Tuesday and Wednesday 11-29-11 and 11-30-11

TUESDAY

Graphic organizers are useful tools for gathering details about the items that you are comparing and contrasting.

Venn Diagrams help you think about where the various characteristics of the items being compared and contrasted fit.

The Venn Diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles. It is often used in mathematics to show relationships between sets. In language arts instruction, Venn Diagrams are useful for examining similarities and differences in characters, stories, poems, etc.

It is frequently used as a prewriting activity to enable students to organize thoughts or textual quotations prior to writing a compare/contrast essay. This activity enables students to organize similarities and differences visually.

ACTIVITY 1

The sentences below express the similarities and differences between the twins George and Paul. In each sentence, identify the joining word(s) that show comparison or contrast and then list the words you've circled below.

1.   Both George and Paul have brown eyes and brown hair.

2.   George and Paul both are tall and slim.

3.   George likes to read science fiction, but Paul likes to read poetry.

4.   George runs three miles daily, yet Paul hates to exercise.

5.   While George works as a cartographer's assistant 15 hours per week, Paul works 20 hours per week as an usher in a theater.

6.   Although George is an engineering major, Paul still hasn't found a major.

Comparison Words                                   Contrast Words

                   _________________                                 _________________

                  

                   _________________                                 _________________

                   _________________                                 _________________

DISCUSS YOUR ANSWERS WITH A PARTNER.

WEDNESDAY

ACTIVITY 2

 Carl wants to begin a regular exercise program, but he can't decide between running and walking. To make a rational choice, he lists what he knows about each activity:

Running                                                 Walking

improves cardiovascular endurance       can be done in an urban or rural area

burns 800 to 1000 calories per hour      is relatively injury-free

can be done in an urban or rural area     requires no special equipment

can cause shinsplints and muscle strain improves circulation and posture

requires no special equipment                burns 300 calories per hour

Step 1:        Organize the two lists according to related points:

RUNNING	WALKING
1.     can be done in a rural or urban area.	1.     can be done in a rural or urban area.
2.	2.
3.	3.
4.	4.
5.	5.

Step 2:       Using the transition words  and, but, yet, while, whereas, and  although,, write five sentences in which you compare and contrast running and walking, using the information you organized in step 1.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Monday 11-28-11

Week 13

(11-28 to 12-02-2011)

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

MONDAY

Comparison and contrast are ways of looking at objects and thinking about how they are alike and different. There are two main reasons that people use comparison and contrast:

1.     To Explain--You might compare and contrast kinds of food, for instance, to help someone understand which food need to be refrigerated and which can be stored in a cabinet or in a bowl on the counter.

2.     To Evaluate--You might compare and contrast kinds of food to show why one kind of food or brand of food is better than another. For example, apples are a better snack than butter.

When you choose items to compare and contrast, make sure that you choose items that have similarities.

You have to choose things that will make sense for comparison and contrast. For instance, it wouldn't make sense to compare a truck with crayons or crayons with a birdhouse.

Be sure to compare things that belong together. Compare crayons to pencils or pens, or compare trucks and cars.

When you compare items, you look for their similarities--the things that make them the same.

 

 For example:

                             Apples and oranges are both fruit.

                             They're both foods.

                             Both are made into juice.

                             Both grow on trees.

When you contrast items, you look at their differences.

   For example:

                             Apples are red. Oranges are orange.

                     The fruits have different textures.

                             Oranges need a warmer place to grow, like Florida.

Apples can grow in cooler states, like Washington.

HERE IS A LIST OF THE TRANSITION WORDS USE IN COMPARING AND CONTRASTING:

Contrast                         both                               on the other hand

 by the same token         on the contrary              rather

 instead                          likewise                          similarly

 yet                                 but                                 however

 still                                nevertheless                  in contrast

The children were very happy. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, their parents were very proactive in providing good care.

Tuesday 11-22-11

Activity
  

Identify the type of figurative language.

1. She was as white as a ghost.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

2. Mohammed Ali fought like a tiger.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

3. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” said Jonathan as he entered the cafeteria.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

4. The trees screamed as they split due to the strong winds.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

5. That baseball player is a diamond in the rough.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

6. Trees are the lungs of our planet.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

7. Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn are kings and queens.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

8. The sun was beating down on me.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

9. A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

10. He drew a line as straight as an arrow.

a)      Simile

b)      Hyperbole

c)       Personification

d)      Metaphor

Monday 11-21-11

METAPHOR

—Metaphors are phrases that describe several characteristics of something by comparing it with something else. Another way to look at metaphors is as symbols--images that represent something other than themselves.

—Examples:

¡That car is a dream. (perfect, beautiful)

¡Time marches on. (steadily, constantly, deliberately)

¡This class is hell. (difficult, cursed, impossible to escape, haunting)

¡I want to get off this merry-go-round of stress. (never-ending, confusing, giddy, never-progressing)

 PERSONIFICATION

—Personification is one of the most commonly used and recognized literary devices. It refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals.

—Example: 

¡“The raging winds”

¡“The wise owl”

¡“The warm and comforting fire”

Friday 11-18-11

SYMBOLISM

—When an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself.

Examples:

¡Cross - representative of Christ or Christianity

¡Bald Eagle - America or Patriotism

¡Owl - wisdom or knowledge

 

SIMILE

 —Similes are phrases that describe one characteristic of something by comparing it to a similar characteristic of something else.

—Similes use the words like or as in their comparison. They never use the two words together.

—Example:

¡ The hood of my car is hot.

  If I want to describe how hot the surface of my car is, I   can compare it to something else that I know is hot--say,   an iron. Therefore, I would say, 'The surface of my car is   as hot as an iron' or
  'The surface of my car is hot like an iron.'
  I couldn’t say, 'The surface of my car is like an iron'   because   it is unclear what characteristic I am comparing--the shape of   the car and iron, the texture of the car and iron, etc.

Thursday 11-17-11

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

—The use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words themselves.

—A figurative meaning is an imaginative use of the word; it conveys not just the facts but an idea, or an image.  The writer encourages use to use our imagination, to see things differently.

For example, when you say that your friend runs like a cheetah, it doesn’t mean that he runs exactly like a cheetah. In this case, you are using figurative language. You want people to have an idea of how fast you friend is. You could have said, “My friend is a fast runner.” But this would have been literal. Instead, you chose to convey the same idea in a more powerful and colorful way by using a simile (a comparison between two unlike things using “like.”).

—There are many different ways to use figurative language. These ways are called “figures of speech”. Here are a few of the most common ones:

•Hyperbole

•Symbolism

•Simile

•Metaphor

•Personification

 HYPERBOLE

—A hyperbole is a literary device wherein the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the basic crux of the statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect.

—The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point. Such sentences usually convey an action or sentiment that is generally not practically/ realistically possible or plausible but helps emphasize an emotion.

—Example:

“I am so tired I cannot walk another inch” or “I’m so sleepy I might fall asleep standing here”.

 

Wednesday 11-16-11

ALLITERATION

—Literary device where words in quick succession of one another begin with letters belonging to the same sound group. Whether it is the consonant sound or a specific vowel group, the alliteration involves creating a repetition of similar sounds in the sentence.

—Alliterations are also created when the words all begin with the same letter.

—Alliterations are used to add character to the writing and often add an element of ‘fun’ to the piece/ prose.

—Example:

  1. She sells sea-shells down by the sea-short” or

  2. “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”

 ONOMATOPOEIA

—Words that sound like the objects they name or the sounds those objects make.

—Example:

  “Zip goes the jacket”
" Zip" is an onomatopoeia word because it sounds
like a jacket is zipping up.