← Back to course
Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 04 / Press Day
6/6
Week 04 · Word Choice and Tone

Press Day

Press Day: the word column
// Every word casts a shade
⏱ about 20 min

Press Day: The Word Column

Press Day starts with the sound of folding. Rocket creases each issue of The Signal against the table edge.

Raven checks the back page. "Your column goes here, under the garden report. Is it ready?"

"Almost," Rocket says. "I have trudged in it twice. I want one of them to be something else."

"What do you notice about the second one?" Raven asks.

He reads it. "The second time, Scout is dragging me. So it should be hauled." He fixes it. "Done."

Nova dims her light to a soft gold. "Fold it in," she says. "The street is waiting."

By noon, every porch on Maple Street has a Signal on its step.

  1. Denotation is the plain meaning; connotation is the feeling a word adds.
  2. A context clue sits near an unknown word: a definition, an example, a contrast, or the whole sentence.
  3. A simile uses like or as. A metaphor says one thing is another. Personification gives a thing human actions.
  4. Tone is the attitude the words show. Name it in one word, then check the charged words.
  5. One changed word can bring a whole day back.
◇ READ YOUR COLUMN ALOUD
Read the paragraph you wrote in Writing Lab to someone at home.
Ask them to name the tone in one word before you tell them yours.
Ask them which picture they saw most clearly. That is your figurative language working.
Give them one compliment and one question about anything they read to you.
Swap roles if they have something to read.
PRESS DAY CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Rocket changed trudged to hauled because
Which is a simile?
A writer wants a calm tone for a found-dog report. Which word fits?
PRESS DAY WORDS
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Rocket creases each issue against the table edge. Creases means
Nova dims her light to a soft gold. Soft gold sets which tone?
The street is waiting is
Try it
Hand your finished paragraph to someone and ask them to circle the strongest word.
See if it matches the word you would have picked.
SentenceTrue or false?
Hauled and trudged have exactly the same connotation.?
A metaphor does not use like or as.?
Context clues can come before or after the unknown word.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEHauled is a pulling word; trudged is a tired walking word. Clues can sit on either side.
For a grown-up
This week your student learned shades of meaning, context clues, figurative language and tone.
Ask them to read you a plain sentence and then the same sentence with one stronger word.
Celebrate the noticing, not only the fancy word.

The issue is out, and your words are on the street. Next week: who tells the story, and where each scene sits.

← Friday