Then, we did a descriptive writing expansion activity with "It Snowed"
❆It snowed.❆
1. Identify the subject and verb. What is the subject? What did the subject DO? Rewrite your sentence.
Snow fell, falls
Snow blew/blows
Snow stormed
The sky stormed
The weather man forcasts
Snow falls.
❆
2. Describe your subject. Use an adjective.
Fluffy snow falls.
Icy snow pelts.
White snow falls.
❆
3. Now add an adverb. Describe HOW it happened.
Fluffy snow falls quickly.
Icy snow pelts hard.
White snow falls softly.
❆
4. Where did this happen? Use a prepositional phrase.
Fluffy snow falls quickly outside the classroom.
Icy snow pelts hard against the car window.
White snow falls softly in the front yard.
❆
5. When did it happen? Use a prepositional phrase.
During the afternoon, fluffy snow falls quickly outside the classroom.
Icy snow pelts hard against the car window in the middle of a hail storm.
White snow falls softly in the front yard on Christmas morning.
6. Use a phrase to add detail and meaning (why).
During the afternoon, fluffy snow falls quickly outside the classroom because of a late spring storm.
Icy snow pelts hard against the car window in the middle of a hail storm because the storm blew in quickly.
Just as hoped, white snow falls softly in the front yard on Christmas morning.
Student Samples
❆Because of a calm storm front the snow drifted gently across the night sky.
❆Because of the clouds, fluffy snow stacks wonderously atop the majestic evergreens while reflecting the rays of the sun.
❆ Last night, big fluffy snow fell slowly in the big city of Tokyo lit by neon lights.
❆ Freezing cold snow whirls lightly on the window sill when the wind blows.
❆ The icy snow fell softly outside my bedroom window on Christmas Eve just as the weather man said.
A cryptogram is a puzzle where a sentence is encoded by substituting the actual letters of the sentence with different letters or symbols. The challenge of the puzzle is to 'decode' the sentence to reveal the original English words.
To solve a cryptogram takes practice, and the shorter it is, often the harder to solve. Here are a couple of techniques you can use to solve.
HELPFUL HINTS: Look for letters that occur most often - these are normally the vowels, and that which occurs the most is often the 'E'.
Two and three letter words are often easy to guess - they are most often if, of, an, to, at, in, the, and, you, him, her...
10-Letter White Things
H L A A L M E Y U U
A L L A J Z Y W A N
W Y O U L P ’ W H Y Z
E P O F Y U Q L G M
Z Y Z N P A L G N U
U O Q J A J L I W N
A Y E U N H U L A J
H J N W W Z O N H N
J Y M F U L A O L M
L H N Y M U O M N P
I also handed out a purple paper with your presentation slides on it.
