Fantasy author Michelle Paver will be signing books and reading from the fourth in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Series, Outkast, at Waterstone's in Putney's Exchange Centre on Wednesday 26th September at 7pm (you'll need to ask Mum to secure you tickets in advance, at £3 each)
You can visit Michelle's website by clicking here (It is well worth reading the interview with her, where she chats about why she loves writing)
Best of all, if you have itunes you can download for free Ian Mckellen (Gandalf in 'Lord of the Rings') reading the first in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, Wolf Brother - put it on your ipod, it is excellent for long car journeys or a trip on the tube!
L.O. To revise the use of shown feelings alongside dialogue
In class we revised shown feelings, using our drama skills to demonstrate how our character's are feeling.
For homework, you are going to write a discussion (a dialogue - direct speech with shown feelings, not a story with description. Click here to learn more about dialogue) between two WWII Allied pilots who have crashed, and find themselves lost in Nazi Germany!
Watch this video to see the planes they were flying:
(Not essential, but if you are interested to know more click here to be led to an animation on a BBC site which tells you all about the battle in the skies during WWII.)
Before you start writing, you must click here and revise shown feelings!
Write about 3/4 of a side. Think about what pilots would say to one another, and show how they're feeling. Hint: why not make one of your pilots a little braver than his friend?
Clever-clogs: Include some thoughts that contrast with what your characters are saying. Click here to learn about contrasting thoughts.
Oh, and don't forget to indent your direct speech, and punctuate it carefully.
Enjoy your writing! We'll share our dialogues on Monday. Enjoy the weekend!
1. Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check your spellings ready for our test next week. Try some of the other spelling strategies in the post below if you're finding some of the words tricky.
2. Rewrite your 'Uninvited Guest' story from Timed Writing. Please click here to read about how to rewrite before you start! Remember, rewriting is about improving a story, not just copying out again!
Remember that in an exam your stories will quite possibly be marked by someone who looks like the woman in the picture above! She may make a judgement based on her overall impression, but some older teachers might work differently, allocating 20% of marks for spelling, 105 for handwriting, etc. (I think this is wrong - Shakespeare had terrible handwriting, and was 'well dodgy' at spelling', but he was still a genius - but I won't be marking your exam paper). These Grumpy Examiners would be looking at the following areas:
Content (Is the story fun or moving? Is the plot simple? Is is based around conflict? Is there an exciting opening and a dramatic conclusion?) Style (Have you included description, dialogue and lots of shown feelings?) Presentation Spelling and vocabulary (Did you use imaginative adjectives and powerful verbs?) Punctuation and Grammar (Did you use any commas? Any brackets? Did you use the apostrophe correctly?) Relevance to the title(You can learn about relevance by clicking here)
Remember that the most important thing is to write an exciting story, full of shown feelings. Do your best with everything else, and you're sure to impress!
Enjoy redrafting your 'Uninivited Guest' story, and if you have time click here to learn all about 'getting ideas', which we'll be revising on Monday. Have a great weekend!
Remember to look, say,cover, write, check all of your words. You can learn more about spelling strategies lower down the page.
This week's words are all connected with World War II, your History topic this term.
The test is next Thursday!
Don't know what some of these words mean? Click here to learn more!
Anne Frank Air raid Allies Axis Billeting officer (note: two 'l's') Blitz Bomb damage Churchill, Winston Evacuation Evacuee Government (don't forget the 'n') Hitler, Adolph Home front Mussolini, Benito Nazi Party Ration books Soldier (sol-d-ier) Stalin, Joseph Submarines Vichy France
Rhymes, songs and dances are great ways to help you remember important but dull information. Imagine I tell you to revise the parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc.). Sounds boring, doesn't it?
Well, how about learning it like this...
Bald Worm's challenge: Invent your own version of this clapping rhyme. You can use the same rhythm, or invent your own. To be super clever, try adding 'prepositions'!
Spelling matters. Here are four super strategies to help you learn your spellings:
Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check
There are five steps to learning your spellings: 1. Look at the word you’re trying to spell 2. Say it out loud 3. Cover up the word so you can’t see it 4. Write the word yourself 5. Check your attempt – did you get it right?
I’d advise you to look, say, cover, write, check your weekly spelling words – and any words you’ve spelt incorrectly in your work – five times, remembering to ‘look, say and cover’ every time.
Mnemonics A mnemonic is a rhyme, sentence or picture that helps you remember something. Here is one of the most famous spelling mnemonics. In order to remember that the word “cemetery” is spelled with three e's, for example, imagine Rose Tyler screaming 'e-e-e' as a Dalek jumps out at her.
One of the most common mistakes I read is confusing hear/here, as in the sentence ‘I live hear.’ As simple way to remember the difference is to remember ‘You HEAR with your EAR.’
Say ‘Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants’ to help you remember how to spell ‘because’!
Repeating ARat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream will help you remember how to spell ‘arithmetic’
Use first letter of each word ‘Never Eat Crisps, Eat Salad Sandwiches, And Remain Young’ to spell necessary, as this video will show you:
Try coming up with your own mnemonics to help you with tricky spellings!
Breaking Down a Word Breaking down long words into their syllables is a great way to remember them. Here is a long word – punctuation. I can break it down into its syllables –
Punc – tu – ation
When I write it, I will say to myself ‘punc...tu...ation’.
Spelling Raps Another cool strategy is to invent a sentence with another word that contains the same problem letters:
Tell that mosquito to quit biting me
The use of ‘quit’ in the sentence reminds us that there is a ‘quit’ in mosquito
Got the idea? Why not try inventing a rap to help you remember these tricky spellings?
Secret Pronunciations I remember sitting a spelling test and being really annoyed because I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to spell ‘government.’ The problem with ‘government’ is that we tend to pronounce it ‘goverment’ – missing out the ‘n’.
There are other words which are easier to spell if you say (or pronounce) it incorrectly. We say ‘choclate’. To spell it correctly, try saying ‘choc – o – late’ under your breath!
This is really important for words with 'silent letters' like knife. Try pronouncing it 'k - nife', or write a little song, like this:
What strategies do you use to learn your spellings? Add your ideas by clicking on 'comment' below!
