Week 20 - Unit 9 Critiques: 2 Week Assignment

Hello Essentials families,
Mrs. Varnell, thank you for your unending dedication to Essentials/IEW.  Again our family has been hit by a variety of illnesses just in time for Tuesday:(.  I missed seeing everyone this week, but I am enjoying reading all of the amazing papers you have been producing.  The students are making exponential progress as the end of the year approaches.  Way to go students and moms!

Unit 9: Critiques
Unit 9 is the last unit from the IEW Teaching Writing Structure and Style Syllabus!  Celebrate!  This is a worthwhile unit and works perfectly to end all of the units as it combines the Unit 8: Five paragraph structure with the Unit 3: Story Sequence Chart. All the while meeting a fiction story line with non-fiction analysis.  The beauty of the IEW curriculum is the way that it teaches our children how to think.  Through the question/answer modeling our children gain the benefit of higher order thinking skills and the ability to communicate those thoughts through writing. 

*NOTE: (Book Report Option) You have the option of completing this unit with a critique of a fiction book of your child's choice.  If you choose to take the book report approach to this assignment just use the "Pandora's Box" as a model of the question/answer process. A blank outline with questions is located at the back of your child's packet for a book report.  Follow the suggested writing schedule to complete this paper in the 2 weeks.

"Pandora's Box"- Lesson 13 IEW Ancients
Mrs. Varnell victoriously conquered 4 of the 5 sections of the "Pandora's Box" critique outline.  This week everyone can just jump into writing.  There is a 5 or 3 paragraph option on this assignment.  Level A - The beauty of this Level A option is that if you choose the 3 paragraph model your child gets the opportunity to write an introduction and conclusion paragraph.   If they have not attempted this before it allows them to practice this important structure. Just combine the information from sections 2, 3, and 4 (identify conflict, climax, and theme) in a less detailed manner for your one body paragraph.
Level B - Follow the suggested schedule on the weekly guide to write the rough drafts of paragraphs 1-3 or 1-4 if time allows this week. 
IMPORTANT NOTE:  Be sure to have your student use the "Classroom Thesaurus: Developing Critique Vocabulary" handout when writing their critique.  This is a gold mine of terms and descriptive vocabulary.  On the back of this thesaurus is a sample critique of Pandora's Box".  Read this with your child.  Remember, modeling is how we build great writers. It also shows them the labeling and gives them an idea of what a critique looks like from start to finish.



Style:
This assignment is from the middle of the IEW Ancients book.  All of the stylistic elements we have covered are not included on the final checklist.  Due to the 2 week time period alotted for this assignment, all of the dress-ups, decorations, and sentence openers we have learned this year are not required.  You can strictly stick to the checklist, keeping the style EASY.  You can use this assignment to focus on the STRUCTURE of a critique over a long checklist of style. 
Bonus Style(optional):
However, if your child would like to include all or some additional style to their paper - let them go for it!  They have worked hard to learn it; let them use it! I listed all of the writing style elements we have covered this year on the weekly guide with blanks to allow them to check them off as they include them.  This option is up to you and your student.

Have a wonderful week writing!
Tina