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Storytelling-the highest form of orality A story-

One day naked truth went walking. Everywhere she went people scorned her for her nakedness and would not hear her words. Finally, imagination saw her difficulty and offered to accompany naked truth whenever she journeyed. When people saw how beautiful imagination was, they desired her and welcomed her words. Naked truth, of course, was welcomed everywhere imagination went. ~Adapted from a folktale

Imagination in the form of story is the beautiful companion of truth. Wherever people welcome stories, they welcome truth as well. Story is a gentle teacher; yet it has power to teach us both the way of the heart, which is compassion, and the way of the mind, which is wisdom and knowledge. Since earliest times, stories have been used to teach. Bidpai, the Indian sage, used fables to teach the sons of the kings how to rule with skill and wisdom. The Orthodox Jews used story to reflect the eternal truths found in the Torah. In Africa, even today, problem-solving stories are given to children from a very early age to encourage a discerning mind.

Every culture has its own use of story and storytelling. Storytelling communicates living ideas just as written words do. Think of the Bible stories and the truths they communicate. Remember the story of Moses, or Joseph? Both of these men’s lives make an engaging story and yet contain the eternal truths of the eternal God. One important feature of storytelling is its ability to improve creative and predictive thinking in children. It improves creative thinking because the story, when vividly imaged by the listener, exercises the mind. This ability to image is an essential ingredient in all creating. Through listening and working with story, the child develops a rich palette of images stored in the mind from which he can invent. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century said, ‚Imagination is more important than knowledge.?

From Living Books

Watch a Lecture on Einstein’s Creativity from Aspen Institute

Paint By Idioms

Idioms are special words or phrases that have their own meaning. For example, if I say “It’s a piece of cake,” I mean it’s very easy. The meaning doesn’t really have anything to do with cake. There are many idioms in English. If you learn to use idioms, your English will be much more colorful and interesting. At this site, you can learn lots of new idioms. Just choose a theme (easy or hard) and what kind of exercise you want to try. Finally, choose a character that you can paint if you choose the right answers.

Starship English

Do you know what a simile is? In English, we use similes to compare things and to make our language more colorful. Similes use “like” and “as…as.”

For example:

-Her voice was like a songbird!
-He was as tall as a mountain!

At this site, you can learn about similes, metaphors, + lots of other ways to color your language.

McGraw Hill Language Arts Unit 2

Note: 30 days per unit, 6 wks – 5 days each, Lesson planning

September 14, 2009 – October 23, 2009

MH3 Nouns and Explanatory Writing

Grammar

Nouns:

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3rd

The Blue Pond by Luis Graner Arrufi

GRANER, y Arrufi, Luis
Spanish, 1867-1922

Born in Barcelona, Spain, Luis Graner arrived in the United States in 1910 and was in New Orleans intermittently from 1914 to 1922. Reportedly he painted many scenes of rural Louisiana, which became some of his most signature work..He also was active in California where he painted scenes of La Jolla dated 1910. He opened a studio in New York City after he left New Orleans. By the time he arrived in the United States, he had an established international reputation for portraits, genre subj

from: askart.com *Note: Check back on Friday for full biography.

5th

Mother and Child by Mary Cassatt

Mary (Stevenson) Cassatt
American, 1844-1926

Artist. Born on May 22, 1844, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Mary Cassatt was one of the leading artists in the Impressionist movement of the later part of the 1800s…. She is best known for her luminous portraits of women and children, such as The Morning Toilet (1886) and Mother Feeding a Child (1898). A less recognized legacy was her influence in getting many Americans to acquire Impressionist and other contemporary French paintings now in U.S. museums.

from: biography.com

HoC-MaryCassattLapbook.pdf

6th

Play in the Surf by Edward Henry Potthast

Edward Henry Potthast
American, 1857-1927
Edward Henry Potthast (1857-1927 ) was an American Impressionist painter. In 1886 he departed for Paris, where he studied with Fernand Cormon. In 1895 he relocated to New York City and remained there until his death in 1927.
from: artst.org

What all of these artists have in common is they exemplify a period in art called Impessionism in which artist’s began rebelling against traditional norms and began to explore the idea of painting with light, moods, and movement.

Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Radicals in their time, early Impressionists broke the rules of academic painting. They began by giving colours, freely brushed, primacy over line, drawing inspiration from the work of painters such as Eugene Delacroix. They took the act of painting out of the studio and into the world.

http://www.artst.org/impressionism/

A homophone
homo: greek meaning ‘same’
phone: meaning ‘sound’

Words that sound the same. They may have different meanings and be spelled differently.

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test your vocabulary

Personal Narratives

For the next 30 days, you will be learning about different kinds of sentences. You will also learn how to write a personal narrative. In a personal narrative, the author shares a true and personal experience. We will learn about different words, phrases, and other tools that an author can use to help you ‘see like the writer’.

Art Connection: Symbols used by artist’s to help you experience what they are experiencing.
Science Connection Environments: The Water Cycle, Ecosystems, Biomes of the earth.

Mixed Review – Sentences

all JM and JR JM

• A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. Capitalize the first word of every sentence. Every sentence begins with a capital letter.
• A sentence fragment does not tell a complete thought.
• A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends with a period.
• An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.
• An imperative sentence either gives a command or makes a request and ends with a period.
• An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong feeling and ends with an exclamation point.
• A compound sentence is made up of two simple sentences joined by a comma and a conjunction such as and, but, or or.
• A complex sentence contains an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

all JM and JR JM

• The subject tells who or what. (noun)
• The predicate tells who or what something does or is. (verb)
• The complete subject of a sentence includes all the words that tell whom or what the sentence is about.
• The complete predicateof a sentence includes all the words that tell what the subject does or is.
• The simple subject is the main word or words in the complete subject. (nouns or pronouns)
• The simple predicate is the main word or words in the complete predicate. (verbs, adverbs)
• A compound subject has two or more simple subjects that have the same predicate. you can combine two sentences by using a compound subject.
• A compound predicate has two or more simple predicates that have the same subject. You can combine two sentences by using a compound predicate.
• A run-on sentence joins together two sentences that should be written seperately. Correct a run-on by writing it as two sentences or by writing it as a compound sentence.

Watch these personal narratives about some children who were learning to read:

The Lab School

Ben

Reading a Personal Narrative

WAR STORIES AND SCHOOL-DAY INCIDENTS FOR THE CHILDREN BY B. M. ZETTLER

In this section you will read a personal narrative. You will also learn how to

• identify an implied main idea
• discover a writer’s purpose for writing

Alot of things were invented in the August month in history. One of them were Venn diagrams. They were invented by John Venn, an English Mathmetician. You can read more about him and his invention on enchanted learning.

Today, your three options for a Creative Writing essay pertain to inventions. Pick one and write a one page essay. You can attach a picture you draw or other supporting information, but it has to be in addition to the one page requirement.:

1. An Invention I’d Like: Think about an invention that you’d like to have or make. Write about what this new device would do and why you’d like to use it
2. Invent an Animal: Invent a new animal — describe what it looks like, what it sounds like, how it moves, and what it eats. Is it scary or cuddly or something else altogether? Would it be a pet or live in the wild (or in a zoo)?
3. Invent a New Holiday: Invent a new holiday. What would this holiday celebrate? How would you celebrate it? Would there be any special food or symbols for your holiday?

Guidelines from Enchanted Learning:

Instructions for the essay writers: For each essay, begin with a topic (focus) sentence that states the main ideas that you will be writing about. Then write at least four to five sentences that clearly explain the point of your essay. End the essay with a strong closing sentence that summarizes what you wrote. Check that your grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct. Make sure to use complete sentences and write neatly!