Resources for “By the Shores of Silver Lake”

This week, we are reading an excerpt from the book By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Here are some resources to improve your comprehension and enjoyment of the story.

• To meet the author, click here.
• To learn the answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Laura Ingalls Wilder, click here.
• For extra-credit Think About the Story questions to answer in the comment field, click here.
• To read a story summary, click here.
• To download our reading vocabulary and comprehension PowerPoint for the story, clickhere.
• To learn the definitions to our vocabulary words, click here.
• To practice this selection’s vocabulary words by playing an eWord  Game, click here.
• To use the eGlossary, click here.
• To take a vocabulary quiz and upload your certificate, click here.
• To download and print a Hidden Message Puzzle to support the reading, click here.

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Using Descriptive Writing in our Personal Narratives

Carrie, Mary, and Laura Ingalls

In the selection By the Shores of Silver Lake, we learn that Laura’s sister is blind.  Laura must “see out loud” for her sister Mary. Laura describes everything that she sees in great detail so that Mary can “see” in her mind’s eye what Laura sees.

A writer can do the same thing for his/her readers.  Descriptive writing vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize (see in the mind’s eye) the topic and enter into the writer’s experience.

This week, we are writing our final drafts for our first personal narrative.  A personal narrative tells the true story of what happened to you.  Personal narratives provide great opportunities for descriptive writing.  Click here for a Personal Narrative Sample Paper.

We will use descriptive writing to bring our narratives to life in the reader’s mind.  Click here for our Personal Narrative Evaluation Rubric.

Please check back soon to read our personal narratives and enjoy our use of descriptive language.

Students’ Personal Narratives

• Brandon’s “A Fun Day at LEGOLAND”
• Daniela’s “An Exciting Day at Disneyland”
• Mayerly’s “A Great Day at Duck Park”
• Pablo’s “A Great Day in Las Vegas”
• Priscila’s “Perfect Day at the Fair”
• Samantha’s “My Birthday”‘
• Samuel’s “When I Learned How to Ride a Skateboard”
• Zaira’s “The Perfect Birthday Bash”

Reviewing Theme 1 ~ Journeys

This week we have reviewed all four Houghton Mifflin reading selections from Theme 1:  Akiak, Grandfather’s Journey, Finding the Titanic, and By the Shores of Silver Lake. We have also reviewed the writing genres that we learned with these reading selections:  Summary, Poetry,  Persuasive Writing, and Descriptive Writing.

Our final writing assessment for Theme 1 was to write at least one paragraph, using a writing genre and a reading selection from Theme 1.

Here are just a few samples of our written work.

• Malitzi’s Summary of “Akiak” – page 1
• Malitzi’s Summary of “Akiak” – page 2
• Getsemani’s Summary of “Grandfather’s Journey“
• Marjorie’s Summary on “Finding the Titanic” – page 1
• Marjorie’s Summary on “Finding the Titanic” – page 2
• Jessie’s Descriptive Writing on “By the Shores…”
• Leticia’s Persuasive Writing on “By the Shores…”

Jessie Wins the Descriptive Writing Contest

Congratulations to Jessie!  His descriptive writing submission received the most votes on our online poll.  To read the Top 10 descriptive writing selections, click here.  To learn more about our descriptive writing assignment, click here.   Way to go, Jessie and all our descriptive writing contestants! 🙂  Continue reading to see our PollDaddy poll results.

Descriptive Writing ~ Ms. Rankin’s Top 10

This week, we worked on descriptive writing.  To learn about our descriptive writing assignment, click here.

Everyone wrote a descriptive-writing piece.  Then, Ms. Rankin picked her top 10. Here they are, in no particular order:

• A Trip to Mexico
• The First Train Ride
• A Train Ride
• A Train Ride Home
• The Train Trip
• The Journey to the Rainforest
• The Best Train Ride Ever
• The Day Lura Took a Trip
• A Journey to Remember
• A Train Ride to See Her Dad

Now, it’s your chance to choose your favorite descriptive-writing piece.  Thanks for voting here:

Descriptive Writing ~ “Seeing Out Loud”

Carrie, Mary, and Laura Ingalls

In the selection By the Shores of Silver Lake, we learn that Laura’s sister is blind.  Laura must “see out loud” for her sister Mary.  Laura describes everything that she sees in great detail so that Mary can “see” in her mind’s eye what Laura sees.

A writer can do the same thing for his/her readers.  Descriptive writing vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize (see in the mind’s eye) the topic and enter into the writer’s experience.

This week, we are working on our first descriptive writing piece about a train ride — much like the train ride that Laura describes in By the Shores of Silver Lake.  Check back soon to read our descriptive writing work…

By the Shores of Silver Lake ~ Slideshows

Here are slideshows (PowerPoint and PDF slideshow) to accompany the story By the Shores of Silver Lake.