Thanksgiving Homework

Thanksgiving Homework:

_____ Read at least 20 minutes a day of your new DEAR book. Try for at least 100 pages!
_____ Take notes in your journal for your Holiday Memoir (assignment below).

 
Looking Through a One-Inch Picture Frame

Over the holidays…
Your homework is to be an observer and to notice a moment over this holiday as though you are looking through a one-inch picture frame. Take notes on it in your journal.

In writing through the lens of a one-inch picture frame, DETAILS ARE ESSENTIAL (which mean the most important). It’s not the event that matters, but the language you used to describe it and the significance you give it later.

The moment itself can be as simple as a time when you bake cookies with a sibling and forget the baking soda, or a time you play catch with your father on the lawn.  It can be as simple as a time when you watch football with the relatives, or a time when you help your mother set the table.  These moments can be very ordinary, and may seem very commonplace to you.  But remember that everyone’s holiday experience is very different (and often far more interesting than you think). Plus, the value of the story comes with the details and emotions you bring to the experience.

Over the holidays, simply take notes in your journal. Record colors, smells, tastes, and scents.  What did the tablecloth look like?  What did the kitchen air feel like? What did your grandmother’s perfume smell like as it whisked across the room?  Try to use at least two similes or metaphors in your notes.
I will give you class time on Monday to work on this assignment, and your final draft will be due on Thursday, December 5, 2013.

HAVE FUN WITH THIS!! It will one day be the beginning of a beautiful family memory that will be captured in your writing forever!