Writing a Film Critique

Your film critique of "The House of Dies Drear" is due Wednesday, May 25th. Remember to include:

Paragraph 1: Offer your overall impression of the film while mentioning the movie's title, director, and key characters.

Paragraph 2: Summarize the plot of the film

Paragraph 3: How did the actors portray key character roles? Did they fulfill your expectations given your knowledge of the original novel or play (if one exists)?

Paragraph 4: Were any particular film techniques used in key scenes? How did the film techniques anmd music enhance the setting and themes of the film? You may need two paragraphs to explain this information.

Paragraph 5: Ending paragraph--your last opportunity to guide the reader. Offer a clincher that tells the reader to attend the film or not.

Here are some websites to help you with writing your film critique of "The House of Dies Drear":

http://www.sage.edu/faculty/salomd/phil490/spring2002/filmcritique.htm
http://www.moviefilmreview.com/ht
http://www.ehow.com/how_2278441_write-movie-critique.html

Joanne Fluke Mystery Book Club Projects

Everyone did a great job on their group projects. Here are just a few samples.

READING STARS

Congratulations to our class reading stars: Lesly, Ysaira, Solangie, Divanur, and Diana. They met their April reading goal of 23 books. And, congratulations to Jaqueline for being the first to reach her year's goal of 25 books. Wonderful, girls!

Remember that the next annotated bibliography check is at the end of May with a total of 25 books for the school year. If the entire class reaches this goal, there will be an ice cream sundae party scheduled for sometime mid-June. The students who reads the most books will receive a VISA debit card.

READING LOGS beginning April 14, 2011

Anyone who has not yet reached their reading goal of 20 books as of 4/1/11 is being given a reading log which must be completed nightly and signed by one of your parents every 5 days.

Here is the site if you want to download your own copies of the reading log: https://sites.google.com/a/safetyharbormontessori.com/shma-ms/reading-log



The next Annotated Bibliography PORTFOLIO check is May 1st = 23 books GOAL
The final Annotated Bibliography PORTFOLIO check is June 1st = 25 books GOAL

Early Morning Test Prep CANCELLED

Thursday, March 17th Test Prep class at 7:55 is canceled this week. I'll be in Manhattan that day, so you'll be with a substitute teacher. Remember to work on your annotated bibliographies and independent reading.

Morning Test Prep Begins Tomorrow

Morning Test Prep classes begin February 10th in room 338 during period 1. If you are signing up, remember you are signing up for all ten sessions. Please be prompt. We start at 7:55.

Book Club Evaluation Essay

We have finished with Session 1 of our Book Club. Next week, we will be starting our Gary Soto Book Clubs. Write a five paragraph essay describing what parts you liked, disliked, were successful at, and/or had difficulty completing.

Here is a suggested writing frame:

Paragraph 1: Describe your initial reaction or feelings toward the book club or talk about experiences you've had with book clubs in other schools or classes.

Paragraph 2: Discuss activities you liked and/or were successful

Paragraph 3: Discuss activities you disliked and/or had difficulty

Paragraph 4: Make some suggestions about changes you would like made to the new book club meetings. For instance, was there something you would like to add, subtract, or do more or less of next time.

Paragraph 5: Closing thoughts/overall impression of the book club

Final Copy is due Monday, January 31st with the writing frame.

REMEMBER that is a time when you are given a voice. I will be seriously looking at what you have to say in order to make changes, so that you have an enjoyable experience next time. Be honest, give examples, and fully explain your position.