Writing (October Leadership)

 Writing (Leadership week)

1. Finish reading Julie of the Wolves.

2. Write this passage from the book in your notebooks.  Use your best handwriting and copy out the punctuation exactly how it is written.

The snow turned red with blood from his shoulder. Miyax rolled under the barrel.

The air exploded and she stared up into the belly of the plane. Bolts, doors, wheels, red, white, silver, and black, the plane flashed before her eyes. In that instant she saw great cities, bridges, radios, school books. She saw the pink room, long highways, TV sets, telephones, and electric lights. Black exhaust enveloped her, and civilization became this monster that snarled across the sky.

The plane shrank before her eyes, then turned and grew big again. Tornait flew to the top of the barrel, screaming his alarm cry and beating his wings.

Kapu tried to get up.

“Don’t move,” Miyax whispered. “They’re coming for Amaroq.” Knowing Kapu did not understand, she reached out and softly stroked him, singing: “Lie still. Lie still.” She watched him slump back in the snow without a sound.

(Part 3, Page 141) 

This passage is charged with emotion. Reread this section and see if you can pick up on words or phrases that increase the intensity of the tone.  How many words can you find that contribute to the emotion of this passage? Write down the words that you find.

3. Write 2 more pages in your handwriting books.  Bring your books to class!  I'll be looking for improvement from last time.  Make sure you are actually writing within the lines!

4. Now that you have your story written and it's been read by a friend in class, it's time to make corrections.  Make sure you have clear punctuated sentences and paragraphs.  Make sure your dialogue is written out correctly, (a new line for each new person speaking.) Make sure your story flows and is easy to understand.  Print it out and bring it to class.  The mentors will now read your stories and give their feedback.

5. Spelling Words!

possessions - the state of having, owning, or controlling something.

infinity - the state or quality of being infinite. never ending.

kayak - a canoe of a type used originally by the Inuit, made of a light frame with a watertight covering having a small opening in the top to sit in.

through - moving in one side and out of the other side of (an opening, channel, or location).

though - despite the fact that; although

thought - an idea or opinion produced by thinking, or occurring suddenly in the mind.

taught - show or explain to (someone) how to do something.

tough - (of a substance or object) strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough or careless handling.

trough - a long, narrow open container for animals to eat or drink out of.

throughout - in every part of (a place or object).

thorough - complete with regard to every detail; not superficial or partial.

celebration - the action of marking one's pleasure at an important event or occasion by engaging in enjoyable, typically social, activity.

language - a system of communication used by a particular country or community.

immediately - at once; instantly.

miraculous - occurring through divine or supernatural intervention, or manifesting such power.

campaigning - work in an organized and active way toward a particular goal, typically a political or social one.

tombstones - a large, flat inscribed stone standing or laid over a grave.

audience - the assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as a play, movie, concert, or meeting.

realized - become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly.

constellations - a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.

 possessions  infinity

kayak  


through though

thought taught

tough trough

thorough throughout

celebrationlanguage

immediately miraculous

campaigningtombstones

audiencerealized

constellations  

Writing October (Eureka Week)

 Writing (Eureka Week)

1. Read Part 2, Miyax, the girl, of Julie of the Wolves.

2. Write these paragraphs in your notebook in your best handwriting.  

“The theater,” she whispered, “and the Golden Gate Bridge.” That night she slept with the letter under her cheek.

In the evening of the following day Miyax hastily put on her clothes and crawled up the frost heave. Like a good puppy she got down on her stomach.

“Amaroq,” she called. “I’m ready to go when you are!”

The wind blew across the wolf den, shattering the heads of the cotton grass and shooting their seedlets south with the birds. No one answered. The wolves

were gone.

(This is on page 70 of part 1)

Dialogue has a special set of punctuation rules that change based on language and country. If you read a mixture of books published in England and the United States, for example, you are used to seeing dialogue punctuation written in different ways.

This passage includes prose alongside dialogue, which affords you practice in opening and closing quotations, as well as indenting to begin a new paragraph or open a new line of dialogue.

When you write the words that someone said, you use quotation marks to show where their words begin and end.  The verb that introduces the spoken words (say, said, ask, whisper and so on) can go first, last, or in the middle.  Here is an example of how the punctuation should be in each case. Question marks and exclamation points have different rules.

1.  If the verb is first: use two capital letters: one at the start of the sentence, and one where the spoken words start.  He said, "They've found the way out."  Use a comma at the end of the introduction, before the quotation marks.  Use a period before the quotation marks.
2. If the verb is last: use one capital letter only. "They've found the way out," he said. Use a comma after the spoken words, before the quotation marks.  Don't put a period until the very end of the sentence
3. If the verb is in the middle: use a comma within the quotation marks. "From what I can see," he said, peering into the binoculars, "they've found the way out." Use a comma before the quotation marks and one period at the end, before the quotation marks.

I hope this is clear, we will talk more about it in class.  I'd love to see some quotes and written dialogue in your stories.

3. Do 2 more pages in your writing book.  You should be to a point where you are writing the fun quotes.  Memorize the quote or trivia and be prepared to share it in class.  If your book doesn't have quotes or trivia, find an inspirational quote to memorize and share with us.  It could be from conference!

4. Work on your narrative!  Bring a full rough draft to class.  This means that you should have your story written and printed.  It does not need to be perfect.  That's why it's called a rough draft.  It should have a beginning, a middle; with setting, plot and characters, and an ending.  

5. Spelling words!

whispered - speak very softly using one's breath without one's vocal cords, especially for the sake of privacy.

hastily - with excessive speed or urgency; hurriedly.

stomach - the internal organ in which the major part of the digestion of food occurs, being (in humans and many mammals) a pear-shaped enlargement of the alimentary canal linking the esophagus to the small intestine.

answered - say or write something to deal with or as a reaction to someone or something.

evening - the period of time at the end of the day, usually from about 6 p.m. to bedtime.

to, too, two - 3 different words, to = a preposition, too = also, or excess, two = a number 2

desert - a dry, barren area of land, especially one covered with sand, that is characteristically desolate, waterless, and without vegetation.

dessert - the sweet course eaten at the end of a meal.

sandpipers -  wading bird with a long bill and typically long legs, nesting on the ground near water and frequenting coastal areas on migration.

grieving - cause great distress to (someone).

beautiful - pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically. of a very high standard; excellent.

occasionally - at infrequent or irregular intervals; now and then.

listening - give one's attention to a sound.

explained - make (an idea, situation, or problem) clear to someone by describing it in more detail or revealing relevant facts or ideas.

laughter - the action or sound of laughing.

successful - accomplishing an aim or purpose.

temperatures - the degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or object, especially as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch.

comparison - the act or instance of comparing.

exchange - an act of giving one thing and receiving another (especially of the same type or value) in return.

encyclopedia - a book or set of books giving information on many subjects or on many aspects of one subject

whispered  hastily 

stomach answered 

evening

to/too/two 

desert  dessert 

sandpipers grieving

beautiful occasionally 

listening  explained 

laughtersuccessful 

temperaturescomparison 

exchange  encyclopedia 

Writing (History Week)

 

1. Read Part I of "Julie of the Wolves", by Jean Craighead George.

2. Write these paragraphs from the book in your CP books in your best handwriting.  Notice the proper nouns, and make sure you capitalize where needed.

Miyax pushed back the hood of her sealskin parka and looked at the Arctic sun. It was a yellow disc in a lime-green sky, the colors of six o’clock in the evening and the time when the wolves awoke. Quietly she put down her cooking pot and crept to the top of a dome-shaped frost heave, one of the many earth buckles that rise and fall in the crackling cold of the Arctic winter. Lying on her stomach, she looked across a vast lawn of grass and moss and focused her attention on the wolves she had come upon two sleeps ago. They were wagging their tails as they awoke and saw each other.

Her hands trembled and her heartbeat quickened, for she was frightened, not so much of the wolves, who were shy and many harpoon-shots away, but because of her desperate predicament. Miyax was lost. She had been lost without food for many sleeps on the North Slope of Alaska. The barren slope stretches for three hundred miles from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean, and for more than eight hundred miles from the Chukchi to the Beaufort Sea. No roads cross it; ponds and lakes freckle its immensity. Winds scream across it, and the view in every direction is exactly the same. Somewhere in this cosmos was Miyax; and the very life in her body, its spark and warmth, depended upon these wolves for survival. And she was not so sure they would help. 

3. Write 2 more pages in your handwriting books. I hope your handwriting is improving!  Work hard on forming beautiful letters.

4. Start writing your narrative.  You should have been thinking about what kind of story you want to write.  Now you get to put it on paper.  You will be writing a 1,500 - 3,000 word narrative.  That's about 3-5 pages.  Long enough for a good story, not too short, and not a novel!  

 

                                                           Not everyone has the same style of writing.  Some authors say to write out an outline, some say to just let the story flow and develop as you write.  You can decide what is best for you, but either way, you need these key elements in your story.  Here is an outline you can use if you want. Narrative Outline  Just print it out and fill it in, or just kind of follow it if you want to type.  Don't actually edit the document. If you choose not to use the outline, you should have a rough draft of your story.

Please bring your outline or rough draft to class.  

Key Elements: Go ahead and click on the links if you want, they will help explain any questions you may have about the elements. (even though they are explaining how to write a novel, they are still helpful)

Character – The characters are essential. It’s extremely difficult to tell a story without them, as character development is one of the best parts in narrative writing. Think of your characters as the driving force of the narrative.

Conflict – This part of narrative writing is where the tension comes from. Conflict of any form, whether it’s between characters, between elements in your setting, or even in your plot, is essential for not only a good book, but for narrative writing.

Plot – This is the main point of your story. Where is it all going and what’s happening while we get there? This can often include any conflict, but is usually a bigger “main” portion of your story, and therefore the narrative.

Setting – The setting of a story is really what determines its genre as well as its learning curve. The learning curve refers to how much readers need to learn about the world, aka, how different it is from our own. The setting adds to this extensively because if your book is in a new world, more worldbuilding is necessary, which means it will bleed heavily into your narrative.

Theme – These are embedded into your story even if you’re not trying to. Narrative writing tells a story and with any stories, lessons are learned and these become the themes of your story. Whether you mean to or not, your own thoughts about the world and important values bleed into your work within the narrative writing.

Narrative Writing Arc – This is the story structure the narrative takes. This includes things like the inciting incident, key milestones like the first slap and second slap, the climax, the resolution, and even nuances like the character arc.

5. Spelling!  Hip Hip Hooray!  These words are taken directly from the book.  Study these words for our next spelling bee.

Parka - a large windproof jacket with a hood, designed to be worn in cold weather. 

Arctic - relating to the regions around the North Pole. very cold.

Harpoon - a long spear-like instrument used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch large fish or marine mammals such as whales.

Desperate -feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with.

Predicament - a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation.

Eight - a cardinal number

Somewhere -in or to some place.

Immensity -the extremely large size, scale, or extent of something.

Survival -the state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.

Attention -notice taken of someone or something; the regarding of someone or something as interesting or important.

Recognized - identify (someone or something) from having encountered them before; know again.

Jaeger - any of the smaller kinds of Arctic-breeding skuas. (applied to any predatory seabird)

Whimpered - (of a person or animal) make a series of low, feeble sounds expressive of fear, pain, or discontent.

Deference - humble submission and respect.

Difference - a point or way in which people or things are not the same.

Enough - as much or as many as required.

Whiskers - a long projecting hair or bristle growing from the face or snout of many mammals.

Incorrigible - (of a person or their tendencies) not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.

Immobile - not moving; motionless.

Undulated - move or go with a smooth up-and-down motion.

And now for the pictures!  I do hope they are helping some of you.  I find it helpful to associate words with pictures.

Parka Arctic 

Harpoon Desperate 

Predicament  Eight 

Somewhere  Immensity 


Survival  Attention 

Recognized  Jaeger 

Whimpered  Enough 

Deference  Difference

Whiskers  Incorrigible 

Immobile  Undulated