March 3

We’ve finished reading The Tale of Despereaux!  Thank you for answering those questions well, and for discussing with me the plot, characters, and especially the ideas of this story.

Now, it’s time for you to write a Book Critique.  Your Book Critique will have FIVE paragraphs:

• An introduction
• Body Paragraph 1: Characters
• Body Paragraph 2: setting
• Body Paragraph 3: the theme of this story
• A conclusion

Right now we are working ONLY on Body Paragraph 1: Characters.  This week do these assignments –

1. Choose three of the main characters (Despereaux, Princess Pea, Roscuro, or Miggery Sow).
2. For each one, write in “free write style” for five minutes about a character. Write down everything that comes to mind!  Big things and little things, and especially what you thought of the character.
3. Make sure you write for FIVE MINUTES on each character…so 15 minutes total. You don’t have to do this all at once, though.  One character at a time is great.
4. Then, write ONE topic sentence which mentions all three characters.
5. Next, write 1-2 sentences about each character, using your Freewrites for ideas.
6. Lastly, write a clincher sentence.
7. Ta da! You now have a rough draft paragraph.  This — and your freewrites are — due next week.
8. See my example at the end of this post.

Important!

1. Do NOT write more than this paragraph.
2. Remember this is a rough draft, so you will be writing it AGAIN…only better.

Below is my example.

Gregory, Botticelli, and the King are memorable minor characters in The Tale of Despereaux. As the jailer, Gregory lives in the dungeon where he oversees the prisoners.  A hideous, crotchety, old man, Gregory nonetheless has affection for Despereaux when he wraps the mouse in his napkin and returns him to the light with Mig. Botticelli, the rat, could be the most despicable character of all, preventing Roscuro from seeking the light and training him to torture “his” prisoner.  The King is important to this story because he is the king, but we don’t get to know him very well.  His sadness over his wife’s death leads to him making a rash decision by banning soup, throwing the kingdom into despair.  Even though Gregory, Botticelli, and the King are minor characters compared to Despereaux, they play a crucial role in his tale.

 

February 24

Let’s finish The Tale of Despereaux, shall we?

Read to the end of the story, including the “Coda” part.  Answer these questions correctly and with plenty of details!

1. Poor Despereaux. He’s lost his tale…er, it was taken from him.  How does the loss of his tail affect Despereaux’s tale?
2. How and why did Gregory help Despereaux? Did this surprise you?
3. This is a very interesting sentence: “The knight fought the dark.” Think about the words our author used here.  What’s contradictory about them?
4. Why did Roscuro chew through Gregory’s rope?
5. There is lots of dreaming in this section. Who has a dream and what is that character dreaming about?
6. Why did Despereaux forgive his father?
7. What does the narrator tell us, the readers, about forgiveness?
8. Oh, ho – there’s an idiom on page 210. Can you find it and write it on your Literary Devices Log?
9. What was the extraordinary, wonderful, admirable thing about the king?
10. What do you think was the king’s biggest fault?
11. The thread master says that Despereaux is on a quest. What is a quest?
12. What surprises us, the readers, about Cook? Name two surprises!
13. At the end of our story, the princess realizes what she must do to save her own heart. What was it?

February 17

Please read Book the Third, “Gor!  The Tale of Miggery Sow” from page 126-171.  Answer these questions…but first!  You must incorporate the question into your answer.  This means that you will begin by repeating the heart of the question before you write the answer to it.  See this example –

What color is the sky?

Don’t write – blue.

Instead, write – The sky is blue.

How did Miggery Sow get her name?

Don’t write – from a pig.

Instead, write – Miggery Sow got her name from her father, who named her after his prize-winning pig.

Okay.  Here are the questions for this section:

1. On page 127, the narrator speaks directly to us, the readers. She asks us to have empathy for Mig.  “Empathy” means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.  What about Mig’s life should make readers feel empathy for her?
2. When Mig turned seven, she saw something that was perfect and beautiful. What did she see?  How did that affect her?
3. How did Mig get from Uncle’s house to the castle?
4. What are cauliflower ears? How do they affect Mig?
5. What do Mig and Princess Pea have in common?
6. Mig wants many things. What does she want the most? How does Roscuro promise to fulfill Mig’s desire?

If you would like to begin a fun project, draw a map of the castle.  Label key spots like Princess Pea’s room, the dining room, the kitchen, the stairs to the dungeon, Roscuro’s room, etc.  Remember how “light” and “dark” are key symbols in this story?  The castle should be light, colorful, cheery.  The dungeon – dark and filthy.  This is NOT an assignment you must do…but you are welcome to do it for fun.

Febuary 10

Please read Tale of Despereaux, Book the Second: Chiaroscuro, from page 83-121.  STOP THERE, please!  Thanks.

Answer these questions –

1. What are the differences between Roscuro’s birth and Despereaux’s?
2. Who is Gregory?
3. Look at the illustration on page 94. Explain in your own words why Roscuro is looking for the light.
4. Roscuro gets a new prisoner to torture. What was the prisoner’s crime, besides stealing cows?
5. What made Roscuro realize what he was – a rat – and what was his reaction?
6. Soup is very, very important in our story. Think about soup.  Why do you think the author is using soup as a symbol (we’ll talk about symbols later!) instead of some other food, such as spaghetti or fish ‘n chips?
7. Why did the king outlaw soup?
8. At the very end of your reading section – page 121 – we meet another important character. Her name is Miggery Sow.  Tell me what you think of that name WITHOUT READING PAST PAGE 121!

Lastly, let’s talk about “literary devices.”  I showed you an example of personification on page 56, where the crowd is reacting to the Mouse Council sentencing Despereaux to the dungeon.

Another literary device is “alliteration”.  You’ve heard of alliteration before:  it is the repetition of initial consonant sounds.  A terrific example of alliteration is on page 89, at the end of the second paragraph:  “This is a wonderful joke to play upon a prisoner, to promise forgiveness.

YOUR JOB:  Find at least ONE other example of alliteration in this week’s reading, and copy the sentence exactly as it is written.  Yep…you’re welcome to find and copy more than one example if you’d like to!

February 3

I’m so sorry that we had to cancel classes this morning!  Below is your homework for this week:

1. Please read pages 9-81 of The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I am excited to study this famous novel with you!
2. PLEASE DO NOT READ BEYOND Book 1, page 81. I know most of you are terrific readers, but I want us all to stay together as we study the story.  (Also, don’t watch the movie version!)
3. Answer these questions:
   1. What was wrong with Despereaux, according to his family?
   2. Despereaux is “not conforming” to normal mice behavior. What is he doing and thinking that is unusual?
   3. Describe Princess Pea. What do you think of her?
   4. What is the purpose of the Mouse Council?
   5. When the council punishes Despereaux and sends him to the dungeon, how does the crowd react?
   6. Describe the dungeon.
   7. Look up “perfidy” in a dictionary. What is the definition?  How does it apply to this story?
4. Lastly, on a separate piece of notebook paper, copy the first paragraph of Chapter One. It begins THIS STORY BEGINS…
   1. This paragraph contains sentence fragments, which break the rules of normal English!
   2. We’ll talk about that next time, but for now, I would like you to rewrite that paragraph so that it has COMPLETE sentences instead of sentence fragments.

Thank you!

January 27

We are beginning a literature unit next week.  Bring your copy of A Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  Don’t begin reading it yet!

Students who were with me this week, please finish Exercise 27h on page 162, and 27e (I know!  This should have been written 27i in the book, so ignore the boo-boo and do the exercise on page 163.  Both must be done on your own paper.

Students who were with Abby, please do Exercise 8d on page 52.  Write on your own paper!

Then, write a Seven Sentence Story, according to the directions on the handout.  If you were absent, the handout is linked below.

A Seven Sentence Story

January 20

1. If you are in Abby’s group, please do Exercise 9a on page 55.  I know you worked on this a bit in class today, but I want you to do it on your own.
2. If you are in my group, please do Exercise 27e on page 159.  Use your own notebook paper.
3. Lastly, work on fictionalizing your narrative!  Consider this a rough draft! You can change it any way you like, but also be sure to include these:
   1. character description
   2. setting description
   3. a good plot with a problem and a solution

January 13

Good authors give their readers good character descriptions.  Why are character descriptions important?

• They make the reader happy!
• They reveal personality
• They help readers understand character motivations
• They establish character identity
• Add depth to dialogue

This week your assignment is to observe faces.  Now, faces are all around us all of the time, because we interact with real people.  But sometimes it’s difficult to describe a “real person”, so you are welcome to find pictures of faces in books, magazines, or even online if your parents approve.

Do this – find 3-5 faces to describe.  For each one, jot down words and phrases that will help another person “see” the face.  I gave you a handout today with facial features and descriptive words, which you are welcome to use.  Make sure you describe at least THREE features for each face you find.

Describing Faces

Then, do these lessons in your exercise book:

Abby’s group: Exercise 8b, page 50.  Use your own paper!

My group: Exercise 26c, page 152.  Use your own paper!

January 6

Today we learned about The Art of Fiction.  Most of us really enjoy reading fiction, don’t we?  Even though “fiction” means “false”, and contains characters, settings, and made-up problems, it is okay to “fictionalize” the stories we write about things that actually happened to us.

In fact, it is almost impossible not to!

This week, your job is to write – in freewrite style — three times, once for each of the topics, below.  For each one, write for 20 minutes.  Don’t write all three on the same day, though!

1. Write everything you can remember about one special day.  This could be a holiday, or your birthday, or another very memorable occasion.  The only rule is that it must be about ONE particular day in your history, not about all of your birthdays, or every Christmas you remember!
2. Write about a time when everything went wrong.
3. Write about a time when everything went right!

Then, if you were in Abby’s group, please do Exercise 6a on page 40, and Exercise 7a on page 44.  You must use your own paper for this!  And, besides correctly using “ly” and “because”, you MUST show correct spelling and punctuation.

If you were in my group, please do Exercise 25a, 1-5, on page 141, and Exercise 25c on page 144.  You must use your own paper for this!  Punctuate and spell each sentence correctly, please.

January 1, 2026!

Long breaks are great, aren’t they?  It’s also nice to return to normal life without all the hoopla…so let’s do that on January 6, 2026!

Our writing project for January is a “fictionalized narrative”, which is a bit of reality combined with a bit of fiction.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

Plus, we will discuss how you’re going to complete “dress-ups and openers” or “other style devices” with Mrs. B’s Complete Exercise Book.  Stay tuned!

I’ll see you soon!

Mrs. B

November 28

Well done!  You all did such a great job reciting your poems on Tuesday!

Now all you need to do is have a good vacation — I’ll see you on January 6, 2026.

November 18

Next week is your poetry recital!  Are you ready?

Practice every day from now until next Tuesday.  Speak loudly and slowly, with emotion!

November 11

Practice reciting your poem aloud every day!

1. Speak SLOWLY and clearly
2. Speak with emotion – your poem tells a story
3. Your poems are silly…so you must be silly also!
4. Next week you will practice in front of the whole class.

Write your “Honest Potato” poem on a clean sheet of paper.  I bet you can improve on the personification if you work on it this week.

November 4

Your final mini report is due next week!  Remember it must include these sections:

1. An introduction which catches your reader’s attention. Two or three sentences is good enough this time.
2. One section is on the Mt. St. Helens eruption of May 18, 1980. This must be one paragraph, but it can be longer if you like.
3. One section on other major eruptions. You don’t have to include them all!  Choose one or two and write at least one paragraph.  You may write more paragraphs if you like.
4. One section on your “eyewitness” interview. This also may be more than one paragraph.  Include dialogue!
5. A short concluding

Final Draft Rules

1. Either double-space your paper if you’re writing by hand or double-space if you are typing.
2. Indent all paragraphs.
3. Write your name and the date on the blue line if you’re writing by hand. Type it there if you’re typing.
4. Include a title below your name, center it.
5. Ask a parent to edit your paper with you before you write the final draft. Spelling, grammar, and all that good English stuff do count, but not as much as your own thoughts do!
6. You may not use any other sources besides the notes you took from my articles. Since I collected the articles from you, this means that you can only write from your notes!
7. Any plagiarism – which means copying from another source – will earn your paper a “0”.

In your grammar book:

1. Abby’s group, please do Exercise 3b on page 24.
2. My group, please write five adverbial teeter-totter sentences.  Look at pages 112-114 to see how to do this.

October 28

Rats!  I just discovered that we did not return your notes on the major volcanic eruptions. So, you will be able to write rough draft paragraphs for “Mt. St. Helens” and “Eyewitness”, but you will have to wait until next week to write the other paragraph.  Sorry about that!

If you were absent today, I will email your mom any handouts you missed.  But, not until tomorrow!

Write the rough draft of your Mt. St. Helens Mini-Report!

You need these paragraphs:

1. A short, catchy introduction. It only needs to be 2-3 sentences long.
2. A paragraph about Mt. St. Helens
3. A paragraph about other famous volcanic eruptions.  You can compare them to Mt. St. Helens
4. An “eyewitness” paragraph!
5. A concluding paragraph.

Do your best — this is a ROUGH DRAFT.

Also, begin to memorize your poem!

 

October 21

When a big news story happens, such as the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, journalists interview eyewitnesses.  Why?

Eyewitness stories let us experience the event for ourselves.  We sympathize with people’s loss.  We see disasters through their eyes.  We relate to them.

When Mt. St. Helens erupted, many lives were affected.  Those who lived near the mountain may have lost their homes.  Those who were 150 miles away, as I was, were inconvenienced and not sure what was going on.

Today you interviewed me.  Since it is difficult to listen and write at the same time, I asked Abby to take notes for you while I was talking.  She wrote them in the correct format (four words per line, separated by commas), and they are linked below.  Go ahead and print them and use them.

MtStHelens interview

This week, please write a rough draft of my eyewitness interview.  It is always good to include a quotation from the person, so try to include one.  (I know you probably don’t remember my exact words, but you remember enough of them to write a quote!)

We’re pausing our Exercise book lessons for a week while you get ready to learn your poetry lines.   Next time I will assign poems to you and you can start memorizing them!

October 14

Phase 2 of our mini report is to put the Mt. St. Helens into “historical context”.  Today I gave you a handout on SIX major volcanic eruptions in history.  Your job is to take notes on each one.

We labeled SIX sheets of notebook paper with Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, and VI.  For each number, you will take at least (more is better!) 5 lines of notes from the article I gave you.

Remember, NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS on a line of notes!  This is very important.  Some of you are writing sentences — you can’t do that for notes!

All notes are due next time.

Plus, you and your buddies are deciding which poem you will memorize and recite for our audience!  Look over the poems.  I will not guarantee you can choose the one you want, but I’ll make sure everybody is happy and comfortable with a part.

October 7

AI is bad for writing students.  Do NOT use it.

Did you read that?  I’m serious, folks.  You will not learn to write if you use a program that writes for you.

I tell you this now because of your next writing project, which is a Mini Report on the historical eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  This Washington state volcano erupted on May 18, 1980, which was 45 years ago.  Since you don’t know much about this topic, you’ll have to get facts from someplace other than your brains!

We will write our Mini Reports in three stages.  The first stage is to read an article about the eruption and make notes of the facts that you think are interesting!

Today I gave you a copy of an article called “Mount St. Helens Facts for Kids.”  Read this article and make a list of facts from it.  We began a list in class today.  You should have a list of at least 20 lines of facts; you can have lots more if you like.

Caution — AGAIN:

1. You may only use the article I gave you. Do NOT do any other research online or otherwise.
2. AI is bad for writing students. Do NOT use it.

Also, depending on the exercise group you are in, do these pages:

Abby’s group:  Take the Verbs Quiz on page 15.

My group:  Do Exercise 16c on page 94.

September 30

First, you are in a “group” for grammar/style exercises.  If you were with me, you must do Exercise 15a on page 88.  You must write out the sentences, including the [5] opener at the beginning.

If you were with Abby, you must do Exercise 2a on page 11.  You may write in your book, unless that page has already been done.  In that case you have two choices: ask someone to type the sentences and print them so that you can underline the verb phrase or do a different exercise.  Choose 2b, or 2c, or 2d.  Also, memorize the list of helping verbs on page 10.

Then, write a description of the journey from your house to our classroom in the barn!  Be sure to use “direction words” such as prepositional phrases (see page 4 in your exercise book), or compass directions (north, south, east, west), street names, commands (turn left at the corner), etc.  And, include landmark descriptions!  Here are the criteria:

1. Begin at your house, end at the barn, upstairs.
2. Include direction words and underline them.
3. Include landmark descriptions.
4. Write in first-person. This means to use “I” because you are the writer of this personal trip.
5. Double-space your paper or type it.
6. How long should it be? Long enough to make the whole trip!

September 23

Rats.  I forgot to collect your prepositional phrase homework today…probably because my computer was having issues.  I’m sorry.  Please bring it next time.

Beowulf, the story of a fictional king who killed two monsters, was written in Anglo-Saxon English a very long time ago.  It is considered the first, great epic poem.  The poem uses “kennings”, compound words or phrases which add richness to the language, and they are a fun to play with!

Today you played with kennings, and I gave you a short story I wrote about a fictional character called Inuksuk.  The kennings are in bold print.  If you were absent today, you can print the story from the link below:

Inuksuk Fights the Sky Mauler

Here are some more examples of kennings:

Whale road: ocean

Swan road: lake

God’s beacon: sun

Sky candle: sun

Ring-giver: king

Sea horse: ship

Oar steed: ship

Arrow’s storm: attack

Heaven’s joy: morning

Ankle biter: toddles

Battle dew: blood

Your job this week is to write a short story (it only needs to be a paragraph but can be 15,000 words long if you wish) using kennings.

Language is a hoot; enjoy and be amused!

(Oh ho!  My computer program didn’t like the word “hoot”.  It wanted me to change it to “hot”, which is dumb.  “Language is a hoot” is an idiomatic expression, meaning that language is enjoyable and amusing.  Take that, computer.)

September 16

Hello my saucy, swinge-buckling, smilets!  Methinks thou wilt enjoy many robust, heart-inflaming, watercake words this week from a very old guy, William Shakespeare!

But first —

1. You and I are determining where you should start in B’s Complete Exercise Book. Since grammar is useful but not crucial for good writing, we’ll take it easy and start there!
2. Today we discussed Prepositional Phrases, and how they indicate relationships. Some of you remembered prepositional phrases, some didn’t.  No worries —
   4. If you remembered how to find prepositional phrases, take the “Prepositional Phrases Quiz” on page 8. Show it to me next week.  That’s all; don’t do anything else.
   5. If you don’t know anything about Prepositional Phrases, don’t worry. We discussed them a bit today, and you’ll practice them this week. Please do Exercise 1b on page 6.  You may write in your book, unless you are sharing one with a sibling.  In that case, each of you needs to write the sentences on notebook paper to turn in next time.
3. Would you like to do some Freewrites on your own? Go for it!  You are not required to, but if you want to, time yourself for 10 minutes each time and write in your spiral notebook!
4. We’re also collecting words because words are a writer’s best tool. So far, you’ve collected 12 words on cards, some words around your house, and today we learned that William Shakespeare invented about 1700 new words for our English language…and we still use most of them! (English teachers and writers get very excited about this.)  This is your homework –

Using ANY your new words — including Shakespeare’s words — write 10 sentences in the styles I demonstrated today.  English is a very cool, versatile language, allowing us to express the same ideas many ways. Here are the three examples I showed you in class:

• The barefaced, frugal bandit beached his whirligig on the gloomy sand.
• The bandit, barefaced and frugal, beached his whirligig on the gloomy sand.
• The bandit, who was barefaced and frugal, beached his whirligig on the gloomy sand.

Experiment with language. Go crazy.  Enjoy.

September 9

Hello Parents!

THIS IS THE PLACE to come each Wednesday morning, after 8 a.m.  Your student will find his/her current homework assignments posted below.  (Of course, sometimes plans go awry.  If you DON’T see a homework assignment, I would very much appreciate an email or a text telling me so.  I’ll fix it, quick-as-a-bunny.)

Yesterday I gave each student a handout titled “Rules and Expectations”.  Please read it carefully and sign on the bottom line.  Your student will receive homework credit for bringing this signed paper back next week.  Thanks.

When you have a question regarding homework, etc., the best way to get my attention is via email.  I will answer ASAP, but likely not on weekends.  If your question is time-sensitive, such as a car problem or traffic hindering your arrival/pickup, you may text 360-710-8478.  I do ignore my phone while I’m teaching, however.  Also, if you text, please tell me who you are!  Thanks.

Homework assignments, due September 16, are below.

In Christ,

Mrs. B

 

Homework due September 16

1. A writer’s best tool is words. So, this month we are collecting words! On the handout I gave you in class today, you will see four categories: “follow a letter around the house”, “temperature words”, “names of living things”, and “Words that are new to you”.  Walk around your house/garage/yard and find as many words as you can for each category, the more unusual the better! Then, add four more categories of your choosing and add words to them. You must have at least 5/column, but more is better always!
2. Using new-to-you words, both ones you collected in class and wrote on business card paper and ones you’ve found for your collection, use some of them to write in sentences. Write at least three sentences, using as many of your new words as you can stuff into each one.
3. We had so much to talk about today that we didn’t get to the exercise book. Be sure to bring it with you again next week, and we’ll get to it.  For this week, though, you are excused from that.
4. Freewrites: Today we learned how to “rewrite”! This week, do three freewrites on your own, 5 minutes each. These should be done in your spiral notebook.
5. Today I gave you a paper titled “Rules and Expectations.”  Please show it to your parents, and ask one of them to sign the bottom line.  Bring it back to me next week!