Writing Exam

You can practice for your writing exam tonight by using these questions.

Directions: Choose one of the options below, and on a piece of lined paper (that I give you), please write your answer. I will be grading your grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, transitions, content, understanding of the question, content, sentences, and writing structure.

Choice 1: Write a letter to Stella about what you want to change at LPV. Try to persuade her to agree with you. 25 sentences.

Choice 2: Write an expository essay about what you learned in fifth grade. 5 paragraphs, and 5 sentences in each paragraph.

Choice 3: Write a narrative essay about the best day of your life. It should be 5 paragraphs with 5 sentences in each paragraph.

Choice 4: Write a letter to me about what you liked about fifth grade and what you didn't like. Tell me what you think the fifth graders should learn next year. Write five paragraphs and five sentences in each paragraph.

The blog is going to be working during finals!

Hi class,

I just wanted to let you know that I will be posting reviews for your finals. I am using my very old Sony computer. I had to get it back from a friend.

So... make sure you bring your book report book to school on Monday. I've decided to collect your journals on Tuesday instead of Monday, and I'm going to give you time in class to work on your journals on Monday while I am doing oral interviews. You need to have your book report journals, your worksheet, and your presentation ready for Tuesday morning.

Your oral interview is on Monday. To practice, try to speak in English this weekend. If you can, find a friend and practice asking each other questions and answering them. Use good grammar and pronunciation! To help you, watch movies and T.V. in English.

Your writing exam is Tuesday. We will talk about it in class on Monday. You need to draw and label the robot structure and explain how we use it. Here is an old blog post with the robot structure: http://hoyengradoquinto.blogspot.com/2010/09/writing-week.html. You also need to know the differences between expository, narrative, and persuasive writing.

Here are the definitions:
Expository: Non-fiction, informational writing, like an essay about lions.
Narrative: Non-fiction or fiction, but it tells a story. If you wrote about your favorite vacation, that would be narrative.
Persuasive: Non-fiction writing that is trying to make someone believe something. For example, you could write an essay about why sushi is better than pizza.

You also need to be able to write a letter.

You will write a five paragraph essay, with five sentences in each paragraph, on your final. You will have four choices about what you have to write about. You will need to use good transitions, good structure, good grammar, good spelling, and have good information. I will give you the questions on Monday so you can practice at home.

Finally, here are your spelling words. Your spelling final is Thursday. You should practice these words and know their definitions.
screamed
whispered
asked
suddenly
photosynthesis
cartography
satisfaction
ecosystem
children
asked
climate
after
yelled
author
genre
transportation
imagination
adventurous
nutritious
exercise
universe
they're
there
their
language
resource
chores
pollution
siblings
Explorer
civilization
Discovery
simile
metaphor
tradition
language
Writer
Literature
Painter
Musician
Architect
Photographer
Halloween
ghost
pumpkin
witch
vampire
costume
haunted
spooky

I will post a grammar review tomorrow and a math review on Monday.

Writing Week!

This week is writing week. Yesterday, we talked about why we write. Today, we will be working on types of writing, the writing timeline, and we will review writing structure, brainstorming, and planning an essay.

Just to help your kids remember, here is the robot structure that we use. If you click on him, he'll get bigger.

Writing Final

Sorry I haven't posted yet, class. I've had a very busy weekend.

Your writing final will consist of 4 parts: a part where you will need to re-write dialogue with correct punctuation and spelling, a part where you will need to correct capitalization and punctuation, and two essay questions. In one essay question, you will need to write a short fiction piece that has dialogue. The other essay question will be a surprise.

I will be grading: punctuation, spelling, your writing structure, whether or not you use complete sentences and correct grammar, if you use transitions, and your ability to answer the question.

You should practice writing 2-3 paragraphs answering these questions. Remember, each paragraph should have 5 sentences. Use transitions like: first, second, third, then, next, because, therefore, later, before, after, or once. If you want to send me your answer, I can tell you what you need to do better.

1. Think of a day in your life when everything seemed to be going wrong. Tell about it.
2. Tell about a time when you felt proud.
3. What is one of the funniest things that has ever happened to you? Retell the event as completely as you can.
4. Imagine that you come to school and Miss Melody has disappeared. What would you do?

Dialogue practice:
Write this dialogue correctly. I'll post the correct answers tomorrow.

help yelled pedro. i fell down into a hole filled with snakes!
oh no! said his friend, roberto. how can i help you
please pull me out whispered pedro i am scared of snakes

Capitalization and punctuation practice:
Re-write the sentence using correct capitalization and punctuation.

1. miss melodys birthday is in december
2. warren had two sisters their names are lana and sarah
3. someday i want to go to san andres and providencia
4. on thursday i am going to plaza de bolivar
5. what are we going to do on friday

Writing Fiction: Your Assignment

Hey students! I just wanted to write a quick post to help you with your language arts assignment.

First of all, your rough draft is due on Monday. If you finish it early, I can look at it on Friday and try to help you with corrections. The rough draft needs to be AT LEAST 4 pages long in your notebook. You should have a beginning, middle, and end. You should have characters with names. Your characters should have feelings. They should talk.

Pretend you are writing a story that you are going to read to the kids in Little School or second grade. It needs to be interesting!

Remember that your story should read like a real story, like a book. It should not be a summary. It should not be confusing. To make it easier, try reading a book right before you start writing. That will help you create the right "sound" to your writing.

Also, you should make your plot very interesting. It should all fit together. The problem at the beginning of the story should be the problem that is fixed at the end. There should only be one problem. If you write a long story and the main problem is about a fifth grade teacher who can't speak Spanish, at the end of the story the teacher needs to speak Spanish. That should be the most important part of the story. How did she learn Spanish? What were her problems while she was learning? What was hard? What was the biggest problem? How do we know she spoke Spanish at the end? How did she feel she reached her goal?

Make sure you don't add unnecessary details, like the name of the main character's best friend's sister's cousin's dog. No one cares.

Also, focus on time and setting. Because we have to write stories that are about the 15 year anniversary of Liceo Pino Verde OR the 200 year anniversary of Colombia's independence, parts of the story will need to be true. For example, you can't write a story about Colombia's independence, but have Colombia get independence in 1998. That won't make sense, because then Colombia has only had independence for 12 years, not 200!

Make sure you are using your best grammar, spelling, and words. You should use perfect English, but next week we will fix any grammar problems you have. Right now, I just want you to write the best story ever.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email me.