We are going to start the year in Language Arts studying Realistic Fiction. You’ll be reading Realistic Fiction and writing your own Realistic Fiction pieces. Later we’ll contrast Realistic Fiction with Fantasy. Later in the year we’ll study the genres of Mystery and Science Fiction literature.
For your first piece of Realistic Fiction, you are going to create a piece in which two characters watch an event. The event can be a sporting event, a celebration, a performance, a spectacle, a festival…I’m being broad because I want you to think of something you’d be interested in describing. You will describe the event the characters are watching. You can invent what happens during the event, but you should probably choose something you know something about, so that you can describe it accurately. The event doesn’t have to be The Greatest Event in the History of Mankind. It can be a normal event in which normal things happen. Your goal is to write a descriptive piece, not necessarily a suspenseful piece (though you can add suspense to your piece at your discretion).
You are telling a story in your Realistic Fiction piece, however. Think of yourself as a storyteller describing these two characters, where they are, and what they see.
You will describe three things in your piece:
1. The characters. Describe the appearance of the characters. Describe what is noticeable about them.
You are creating realistic characters. Give them realistic names and realistic appearances. You can base your characters on people you know. Make your characters fictional, however.
2. Describe where your characters are as they’re watching the event. Describe the venue, the weather, the crowd…anything applicable to the event.
3. Describe the event itself. What is happening? What do your characters see? The event should be somewhat prolonged so that the characters can watch it. It should not be over in an instant.
Your descriptions should happen in the past tense, as if the events have already happened.
Your description should be narrated from a third person perspective. This means that neither of the characters is narrating the description. It is the author, in effect, who is narrating the description.
Do not use any dialogue in your descriptions. You will be adding dialogue to your piece for
Realistic Fiction: The Event, Part II: Dialogue.
Your weekend homework is to brainstorm ideas for your two characters, the venue in which they will be watching the event, and the idea itself. The brainstorming sheet will be due
Tuesday, September 14.
The finished piece should be at least a full page in length, but no more than 3 pages. It can be typed or hand-written. If you type your piece, please use the following settings: Times New Roman font size 13, 1.5-line spaced.
We will be working on our pieces in class all of next week. You’re welcome to work on this over the weekend, but make sure you bring your work to class with you each day. We won’t be working on computers, so if you work on a computer at home, you need to print out whatever you’re working on to bring to class.
The actual piece will be due
Tuesday, September 21, though it can be turned in Wednesday, September 15, if it is finished by that time. It can also be turned in Monday, September 20.
The brainstorming handout can be found
here.
Photo Credit: Alex Trebek hosting the 2009 Geo Bee Finals,
NationalGeographic.com.
We are going to start the year in Language Arts studying Realistic Fiction. You’ll be reading Realistic Fiction and writing your own Realistic Fiction pieces. Later we’ll contrast Realistic Fiction with Fantasy. Later in the year we’ll study the genres of Mystery and Science Fiction literature.
Plate 20.
Plate 11.
Study Plate 1 in your Coloring Book. You may color it if you so choose (follow the directions--places on the map should be the same color as the bubble letters naming these places outside the map).
Many of you will be getting your Geography Coloring Books from your parents, who picked them up at Parent Orientation night. If you don't get a Coloring Book early, don't worry--you can pick up yours on the first day of school.
If you didn't get the Summer Reading instructions at the beginning of the summer, don't worry! Simply record the books you read this summer in the manner explained in the instructions. If you haven't read a fantasy or realistic fiction book yet, don't worry, you'll have time to finish them. The writing portion will not be collected the first day of school. If you've already completed the writing portion, hang on to it, and I'll let you know when you'll be turning it in.
Welcome to Nova! I will be posting things here relevant to Geography, Language Arts, the Library, and other things that I find of interest. I will post due dates, assignment instructions, links to help with assignments, and news about chickens named after yours truly.
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
Cities: Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow, Lodz, Gdansk.
Cities: Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Nuremburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel.
Isabel: 29 pts.
I'd encourage everyone to spend some time this summer practicing Geography. You can go back and review all the quizzes in the archive. I'll also be posting new quizzes throughout the summer. Each of the quizzes will have a link to a blank map. You will need to plot the places of the quiz on the map. You can use your Coloring Book for most of the places, but for some you will need to consult an atlas of some sort. You will of course administer the actual quiz to yourself. Let me know if you've passed a quiz by leaving a comment at the end of the quiz. Have fun!
Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales.
In creating your poster, the object is to convince others to travel to your country. All text must first be written on poster in pencil. Text must then be inked with Sharpie.
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