Opportunity Room; Grades 5-8 Reading and Writing Work (combined)
Student Directions
Reading/Writing for Opportunity Grades 5-8
Ms. Edwards
Part 1: Power Writing (10 minutes—3, 2-minute timed writings, counting, and one edit)
Power Write Directions (See attached):
1. Choose topic.
Six ideas for topics are:
roses, horse racing, Omak Stampede, bumble bees, snowflakes, snow day.
Or: Look in Write Source 2000, pages 50-51 for topics.
Or: You may write on any topic of your choice.
2. Ask to be timed for two minutes.
Write for the whole timed period. If stuck, repeat your last word over and over
until an idea for writing occurs. Credit is given for DIFFERENT words, however,
not repeated words.
3. Stop and count the number of words written, recording them at the top of your power
writing paper.
4. Repeat two more times.
5. Circle the writing you think is the best. Read that section over four times:
1) for correcting capitals,
2) for correcting periods, and
3) to fill in any missing letters from words or missing words from sentences.
4) read from the END of the section to the BEGINNING to proofread and circle any
word you THINK you misspelled. If you do this step by step, you will receive
credit. Turn in.
Part 2: (25 minutes) Reading/Notes/Gists/Figurative Language (Reading and Writing in
Opportunity)
Nonfiction ---Texts: Junior Scholastic or Science World -- (ask Opportunity Room
supervisor)
A. Choose a nonfiction article that is at least three to four pages long or longer. If not
ready within two minutes, the teacher will assign you reading material from your
magazine.
a. Find at least 3-4 section breaks in the article.
b. Write the Title: Pages: Date of Magazine:
c. Read the article, section by section.
d. After each section, ask yourself, “What does this mean? What does this
mean to me?”
e. Create and take four column notes and include the following information:
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Opportunity Room; Grades 5-8 Reading and Writing Work (combined)
Four Columns (see page 4 and 5):
Page
What the text says (own words):
What it reminds me of:
What I think it means:
f. After each section, write any figurative language or strong verbs used by
the author. Include page numbers. (see figurative language explanations on
page 3-4)
g. After reading the article, look over your notes. Star the three most
important parts.
h. Write a twenty-word gist statement that summarizes your whole article. A
gist statement is one sentence that tells the main ideas of the entire article.
i. Turn in your work.
j. Turn in your magazine.
Part 3: 20 minutes with 6 minute nonstop writing
Goal: Lots of ideas with Strong Verbs (grade 5-8) and Figurative Language.(grade 6-8).
Grade 5: Use onomatopoeia and alliteration.
A. Choose a topic (something you know about), or look in your Write Source 2000, pages
50-51, or write another story similar to the text you just read in Part 2.
Ideas:
Martin Luther King freedom
fairness
peace Citizenship
uplifting music
prejudice
justice hobbies discrimination
Bill of Rights Constitution respect
community forest happenings
Dreams
goals rights responsibility an animal
Selfishness honor compassion honesty
underground
Elders Adults
children
in the sky water happenings
B. List ideas for two minutes (web, list, story map). Then write for six minutes nonstop.
Skip lines. Do not erase. Don’t worry about punctuation and spelling at this time. If you
draw a blank, keep writing the last word you wrote over and over until you develop an
idea. Try to use strong verbs and figurative language – create a mind movie. You may
switch topics. Your writing must be school appropriate.
C. Reread your work once, filling in any missing words or correcting punctuation and
capitalization. Circle any words you think you misspelled. (Goal: practice editing)
D. Reread your work again: add strong verbs and figurative language. (Goal: Practice
Word Choice)
E. Find one excellent word choice—underline it. Find one mind movie—draw an arrow
to it. If you have no excellent word choice or mind movie – revise a section so you do.
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Opportunity Room; Grades 5-8 Reading and Writing Work (combined)
Part 4 (10 min): Sentence Practice:
Complex Sentences
Write Source 2000, page 96
Combine shorter sentences into longer sentences. A complex sentence
combines two clauses. When you write a complex sentence, the most important
ideas should be the main, independent clause.
Example Sentences:
The world wants peace. We still have wars.
Even though the world wants peace, we still have wars.
We turn in our paper. We must write a complex sentence.
Before we turn in our paper, we must write a complex sentence.
Other samples:
After we turn in our completed work, we will feel a sense of accomplishment and
pride.
Before I saw the movie Lord of the Rings, I read the whole series.
When you write a complex sentence, the most important ideas should be the
main, independent clause.
Write five complex sentences.
Check your work. Is the comma in the correct place?
Turn in papers.
Figurative Language:
(5-8) Alliteration-- Repeated beginning consonant sounds, such as
"wind whistled through the white pine"
(5-8) Consonance -- repeated consonant sounds, such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."
For example: "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain"
(6-8) Personification-- Giving life to something not living; such as :The
sun smiled down on us.”
(5-8) Onomatopoeia-- (ah no mah toe pee ah) Words that sound like
the sound they make, such as Bam! Pop! Bang! slap gurgle Phzzzzt
(6-8) Simile-- Comparing two things that are different and finding a
similarity -- write it using like or as. For example, to compare how high
the eagle flies to how tall a skyscraper is: “The eagle flies as high as a
skyscraper .”
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Opportunity Room; Grades 5-8 Reading and Writing Work (combined)
(6-8) Metaphor -- comparing two different objects --- "Her sparkling
eyes are stars."
(5-8) Imagery: Use The Senses-- Write all sights, sounds, smells,
tastes, texture, feelings about your topic
Ideas from an eagle poem:
Describe what it looks like.
piercing eyes; cloud-white
What does it sound like?
feathered head; crooked yellow
How might it smell, taste?
talons; munching grass;
flapping in the cold winter wind;
How might it feel if you touched it?
ah-reee!
(7-8) Hyperbole -- extreme exaggeration. “His grin is as wide as the ocean!” "She is as
tall as a mountain!”
Author Musts:
(5-8) Vivid verbs-- Action words like flies, spread, searching, hops,
munches, drops, fold, dives, scoop, flaps, flows
(5-8) Nifty nouns-- Specific nouns (persons, places, things, ideas);
instead of dog, say German Shepard; instead of fast, say 100 miles an
hour; instead animal, say rabbit or snake
(6-8) Assonance-- Repeated vowel sounds, such as “the eagle flies up
into the sky in a wide spiral.”
(5-8) Consonance -- repeated consonant sounds, such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."
For example: "And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain"
(6-8) Repeated words-- Repeat words for effect, like "hops, munches, hops,
munches" to show the rabbit doesn't know the danger of the eagle above.
Sample 4-Column Notes:
Page What the text says: What the text
reminds me of:
4 of 5
What I think the text
means:
Opportunity Room; Grades 5-8 Reading and Writing Work (combined)
Page
5 of 5
What the text says:
What the text
reminds me of:
What I think the text
means: