6Traits Digest #104 - Tuesday, November 9, 1999 Word choice by "Barbara D. Martin"---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Word choice From: "Barbara D. Martin" Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 21:13:28 -0800 We are just beginning to work on word choice. Last Friday my students did a construction paper art project (I can send directions if you like) where they wrote things they are thankful for on a turkey's tail. I decided to have them begin on this tomorrow. I'd love some reactions and suggestions from the rest of you. Barbara Giving Thanks You have written many things on your turkeys tail that you are thankful for. This week you are to choose three of them to write about. Each item you choose will be in a paragraph of its own. Each paragraph should explain exactly why you are thankful for that thing, what is special about it, how it adds to your life to make this world a better place for you. =20 Please describe these things as best you can. If it is a person, tell the general age, height, and size of that person. (If I wrote about one of my grandmothers, for instance, I would say that she was a tiny, round lady with round glasses on her nose. She used bluing on her hair to make it whiter, but sometimes she used too much so that her hair really was a light, silvery blue.) Describe something personal about them, the sound of their voice, that they smell of baking bread, or engine grease, or something that is very special to you, something that calls them to mind when you hear or see it, that you easily recognize as belonging to them. =20 Do this with each thing that you write about it. You chose each thing because it was special to you. Use words to make it special to us. The words you use are tools so that you can make the reader hear, see, touch, feel, KNOW why that thing is important in your life. When you are done with each paragraph, we should be able to pick that one thing out of other things that are like it--that pair of shoes out of a shoe store, that person out of a group, that food out of a grocery store. We will be able to do this because you have painted a picture with words. 1. You have your date and name in the corners of the paper and a title on the top line. Skip a line after the title. 2. Indent the first word of the paragraph, and have margins. 3. Each of the three paragraphs begins with a topic sentence and ends with a concluding sentence. 4. You have at least 3 supporting sentences in each paragraph. Use at least 2 =93sense=94 words in each paragraph! Underline them in your rough draft. 5. Begin and end each sentence correctly. Make sure each word is correctly spelled, and that you have correct punctuation. 6. Proof-read your writing, then have someone else make corrections on your paper. Have them sign this paper. 7. You have this sheet of paper turned in with your rough draft and the final copy which is done in cursive. =20 Signature of person who checked your paper: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- End of 6Traits Digest -- To unsubscribe, send any message at all to: 6Traits-off@. Archive of past digests is at: http://6Traits.Cyberspaces.net/archive/?_NO_DATETIME