DICTIONARY STUDY 117 Read aloud the following sentences, filling the blanks with the correct word, well or good: 1. Mr. Brown drives 2. This cake is 3. My father shoots 4. Mary reads 6. She does not play 7. Can Harry throw 8. Does fur feel 9. Does that cake taste Dictionary Study -? in cold weather? ? What letter comes before f? after f? What letter comes before m? after m? Give the letters that come before and after the following letters: d, s, l, t, e, n, h, o, x. For example, when the teacher says d, answer c, d, e. Give the sound of a in the following words: Give other words with the short sound of a; with the long sound of a. How is the short sound of a vowel indicated? the long sound? Give the sound of e in the following words: Give other words with the short sound of e; with the long sound of e. V. ORIGINAL STORIES Using Your Own Experiences Interesting and amusing things happen to most of us, and if these experiences are told in such a way that a listener can imagine the things we tell about, they make good stories. In telling your story try to bring out the little special things that make it different from other experiences. SUGGESTIVE TOPICS Think over the following topics, and make a story based on one of them or on a similar topic: Landing a Big Fish When I Forgot My Ticket What I Found in the Attic Discovering the Secret A Well-deserved Punishment Planning the Story Afraid of a Mouse Playing with Fire A Joke on Me A Big Mistake Lucky for Me Plan your story so that the most interesting part will be at the end; try to keep a surprise for the end. Leave out everything that does not fit into your story. If you are telling about your act in the circus, do not bring in the reason you were late for school. Give direct quotations when you tell what people say. For example, say: Mother said, "What in the world are you doing in that dusty attic?" instead of: Mother asked me what I was doing in the dusty attic., Telling the Story Tell your story to the class. Stand straight and look at the class while you are speaking. Do not run your sentences together with and or "er." Writing the Story Write your original story. Place the subject of the story in the center of the page, about one inch from the top of the paper. Begin each important word of the subject with a capital letter. Leave a margin of one inch at the left of the paper. Indent the beginning of each paragraph. Be careful of your spelling and punctuation. Look up in the dictionary words you do not know how to spell. Before handing your story to the teacher, read it over carefully to see and to correct any mistakes you have made. Correct Usage-I Have, I Haven't Any, Say "I have a pencil," not "I've got a pencil." Say "I haven't any pencil" or "I have no pencil," not "I haven't got no pencil." Answer the following questions with the correct form. Give your answers aloud in complete sentences. Which word in each of the following pairs comes first in the dictionary? Find these words quickly in Tell a story suggested to you by a picture of an animal. Perhaps you will wish to tell of an adventure a lion had one night when he surprised and killed an antelope; or to tell how the lion was captured; or to tell of his feelings about being imprisoned in a cage. Try to put yourself in the lion's place as you tell your story. You may prefer to tell a story about a boy and his dog. Perhaps the boy is telling what tricks the dog written on the blackboard by another pupil. The rest of the class may help by suggesting improvements. Dictation Study the following selection, and try to write it perfectly when it is dictated: This lion was caught in Africa and brought to America. He belongs to a circus. One day the door of the lion's cage was left unlocked. The lion stretched himself like a great cat and walked out. Don't you think it must have been hard for the circus people to get him into the cage again? A Program of Stories and Poems Plan a program in which six or eight pupils will tell original stories, and three or four pupils will read or recite poems. You may write invitations asking some of your friends to come and hear your program. |