Barbara W. Coles Trader
The students who are in the “independent” and “Semi-independent” groups will apply the free writing and language skills to other subject areas. The enrichment activities are essential to the writing process, because they give the students the opportunities to connect writing, reading and critical thinking skills in the content areas of social studies, science, math, literature and the unified arts! The students will apply the following language skills: grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation.
Activities
: Samples
A. Mini-Lessons in the Content Subject Areas
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#1. Write a story that contains some funny plural words. Use cartoons and comic strips.
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#2. Here is a good-news/bad-news joke.
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____
Dentist: I’ve got some good news and some bad news.
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____
Patient: What’s the good newsz?
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____
Dentist: I’ve put in a new tooth to match your old teeth.
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____
Patient: What’s the bad news?
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____
Dentist: The new tooth has cavities just like your old teeth.
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____
Read the joke; then write your own good-news/bad-news jokes.
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#3. Sometimes the pronunciation of a word depends upon its meaning. Notice the first pronunciation for present is used with meaning I and the second pronunciation is used for meaning
2.
I’ll (pri zent’) a (prez’ nt) to Dad.
Read each sentence. Then write 1 or 2 to show which pronunciation and meaning is correct for the underlined word.
___1. Mom gave me a nice birthday
present
.
___2. The mayor will
present
a trophy to our team.
___3. Pamela put a
record
on the phonograph.
___4. Mr. Garcia will
record
the minutes of the meeting.
#4a. Write the words that go with the definitions.
(
Content Words
: 1—protractor; 2—decimal point;
3—fractional; 4—remainder)
1. instrument for drawing or measuring angles
2. a period placed before a decimal fraction
3. having to do with fractions, or parts of a whole
4. number left over after dividing one number by another
#4b.
1. Use the letter clues to match a content word with each definition. (perpendicular; parallel; radii; segment)
a. standing straight up
b. a part of something
p
s
c. the same distance apart everywhere
____
1
2. What is the plural of
radius
?
3. Write two list words that are plurals like
radii
.
#4c. The
climate
of an area refers to the weather. The
geography
refers to surface features. Answer the questions below. Use your glossary if necessary. (gulf; peninsula; temperate; humid)
1. Which two words tell about the climate of an area?
2. Which two words might be used to tell about the geography of Florida?
#4d. Use the glossary to help you understand the challenge words. (1—nebula; 2—astrologer; 3—physicist; 4—nitrogen) Then write the word that means:
1. a cloudlike cluster of stars
2. a person who studies the stars to make predictions
3. an expert in physics
4. nitrogen
#5. In a dictionary, the students can find where to divide the words at the end of a line of writing. Notice that the divisions in entry words and in pronunciations are not always the same. Use the entry word to decide where to divide a word in writing.
Write the words using hyphens to show where they could be divided at the end of a line of writing. Remember that just one letter of a word should never be put on a line by itself. The first word is divided for you.
2. thirty
3. hundredth
4. eleven
5. ninety
6. fourteen
7. twentieth
#6. The Daring Dozen club members are lined up to get an influenza shot. After the shot they may visit the pizza parlor, the zoo, or the museum. Pretend you are one of them. Write a poem about the things you do.
B. A Mini-Lesson in the Arts
Read the following information about Pablo Picasso, George Washington Carver, Ludwig von Beethoven and Duke Ellington.
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(a.) Arrange the following sentences in sequential order by numbering them 1-5 and 1-7. The answers are correct in this lesson.
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____
3
Picasso began using collage.
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____
4 The town of Guernica was bombed.
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____
1 Picasso mastered realistic painting.
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____
5 Picasso was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
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____
2
Cubism emerged as a style.
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(b.)
4
Carver went to the Tuskegee Institute to lead the Agricultural Department.
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____
2 As a child, George had to travel far from home to attend school.
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____
5 Carver found many new uses for peanuts.
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____
1
The American Civil War began.
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____
6
Carver was offered great sums of money to leave the Tuskegee Institute.
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____
3
Carver earned a “Master of Science” degree.
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____
7
At the time of his death, George Washington Carver was still working at the Tuskegee Institute.
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(c.) Circle the letter of the phrase that best completes each sentence.
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____
1. Beethoven felt he had been put into the world to c.
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____
a. play the piano b. enjoy a pleasant life c. accomplish
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____
2. People sometimes
b
at Beethoven’s concerts. a. threw things b. cried openly c. Laughed loudly
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____
3. Beethoven used music to a.
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____
a. express his emotions b. solve math problems
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____
c. cure sick people.
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(d.) Write T if the statement is true. Write F if the statement is false.
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____
F
1. Duke Ellington played the trumpet.
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____
T
2. Duke Ellington composed more than 1,000 works.
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____
F
3. Duke Ellington was famous for his singing.
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____
T
4. Duke Ellington enjoyed showing off his player’s skills.
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____
F
5. The sound of Duke’s band never changed.
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____
F
6. Duke Ellington became a band leader in 1957.
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____
T
7. Duke Ellington is deceased.
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C. Students will pronounce the words aloud and identify the meanings quietly.
laboratory
|
fertilize
|
research
|
achievements
|
agriculture
|
prejudice
|
offered
|
respected
|
enrich
|
founded
|
receive
|
quartets
|
Select the words in the box to complete the blanks, answers and questions below.
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1. Which word means thought well of?
-
____
respected
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2. Booker T. Washington
founded
the Tuskegee Institute.
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3. Carver knew that peanuts would
fertilize
and
enrich
the soil.
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4. Which word means the science of producing crops?
agriculture
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5. In his
laboratory
, Carver found many new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and cowpeas.
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6. Things that one has accomplished are called
achievements
.
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7. Carver spent his life teaching and doing
research
.
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8. Many people
offered
Carver large sums of money.
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9. Many colleges were unwilling to accept Black students because of
prejudice
.
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10. It was not easy for a Black child to
receive
an education in 1874.
It is very important that the instructors have a writing curriculum section in their classrooms; they should also write and share their writing with the students. The students should have free access to gather their folders and notebooks quietly; however, the journals are to be kept in a private setting. The classrooms should reflect respect for students’ writing. A section of the bulletin board should provide motivational writing: demonstrate free writing, drafts, revision, editing and final pieces. Various teaching strategies, materials and audio-visual equipment should be utilized to encourage more proficient writers such as: “cassette tapes, the overhead projector, scrapbooks, periodicals, and other media materials. In conclusion, writing is a continuous process from the early childhood grades through adulthood. It is this process that we can address throughout the years of schooling and which this unit addresses in particular for grades 6 and 7 in Reading/Language Arts classes.