Dear Term 1 & 4 Nesi

At the start of Term 1 we wrote a letter to our future self in Term 4. In my letter I included questions that I would think about in Term 4 and some of my goals. Now that we are in Term 4, I had to reflect on my 1st letter and reply. In my 2nd letter I included the things I achieved and the great things I have done. From today, I have 172 blog post. I am very happy of the way I have turned out this year, because at the start of the year, I was so shy and scared, but now I am confident and independent. I really liked this way of writing.

Speech Marks

Our focus in writing today was to understand how to use and punctuate dialogue. Followed by creating a DLO that helps others learn exciting ways of using dialogue in writing. I worked with Mia, We had to add examples followed by clip art images , 8 synonyms with the word said and explain how to use it. I found a video that can help others use speech marks correctly. I enjoyed working collaboratively with Nesi because we came up with some really good ideas. 

Hyperbole

This Week we have been learning about Hyperbole. Hyperbole is pronounced as Hi - per - buh - li. Hyperbole is used to create affect in our stories and not make them boring, you also exaggerate to make it more interesting but is not meant to be taken seriously. One example is I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. By this phrase they meant that they are really hungry they could eat lots of food.

Recount Quiz

For today's reading task we had to explore the clusters website and find some example of some really good recounts. I had a quick search on all the websites and found a really good one. I  then had to put the link of that writing and tell why I enjoyed that piece of writing. When I finished that, I filled out an quiz about some of the features of a recount. We were doing this to re think of an narrative since we hadn't done this topic in a long time. Some of the questions that were on this quiz was , ( In Which present would write a recount in or What tenses are recounts written in and excetra. I got 2 wrong which mean I need to work more on that.

Sketch - Note

This week we got introduced to sketch note. We did sketch note because it helps us understand the learning because we are writing it in our own words and writing it how we want to. When doing a sketch note, we can use anything including, bullet points, arrows, stick people, block writing, upper case letters mixed with lowercase and many more. For this, you can even use an actual bullet for the bullet points or use stars, circles, triangles, squares or anything. We first tried out sketch note on Monday and did our sketch note about question ( The one in the middle ).  I used picture and words to tell a story about question and why we ask them. Sketch note helps you tell a learning story that helps you understand the facts in your own way instead of writing facts about the subject and no understanding it. My second attempt of sketch note was on Rio De Janeiro .  My other attempt was on Olympic medals.

HoverBike

This is a DLO advertising the new hover bike. For this task we watched a funny animation about the new hover bike,  and had to work with a partner to create an advertising introducing the new hover bike. We had to include language features such as exaggerating words, emotive language and some statistics. In the DLO we tried to include every language feature and added a picture of what the hover bike looks like.  I learnt that advertising is when you show the targeted audience the product so you can make them think like you or make them want to buy that product. 

Young Authors Challenge

In the picture above we all received a certificate from the young authors challenge. We all had to write a story with an inspiring message to other kids. The people who ran this program donate the money to the star ship hospital. If you want to read my story it is on my blog from before called the Old Cottage. 

Story Starters Scrambler

Today for writing we went on a website which we had to press a button and it would give us a topic on what to write about. The topic I got was write a to do list for a thousand year old lawyer who stars in a T.V show. I was learning to use my language features I learnt and to use my imagination. In the picture above there is my to do list and a picture on what the topic was about. One of the things that were on my to do list was to become one of the next biggest stars. This is the website we used :

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/writing-prompts/

I found this website really interesting. One thing I liked about this website was after they gave you the topic on what your writing you could change certain parts of the topic. I really like this website and I recommend this to other people who get really stuck on a topic to write about. 

Shoes Narrative

This was my partners and I's collaboratively on our narrative called Shoe narrative. We had to find a partner and create our plan together. We then had to write our story in exact 15 minutes. When one person wrote a sentence the next person had to write the next sentence. I was learning to use my 5 senses to make my writing interesting. 

The Old Cottage

The Old Cottage:

She gasped. She was miles away from the pathway to her house and the long grass that waves at her. “Who's there?” wondered Red Riding Hood. Why would someone want to sneak up on a 13 year old?  She continued walking, but at a faster pace. Red Riding Hood stopped. It was nearly midnight and she was in the middle of nowhere.

“Is there anyone there?” She screamed hoping that someone would reply. Where am I? What is this place? How do I get home? Red riding was desperate to find the answers to her own questions. She froze. She was surrounded by black, hairy, funny shaped moving objects. She closed her eyes and pinched herself. “Is this a dream?” she wondered.

She wouldn’t be in the middle of nowhere if she had just followed the instructions and had gone straight home but she had no choice. She could hear footsteps. She was surrounded by long, dead grass. How on earth did I get here?, or more importantly, how do I get home?, she questioned herself. You could see goose bumps on her legs and arms. It was as cold as an iceberg and the sky was as grey as smoke. She started running. She could hear footsteps splashing through the mud and heavy breathing behind her. “Who would breathe like that?” cried Red riding hood. Heavy breathing? Loud footsteps? Sweat started to drip from her forehead. She could hear the footsteps getting closer as she tried to get some distance between her and the thing that was following her. She stopped again. The funny shaped objects hopped into her socks. Red Riding hood turned around. She stared. She started running. The funny shaped creature was moving around her feet which made her slow down.  It took her a while to figure out that she was being chased by a hungry bear. All of a sudden, out of nowhere a bright yellow light flickers on her face, and just like any other person who’s in the middle of nowhere she was curious to find out what it was. She maintained her lead.

“Anyone here?” She called out. Little Red had gotten rid of the bear. She walked in. Judging by the inside of the cottage, she could tell it was owned by someone who loved brightly coloured things.”That explains the bright yellow light in my face,” she muttered. “WOW! This person must spent a fortune on this place to get it this good looking,” remarked little red. Looking at the bright colors just made her think of her mother. Is she looking for me? Does she even care? She had that weird feeling when you feel like you're being watched. “What’s that?” she wondered. She followed. It lead her to a small room. “Aaaaa,” she whispered. As she cleared her eyes she saw the lady who owned the house. Creak! It was too late. As she tried to get away, the lady caught her hand and spoke to her. “Are you lost little angel?” she cleared her throat. “Umm Ye...sss,” she whispered. “ Well lucky for you, I have lived here for many years so I know this place better than anyone,” the old lady expressed. “ But you're surrounded by nothing, there is not even one house in sight apart from this one,” she stated. “Well that is because this was a cottage for people who need help if they are stuck but nobody has visited for years so I kind of live here now and for the past 3 years you are the only person who has visited,” the old lady exclaimed.  “Can you please just help me get home, my mother is probably looking everywhere over for me,” cried Little Red. “Did I mention that I also haven't talked to anyone lately, I’m just so shy these days,” the old lady interrupted. “Can you please just tell me where to go, “ replied Little red. “Okay, walk straight until you see the gas station, turn left and then turn right again and you're basically there,” replied the old lady. “Wow that easy, huh,” she replied. “Thank you so much you have helped me a lot,” cried little red. “Yay!” She thought.

She was only 2 footsteps when she reached the pathway. Her hands were shaking and her heart was beating. She ran. Another bright yellow light shone in her face. It was different to the first one because she knew she had just passed the cottage. Her hands stopped shaking and her heart stopped beating. Her mother was waiting out on the stair case. Just looking at her house made her wonder how she even got lost in the forest. “Mu...mmmmm, I'm home!” she cried. Little red's mother was so worried she didn’t even question her because she didn’t want her to run off again. “Sorry for running off like that.” said Little Red Riding Hood. They both skipped inside and tried to forget that it ever happened. She sighed. Ben ( Little red's father ) just arrived home with no idea what happened.

This term we have been learning to write narratives. We used the picture prompt below to help us imagine how this situation came about. We tried to hook our audience in by thinking about the pace of events and the pictures we painted with words.

Writing

On the street, day time. Legs run along the pavement. They are Mark Renton's Just ahead of him is Spud. The are both belting along. As they travel, various objects, ( pens, tapes, CD's, toiletries, ties, sunglasses, and so on) either fall or a discarded from inside there jackets. They are pursued by two hard looking store detectives in identical uniforms. The men are fast, but Renton and Spud maintain their lead. Suddenly, as Renton crosses a road, a car skids to a halt, inches from her. In a moment of detachment Renton stops and looks at the shocked driver, then at Spud, who has continuing running, then at the two men who are closing in. He smiles. 

He hear footsteps getting closer to him as he tries to get away. He makes eye contact with the two guards and take little steps trying to get away. "Now where did your friend head off too," said the guard in a curious voice. As soon as the identical guards let go Renton speeded past the cars and headed off to Queen street. "Hey, you come back here where not finished here until you tell me what happened," demanded the guards.

This is my writing from this week. We got given a paragraph of writing which is on the top and we had to finish the paragraph off. My paragraph that I wrote is at the bottom. I was learning how to make my writing as a fast pace and make it flow.

Draft Writing

L1: To write a stretched sentence.

Who: Grace.

What: She danced (Grace)

When:,As the sun stroke behind Grace’s curtain, she danced.

Where:, As the sun stroke behind Grace’s curtain, she danced alone in her room.

Why:As the sun stroke behind Grace’s curtain, she danced alone in her room to prepare for her ballet lesson.

L1: To write a stretched sentence.

Who: Grace

What: Grace was dancing

When: When the sun rose,grace was dancing.

Where: When the sun rose, grace was dancing all alone in her room.

Why: When the sun rose, grace was dancing all alone in her room to prepare for her ballet lesson.

This is my sentence. I used the 5w's to stretch my sentence to make it more interesting. I sentence started off with Grace and ended with As the sun stroke behinds grace curtains, she danced alone in her room to prepare for her ballet lesson.

Stretching Sentences

This is my presentation about stretching sentences using the 5w's. I learnt how to turn my writing from stage 4 to a higher level by using when, where, why, what, who and sometimes how. I am going to use the 5w's more often to make it more interesting.

Writing

Title: Stop Bullying:

Opinion/hook:  Knowing what's right doesn’t mean much unless you do whats right. Why should we bully when we can focus on ourselves?

Reason:  I believe that we should not impress others

• to be cool to other people
• to impress others.

Explain:

Para 1: Famous people( Jackie Chan ) - ( Barack Obama )

Para 2:  Don't let other people be in charge of your life.

Para 3:  Suggestion on how to stop bullying and what you should do.

Opinion: I believe we should not .....

This is my writing plan for my speech. I think after using this plan my speech would be perfect.

Compound Sentence

This is my DLO on compound sentences. I learnt that a compound sentence is two different sentences connected with the fanboys. 

3 Day Diary

This is a 3 day diary I created. We had to watch a video and then create a 3 day diary. I had to think about how his life would be like and pretend it was like him writing it.

Advertisment

This is my ad about a new home for Alexander. In this Google draw I included  my opinions of why he should pick these houses and why.

Spelling

The new word I learnt to spell was thorough. I also know that it means to be extremely careful or exact. This is my example of using enormous. 

E.G: The elephant was so enormous it could squash us all to pieces. 

Writing

This is my ending statement about having a tuck shop at school. I have wrote some reasons about why we should have tuck shops at school and I hope it will make you feel like having a tuck shop.

Writing

BAMM! The front door slammed like an earthquake started to begin in our house. Thomp! Thomp! It was starting to get very annoying when you could always hear my sister thumping her way down the stairs. Ever Since I got in my room I never wanted to leave it. Eventually I had to go out of my room, because I was so wanting to have a look around the other rooms.

This is one of my paragraphs I did in my writing. I was learning to use better similes in my writing so they can sound better when you read it. I have improved so much in my writing because, I added lots of interesting things that I have learnt.