Saturday 9 February 2019

Listing with Andy

Andy Griffiths loves to write lists! They are such a fun way to write and best of all...there are no rules!

Today we are going to have a go at writing like Andy. First of all we need to do some research. We will first read some of his lists...then we will "notice" how he does.

101 Really Disgusting Things 








What are some of the things we NOTICE about Andy's writing?


Sunday 17 June 2018

Finding Significance

Ideas

Select, develop, and communicate ideas on a range of topics

adds or changes details and comments to support ideas, showing thoughtful selection in the process
Processes and strategies

Processes and Strategies

Integrate sources of information, processes, and strategies confidently to identify, form, and express ideas.

seeks feedback and makes changes to texts to improve clarity, meaning, and effect

WALT: Find significance in an everyday experience


Wednesday 23 May 2018

50 Word Story

AO: PURPOSES AND AUDIENCES.Show an increasing understanding of how to shape texts for different purposes and audiences.INDICATORS: constructs texts that show an awareness of purpose and audience through deliberate choice of content, language, and text form

This activity sounds simple, but it's not. To write a good 50 words story each word must be carefully considered. Because you only have fifty words,each word must 'pull its weight'. 

A good 50 word story will
  • have sentences of different lengths (try starting with a very short one, followed by a much longer one)
  • not repeat too many words
  • have a 'twist' at the end. Kaedyn has a great example of all of this in his story 'The End"

Links



Saturday 28 April 2018

Character Descriptions


AO: LANGUAGE FEATURES-Use a range of language features appropriately, showing an increasing understanding of their effects.
INDICATORS:uses a range of oral, written, and visual features to create meaning and effect and to sustain interest & uses a range of vocabulary to communicate precise meaning


Ask yourself some or all of these questions. Close your eyes...think...open eyes and write!


Whats up with the eye and the make up?




This guy just scares me...

An ex-pirate?

Her skin reminds me of an unmade bed!


Useful links

Adjectives list  Increase your brain power by using words you don't normally use!!!
Describing a person This has a good bank of words you may want to include.
S.O.L.O. rubric

Our examples

Jacks The Weird Dude
Molly's Homeless

Thursday 5 April 2018

That was Mistletoe Bay

AO: Language Features
Use a range of language features appropriately, showing an increasing understanding of their effects.

Indicators
uses a range of oral, written, and visual features to create meaning and effect and to sustain interest
uses a range of vocabulary to communicate precise meaning



THAT WAS SUMMER by Marci Ridlon has a very easy frame to use. When we began to look at it deeper we noticed:
  • Starts with a question
  • Has a list of things that don't have to be related
  • After the question in each stanza there are four actions or things happening within the question
  • Senses are used near the end of each stanza
  • Stanzas 1-3 finish with that was summer (repetition)
  • Stanzas 2 & 3 begin with remember the time..?
  • Stanza 4 begins with If you try really hard can you remember...
Begin first with a ZERO DRAFT. This is where only basic keys words are listed. Use a writers palette and add your key words there.

Examples


Sunday 24 September 2017

Whats he building?

AO: PURPOSES AND AUDIENCES
Show an increasing understanding of how to shape texts for different purposes and audiences.
INDICATORS:constructs texts that show an awareness of purpose and audience through deliberate choice of content, language, and text form
conveys and sustains personal voice where appropriate.


Whats he building? by American Musician, Tom Waits is a very strange song. The listener/reader (& viewer-if you include the video) is made to feel uneasy. Tom Waits does this in many different ways. 

We noticed:

  • Repetition 'Whats he building in there, what the hell is he building in there?'
  • Unusual rhyme sequences-Sometimes 4 stanzas ABCB, sometimes a couplet AA, sometimes free verse.
  • Uneasy content-A neighbour spying on a strange man next door.


Saturday 1 July 2017

Finding Significance

We are looking at the ordinary everyday things we do, to find significance; to inspire us to write.


Mentor Text #1

Image result for james K Baxter
James K. Baxter

This Town

The town was usual enough; it had
A creek, a bridge, a beach, a sky
Over it, and even a small tin church
I never went to. My brother, my cousins and I
Did what boys do - dozed in the hot
Schoolroom, made bows and arrows, dodged the mad
Boatbuilder, crept like rabbits through the black
 Under-runners with a weak torch,
Burnt dry rushes, wrestled or swam
Doing nothing important

James K Baxter



    Image result for piano rock gavin bishop
  • How is the poem framed?
  • Any unfamiliar words
  • What do you notice about the punctuation? How is it used for effect?
  • What is the writer trying to do?
  • What time of the year is it? How do you know?
  • What are the nouns? What about verbs? What do you notice about them?
  • Where are we? How do you know?
  • What does the town have?

Mentor Text #2

Playmates and Pastimes from Piano Rock by Gavin Bishop


What are your connections to the text?-Zero Draft your idea. 





We noticed that the poem by James K Baxter found the extraordinary within the ordinary. To complete a poem like JKB we decided:
  • To use the first line (The ? was usual enough) but include something from ours lives (backyard, garage...)
  • To include 5 nouns but describe the 5th better than the others
  • Name some people/person doing what that person does
  • Include a list of verbs and nouns (describing the things we do and where)
  • Frame the poem with doing nothing important

EXAMPLES

Below are a link to a couple of examples. Check them out.
Harrison's is a good example of using colloquialisms and making it sound conversational 
Skye's lets us into a private world and has a depth of feeling
Nina's lets us experience the fun of just having fun