Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Week 19 Admission Ticket
Compose a sentence using all eight parts of speech. Present it in class. We might use some of them for diagramming practice!
Forgot to mention...
I told the kids that I'll award an extra ticket to those who incorporate every vocabulary word into their "Writing from Pictures" paper. Let the thinking begin!
Week 18: Make your papers silly if you wish!
Yesterday's class passed so quickly, and I was glad to see the kids in such happy spirits after four LONG weeks writing about ancient Rome. I am extremely proud of their hard work and perseverence with these papers. It's difficult at their age to stay focused on one topic for so long and to revisit the same sentences over and over and over. Because they stuck with the assignment through the duration and frustrations, I trust they'll benefit long-term in more ways than just writing skills.
We devoted far less time to EEL than IEW yesterday, but our EEL time was definitely well spent! For those who were absent (whom we missed!), I wrote a lengthy sentence on the overhead and we practiced finding each of the eight parts of speech in that sentence. Then we diagrammed it, loosely QeQing as we went. We also labeled and diagrammed our sentence pattern of Lesson 18: compound-complex, imperative, S-Vt-DO-OCN & S-Vt-DO-OCA. Here's the sentence we used:
When you diagram this sentence, consider yourselves a smart class and make you parents and tutor glad.
Have fun at home practicing these sentences this week!
Regarding the remainder of the semester, I would appreciate thoughts and feedback from parents and even students. You'll notice a red stop sign in this week's lesson in the EEL Guide. It recommends we pause and evaluate whether to move forward with the final six lessons or to devote the rest of the year toward reviewing what we've learned thusfar.
Here are my thoughts: I'd like to do a little of each. I'd like to spend a week on punctuation, a week on verbals, and a week on verb anatomy. Then our final three weeks we'll spend on review in fun ways. Please take a minute to shoot me a quick e-mail with your ideas or preferences. Thanks!
Turning to IEW, we skipped ahead to Lesson 19 this week: "Writing from Pictures." The kids took home their photocopied lessons with a plethora of different ideas about how to write! This is a creative writing lesson, and I told them that, with parental permission, they could write as silly as they like as long as they stick to the "facts" in the pictures. It's up to you as parents (and I think silly is sometimes harder to write than serious is), but after the long, serious research paper, I wanted to offer them some freedom to use their imaginations and laugh. They seemed really eager in class and were brainstorming all kinds of ideas in their small groups! I don't think we're going to have many papers about Christians being persecuted in the colosseum, but I can't wait to see the ultra-creative final products!
Basically, they're writing one paragraph per picture, for a total of three paragraphs. Length is up to them, but I'd say a minumum of 5 sentences per graph. The topic sentence of each paragraph should capture the central fact, and the clincher sentence should repeat or reflect the key words from that fact. As well, the final clincher (last sentence of the third paragraph) should reflect the paper's title. Refer to the front page of the lesson for questions they should ask and answer to generate ideas for the body of each paragraph.
A final word suitable to this time to year: Take a week off writing if you need to. Memory Master is approaching, Foundations presentations take time, and sometimes we as parents need a break! The kids have accomplished so much with their writing this year. If needed, give your family a week of grace and space! It's one of the wonderful perks of homeschooling.
Thank you for sharing your precious children with me week after week! Every personality is unique, and I love each and every one of them!
Erin
We devoted far less time to EEL than IEW yesterday, but our EEL time was definitely well spent! For those who were absent (whom we missed!), I wrote a lengthy sentence on the overhead and we practiced finding each of the eight parts of speech in that sentence. Then we diagrammed it, loosely QeQing as we went. We also labeled and diagrammed our sentence pattern of Lesson 18: compound-complex, imperative, S-Vt-DO-OCN & S-Vt-DO-OCA. Here's the sentence we used:
When you diagram this sentence, consider yourselves a smart class and make you parents and tutor glad.
Have fun at home practicing these sentences this week!
Regarding the remainder of the semester, I would appreciate thoughts and feedback from parents and even students. You'll notice a red stop sign in this week's lesson in the EEL Guide. It recommends we pause and evaluate whether to move forward with the final six lessons or to devote the rest of the year toward reviewing what we've learned thusfar.
Here are my thoughts: I'd like to do a little of each. I'd like to spend a week on punctuation, a week on verbals, and a week on verb anatomy. Then our final three weeks we'll spend on review in fun ways. Please take a minute to shoot me a quick e-mail with your ideas or preferences. Thanks!
Turning to IEW, we skipped ahead to Lesson 19 this week: "Writing from Pictures." The kids took home their photocopied lessons with a plethora of different ideas about how to write! This is a creative writing lesson, and I told them that, with parental permission, they could write as silly as they like as long as they stick to the "facts" in the pictures. It's up to you as parents (and I think silly is sometimes harder to write than serious is), but after the long, serious research paper, I wanted to offer them some freedom to use their imaginations and laugh. They seemed really eager in class and were brainstorming all kinds of ideas in their small groups! I don't think we're going to have many papers about Christians being persecuted in the colosseum, but I can't wait to see the ultra-creative final products!
Basically, they're writing one paragraph per picture, for a total of three paragraphs. Length is up to them, but I'd say a minumum of 5 sentences per graph. The topic sentence of each paragraph should capture the central fact, and the clincher sentence should repeat or reflect the key words from that fact. As well, the final clincher (last sentence of the third paragraph) should reflect the paper's title. Refer to the front page of the lesson for questions they should ask and answer to generate ideas for the body of each paragraph.
A final word suitable to this time to year: Take a week off writing if you need to. Memory Master is approaching, Foundations presentations take time, and sometimes we as parents need a break! The kids have accomplished so much with their writing this year. If needed, give your family a week of grace and space! It's one of the wonderful perks of homeschooling.
Thank you for sharing your precious children with me week after week! Every personality is unique, and I love each and every one of them!
Erin
Monday, February 22, 2010
Week 18 Admission Ticket
I'll award admission tickets this week to every student who turns in both a polished paper on ancient Rome and a completed checklist. Can't wait to see the final products of all this hard work!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Week 17: We can certainly call our students smart!
Well, we did it. It took 17 weeks of class, but we've learned all seven sentence patterns of the English language. Isn't that exciting!
Practice the seventh sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCA, at home this week. Read Lesson 17 in your EEL Guide for suggestions on recognizing the sentences, and, with your student, try to write a couple of simple S-Vt-DO-OCA sentences on your own. Write them, label them, diagram them, QeQ them. If your student is ambitious, modify them with adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. Then celebrate what you've learned this year!
I imagine you'll spend most of your time this week polishing IEW papers. I can't wait to read these! The kids have worked so hard! In class yesterday, they helped me revise a rough draft I wrote. They suggested some great ideas for improvement, and I hope this exercise will bear fruit when it comes to their own revisions this week.
Spend time today and tomorrow revising. Then complete your checklist (Level A or B) Friday and Monday. If an item or two is missing from the checklist for each paragraph, it's no big deal. Eventually we want them to write "free" of the checklist because their minds will be trained to write automatically using strong verbs; interesting words; and varied sentence structures, openers, and lengths. I DO think they'll need your help with the checklist and labeling, though. It's not easy to identify, label and check off all those elements at once. They will complete the assignment much more easily and significantly faster with your help.
I will plan extra reading time next week. I want everyone to have the opportunity to show off their work!
A final note: I am altering our syllabus a bit. Rather than following this four-week assignment with another lengthy report as scheduled, we're going to skip ahead to "Writing from Pictures." We'll come back to the research report in four weeks and let that be our final assignment for the year. At that point, the students will each choose a character from ancient history to write about. On Week 24, the kids can dress as their characters, and we'll spend most of our class time presenting those reports and having a little party.
Let me know if you have questions this week. I'll look forward to seeing you all Tuesday!
Practice the seventh sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCA, at home this week. Read Lesson 17 in your EEL Guide for suggestions on recognizing the sentences, and, with your student, try to write a couple of simple S-Vt-DO-OCA sentences on your own. Write them, label them, diagram them, QeQ them. If your student is ambitious, modify them with adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. Then celebrate what you've learned this year!
I imagine you'll spend most of your time this week polishing IEW papers. I can't wait to read these! The kids have worked so hard! In class yesterday, they helped me revise a rough draft I wrote. They suggested some great ideas for improvement, and I hope this exercise will bear fruit when it comes to their own revisions this week.
Spend time today and tomorrow revising. Then complete your checklist (Level A or B) Friday and Monday. If an item or two is missing from the checklist for each paragraph, it's no big deal. Eventually we want them to write "free" of the checklist because their minds will be trained to write automatically using strong verbs; interesting words; and varied sentence structures, openers, and lengths. I DO think they'll need your help with the checklist and labeling, though. It's not easy to identify, label and check off all those elements at once. They will complete the assignment much more easily and significantly faster with your help.
I will plan extra reading time next week. I want everyone to have the opportunity to show off their work!
A final note: I am altering our syllabus a bit. Rather than following this four-week assignment with another lengthy report as scheduled, we're going to skip ahead to "Writing from Pictures." We'll come back to the research report in four weeks and let that be our final assignment for the year. At that point, the students will each choose a character from ancient history to write about. On Week 24, the kids can dress as their characters, and we'll spend most of our class time presenting those reports and having a little party.
Let me know if you have questions this week. I'll look forward to seeing you all Tuesday!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Weel 17 Admission Ticket
For Week 17, read Genesis 1 in the Bible and find a sentence with the S-Vt-DO-OCN sentence pattern. Using your Simple Steps chart, complete Tasks 2-4 on the EEL Task Sheet. (You may complete these steps on a photocopy of the sheet or on a piece of notebook paper.)
Hint: If you have trouble, look at this week's lesson in the EEL Guide. :)
Hint: If you have trouble, look at this week's lesson in the EEL Guide. :)
Week 16: Dare we call our students experts...
Well, admittedly, not quite yet. But I must say, after peppering them today with memory work questions, a new sentence pattern, and the diagrams and Quid et Quos of several sentences, I'm impressed with the amount of material they've mastered through Week 15. As a collective class, they answered nearly everything I threw at them. I hope you're pleased, too!
Be sure to read Lessson 16 in your EEL Guide this week. Not only will it explain our new sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCN, for your study at home, but there is also a glimpse into Leigh Bortins' wisdom and character on page 189 that might make you smile.
Now that we're QeQ'ing sentences, hopefully the kids are beginning to see the value of the first semester's chart barrage! Perhaps these final eight weeks will help make this chart information "useful" to them. We're going to continue drilling out our parts of speech on the QeQ sheet in class for the remainder of the year. And although you can formally complete the QeQ sheet at home as time allows, realize that you can complete it informally (and perhaps without your student even realizing it) if you just begin incorporating those questions and answers into your regular EEL conversation as you go. For example: "Is that subject noun 'dog' proper or common? And is it singular or plural? And, hmm... I see you've labeled 'brown' as an adjective modifying 'dog,' but do you know whether 'brown' is limiting, descriptive or possessive?"
You'll really begin to discover what they know well and which material needs more time. And before long, their brains will retain and recall the "drill," and they'll be answering the questions before you even ask!
For those of you who are prone to pushing the limits (as I am, particulaly with my oldest child), I love what Leigh says on page 190 of the guide under Task 6: "If a student looks at you blankly, just say the answer with them and have them repeat it back. Don't waste time trying to pull things that don't exist out of a child's brain." Duh! Eventually, in time, given enough repetition, they'll retain it. THEN they'll be able to rattle off those answers!
After next week (when we'll introduce our seventh and final sentence pattern), we're coming to a tough point in the curriculum where I want to offer encouragement. For the most part, from here on out, I want you to decide how much time to spend and what to focus on during your EEL study at home. This will be different for each family. We've covered a tremendous amount of material, and rather than frustrate a student who's yet to master it all, I'd much rather you tailor your time to your child's retention level. If your family is on track with Week 16, focus there. If your child is still working to understand Week 8, devote your efforts in that direction. You may want to spend a week identifying the seven sentence patterns, or a week on diagramming simple sentences, or a week on recognizing the subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun clauses that make a sentence complex. You may even want to just scale back and spend more time on IEW.
But know this: For the rest of the year, our class time is going to progress beyond some of the students' grasp of the material. That's okay. Let it wash over them as a grammar-stage introduction to language; most of them will see it again. The beautiful thing for a class with varying skill levels is that the same foundational information pops up in every single sentence, even the most complex. There's always something in every single sentence that every single student can know.
Whew! That's long. Sorry. Onward to IEW...
Most students have completed their three rough draft body paragraphs on ancient Rome, and we moved forward to Lesson 16 in class today. I expect most students will write two rough draft paragraphs at home this week: an introduction and a conclusion. Class highlights follow:
Be sure to read Lessson 16 in your EEL Guide this week. Not only will it explain our new sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCN, for your study at home, but there is also a glimpse into Leigh Bortins' wisdom and character on page 189 that might make you smile.
Now that we're QeQ'ing sentences, hopefully the kids are beginning to see the value of the first semester's chart barrage! Perhaps these final eight weeks will help make this chart information "useful" to them. We're going to continue drilling out our parts of speech on the QeQ sheet in class for the remainder of the year. And although you can formally complete the QeQ sheet at home as time allows, realize that you can complete it informally (and perhaps without your student even realizing it) if you just begin incorporating those questions and answers into your regular EEL conversation as you go. For example: "Is that subject noun 'dog' proper or common? And is it singular or plural? And, hmm... I see you've labeled 'brown' as an adjective modifying 'dog,' but do you know whether 'brown' is limiting, descriptive or possessive?"
You'll really begin to discover what they know well and which material needs more time. And before long, their brains will retain and recall the "drill," and they'll be answering the questions before you even ask!
For those of you who are prone to pushing the limits (as I am, particulaly with my oldest child), I love what Leigh says on page 190 of the guide under Task 6: "If a student looks at you blankly, just say the answer with them and have them repeat it back. Don't waste time trying to pull things that don't exist out of a child's brain." Duh! Eventually, in time, given enough repetition, they'll retain it. THEN they'll be able to rattle off those answers!
After next week (when we'll introduce our seventh and final sentence pattern), we're coming to a tough point in the curriculum where I want to offer encouragement. For the most part, from here on out, I want you to decide how much time to spend and what to focus on during your EEL study at home. This will be different for each family. We've covered a tremendous amount of material, and rather than frustrate a student who's yet to master it all, I'd much rather you tailor your time to your child's retention level. If your family is on track with Week 16, focus there. If your child is still working to understand Week 8, devote your efforts in that direction. You may want to spend a week identifying the seven sentence patterns, or a week on diagramming simple sentences, or a week on recognizing the subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun clauses that make a sentence complex. You may even want to just scale back and spend more time on IEW.
But know this: For the rest of the year, our class time is going to progress beyond some of the students' grasp of the material. That's okay. Let it wash over them as a grammar-stage introduction to language; most of them will see it again. The beautiful thing for a class with varying skill levels is that the same foundational information pops up in every single sentence, even the most complex. There's always something in every single sentence that every single student can know.
Whew! That's long. Sorry. Onward to IEW...
Most students have completed their three rough draft body paragraphs on ancient Rome, and we moved forward to Lesson 16 in class today. I expect most students will write two rough draft paragraphs at home this week: an introduction and a conclusion. Class highlights follow:
- We discussed what information should be included in each paragraph. The assignment makes this extremely clear. I'd suggest reviewing the information on page 119 and the example on page 120 with your student at home.
- We counted the number of sentences in the example paragraphs. I did this because I wanted them to see that these are not detail-filled paragraphs. That's the job of the body paragraphs. Each sentence in these paragraphs fills a specific requirement; aside from the two to three sentences of background info, there's no extraneous information.
- We brainstormed most of the outline information on page 121. I kept it loose because this page should look different for each student according to 1.) what he or she finds interesting for background information and most significant overall, and 2.) the chosen key words for each rough draft body paragraph.
Any family who wants to limit the assignment to three paragraphs may certainly do so. If this is the case, skip Lesson 16 and rejoin us next week for Lesson 17, "Putting It All Together," which will give you instructions on an introductory statement and final clincher.
- Remind the kids these are rough draft paragraphs. Keep it fairly simple. Next week assigns them an entire lesson for revision. In other words, don't stress.
- Try to write a paragraph tomorrow and a paragraph Thursday. Then sit down Friday and complete the rough draft checklist with your student. It's a handy tool for dialoging through the requirements without making them feel like you're a critic. Monday gives you breathing room for them to add what's missing or to catch up if you don't finish before the weekend.
One last thing. Please, always, if you or your student are having trouble with either EEL or IEW, let me know. Ask for assistance. I probably won't give you a perfect fix, but I'll try my best to help you work it out. Each of the kids is terribly precious, and I want them to succeed and feel good about what they've learned and accomplished in our time together.
Have a tremendous week!
Monday, February 1, 2010
If Week 16 is postponed due to snow...
Hello, all!
Well, it's Monday afternoon at 2 p.m., and my neighborhood in the middle of Greensboro has not been scraped yet. The road in front of our house has been perfect for sledding, but I'm afraid that, even with today's melting, we're still looking at more ice than pavement tomorrow morning. Forsyth's schools have already cancelled for tomorrow, and my guess is that the Guilford schools will not attempt to navigate neighborhood roads tomorrow a.m. either. Bummer.
Should that happen, class will be cancelled, so here's my suggestion: Go ahead and complete at home this week the remaining two topical rough drafts for our IEW writing assignment. This means moving ahead with the KWOs, fused outlines and rough drafts for Topics B & C, which are "Roman Government" and "Roman Society." Then, when we meet next week for Week 16, we'll be back on schedule, so to speak, with the EEL/IEW syllabus and won't need to make further adjustment for the rest of the year.
BUT...Pray for the sunshine to work its miracle today! I'd love to see everyone tomorrow!
Well, it's Monday afternoon at 2 p.m., and my neighborhood in the middle of Greensboro has not been scraped yet. The road in front of our house has been perfect for sledding, but I'm afraid that, even with today's melting, we're still looking at more ice than pavement tomorrow morning. Forsyth's schools have already cancelled for tomorrow, and my guess is that the Guilford schools will not attempt to navigate neighborhood roads tomorrow a.m. either. Bummer.
Should that happen, class will be cancelled, so here's my suggestion: Go ahead and complete at home this week the remaining two topical rough drafts for our IEW writing assignment. This means moving ahead with the KWOs, fused outlines and rough drafts for Topics B & C, which are "Roman Government" and "Roman Society." Then, when we meet next week for Week 16, we'll be back on schedule, so to speak, with the EEL/IEW syllabus and won't need to make further adjustment for the rest of the year.
BUT...Pray for the sunshine to work its miracle today! I'd love to see everyone tomorrow!
Week 16 Admission Ticket
For Week 16, please complete the basic "Quid et Quo" for the following sentence and bring it to class:
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
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