Reading Project Week 5 TowardstheendReading Activities Week 5

Reading Project Week 5 Towards-the-end-Reading Activities

Week 5 By now you should have spent at least 4 - 6 hours reading your book. Hopefully you haven't even noticed because you've been enjoying it so much. . . • You need to spend at least one hour reading your book. • Then complete this week's linked activities

Week 5 - Towards-the-end Reading Activities You can choose to complete one or all of these - it's up to you! • • • a) Locate a short section of your book – about half a page or a long paragraph. Find and list all the adjectives you can. Now find synonyms for similar words – you could use a thesaurus to do this. Now re-write the paragraph with your new alternative adjectives. Which is better? Make annotations on either version explaining your view. Remember to keep adding to your vocabulary tracker! b) • Pick a favourite chapter, section – or even the whole of the novel you have read so far and create a tension graph. • The Y axis should be the level of tension out of 10. The x axis could be time, chapters or page numbers. Plot at least 10 points on your graph and add in quotations which link to the level of tension. c) Write a text/direct message conversation between two of the characters in the book. What would they say to each other? Why? How would their language differ? Would they use emojis? Why/not? What do the messages say about the characters?

Task (a) example: Read this passage from ‘Spylark’. Which words are the adjectives? The broad southern end was where they had set up camp, and the rest of the island tapered off to a pebbly spit. Opposite the spit, across the narrow channel, was a tiny reed-fringed islet which appeared as if a fragment of the main island had been snapped off and floated away. At the end of the spit was a mound of stunted bushes which had somehow twisted itself into the shape of a bowl, forming a natural shelter facing the lake. A steamboat glided by, steered by a red-faced man in a stripy blazer, its polished hull slipping though the water with the faintest whisper.

The adjectives are highlighted below in yellow. How many did you find? The broad southern end was where they had set up camp, and the rest of the island tapered off to a pebbly spit. Opposite the spit, across the narrow channel, was a tiny reed-fringed islet which appeared as if a fragment of the main island had been snapped off and floated away. At the end of the spit was a mound of stunted bushes which had somehow twisted itself into the shape of a bowl, forming a natural shelter facing the lake. A steamboat glided by, steered by a red-faced man in a stripy blazer, its polished hull slipping though the water with the faintest whisper.

Why adjectives are amazing, fantastic and marvellous! • Adjectives are all of these things because they often have lots of synonyms (words that have the same meaning). • Look at the next two slides an see what synonyms there are for the words from the “Spylark” passage…

Adjective Synonyms broad extensive, expansive, wide, far-reaching southern (southern, in this case, would probably be the best word) pebbly rock-strewn, rocky, shingly, stony narrow slender, tapered, constricted tiny minute, miniature, miniscule reed-fringed reed-embellished, reed-bordered, readguilded

Adjective Synonyms stunted diminutive, underdeveloped, undersized natural normal, ordinary, expected red-faced flushed, ashamed, blushing polished refined, elegant, burnished stripy striated, lined, barred faintest Palest, weakest, softest

WATCH OUT! • Whilst synonyms are wonderful, sometimes they are not always appropriate. • Look at the next slide where the adjectives from the original have been replaced. • TWO of the synonyms are inappropriate for the meaning of the sentence. Can you spot them?

The adjectives are highlighted below in yellow. How many did you find? The expansive southern end was where they had set up camp, and the rest of the island tapered off to a rock-strewn spit. Opposite the spit, across the slender channel, was a minute reed-embellished islet which appeared as if a fragment of the main island had been snapped off and floated away. At the end of the spit was a mound of diminutive bushes which had somehow twisted itself into the shape of a bowl, forming an expected shelter facing the lake. A steamboat glided by, steered by an ashamed man in a striated blazer, its burnished hull slipping though the water with the softest whisper.

Answers: • ‘expected’ • ‘ashamed’ ØWhen you look up synonyms, you must also think carefully about whether or not the one you choose helps enhance the meaning of your sentence. ØSometimes, the word you chose in the first place will do (unless it’s something boring, like ‘big’) If you’ve chosen this task, it’s now time to look at the use of adjectives in your own book using these examples to help you.

Task b) Example Here is one example of a tension graph. For your novel, also add in important quotes for each of the chapters, which here are labelled A-I. Do this work in your exercise books. Top tip – turn your book so that you do this graph in landscape on one whole page.

Task c) example • This example is a conversation between Ron and Hermione from the Harry Potter series. Read it through and think about whether you think it's an accurate example of what they might say to each other. • You can draw your own screen in your book, print out the blank template on the next slide or go online to a website generator and make one like this example! • This one was made on the website http: //iphonefaketext. com

Blank template for text conversation (task c)