Writing with Mrs. Murphy

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Journal Prompt - August 26

Happy Friday!

I hope you all have had a fabulous week! Congratulations on making it through your first official week of middle school. You are all doing beautifully!! I am so proud of you and am so looking forward to this school year!!

Your journal prompt this morning is: FREE CHOICE. That means you may write about anything you would like. :-)

Happy journaling!
Mrs. Murphy

Journal - August 25

Happy Thursday, 6th Grade!

Below is your journal prompt for today!

Happy Writing!
Mrs. Murphy

Congratulations! You just won 2.5 million dollars in the Florida Lottery! How

will winning this money change your life? Would you move to another city, state, or country?

Would you share your money with your family? Would you quit school? Why or why not?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Journal Prompt - August 24

Good morning, Class of 2014!

Did you know that the state of Virginia experienced an earthquake yesterday? It was felt as far north as Chicago, IL and as south as Atlanta, GA. Below are some links about what happened yesterday. What do you think about this event? Do you think it could happen here? How do you think you would react if it did? How do you think our community would react?

Let's have a non-earth shaking day!

God bless,
Mrs. Murphy

Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake
Lancaster News Gazette
CNN News

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Journal Prompt - August 23

Happy Tuesday!

Below is your journal prompt!

Happy Journaling!
Mrs. Murphy

If you could switch places with a character from

The Westing Game who would you switch with and why?

Monday, August 22, 2011

Journal Prompt - 8/22/10

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a GREAT weekend! Below is your journal prompt for today. Remember to use a formal heading, write in paragraph format, be watchful of your spelling, and save your journal as the date in your "Journal" folder.

Journal Prompt:

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Mrs. Murphy

Friday, August 19, 2011

Happy Friday!

Hello Class of 2014!

You've made it through your first "week" of middle school! How was it? Was it better than you expected or was is just okay? What are you looking forward to this year? Do you think this is going to be a great year? Why?

Answer the above questions in a new journal entry using MS Word. Remember, create a formal heading and write at least one paragraph. Don't forget to use the correct punctuation and be aware of your spelling.

Let's have a great day!!

God bless,
Mrs. Murphy

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Welcome to the Writing Blog!

You made it to the Writing Blog! Yea!!

You will come to the Writing Blog daily to find your journal prompt. Each day you will write about a given topic (in paragraph format) in a word document. I will pick seven students each day to share their journals in front of the class. Each journal should start with a formal heading.

Are you ready to start journaling?! Great...let's give it a try.

Create a folder and title it: Journals. Then, go to MS Word and open a new document. Write about the following:

What is the best thing about returning to school? Why?

Save your journal as a date (example: August 17).

After you save your journal create a shortcut to the Writing blog on your desktop. :-)

You are doing a great job! I am so proud of you!!

God bless,
Mrs. Murphy

Traits of Writing

Ideas (Central Message)
Finding a Topic
Focusing the Topic
Developing the Topic
Using Details

Organization (Internal Structure)
Creating the lead
Using sequence words and transition words
Structuring the Body
Ending With a Sense of Resolution

Voice (Tone of the piece)
Establishing a Tone
Conveying the Purpose
Creating a Connection to the Audience
Taking Risks to Create Voice

Word Choice (Vocabulary)
Applying Strong Verbs
Selecting Striking Words and Phrases
Using Specific and Accurate Words
Choosing Words That Deepen Meaning

Sentence Fluency (How words and sentences flow)
Crafting Well-Built Sentences
Varying Sentence Types
Capturing Smooth and Rhythmic Flow
Breaking the "Rules" to Create Fluency

Conventions (Mechanical Correctness)
Checking Spelling
Punctuating Effectively and Paragraphing Accurately
Capitalizing Correctly
Applying Grammar and Usage

Presentation (Physical Appearance)
Applying Handwriting Skills
Using Word Processing Effectively
Making Good Use of White Space
Refining Text Features

Journal Writing

Journal Writing is a daily required assignment. You will be given a new prompt each day to write a thoughtful response to. Your response should consist of three to four paragraphs and should be written in proper format. You will be given approximately ten minutes to complete the writing assignment. Seven students will be pulled to share their responses each day.

If you should finish writing before time is called you may:
* Complete a Power Typing Excercise (link to the left)
* Read from our current literature story.
* Work in your handwriting book.

The items above should be accessed in that order.

Happy Journaling!

Modes of Writing

The Modes of Writing help the writer establish and maintain a purpose for writing. The modes are:

Narrative: to tell a story

Expository: to inform or explain

Persuasive: to construct an argument

During the early part of writing, writers focus on which mode they are going to use. The writer will decide if they are going to tell a story (Narrative), explain something (Expository), or try to convince the reader of something (Persuasive). As the writing process continues, the writer may find that they must blend modes in order to make the strongest impression on their audience.