Writing: Word Choice
Mood - Make 'Em Smile,
Scared, and Everything In Between
Today's Snack: Later on, we're going to try to write in a scary
mood, so let's get ready with some Ghoulish Punch!
Stir
2 cups of boiling water into 1 package (8-serving size) lime flavor Jell-O for
2 minutes, or until completely dissolved.
Stir
in 2 cups of cold orange juice. Cool to room temperature.
To
serve, pour gelatin mixture into a punch bowl. Add 1 liter of cold seltzer
water and ice cubes.
Slightly
soften 1 pint (2 cups) of orange sherbet, and scoop into the punch.
Add
thin slices of 1 lime
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Supplies:
Photocopy the two
writing selections, below, and
each student can use a
No. 2 pencil to circle words
or . . . project onto
a big screen or smartboard
One piece of lined
writing paper and pencil
What
a difference you can make when you select words that fit! You can create a
whole new world, and especially, a whole new mood, just by choosing particular
words that set the stage for the emotions you want your readers to feel.
Word
choice should be deliberate. Imagine that the words you use in a piece of
writing are like clothing. If the clothes you choose are too big, or too small,
or the wrong color, or too formal, or too lightweight, they're not going to fit
you, or fit the occasion. You'll look like a geek, or shiver with cold. That
doesn't feel good!
It's
the same way with writing. You have to match your word choices with your
message. Choose your words from the huge "wardrobe" of the English language,
and make those words "fit" what you're trying to say. Then they'll come alive!
A
piece of writing has a certain "mood,"
or feeling or emotional tone. The words you choose and put together into
sentences will be very different for a serious report for school, than the
words you choose and put together if you write a letter to your best friend
describing something fun. You can "paint a word picture" to show different
moods.
Let's
study two pieces of writing with two different moods. The first is a popular
song lyric about a snowman that comes to life and plays around with kids, and
the other is a poem about a famous battle in which cavalry riders (soldiers on
horseback) rode into a huge ambush by mistake, but continued to fight bravely.
Two
completely different situations, right? Let's see how different the word
choices are. You can have an adult, or one or more students read these two
aloud, while you listen and think about the mood that the words are creating.
Circle
word choices that help create an overall mood for each piece of writing. What
mood does each one set?
Frosty the Snowman
Song
by Walter "Jack" Rollins and
Steve
Nelson, first recorded in 1950
Frosty the Snowman
Was a jolly, happy soul
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.
Frosty the
Snowman
Is a fairy tale, they say.
He was made of snow
But the children know
How he came to
life one day.
There must have
been some magic
In that old silk
hat they found
For when they
placed it on his head
He began to dance around!
Frosty the Snowman
Was alive as he could be
And the children say
He could laugh and play
Just the same as you and me.
Frosty the Snowman
Knew the sun was hot that day.
So he said, "Let's run
And we'll have some fun
Now before I melt away."
Down to the village
With a broomstick in his hand
Running here and there all around the square
Saying, "Catch me if you can!"
He led them down the streets of town
Right to the traffic cop
And he only paused a moment when
He heard him holler, "Stop!"
Frosty the Snowman, had to hurry on his
way.
But he waved goodbye, saying, "Don't you cry,
I'll be back again some day!"
Thumpety thump thump, thumpety thump thump,
Look at Frosty go!
Thumpety thump thump, thumpety thump thump,
Over the hills of snow!
The Charge of the
Light Brigade
Poem
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, commemorating a tragic
battle
of 600 British cavalry accidentally sent in against 5,240
Russian
troops armed with cannons in the Crimean War, 1854
Half a league, Half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.
"Forward the Light Brigade! Charge for
the guns!"
He said. Into the
Valley of Death rode the 600.
"Forward the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew someone had blunder'd.
Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do
or die.
Into the Valley
of Death rode the six hundred.
Cannon to the
right of them, cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them volley'd and
thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly
they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell,
Rode the six hundred.
Flash'd all their sabers bare, flash'd as
they turn'd in air
Sabr'ing the gunners there, charging an army,
While all the world wonder'd.
Plung'd in the battery-smoke right thro'
the line they broke
Cossack and Russian reel'd from the saber-stroke,
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not, not the six hundred.
Cannon to the right of them, cannon to
the left of them,
Cannon behind them volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well came thro'
the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell, all that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Now, on a separate sheet of lined paper, write a
poem, paragraph or story, and set a mood that is SCARY . . . frightening . . .
ominous . . . mysterious . . . dreadful. Circle your word choices that you think
do the best job of establishing that mood.
