Viewing: Homework Assignments
March 11, 2013
Comparing and Contrasting Teachers
Mickey Mouse loves this kind of graphic organizer!
Over the past few weeks, we have worked on comparing and contrasting. Venn diagrams are hardly new for students, and the skill of classifying ideas, details, objects, or properties into categories is something that the kids will need throughout their lives.
Our focus today was on creating an organized venn diagram. We broke the process down into five steps.
ONE – List all your ideas in the venn diagram. All of ’em!
TWO – Look for matching types of information on both sections, such as favorite foods, professions, character traits, etc. By organizing your information into these pairs, it is easier for to write a clear paragraph later on!
THREE – Look for information that gives valuable insight into the two things being compared. For example, when comparing two people, skip the basic things like “boy” or “girl” in favor of more thoughtful details, like “honest” and “deceitful.”
These first three steps are helpful because you will have your content carefully organized. When you begin to synthesize the information in a written response…
FOUR – Keep your writing organized. Start with differences and then explain the similarities, or vice versa. But don’t jump back and forth as ideas come to mind. Be organized!
FIVE – Be sure to use plenty of supportive evidence. Don’t just say Character A is honest and Character B is deceitful. Rather, explain WHY each character deserves those traits.
With all this in mind, here is your homework for tonight. It can be printed and returned, or, if you don’t have access to a printer, you can email the file to me to print.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE HOMEWORK!
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
February 8, 2013
MWfWW2 Follow-Up
Happy snow day, everyone! If you would like to write the story that you planned last night, feel free! Here are a few suggestions:
- Set a timer for 45 minutes since your goal is to create a story that can be fully developed, from beginning to end, in 45 minutes.
- If you tend to type slowly, consider writing it on paper first and then typing it afterwards. It may be a good idea to type into Microsoft Word first and then to paste your story into the website comment box.
Have a good day! Be safe in the snow!
Posted in Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss
February 7, 2013
MWfWW2: Make sure you can resolve your story.
Tip 2: Make sure you can resolve the story in the time and space you have been given.
Think about some of the best stories you’ve read. Think about some of your favorite authors. Many of the best stories out there have the right amount of detail to fill 50, 100, 200, or even 800 pages. But if you think about Harry Potter (or do I mean Perry Hotter?), J. K. Rowling never could have written the same kind of story if she tried to squeeze it into only a few pages. With that many events happening, the story would have been confusing and awkward.
Effective writers consider their purpose.
That means that, as an author, you need to think about WHY you are writing. If you’re planning on writing a novel, you will probably want lots of different details and events that will fill a book in an entertaining way. If you’re writing an informational brochure that advertises a product, you will want to think about what will make people want to buy your product. If you’re writing a short story, you want to be direct and focus on key details and events.
As an author, you might have a time limit to work in. You will often need to track this time yourself. (You may not have this lady here nagging you.)
Most of the creative writing you do in school is short story writing. When you plan the events of a story, make sure you are developing a story that you can tell from beginning to end in the time and space you are given – often in 45 minutes and on no more than three sheets of paper.
Your assignment this evening is to PLAN (not write) a story that you would be able to fully write (beginning to end) in 45 minutes. Think about what details you want to include and what events will best fit, since you may not be able to include each and every idea that pops into your mind. Here is your topic (as chosen by a class vote):
Imagine you had the opportunity to go back to any time or place in history. Describe what happened. How did you get there? Who did you see? What did you do? How did you get home?
Leave a comment describing what key EVENTS and DETAILS will be in your story. We should have an idea of what your story will be. (Imagine that you’re writing a SUMMARY of your story before you actually write the whole story. Odd, huh?)
Have fun! Remember, if we have a snow day tomorrow, stop back for a follow-up activity.
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
February 6, 2013
MWfWW1 Follow-up
Watch this video to understand tonight’s assignment.
4:02pm – The video is still processing. You can also view it here: http://vimeo.com/59094587
STEP 1 (Click to reread your classmates’ ideas for keeping the story under control.)
STEP 2: Post a comment to THIS post explaining who you think did a great job creating a story that was under control, so that the problem was actually solvable. Remember, we’re focusing on who did a GOOD job, not who was less successful.
STEP 3: Optional – If you think that you can revise your ideas from yesterday to make your story more “under control,” feel free to do so by replying to your post from YESTERDAY.
Posted in Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss
February 5, 2013
MWfWW1: Keeping your story under control.
Don’t be this author! Don’t “write yourself into a corner!”
Tip 1: Keep your story under control so that you can resolve the problem! Don’t write yourself into a corner!
We all know the story of “You Know Who’s” House Disaster. (No names on the website, remember?) It’s the story of the girl who plays ping-pong in her basement and bursts a pipe, flooding the basement and eventually the whole house. Filled to the roof with water, the house lifts off its foundation, floats down the hill, and ends up in the middle of traffic where it gets smashed to smithereens by two tractor trailers.
Zounds! It is a fun story, but how in the world can we RESOLVE the story?! This story has gotten out of control, and there’s no easy way for us to solve the problem.
Your assignment is to revise the story so make it more controllable. You can change it at any point, but don’t rewrite the whole thing. (For example, don’t get rid of the flooding basement problem.) Focus on making changes that would allow you, as the author, to stay in control of the story so that you can resolve the problem at the end.
Don’t WRITE the new version of the story. (That would take a long time!) Instead, describe what EVENTS would be in your story to keep it controlled for you, as the author. Your revisions must include a SOLUTION to the problem. Begin your response like this:
If I was the author, I would ________
Remember, no names at all. Also, if you choose to give feedback to a classmate, keep your comments kind and constructive.
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
January 30, 2013
Help with Long Division
Good evening! If you need help with long division, this video (below) may help. I made it last year (when I taught skills in a slightly different order), so fast forward to 1 minute, 11 seconds into the video. I use an older strategy (DMSB) instead of our newer strategy (DMSCB?) which might be unusual for you. (If so, keep on reading!)
This next video (below) walks you through tonight’s homework assignment. Consider using it to check over your work when finished, to get you started on some tricky problems, or, if you’re really having a hard time, it can walk you through an entire problem. Unlike the first video, this video does use the DMSCB? strategy, which we talked about in class.
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
January 10, 2013
Good luck tonight!
I love coming to the concerts to see and hear the kids perform, but sadly I’m not able to attend tonight. I’ll be sure to watch the video, however! (Plus, rumor has it that another Room 209 “celebrity” will be making an appearance.) Break a leg, kids! (Ooh, another idiom for us to discuss as part of our figurative language unit!)
Tonight, there still is a bit of homework. Kids need to finish their figurative language worksheet, do three math problems on a worksheet, and study their spelling words and math facts. If the timing doesn’t work out because of the concert tonight, please remember that parents may send me a quick email or jot me a quick note, and I’ll gladly give an extension.
If your fourth grader (or you) need some help with the partial products homework, here is a video that I recorded last year to help with partial products. You may find that the video and audio don’t sync up well, oddly. I tried to reupload the video. At the time of me posting this update, the video is still processing, but if you periodically check this link, you might find that it becomes available later in the evening.
Posted in Class Updates, Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
December 17, 2012
Recognizing your own traits
In class today, we started to work on reader-text connections. A reader-text connection (or what we’ll come to call a “text-to-self” or “text-to-life” connection) is made when a reader is able to somehow relate to an event, an experience, a feeling, or a situation in the book. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll talk about the different kinds of connections you can make.
This is your homework. First, watch the video I made for you about character traits.
Now, think about the character traits you saw in the video. Choose one or two character traits that best describe you. Remember, these are traits of your own PERSONALITY, not descriptions of how you look. If you need a reminder of some of the different traits, you can rewatch the video, or look at some of the resources I have found for you.
- Resource one
- Resource two
- Resource three – for those who want to be challenged with tough words (Look them up if you don’t know them!)
Choose one or two character traits that describe you. Write down what they are and why you think they apply to you. Use this sentence format:
I think I am __________ because…
Here is my sample response that I am writing about myself:
I think I am patient because I am willing to work with anyone to help them to learn, even if it doesn’t come easily to them. I will happily sit with students who are having a tough time in math or reading or writing, and I will work with them for however long it takes. I like helping my fellow teachers to learn to use technology in their teaching, even if it takes them a while to figure new things out. This makes me seem like a patient teacher.
Bring in your responses tomorrow. Please don’t post them online or email them to me. Hard copies (written on paper or typed and printed on paper) please!
Posted in Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss
December 11, 2012
Amazing Actual Alliterative Adventures
Alliteration is a fun kind of figurative language in which most (maybe all) of the words in a sentence begin with the same sound. Here is an example:
Most monkeys mocked the mocha muffins Moss made.
Your homework tonight is to create an alliterative sentence of your own. Remember, you cannot use your own name or that of a classmate, but you can use other names. You could pick a random name or maybe write a sentence about Piney or a celebrity or someone else. Remember, though, you want to stick with ONE beginning sound for most words. (For example, a sentence like “Katy Perry kept passing killer pickles to calm patrons.” would not work because you are reusing TWO sounds – K and P – not just one. But “Katie Perry persuaded people to pack purple pullovers in pink pouches.” would be dandy!)
Remember, your sentence must be one that we can visualize. It can’t be a nonsensical mish-mosh of words that start with the same letter. It must make sense.
I think many of you already have a sentence ready. If you do this quickly, consider posting a second or even third sentence, or consider commenting (respectfully) on someone else’s post!
Posted in Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss
December 4, 2012
How to Solve Our Problem
In class today, we talked a lot about some of the problems we have had in class with side conversations or other disruptions during lessons or work time. We reviewed our class constitution and talked about different ways in which everyone can help to make our class a learning environment in which everyone can focus and feel respected.
Please post a comment in which you explain how YOU (yourself) can help to make our class a successful learning environment. What will you do to help solve our problem? (You may have been doing this all along, or maybe it’s something new you will try to do. It doesn’t matter which – as long as we’re all working together.)
Tonight, I want you to focus on the GRAMMAR and PUNCTUATION of your responses in addition to (of course) the quality of your ideas.
Posted in Class Updates, Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss