Mixed media

I have to say that I love the way Archer has been integrating diagrams and charts into the writing he brings home from school.  It's so natural and effective to put the image right there at the point of need in his prose -- something I'm sure he equally intuits from the way his mind works and gets from the graphics-laden books he favors, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Edward Tufte would be proud!


Here's a couple of examples from last week.  Click the images to embiggen; I've transcribed the text below each one.

The assignment: Write a conversation between two friends talking about a science experiment or an invention.  Use quotation marks to show each speaker's exact words.  Remember to put all punctuation that goes with the quotation inside the quotation marks.

4 Square by Archer

Archer, Will Ward, Lauren, and Kate went out to play a game of 4 Square. This is who was in the squares: [diagram showing Will Ward in King square, Lauren in Queen square, Kate in Jack square, and Archer in Dungeon square]

Will Ward said, "Let's do no tricks except War and 2007."

Kate exclaimed, "What is 2007?"

Will Ward explained: "2007 means I may serve to any player."

Lauren said, "But this is where the King [crown icon] must always serve!" [small diagram with arrow moving from King square to Jack square]

Will Ward said, "2007!" and serve this way. [small diagram with arrow moving from King square to Dungeon square and then Out]

Will Ward was considered Out and went to Dungeon.

The End

The assignment: Think of a problem you solved.  Write a paragraph that tells how you solved it.  Include compound and complex sentences.

The Big Scrape

I was running fast, but I fell over and scraped myself, because of another runner.  I was determined not to give up.  I ran 17 consecutive laps, and walked the 18th one.  As I ran, I did only scarce walking laps.

[chart showing laps run over five days]

[chart showing running laps over five days with a sixth "prediction" day added]

And finally, just because I thought this one really captured the essence of the student-teacher relationship, here's a worksheet on quotation marks where Archer had to finish a story.



The story so far:

1. Madeleine said, "I'm going to try my own experiment!'
2. "No, you're not," said her teacher.
3. "Why not?" asked Madeleine.
4. Her teacher explained, "You have to do a lot of research before you try an experiment."
5. "I guess I better think about it carefully," said Madeleine.

The assignment: Write sentences on the lines below to continue the conversation between Madeleine and her teacher. Use quotation marks in each sentence.

6. "Where are you going to do your research?" asked her teacher.

7. Madeline said, "I'll go to www.http://.madeline.com/".

8. Her teacher said, "There's no such website."

9. "How about http://www.yahoomaps4adults.com/?" asked Mad.

10. Her teacher ended, "Go look in an encyclopedia."