Writing Workshop Skills for May 16 and May 17, 2023 (to be continued on May 18, as well!)

We will be spending a lot of time this week writing and revising our work in order to successfully complete our portfolios. They need to be ready before the end of May, which means we will allot a significant portion of each class making sure we have something from each of the following categories: expository, persuasive, anecdotal, poetic, argumentative, and business letter writing! 

Each piece of writing will ideally be typed on a separate page that will contain your name, Writing Workshop AM or PM, and the title and genre of your piece. Be sure to select your favorites, peer edit with a classmate, make any final revisions, and type them each time we visit the computer lab (or at home, if at all possible). Remember that all final essays and poems cannot contain cross outs or mistakes!!

I cannot wait to see what your final project looks like!! As always, enjoy the process!

Part One:
Idiom of the Day:
He felt he had to walk on eggshells whenever he was near her, which was not a comfortable position to be in.

Part Two:
Subject and Verb Agreement
1. The women (attend, attends) classes every day.
2. Jean (love, loves) to play the piano.
3. Tom and Susan (plan, plans) to visit Nantucket this summer.
4. Neither Jack nor his kids (was, were) at the beach when the rainstorm began.
5. Either Sam or Tim (was, were) at the party; I couldn't tell which one it was because they are identical twins!
6. The house in the woods (is, are) a farmhouse.
7. The street that runs parallel to two different parks (is, were) we were supposed to meet.
8. The animals from the shelter (was, were) adopted over the weekend.
9. (Do, Did) you find your friends?
10. Our chores, which we do every Saturday, (was, were) taking longer than usual to complete.

Part Three:
Literary Term:
Theme
A theme is the lesson or new belief/inspiration that we take away from a novel, TV show, or movie. It could be as simple as "Never give up." A theme does not mention characters in the story, but it instead presents a type of inspiration that we could apply to other stories, as well. 

Take a moment to think of a favorite story; what is the meaning the author wants you to take away from it?

Part Four:
Grammar Challenge
Your or You're
1. (Your, You're) a great friend!
2. (Your, You're) in good company with all the wonderful students in this class!
3. Is that (your, you're) sister in this picture?
4. I don't know what (your, you're) talking about!
5. (Your, You're) writing is filled with many of our literary devices!


Part Five:
Creative Writing
Please finish this story using parallel sentence structure and proper subject and verb agreement. If possible, try to include an appositive in your writing. Remember that an appositive is another way of renaming a noun in the sentence while also providing extra information for the reader.

An example of an appositive is: Chantel, my wonderful neighbor, left a pie outside my front door the other day.

Now here is your story:

     May had always been Jeanette's favorite month. She loved the beautiful weather that had not yet become too hot. She also enjoyed the extra daylight that occurred when the clocks were set ahead one hour. But on this day,   ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Story #2:

      The mall was busier than usual when I made my way to the food court. I was not sure what I would find there, since the mysterious letter had said only to sit at the table closest to the Pizza Palace, and to be sure to be there on time.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Poem #1: Haiku
Directions: Create another haiku with the same three line stanza and the same syllable count of five, seven, five on corresponding lines.

Here is an idea for your first one (and yes, "congratulations" contains five syllable by itself!):

Congratulations!
_______________________________________________ 
_______________________________________________

Haiku #2:
Directions: Now I will provide the middle line, and you can write the opening and closing lines instead!

_____________________________________________________
Waves tickled my sandy toes
_____________________________________________________

Haiku #3:
Directions: Create one of your own in the space below!