Writing Matters:  Your Writer's Notebook for the Fourth Marking Period -

 

It is my expectation that you write some in your writer's notebook each week.  I expect that you can write 5 pages of entries per week for most weeks.  There will be some weeks when 5 pages is NOT a requirement.

 

5 pages = front/back/front/back/front

 

Do not just fill up pages for the sake of completing a homework assignment each week.   Don't fill up pages with Bob Shields-like diary entries that will never be useful for developing thoughtful writing that matters.  I'd like you to make observations and share your thinking about your world.  We will re-read entries all year long and hopefully find seeds in them, from which other writing will blossom and flourish.  We get better at writing by writing!

  

In addition to the entries of your choice, the following entries must be in your notebooks for the Fourth Marking Period:

 

Type of Entry Assigned                                                                      Date Due

 

1.  Look Around the Room (& Write)                                              4/9  (done in class)  

2.  Write off a Memory Sparker                                                       4/10 (done in class) 

3.  Write About the Stars (Planetarium Visit)                              4/11 (done in class)

4.  Earth Day Writing                                                                         4/22 (done outside)

5.  Create Some Writing Prompts for the Class to Use               4/23 (done in class)

6.  Response to Student Writing Prompt                                        5/1 (done in class)

7.  Write about your first name & last name                                   5/5 (done in class)

8.  Re-read Different Entries; Write About Connections              6/2 (done in class)

________________________________________________________________

 

Fourth Marking Period WN Running Page Total: 

 

         30 full pages of entries have been assigned this marking period (Due:  Fri., 6/20)

 

**Please number your full-page entries in the upper right hand corner of your writer's notebook.

 

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

 

from p270, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass (2006 Little, Brown and Company)

 

 

           

            I asked my father – your grandfather- if someone could really predict the future.  He said the future changes every day.  He said we, not someone else, have the power to create our own lives.  Then he told me an old folktale that I asked him to write down afterward.  Now I’m going to pass it on to you.

            An old man is teaching his grandson about life.  “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.  “It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves.  One wolf is evil.  He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.  The other wolf is greed.  He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

            The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

            The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”

            Even as children, we have the power to create our own lives.  We choose which wolf to feed, and this creates who we become, how we see the world, what we do with the brief amount of time allotted to us.