats, and getting in on who was running away, and who was in jail, and who was going with who, and who could whip who, and who stole what and when and why. We knew about everybody there. There was a pretty good fight while we were there between a big twenty-three-year-old greaser and a Mexican hitchhiker. We left when the switchblades came out, because the cops would be coming soon and nobody in his right mind wants to be around when the fuzz show.

            We crossed Sutton and cut around behind Spencer's Special, the discount house, and chased two junior-high kids across a field for a few minutes; by then it was dark enough to sneak in over the back fence of the Nightly Double drive-in movie. It was the biggest in town, and showed two movies every night, and on weekends four--- you could say you were going to the Nightly Double and have time to go all over town.

            We all had the money to get in--- it only costs a quarter if you're not in a car--- but Dally hated to do things the legal way. He liked to show that he didn't care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws. We went to the rows of seets in front of the concession stand to sit down. Nobody else was there except two girls who were sitting down front. Dally eyed them coolly, then walked down the aisle and sat right behind them. I had a sick feeling that Dally was up to his usual tricks, and I was righte. He started talking, loud enough for the two girls to hear. He started out bad and got worse. Dallas could talk awful dirty if he wanted to and I guess he wanted to then. I felt my ears get hot. Two-Bit or Steve or even Soda would have gone right along with him, just to see if they could embarrass the gurls, but that kind of kicks just doesn't appeal to me. I sat there, struck dumb, and Johnny left hastily to get a Coke.