All posts by Megan Thompson

#49: Descriptive Writing

Reading Enrichment, Uncategorized

The primary purpose of descriptive writing is to describe a person, place or thing in such a way that a picture is formed in the reader’s mind. Capturing an event through descriptive writing involves paying close attention to the details by using all of your five senses.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #49: Descriptive Writing

2. Watch this Ted-Ed Video. Watch this video. Record the sentence from Hurricane Fever on your recording sheet. Explain how the words are chosen to help the reader connect with the story with their senses.

3. In the video, the narrator describes the characteristics of descriptive writing and gives several examples. Read these 4 reminders and summarize each one on your recording sheet.

  •  Good descriptive writing includes many vivid sensory details that paint a picture and appeals to all of the reader’s senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste when appropriate. Descriptive writing may also paint pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes in the writer.
  • Good descriptive writing often makes use of figurative language such as analogies, similes and metaphors to help paint the picture in the reader’s mind.
  • Good descriptive writing uses precise language. General adjectives, nouns, and passive verbs do not have a place in good descriptive writing. Use specific adjectives and nouns and strong action verbs to give life to the picture you are painting in the reader’s mind.
  • Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways to organize descriptive writing include: chronological (time), spatial (location), and order of importance. When describing a person, you might begin with a physical description, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

4. Give it a try! For the following sentences, rewrite it using rich descriptive language. Keep the five senses in mind. You can use the following and rewrite each OR use one as a prompt and write a descriptive paragraph or stort story. Record all work on your recording sheet.

  • Sight – The girls went to the city park.
  • Sound/Hearing – We went to the stadium to watch our favorite team.
  • Smell – The waitress brought our food to the table.
  • Taste – My grandma made us cookies.
  • Touch – I walked to school this morning not knowing they had called a snow day.

5. Share your language arts mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#48: Literary Device Lesson-Flashback

Reading Enrichment

For this mini-spark, we will focus on the literary device Flashback. Flashbacks in literature are when the narrator goes back in time for a specific scene or chapter in order to give more context for the story. Oftentimes, we see flashbacks in books where the past greatly impacts the present or as a way to start a story off on an interesting note.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #48: Literary Device Lesson-Flashback

2. Record this definition on your recording page- A flashback is when the author reveals something that has happened to a character prior to the time the story is taking place. In a flashback, present action in a story is temporarily interrupted so the reader can witness past events; it usually takes the form of memories, dreams, or a story within the story.

3. Watch this clip from Ratatouille where food critic, Anton Ego flashes back to his childhood. Write 2 sentence explaining the flashback.

4. Think about what Anton Ego experienced while having a flashback. Write about a time your tasted or smelled something and experienced a flashback.

Note: If you can’t think of anything, your can write about Anton’s experience in the video clip. What did we learn about in this flashback? How did it help develop his character?

5. Complete this flashback activity. You can print it or put your responses on your recording sheet.

6. Share your language arts mini spark recording page and flashback activity with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#47: Blackout Poetry

Reading Enrichment

Blackout poetry is when you take a piece of text from a book, newspaper, or magazine and blackout words to create your very own poetry

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #47: Blackout Poetry

2. A blackout poem is when a poet takes a marker (usually black marker/Sharpie) to already established text–like in a newspaper–and starts redacting words until a poem is formed. The key thing with a blackout poem is that the text AND redacted text form a sort of visual poem. When only the chosen words are visible, a brand new story is created!  Define blackout poetry on your recording page.

 

 

 

3. Blackout poems can be created using the pages of old books or even articles cut from yesterday’s newspaper. Using the pages of an existing text, blackout poets isolate then piece together single words or short phrases from these texts to create lyrical masterpieces. Where can you find a page to use for a blackout poem?

4. Blackout poems, as I’m sure you can imagine, run the gamut from absurd to sublime because all of the words are already there on the page, but the randomness is all part of the fun!  We truly believe a poem lives within the words and lines of any page, and encourage you to uncover it. Creating a blackout poem involves steps that are all about deconstruction and then reconstruction.  Look up both of those words and write the meaning on your recording page. 

5. Get started on your poem. Talk with your teacher about finding a book page/newspaper/magazine page to use for this project. Gather other art supplies-pencil, markers, and so on.

Step 1: Scan (or cut out) the page or article first before reading it completely. Keep an eye out for an anchor word as you scan. An anchor word is one word on the page that stands out to you because it is packed and loaded with meaning and significance.  Starting with an anchor word is important because it helps you to imagine possible themes and topics for your poem.

Step 2: Now read the page of text in its entirety. Use a pencil to lightly circle any words that connect to the anchor word and resonate with you. Resonant words might be expressive or evocative, but for whatever reason, these are the words on the page that stick with you. Avoid circling more than three words in a row.

Step 3: List all of the circled words on a separate piece of paper. List the words in the order that they appear on the page of text from top to bottom, left to right. The words you use for the final poem will remain in this order so it doesn’t confuse the reader.

Step 4: Select words, without changing their order on the list, and piece them together to create the lines of a poem. You can eliminate parts of words, especially any endings, if it helps to keep the meaning of the poem clear. Try different possibilities for your poem before selecting the lines for your final poem. If you are stuck during this step, return back to the original page of text. The right word you are searching for could be there waiting for you.

Step 5: Return to the page of text and circle only the words you selected for the final poem.  Remember to also erase the circles around any words you will not be using.

Step 6: Add an illustration or design to the page of text that connects to your poem. Be very careful not to draw over the circled words you selected for your final poem!

6. Share your language arts mini spark recording page and and your poem with your teacher/EY coordinator.

 

Lesson idea from: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/john-depasquale/blackout-poetry/

Check out the blackout poetry badge at the EY website. You can use your poem from this mini spark as task 6 on your badge if you want!