Here are the structure words we found in a paragraph about storms. These words give most of the information to help us understand what the author wants us to know.
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I know most of you really enjoyed researching, writing, and typing your animal reports. Think about what you've learned about writing a research report. Then, please complete the Animal Essay Self Evaluation.
Prepositions tell position and time. They are like adverbs, however they require a few more words (phrases) to make sense. Examples: "Mom, can I go outside?" Outside is an adverb here because it's clear where you want to go. "Billy, please leave my DS just outside my room." Outside is a preposition here because if you didn't include the words "my room" after it would mean outdoors! Below are the two videos we watched in class for prepositions. The first is a list of prepositions sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle. The second is slower and shows you lots of examples of how to use prepositions in phrases. Here are more photos of animals that you requested for your research projects. You will have time during class this week to add them to your reports. Here are most of the animal photos that you have requested! I decided that photos of animals eating other animals would not be nice to post here, so I have separate photos of animals' prey.
We'll work on inserting photos during computer time. These photos are all fine for school use (the photographers want you to use them to learn for your education) but remember you would not be able to publish your writing using photos you find on Google or on most websites because of copyright laws. If you need more photos (remember the limit is 3 per typed page) or you haven't left a comment about photos you need, you can leave a comment on this post. Remember to be specific. Don't say, "I want a picture of a rabbit's habitat," say what the habitat is, such as, "Could I get a photo of a meadow?" Leave a comment on this post with requests for pictures for your animal reports. Be SPECIFIC.
In writer's workshop and science, we have been studying and writing about animals. You each have a book about an animal you chose, however your book might not have all the answers you need. When this happens, you need to use multiple sources. Reading more than one book on a topic is how you start to become an expert. Some great websites for animal research are: Enchanted Learning Animal Planet Kids National Geographic One website that is NOT acceptable for research is: Wikipedia This is because anyone with an account can add, delete, or change these articles. Since it is not written by experts, you should not believe everything you read on Wikipedia. Here are some great articles on the animals you are researching for your nonfiction report on animals.
Alligators Ants Ants Arthropods Badgers Bees Crocodiles Dolphins Dolphins Emperor Penguins Frogs Horses Sharks (Great White) Sharks (Bull Shark) Snakes Turtles Wolverines Wolves Edit: Thank you to everyone who requested an animal for this page! Here are some new links: Tiger Tiger Tiger Tiger Giraffe Giraffe Giraffe Cheetah Cheetah Cheetah Cheetah Cheetah Meerkat Meerkat There is a REALLY cool adaptation that I didn't know about meerkats revealed in this article! Finally, if you need even more research, Gogooligans is a great search engine that is made for kids. Just type your animal in the box and click the red button. Choose one of the links to an article that has a description that fits what you are looking for, and start reading. Good story writers try as hard as they can to make their reader feel like they are a part of the story. One way to do this is to show, not just tell. In the example above, it would be boring if I wrote "The boy was scared. Really, very, so, so scared." Instead, I tell how the boy's face looked when he was afraid. I tell what his hands did and I tell what happened to his voice when he was petrified. It's more interesting this way. Another trick story tellers use is to think about the mood of the entire story. If you want a scary story you'll describe things differently from a carefree comedy.
Take a look at the different ways I can write "The boy went up the stairs." I change my verbs and descriptive details depending on the mood I want for my story. In science we have been learning how to record and write about observations we have made about everyday objects.
In order to make our ideas "flow" for our reader, it's important to use transition words. These words are different from the ones we use in stories because we are not showing time order with first, second, then, next, finally. These essay transition words are used to show a different type of organization. What transition word from above would you use to connect these different ideas: I love chocolate cake. My friend prefers cherry pie. Answer in the comments below. So far in spelling we have been listening for vowel sounds and learning the different ways to spell them (such as 4 ways to spell the long a sound). However another trick to help with spelling is looking for word parts that have meaning. A prefix is a word part that comes at the beginning of the word that has its own meaning. The root words actually have the opposite meaning as the words that are created by adding a prefix! Fiction is the opposite of nonfiction. Stop is the opposite of nonstop. Toxic is the opposite of nontoxic. This is because the prefix non means "not." Some prefixes that mean "not" are:
Notice that "mis" is different from "miss!" Prefixes are word parts; they aren't words on their own even though they may look or sound close to other words.
Can you think of a word with a prefix? Write it in the comments below and if you can, tell what it means. In science we have been using our senses to make observations about objects. We have also been learning new vocabulary terminology to describe these objects more precisely to others.
One of the new terms we used have to do with opacity. Opacity is how much light passes through an object. If you can completely see through something, like glass, it is transparent. If you can see light shining through something, but not shapes through it, it is translucent. For example, frosted glass is translucent because you can't see outside or inside when glass is frosted. Can you think of something that is translucent? Answer in the comments below! |