Underline the simple subject(s) once and the simple predicate twice Never make the same mistake

twice. The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. Here is the final report. I saw and considered it well. The water dripped slowly from the faucet. Speaking excitedly, Mary told Melissa the news. Bach, a famous composer, wrote the ninth symphony. Several of the workers are receiving safety awards. Replace the verb + adverb with a more descriptive verb: Ex. sat carelesslyslouched, collapsed, slumped went quickly dashed, flew, careened talked quietly whispered, mumbled, grumbled, walked slowly trudged, wandered, meandered, strolled, hold tightly clutch, grab, grasp, squeeze, hug Replace the adjectives with more descriptive adjectives: Ex. interestingenthralling, captivating, fascinating great (time)..wonderful, fantastic, (I was) surprised I was astounded, amazed, baffled, (I was) happyenthusiastic, glad, ecstatic

REFERENCE/EXAMPLES Main parts of speech: NOUN: person, place, thing, or idea PROUNOUN: takes the place of a noun VERB: shows action, links another word to the subject, helps another verb, or indicates existence ADJECTIVE: modifies noun or pronoun (makes the meaning of the word more specific) Answers the questions: what kind, which one, how many, how much, whose ADVERB: modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb Answer the questions: where, when, how, how often, to what extent PREPOSITION: shows how a noun is related to some other word in the sentence Prepositional phrase begins with preposition, ends with noun Subordination combine simple sentences into more complex sentences with clauses Ex. Kyle Hansen was elected class president. He is friendly to everyone. Kyle Hansen, who is friendly to everyone, was elected class president. Reducing wordiness by forming phrases (group of words with no subject or verb) Ex. When we were in Alsace-Lorraine, we saw the Rhine River. In Alsace-Lorraine, we saw the Rhine River. Ex. Winston Churchill, who was prime minister of Great Britain, led his countrymen to victory in WWI Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain, led his countrymen to victory in WWI. Ex. Tutankhamens tomb was discovered in 1922, and it still contained most of its treasure Tutankhamens tomb, discovered in 1922, still contained most of its treasures. Ex. We wanted to save money, so we bought an economy car. To save money, we bought an economy car. Variety in the beginning of sentences (not always subject and verb) Beginning the sentence with: ADVERB: Cautiously, the policeman edged toward the open door. ADJECTIVE: Short and stocky, Paul was at a disadvantage in basket-ball (check for logic) PARTICPLE: Howling and protesting, Jake was dragged into the dentists office. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: In Death Valley, summer temperatures reach 125F PARTICIPIAL PHRASE: Sauntering along the road, we were unaware of the danger ahead (logic) INFINITIVE PHRASE: To show our appreciation, we gave her a gift certificate ADVERB CLAUSE: When Dad returned from Germany, he showed many interesting pictures. Figurative Language Simile : a comparison using the words like or as Ex. The old prizefighter looked like a mass of granite Ex. Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life Metaphor: stronger and more direct than a simile, an implied comparison Ex. The old prizefighter was a mass of granite Ex. I am a little world made cunningly

VOWELS: a, e, i, o, u, and y CONSONANTS: other letters of the alphabet SHORT VOWELS A IN APPLE E IN ELEPHANT I IN INDIAN O IN OSTRICH U IN UMBRELLA Y IN BABY The vowel is usually the only vowel in the word and its between two consonants (ONE SYLLABLE) Examples: dog, tin, well, bed, pot, cup, van The vowel is followed by a double consonant. Examples: ripping, chill, The vowel is usually by itself at the beginning of a word. Examples: ant, up, end The vowel is with a ck ending. Examples: black, knock, thick

LONG VOWELS sound like their names in the alphabet Two vowels beside each other in a word, say the name of the FIRST VOWEL and the second is SILENT. Examples: seal, real, boat, teen Long vowels are usually in words that end with a SILENT E. (special case of above rule) Examples: bake, like, spoke, mule I and o followed by at least two DIFFERENT consonants usually have a long vowel sound. Examples: child, hold, post, kind Single vowel at the end of a word. Example: go, he, me, hi; Exceptions: do, the http://www.hisdwelling.com/ShortVowelRule.html http://www.hisdwelling.com/LongVowelRules.html
Rules usually do not apply to words with SPECIAL SOUNDS.

The SCHWA is a short, neutral, weak vowel sound extremely common in English language. It sounds like short I or short o, but it can replace any vowel. It is a reduced vowel in UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES. It usually appears in words with two or more syllables. Examples: ba-NA-na; a-BOUT; the; PEN-cil; EN-e-my; NOOD-le SYLLABLE ANALYSIS Isolate the syllables in the words and analyze the syllables separate from the word. For example, isolating riping into ri and ping. The first vowel does not have a consonant after it, making it long. Isolating ripping into rip and ping. The first syllable has one vowel in between consonants, so it is a short vowel. Also break words into syllables when they are compound words. http://www.spellingrules.ie/ >>Games/drills http://www.candohelperpage.com/index.html >>PHONICS SECTION>> and flash player activities http://spellingrules.com/free-spelling-rules/free-phonics-lessons/ >>Phonics lessons

SPECIAL SOUNDS

SPELLING RULES

(1) I before E (long E sound),except after C or when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh Examples: believe, fierce, field, chief, friend Common exceptions: ceiling, deceive, weird, seize, science, eight, either, neither, height, heir, society, veil, vein, their, foreign (2) Y, and not I, is used at the end of English words (y in baby). Examples: my, by, shy, why (3) Change final Y to I if there is a consonant in front of it (unless suffix begins with I) Examples: baby>>babies; party>>parties; pity>>pitiful; try>>tries; worry>>worried Unless: copy>>copying; try>>trying (4) Drop the silent E at the end of words when adding an ending Examples: come>>coming; hope>>hoping; ride>>riding (5) Double the consonant for a short vowel sound Examples: hoping vs. hopping (6) All has two Ls. When used as a prefix, only one L is written. Examples: also, almost, always; BUT NOT alot (a lot) (7) Q is always followed by U. In this case, U is not considered to be a vowel. (8) The letter S never follows X (9) Only one vowel is needed for a short vowel sound. Examples: red, hot, lick

WORKSHEET The following words are broken up into syllables. Circle all the special sounds. Write the special sound beside it. Put a straight line above a vowel if it is long and a curved line above the vowel if it is short. Cross out silent letters Underline the accented syllable. Hint: If the vowel says its name, its a long vowel ; look for two vowels in a word. Does the vowel have a short vowel sound? IF NOT, then the vowel belongs to a special sound! Example: par | ti | cu | lar

maid

tiss | ue stream a | ma | zing first great trot | ted gray drink chair stone ham | mer crumb house mess poke bro | ther cand |y learn chem | i |cal diss | miss | ed for |ev | er in |crease may | be butt | er | fly throw numb | er oat | meal dic | tion |ar | y ex | plo | sion

GENERAL OUTLINE FOR A BOOK REPORT 1ST PARAGRAPH

o o

Title of book, authors name, type of book

2ND PARAGRAPH Setting: where, when, who:

o o o

In what MAIN place(s) does the story take place? In what time period does the story take place? NAMES of the MAIN characters

3rd PARAGRAPH

o o

Introduce the main characters

4th PARAGRAPH What happened: ONLY THE IMPORTANT DETAILS

o o o o

Introduction to story Introduce the problem How the characters tried to solve the problem If the problem was solved, how was it solved?

5th PARAGRAPH

o o

What was your favorite part/character AND WHY

6th PARAGRAPH Do you recommend this book to other people AND WHY

OVERALL

o o o

Did you give complete information? (Will the reader be asking, Who, what, or why?) Did you brainstorm before you started working on the first draft? Do you have unnecessary details about the story?

WRITING SKILLS CHECKLIST Content (Rough Draft)

o o

Do all my sentences support my topic sentence (no carrots in my cookie jar)? Does my title capture the essence of my composition?

Style (Rough Draft)

o o o o o o o o

Did I choose a strong topic sentence that introduces my paragraph? Did I use no more than two form of to be words (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been)? (Circle to be words in RED) Did I choose synonyms instead of repeating main words (UNDERLINE repeated words in BLUE) Did I use concrete words that are specific, vivid, and sensory? (UNDERLINE vague words in GREEN) Did I vary my sentence structure by beginning a sentence with.?(see variety) Did I write concisely, avoiding wordiness? (Cross out unnecessary words or phrases) Did I write strong transitions? Did I write a conclusion (strong closing sentence) that gives a feeling of ending?

Mechanics (First Revision)

o o o o o o o o

Did I put my name and date in the upper right hand corner? Did I indent my paragraphs? Did I leave margins around my paragraphs? Did I remember to skip every other line? Did I use good spacing between sentences? Did I double-check my spelling? Did I double-check capitalization and punctuation? Did I use complete sentences and avoid run-on sentences?

WRITING SKILLS CHECKLIST-DESCRIPTION OF ANIMAL/PERSON Content (Rough Draft)

o o

Do all my sentences support my topic sentence (no carrots in my cookie jar)? Does my title capture the essence of my composition?

Style (Rough Draft)

o o o o

Did I choose a strong topic sentence that introduces my paragraph? Did I choose synonyms instead of repeating main words (UNDERLINE repeated words in BLUE) Did I use concrete words that are specific, vivid, and sensory? (UNDERLINE vague words in GREEN) Did I vary my sentence structure by beginning a sentence with?

o o o o o o

o o o o

Paired adjectives (two words that describe the subject of the sentence) Prepositional Phrase (begins with a preposition, ends with a noun) Participial Phrase (Verbal that describes subject, with other words) ly Adverb (word that describes HOW)

Did I describe the subjects physical appearance? Did I describe the subjects activity WITHOUT focusing on the activity itself? Did I write concisely, avoiding wordiness? (Cross out unnecessary words or phrases) Did I include a simile? Did I write strong transitions? Did I write a conclusion (strong closing sentence) that gives a feeling of ending?

Mechanics (First Revision)

o o o o o o o o

Did I put my name and date in the upper right hand corner? Did I indent my paragraphs? Did I leave margins around my paragraphs? Did I remember to skip every other line? Did I use good spacing between sentences? Did I double-check my spelling? Did I double-check capitalization and punctuation? Did I use complete sentences and avoid run-on sentences?

OTHER: Use physical senses to describe. Give an objective description, then a more subjective description.

EXAMPLE A Friendly Clown On one corner of my dresser sits a smiling toy clown on a tiny unicycle--a gift I received last Christmas from a close friend. The clown's short yellow hair, made of yarn, covers its ears but is parted above the eyes. The blue eyes are outlined in black with thin, dark lashes flowing from the brows. It has cherry-red cheeks, nose, and lips, and its broad grin disappears into the wide, white ruffle around its neck. The clown wears a fluffy, two-tone nylon costume. The left side of the outfit is light blue, and the right side is red. The two colors merge in a dark line that runs down the center of the small outfit. Surrounding its ankles and disguising its long black shoes are big pink bows. The white spokes on the wheels of the unicycle gather in the center and expand to the black tire so that the wheel somewhat resembles the inner half of a grapefruit. The clown and unicycle together stand about a foot high. As a cherished gift from my good friend Tran, this colorful figure greets me with a smile every time I enter my room.

NOT-GIVEN REFERENCE FOR ME searchable special sounds page http://www.mrsjudyaraujo.com/special-word-sounds/ http://www.kingspoint.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=3:1st-grade-classnews&id=223:special-sounds&Itemid=60 http://www.hisdwelling.com/DiphthongsModifiedVowelsDigraphs.html http://www.tampareads.com/phonics/phonicsindex.htm http://www.tampareads.com/wrksheet/start.htm