Greetings and welcome to Term 2! I hope you have enjoyed time with your families during the holidays, and have been keeping safe during our lockdown period in NZ.
As a class, we will be using Google Meet to catch up with each other once a week. This is an optional meeting, but will be a good opportunity for you to see your teacher and classmates. I have missed seeing your smiling faces in class, so I hope to see you there!
How do I use Google Meet? Please see the link below for instructions:
Google Meet instructions
Google Meet Session Timetable
Thursday 16th April
Group 1 (11am - 11.30am)
Max, Felix, Evie, Chaitra, Janya
Group 2 (1pm - 1.30pm)
Eric, Leroy, Christina, Krisha, Fariah
Group 3 (2pm - 2.30pm)
Garuth, Zayn, Anjana, Angelina, Azra
Friday 17th April
Group 4 (11am - 11.30am)
Isaac, Uzayr, Tunde, Briar, Vrushti
Group 5 (1pm - 1.30pm)
Raaj, Kiran, Akshara, Dorothy, Aleena
Group 6 (2pm - 2.30pm)
Rishi, Vivaan, Aisha, Shreya, Sana
Working from home - Term 2 Week 1 (Wednesday 15th - Friday 17th April 2020)
For the term, I will be posting tasks on our class blog for you to complete. I will be posting these every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so make sure you are checking our class blog regularly. On Fridays, we will have a fun challenge to complete alongside other senior classes... check our class blog to see what this will be! (I think you will really enjoy the challenges, especially this Friday!)Expectations for distance learning
You must complete 2 "Must do" tasks each week for Reading, Writing and Maths. Once you have completed your "Must Dos", you can complete "Can Dos". Don't worry about completing everything in one day, as new tasks will be posted every second day.
If you are in ESOL - you will have one task which you will complete instead of one of your "Must Do" tasks in reading or writing.*
Here is your work for today:
Wednesday Term 2 Week 1
*ESOL task - Wednesday 15th April - this task replaces your writing "must do"Choose a character from your story and write them a letter. You may want to ask them some questions about their life or what they did in the story. You may want to give them your opinion on what they did in the story or something you think they could have done better. You may find things you have in common with the character and similarities between your life and their life that you could write about.
We are focusing on Descriptive writing this week. Our purpose for descriptive writing is to ENTERTAIN. Our audience is anyone who reads our personal blogs, including teachers, parents and classmates.
We are going to learn how to support our ideas with detail in descriptive writing, through using the "show don't tell" technique. For example, if it is cold, we would write about things to give our reader the feeling it is cold, rather than actually saying it is cold. We could use our senses as a guide to help us by describing the below:
- howling wind (sounds)
- icicles (sights)
- shivering (Sound, sight, feeling)
- when you exhale and can see a cloud of vapour condensation similar to mist/fog in the air (sights)
Here is an example of descriptive writing by Angela Abraham about walking to the bus stop in Autumn. Notice how the sights, sounds, temperature and overall vibe/feelings are captured in her writing in an entertaining, descriptive manner. It is enjoyable to read and transports the reader into the scene.
As the days wane, the nights close in and the trees don their vibrant hues, a chill creeps into the air. Not the bite of wintry blusters, but just a nip to let us know a new season is at hand. The wide avenue is lit by the first rays of the day, shining through a thin layer of grey cloud like a stain glass window. No more are the trees their virescent hues of spring and summer, but are scarlets and gold. In just a few weeks they will stand naked in the frozen air, bereft of their gaiety. Already the usual grey of the concrete sidewalk is adorned with their transient beauty. As I walk to the bus stop in my black woollen coat, I deliberately tread on each one to hear the crunch. Just ahead a leaf tumbles from it's weary branch, it twists and rocks as it falls through the almost still air. I pause to listen for the sound it makes as it joins it's brethren on the ground, but it is lost in the drone of the traffic.
- Angela Abraham, November 7, 2014.
Can you tell what season it is? What time of day it is? Notice how the writer doesn't explicitly tell us these details, she uses the descriptive writing technique of "show don't tell" to make the writing entertaining, by showing us details rather than telling us. When we are using "show don't tell" we are thinking about how rather than what. For example, describing how a leaf fell from a tree, rather than simply saying it fell. Focus on using adverbs (words that describe an action) and adjectives (describing words). You can use Visuwords and Word Hippo to help you find descriptive words. I'm on the look-out for some excellent descriptive writing, using high-level descriptive words! We want our readers to feel intrigued, captivated and engrossed in reading our work.
Ngā mihi,
Miss Hudson
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