Objective: We will review STAAR taking strategies and expectations .

1. Stomp the STAAR Objective: We will review STAAR taking strategies and expectations.

2. 7TH Grade Writing

3. Revising / Editing Strategies • Read the title underline and predict what the story is about. • Read questions first. • Underline key words. • Read entire passage. • Identify anything you think may be a mistake by underlining. • Use the process of elimination. • Mark your best choice. • Rarely is the answer choice “NO Change”.

4. Revising by Adding Sentences • Sometimes we add details, examples, explanations and transitions to writing by adding sentences. • The new sentences should logically fit between the existing sentences. • A new sentence might illustrate a point that has already been made. • A new sentence might provide a transition from one idea to another.

5. WritingCombining Sentences • Sometimes writers use complete sentences, that are short and choppy. • They are hard to read because they are not connected. • You can combine sentences using FANBOYS. • FANBOYS are conjunctions. • A conjunction is a joiner word that connects parts of a sentence. • Using FANBOYS will help prevent sentences fragments, run-on sentences, and the dreaded comma splice!

6. For And Nor But Or Yet So How to use coordinating conjunctions http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/nova/nova1.htm

7. Write a sentence using this rule.

8. Write a sentence using this rule.

9. Types of introductory information • Preposition–Before I went to eat lunch, I…. • Interjections-Yea, I can’t believe we won. • Participial phrase-Walking to school, I found…. • Subordinating conjunction-Since the cafeteria was closed, he went without lunch.

10. Write a sentence using this rule.

11. Write a sentence using this rule.

12. The Writing Process Steps: • Pre-writing • Writing • Revising • Editing • Publishing

13. Eliminate overused “DEAD” words in your writing • These words don’t add to your writing. • Instead they often mean some other word in the sentence could be stronger. • Change “He worked VERY hard,” to “He toiled.” • VERY shows us the verb “worked” is weak.

14. Totally All Always A little bit Some what Sort of Kind of Especially Really Very Hardly Actually Big Exactly Surely Common Dead Words

15. READING

16. Reading strategies: • Read directions first. • Read the title circle or underline and make a prediction (PQ). • Read ALL the questions to set your purpose for reading. • Underline key words. • Identify the level of question and write out to the left. • Now, go back and read the entire story. • As you read be an active reader and ask yourself “what was this paragraph mainly about”? • Take notes – write one or two words, no more than a short phrase that tells what the paragraph was about. • Answer the questions by using the process of elimination. • First, cross out wrong answers. Second, place a dot beside possible answers. Then, circle the best choice. • Verify your answer by going back into the passage and underlining it. It helps to write the number question beside the answer were you find it in the text.

17. Short Story Elements SETTING: The time and location in which a story takes place. (For some stories the setting is important, while for others it is not)

18. Character There are two meanings for the word character: • PROTAGONIST - The main character of the story with all major events having some importance to this character. • ANTAGONIST - The opposer of the main character.

19. Point of View or POV The perspective, angle, or view from which the story is told. The author presents his / her thoughts through the eyes of a person from which the story is seen or told.

20. Theme The message the author intends to communicate. The controlling idea or central insight of the authors underlying meaning that he is trying to convey. EXAMPLE: • Love is Blind • Believe in yourself • People are afraid of change • Don’t judge a book by its cover

21. Plot What happens in the story. It is the sequence of events usually set in motion by a problem that begins the action or causes conflict or series of episodes that eventually resolve the problem. The plot may include flashbacks, foreshadowing, cliffhangers, crimes, clues, and other elements, depending on the genre.

22. Conflict There are two types of Conflict: External – a struggle with a force outside one’s self. Internal – a struggle with one’s self; a person must make a decision, overcome pain, quiet a temper, resist an urge.

23. Literary Devices Flashback Foreshadowing Symbolism Irony Imagery

24. Flashback Flashback is action that interrupts to show an event that happenedat an earlier time which is necessary for better understanding.

25. Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in the story.

26. Symbolism Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. The practice of representing things by means of symbols to represent symbolic meanings to objects, events, or relationships.

27. Irony • Irony occurs when a speaker or narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite or when a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings from their intentions.

28. Imagery • Imagery consists of the words or phrases a writer uses to represent person, objects, actions, feelings, and ideas descriptively by appealing to the senses.

29. Style: Writers choice of words. (slang or formal language) • Tone: The writers attitude toward the subject shows through the writing. • Mood: is the feeling the writing creates in the reader. (how does it make you feel)?

30. Style The writer’s choice of words, sentence types, and other language use.

31. NOTES • What is style and how do you acquire it? • We all have a natural style of writing. • Style is simply the way in which you put words together when you are writing. • It is a reflection of your speaking and thinking habits. Is it clear, or muddled? • Some people write in short sentences, sometimes in long complex sentences. • Style can reflect your personality, serious, friendly, chatty, whacky, and breezy.

32. Tone The manner in which the writer’s voice expresses their attitude towards the subject through writing. Example: (happy, sad, mad, serious, concerned, depressed)

33. Mood The feeling the writer creates in the story; the feeling the writer wants the reader feels when reading the story.

34. Review of Levels Level III: Synthesis Go beyond the text and inquire into the value, of global world connections of ideas, themes and cultural beliefs. Level II:ANALYSIS Analysis/ draw Inference The process of deriving logical conclusions. Level I: Recall The answer is in the text; explicit, fact (fully and clearly expressed; leaving nothing implied)

35. What does it mean to make an inference? • Finding clues in the story • These clues may not provide you with the direct answer • You must investigate a little bit! • Draw conclusions based on details provided in the story

36. Every paragraph has a topic. Every paragraph has a main idea. The Main Idea can be stated or implied. When an author includes a sentence in a paragraph that tells his or her most important point about the topic, that sentence is called the stated main idea sentence. Main Idea

37. Interactive LA web-site • http://languagearts.pppst.com/readingcomprehension.html • http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/GetTheIdea/default.htm • http://www.rhlschool.com/read6n4.htm • http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/a/mainideal.cfm • http://users.dhp.com/~laflemm/reso/mainIdea.htm (Tutorial) • http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/samoset/rcmi1.htm (Tutorial) • http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/h/mainideap3.cfm • http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm

38. Testing Expectations

39. NO Electronic Devices!!!

40. NO Cell Phones!!! • All students will sign a cell phone policy each day! • If seen or heard it will be confiscated and test will be marked un-scorable!

41. Two answer choices are good, but only one is correct. 1. Correct: location in the text or you make an inference. 2. Incorrect general: information that’s close or seems correct. 3. Incorrect information: stated that’s WRONG. 4. Opposite: information that’s incorrect. Remember…The Four Types of Answers

42. You must have note cards that have questions on one side and answers on the other side. • Give each student one card.

43. Quiz Quiz Trade • Students stand up. • Start music. • The students will move around the room until the music stops. • Partner A quizzes while partner B answers. • Once they are finished partner A coaches and praises partner B. • Partners switch roles. • Repeat steps.