Gilded Coupon Campaign Donation

Essentials families,

How it can possibly be December 16 already, I cannot fathom! I feel like we just ended Week 12. I guess the good news is we'll see one another sooner rather than later! :)

I am writing to update you on our Gilded Coupon Campaign donation to Wycliffe on behalf of Moriah's family. The students earned $87 in tickets, which I will match for an initial total of $174. Then they gave out of their own pockets $102, which the sponsors will triple to $306. All told, we are able to give $481. Isn't that exciting! Thank you to students and parents for a fabulous semester of diligent writing and grammar study.

Also, thank you for the myriad of trinkets and treasures I received. The day of Week 12 happens so quickly -- I don't even really know what came from whom, but I know I received several gifts. They just kept popping up! I want you to know I appreciate your thoughtfulness and love.

Interestingly, on the CBS news show this morning, the anchors were making up haiku poems to accompany a story and hinted that they should begin a holiday haiku tradition. I can't wait to hear your holiday haikus on January 3!

Here's one to get you started:

Baby Jesus sleeps
Adoring parents kneel, for
Unto us a child is born

Merry Christmas!

Mrs. Erin

Week 12 Admission Ticket

To earn your Week 12 admission ticket, collect and organize the tickets you've earned this semester. Count them (remember, one square equals one ticket -- don't tear it into two pieces and count it as two) and write down how many you have. Put them in a safe place, such as a ziplog bag in your notebook, and bring them to class. We will add them to the tickets you receive for returned papers, the paper due this week, and additional admission tickets to tally your total.

Also decide how much, if any, money you'd like to contribute for our sponsors to match. Bring it on Tuesday, too.

Thanks! See you in two days. :)

Week 11: Write, review, and reflect.

Good morning. I love your bunch of children. After 11 weeks together, I feel like I'm finally discovering their uniqueness. It's amazing to stand in front of them and recognize our future leaders. They are the next generation for Jesus. I'm eager to see how He's going to use them here and around the world!

During class yesterday, we flipped our usual schedule and completed IEW first. Writing skills continue to sharpen, and I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to the students read. Next semester I am going to stress presentation -- reading loudly and clearly and making eye contact with the audience -- at a higher level. I may engage moms' help in that. Just so you know... :)

This week's assignment is to complete the Boston Tea Party stories. I know a couple of you are starting from scratch, so refer back to last week's lesson and post for those notes. For the rest, your student needs to add dress-ups, revise and polish, complete the final checklist, and practice reading aloud. The new dress-ups are simile and metaphor, which we discussed at length during class yesterday, and also "3SSS" -- three short staccato sentences -- which we covered briefly.

When you get to it, you'll see that dialogue is also a new option on the decorations checklist. IEW introduces it in Lesson 11, which we skipped. I intended to talk about it in class yesterday but ran out of time. If you can, go over the punctuation and capitalization rules for dialogue at home this week and encourage its incorporation into the tea party story. Remember to teach that a new paragraph is required every time the speaker changes. Students often forget this.

Although I have a poetry lesson scheduled -- haiku, so fun! -- we will spend the majority of our IEW time next week reading these stories. If any students want to dress the part (colonists, Indians, English soldiers, etc.), bring it on!

The next two weeks of EEL consist of review and, if you'll take the opportunity, what I'll call "reflection." During class yesterday, the sentences we drilled were examples of simile and metaphor in Bible verses. I believe these sentences, so many of which you can find in Proverbs, provide super learning opportunity with our kids on so many levels.

For example, we examined the sentence "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life." First, it's a simple, declarative, S-Vl-PN sentence that includes prepositional phrases, so there's our EEL grammar. Second, it employs metaphor, so there's our IEW writing style. Third, it uses that metaphor to illustrate godly wisdom -- created things to explain spiritual principles, the visible to demonstrate the invisible -- and thus we can take time to dialog and reflect with our children on the meaning and application of the verse. When our school time touches both the head and the heart, we're at least doubling the benefit, right? :) Only the Lord knows what He will build on the foundations we lay, but what a privilege we have as homeschooling moms to build both knowledge and godliness into our children. So take time to reflect together these next two weeks.

Finally, I talked with the kids yesterday about redeeming tickets next week for our Gilded Coupon Campaign. Remember that we give what we've earned in the fall and receive what we've earned in the spring. Here's how this semester's "giving" will work:

• Each ticket is worth 25 cents. Students have had the chance to earn up to 24 tickets -- one Admission Ticket and one writing assignment ticket per week. So they will have been able to earn up to $6.


• I will match what they've earned, which could double them to $12.


• Each student has the opportunity to give out of his or her own pocket. It could be 50 cents, or it could be $10.


• I have two sponsors who will match what each student gives, thus tripling the "out of pocket" donation. So, for example, if a student decides to give $4, it will become $12.


• SO, say a student has 20 tickets. The 20 tickets would be worth $5, and I'd match it, so it becomes $10. Then the student decides to donate $5, and the sponsors triple it to $15. All total, the student's donation becomes $25.


• My goal here is for the kids to tangibly see how God can take their "small" effort and multiply it for His purposes.

I've decided that this year's donation will go to Wycliffe Bible Translators on behalf of the Knott family, who are home with us on furlough this fall and part of our Foundations, Essentials and Challenge programs at Westside. This spring, they will return to the field and begin oral Bible story translation for a population where less than 2% have heard the name of Jesus. I love the idea that the time our kids have spent studying the English language will enable us to invest in translating God's story into another people's language!

Please let me know if you have questions. Have a wonderful week together. See you Tuesday for the semester's final hurrah!

Erin

Week 11 Admission Ticket

Put your IEW vocabulary words into ABC order, and turn them in to me on Tuesday to receive your admission ticket.

Also, stay tuned for a post concerning ticket redemption on Week 12...

Week 10: Oh my! Hasn't this semester been quick?

Do you remember how the Bible tells us there is nothing new under the sun? Well, there is nothing new in Essentials for the rest of the semester! Yesterday's introduction of the S-Vl-PA sentence pattern and in-depth look at adjectives marks the spot where we stop til January. Sometime this week, pause to consider what we've learned thus far by reading the "Words of Encouragement" in the guide on page 166. Then pat yourself on the back, give your student a congratulatory hug -- and settle in for some review time!

The S-Vl-PA sentence pattern is explained well in the EEL guide, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time repeating good information. The adjectives chart is thorough, too. Once you grow familiar with it, I'd suggest working through a children's book to locate adjectives and dialogue through whether they are descriptive, limiting or possessive. You can also practice identifying prepositional phrases as adjectival (which one? what kind? how many? whose?) or adverbial (how? when? where? why? to what extent?).

We began a two-week narrative story assignment on the Boston Tea Party during IEW. The students have two options: They can retell the story as written -- same characters and events with their brainstorming ideas included -- OR they can change or add additional characters and even change the circumstances of the event. If they make changes, they need to keep the basic storyline of children as main characters who plot to protest or "overthrow" unfair rules or laws. AND they need to develop the the IEW story sequence requirements before they begin writing. (Hint: Parents, get involved early on this.) For example, Maggie, when she wrote this story three years ago, decided to write about girls, who were disguised as boys, storming a ship to protest the queen's requirement that all girls wear petticoats at all times. Where did she get the idea? To this day, I don't know. I was quite skeptical, but she was excited about it and developed a working storyline, so I let her do it. It turned out to be one of her best IEW papers.

Students are responsible for rough drafts next week that incorporate all of the brainstorming assigned. Finals will be due the following week. Since it's our last week of the semester, we'll spend more time reading aloud.

Enjoy the fall weather and each other.

Week 10 Admission Ticket

Complete the following sentence with a noun that renames you. For example, I could say, "I am a teacher." Then complete Tasks 1-4 and bring it to class Tuesday.

"I am a ______________."

Week 9: My students are such diligent workers.

Good evening. We finally moved forward with a new sentence pattern today. The students are definitely holding their own. What little sponges they are with new information. You've got to love it!

Tackle that new pattern at home: S-Vl-PN, which means "Subject-Verb Linking-Predicate Nominative." If they don't yet know them, begin memorizing the list of linking verbs. The primary way to master this sentence pattern is through the "aha!" recognition of that linking verb and the following noun that can rename or replace the subject noun. Here are some examples:

The sun is a planet.
Whales are mammals.
I am a teacher.
You are a parent.
They are children.
Jesus is God.

Once you familiarize yourselves with the pattern, dress them up with the adverbs, interjections and different kinds of nouns or prepositional phrases we've learned, then try to modify the sentence purposes. Diagram some, too, using your task sheets. Don't stress. Just go at the pace comfortable for your family, and try to enjoy being together while learning together. I know some days it's a challenge.... :) But God is a miracle worker! The Richardson household can testify!

For IEW, we are just writing one paragraph on the French and Indian War. We narrowed the five paragraph topics to three general topics (see the front lesson page) during class. This should help them choose 1-2 facts and the associated key words from each paragraph to include on their outlines. Caution: Your student may find it extremely difficult to narrow five paragraphs into a single summary graph. Point them back to the beginning of the lesson, which tells them to choose interesting or important information and ignore the rest! However, also explain that since they are summarizing, the scope of their paragraph should be broad. It should include background information (paragraphs 1 and 2), what happened during the war (graphs 3 and 4), and what the results were (paragraph 5). Abbreviations will really help on their key word outlines. For example, use "Fr." for France or the French, "Eng." for England or the English, and "N.A." for North America. Remember, too, that numbers are free, so they can include dates and it doesn't count toward their 3-4 key words per line.

Please let me know if you have questions. Happy writing!

Mrs. Erin

Week 9 Admission Ticket

1. What are the seven sentence patterns?

2. What is a linking verb?

3. What are the linking verbs? (Hint: Consult your charts or Trivium Table.)

Bring your answers to class in exchange for your coupon. See you Tuesday!

Week 8: At home, study prepositional phrases.

What delightful children you are raising! I am loving the papers they are writing in IEW, and they are picking up the EEL concepts well, too. Sharp, sharp, sharp!

During our EEL time yesterday, we focused on prepositional phrases. I used a stool as a visual example and placed myself beside the stool, atop the stool, behind the stool, in front of the stool, beneath the stool, etc. You can do this at home with any object, or you can pull a Dr. Seuss book off the shelf -- they are usually loaded with prepositional phrases, so have fun searching them out.

Use your memory work to memorize the definition of a preposition, and use either the EEL chart or the IEW list to familiarize yourselves with the preposition lists. Older students should try to identify prepositional phrases as adverbial or adjectival. But please know we'll be doing that in class all year long because we have to decide where to place the phrases on our sentence diagrams.

One vastly important note about prepositions -- they do not stand alone. They are always the first word of a prepositional phrase and thus always have an object. Many words on the preposition list can function as stand-alone adverbs, which can be tricky. For instance, if I say, "The bear crawled over," the word over is an adverb that tells me where the bear crawled. But if I say, "The bear crawled over the fallen log," over is a preposition and log is the object of the preposition, and the entire phrase is adverbial because it again tells where.

We have one more week to devote to compound S-Vt-DO sentences. So, during your study time, take two or more simple sentences of this pattern, add a FANBOYS to make them compound, then dress them up with prepositional phrases, adverbs, appositives, interjections, nouns of direct address -- anything we've studied so far -- and diagram as much as you can! If you hit a wall because you've created a larger sentence than you know how to diagram, don't worry. Go as far as you can and celebrate what you've already accomplished. :)

During our diagramming time yesterday, I handed out a green sheet titled "Simple Steps." This is a Q&A, similar to the one in the guide, that takes you through the tasks of identifying our sentence parts. However, this one is my own version. I put it together for Maggie a few years back. You are not required to use it, but here's why I like it. The EEL tasks direct us to identify the subject and verb first. I start in a different place -- with prepositional phrases, then conjunctions -- in order to isolate the main body of our sentence. THEN we go after our subject and verb. I believe, as the sentences become longer and more complex, it's easier to locate our main parts if we have all the "extras" set aside with parentheses. So see if you like it, but again, it's not required. I'll try to remember the extra copies next week for those who asked.

Moving at last onto IEW, the students are responsible for polishing their rough draft paragraphs and adding an introductory statement and a final clincher to their three-paragraph report on caring for the sick during colonial times. I believe they all understood this in class, and an example to follow is stapled to their assignment page.

We are two-thirds of the way through our semester. Hard to believe, isn't it? Y'all are doing great! Have a fantastic week. Please let me know if you have questions.

Erin

Week 8 Admission Ticket

For Week 8, write a S-Vt-DO sentence that contains a noun of direct address and an appositive. Tell me whether your sentence purpose is declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamatory.

Week 7: Students, study adverbs, appositives, and nouns of direct address diligently.

Sorry for the delayed post. We introduced an abundance of new information during EEL yesterday and a new way of key word outlining source texts during IEW. Y'all have a fun and full week of learning ahead at home!

For EEL, the guide does a superb job describing the imperative sentence pattern with S-Vt-DO, nouns of direct address, appositives, and adverbs. Spend time working with all of those using the guide and the nouns and adverbs charts. The guide also touches on verb mood, so those who have advanced students may want to identify the difference between indicative and imperative mood as well. It's not difficult to grasp.

Your IEW assignment introduces the idea and structure of topical paragraphs. We are supposed to take information that is scattered throughout a source text and arrange it into three topical paragraphs that contain topic sentences, details and clinchers. This structure is outlined in the IEW Resouce Guide (the free online download) and will eventually become a five-paragraph report for us that utilizes an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs and a conclusion graph. I'd like for y'all to look over this structure with them and emphasize to the students how important the pattern is here. They will use it over and over and over again throughout their academic careers, and I believe it serves to help them organize their thoughts when speaking as well. The idea of writing a topic sentence, supporting it with details and clinching it with a final sentence that reflects and repeats key words from the topic sentence gives them a basic skeleton to fall back on time and time again.

Before they choose which facts they want to include in their outlines, I suggested yesterday that they go through the source text and underline all the doctor facts in one color, the superstition facts in another color, then the medicine facts in yet another color. Then let them choose the five to seven facts they find most interesting or most important regarding each topic.

If y'all have questions, let me know. Only the three rough draft paragraphs are due next week. Finals will be due the following week.

Finally, thanks to everyone for their patience and participation with pictures yesterday. I hope we got some great shots of our handsome brood!

Erin

Week 7 Admission Ticket

Complete Analytical Tasks 1-4 for the following sentence:

The class reads stories, and I listen.

You may use a photocopied Analytical Task Sheet, or you can complete it on a sheet of notebook paper. Bring it to class Tuesday for your Admission Ticket.

Week 6: We know direct objects now!

Good evening! We covered so much ground today in both EEL and IEW, and I want to caution parents: Take a deep breath and realize that although we introduced a lot of new information, we have plenty of time in the coming weeks to learn it.

The EEL sentence focus for the week is compound declarative and exclamatory Subject-Verb transitive-Direct Object sentences. First, we will spend the rest of the semester -- six more weeks -- on compound sentences. This allows ample time to understand the concept and memorize the coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) that help to form this sentence structure. Second, we will devote an additional two weeks after this week to our S-Vt-DO sentence pattern. You'll have opportunity after opportunity to teach and review, so be patient with yourselves and your students.

Work on your memory work this week, and spend your EEL time creating compound sentences from simple sentences by taking two simple sentences and using a FANBOYS to combine the two. Try to use a combination of S-Vi and S-Vt-DO sentences.

In contrasting the two sentence patterns, explain as many times as needed that intransitive verbs DO NOT transfer any action and that transitive verbs DO transfer action to a person, place or thing in the predicate of the sentence. We call that noun receiving the action a DIRECT OBJECT. Put another way, intransitive verbs have no answer to the question "Subject verb what?" but transitive verbs always have an answer to that question. Consider the two following sentences:

The cat chased.

• Who or what is the sentence about? Cat


• What did the cat do? Chased


• Can we answer "The cat chased what?" No


• So, "chased" is intransitive, and our sentence pattern is S-Vi.

The cat chased mice.

• Who or what is the sentence about? Cat


• What did the cat do? Chased


• Can we answer "The cat chased what?" Yes, mice


• So, "chased" is transitive. The mice are receiving the verb's action, and our sentence pattern is S-Vt-DO.

We discussed coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) during class, but I did not touch on subordinating conjunctions, relative pronouns or conjunctive adverbs as mentioned in the EEL guide. I will circle back to these later as our sentences include them. If you have an advanced student and want or need to cover these now, please do. But for most of our class, I believe FANBOYS is sufficient for the week. What I would like you to focus on is the fact that FANBOYS can join words, phrases or clauses (both independent and dependent). Examples are pretty easy to find. Pick a paragraph from a book, look together for FANBOYS, and then determine together if they join words, phrases or clauses. But incase you're drawing a blank, here's examples of each:

• Words -- apples, oranges OR pears


• Words -- boys AND girls


• Phrases -- over the river AND through the woods


• Phrases -- above the ocean BUT beneath the sky


• Clauses -- The wind blew, SO the kite soared.


• Clauses -- The marshmallows toasted, FOR the fire crackled.

Just FYI, the guide uses Charts G and H to introduce compound sentences and conjunctions. Please look over them with your student, and use them where you find them helpful.

During IEW, we started what will be an ongoing discussion of comma rules. They put into their notebooks a page of IEW's comma rules. Use these as guidelines, knowing there are exceptions here and there you will have to explain. For practice, I distributed a comma rules worksheet you can complete at home this week if desired. We also introduced prepositional phrase openers, and I directed them to a prepositions list at the front of their style charts. Those for whom prepositional phrases are still somewhat vague can refer to this list for now. We will cover prepositions in depth in, I believe, two weeks during EEL.

Your IEW task is to complete your three-paragraph story of the Mayflower. First you'll want to add prepositional phrase openers and additional five senses adjectives. Then you'll want to revise and complete your final checklists. When they write their final drafts, please use the MLA style and just check off where the checklist says "Composition is neat and double-spaced with name."

Finally, I'd really love for you to plan a time at home for your student to read his or her paper aloud to the family. First, it provides practice. Second, I'm finding it extremely difficult with 18 students to let everyone read as often as I'd like. I really hate for no one to hear what they've written after they devote so much time and effort. The quality and creativity of their writing is outstanding, so please make time for them to read aloud at home!

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this and investing in your children this week. See you next Tuesday.

Erin

Week 5: Can you question?

EEL families,

Today flew by as we learned how to change declarative sentences to interrogatives during our EEL time and talked in IEW about how to take a BORING story and rewrite it in an exciting and intriguing way. The students impressed me with their paragraphs on Jamestown; I'm eager to hear the rest next week.

At home this week, spend your EEL time reviewing memory work and charts and dialoging through simple S-Vi sentences that morph from declarative to exclamatory to imperative to interrogative. Then have fun diagramming them! Pay close attention to the three different ways we can make a sentence interrogative:

• Add a helping verb: "The dog eats" becomes "Did the dog eat?"



• Replace the subject noun with an interrogative subject pronoun: "The dog eats" becomes "Who ate?"



• Change your voice inflection: "The dog eats" remains "The dog eats?" but we change our voice tones to indicate we're asking a question.

Also remember that the subject of an imperative sentence is always what we call "implied you." By week's end, you will want to have spent time working with simple S-Vi sentences of all four sentence purposes. Next week, we finally get to move on to our second sentence pattern: S-Vt-DO. Yeah!

Our IEW assignment is to begin writing a three-paragraph story about the Mayflower. The final polished product will take us two weeks, but at home between now and next Tuesday, you are responsible for the following:

• three key word outlines,



• brainstorming quality verbs, -ly words, five senses adjectives and feelings,



• and three rough draft paragraphs.

I encouraged the kids today to consider how they can use words to create scenes and evoke images in their readers' or listeners' minds of the events happening in their stories. I can't wait to hear what they come up with! Their creativity, I suspect, is boundless. :)

Please let me know if you have questions. Thank you for sharing time in community with me today. It's a privilege to be with you and your children!

Erin

Week 4: Wow! Diagramming fun begins!

It sounds from Tina as if Essentials proceeded wonderfully without me today! She said the students were perfectly behaved, so thank you to all! Thanks, too, to Amy for holding Will so Tina could teach without distraction. We are having a nice week together at the beach. Strangely, we're more caught up on school work than we would be at home. A relaxing feeling, to say the least.

I'm sure Tina explained and demonstrated interjections, simple imperative S-Vi sentences, and diagramming thoroughly. Work through a few sentences at home and review your charts this week. Next week, we move on to our second sentence pattern: S-Vt-DO. I can't wait to see the students' brains begin discerning the different sentence patterns as they are juxtaposed. It's invigorating to watch them learn.

To their IEW paragraphs, the students are adding sentence openers, a who/which clause, and a clincher-reflecting title. I am glad Tina thought to distribute "Evil Ka-Weasel" so that you could see how to label papers. Handwritten labels in the margins of typed papers are fine! You don't have to figure it out on the computer. I would, however, like for paragraphs to be formated in MLA style. The IEW resource notebook has a page on this, but I'll also include a link that gives you both written instruction and a visual image: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. It's not difficult, and once you've done it, it's easy to replicate.

Please let me know if you have questions. I'm eager to read their paragraphs. See everyone next week.

Erin

Week 4 Admission Ticket

For Week 4, use as many of your IEW vocabulary words in a single sentence as you can. Your sentence can be silly, and it may run on and on, but it must meet the five rules, especially the one about making complete sense! :) Mrs. Tina will save them, and I'll read a couple of my favorites aloud to the class next week.

EEL moms,

Do you remember when, in middle school, we used to write notes to our friends while we were bored during class and we would sign them "LLL" for "Longer Letter Later"? Well, I'm going to write short tonight, and if needed, I'll post a "LLL" tomorrow! My brain's weary...

Your main EEL focus this week is nouns and pronouns and the Analytical Task Sheet #1-3. Incorporate nouns and pronouns by exploring the charts together that we put in the notebooks today (They're also on your Trivium Table.) and "applying" what you discover to whatever you're doing this week. Wherever you go, look for the opportunity to discuss how you could replace a noun with a pronoun. Take the time to identify nouns as proper or common, singular or plural, concrete or abstract, etc. Try to decide whether a pronoun is nominative or objective or possessive, etc. An ongoing noun and pronoun conversation is the goal. As far as the ATS, dictate very simple sentences two or three times and work through steps 1 through 3. Examples would be "The fox jumps," or "The doors close," or "On Tuesdays, Essentials meets."

For IEW, we began a two-week assignment to write a single paragraph report on Jamestown. We completed our key word outline in class. Next, the students need to brainstorm adjectives, verbs and adverbs before writing a rough draft. I'd begin tomorrow by covering up the source text and asking them to "retell" the source text paragraph using their key word outline. We did this in class today, but it would be great for them to do it again. Then brainstorm dress-ups. On Thursday and Friday, write the rough draft. Monday, complete the rough draft checklist. The rough draft does not need to be turned in on Tuesday.

Tina Gaines is subbing for me next week. She's wonderful, and I'm sure you'll appreciate the different style she brings to the front of the class!

I'll be available through phone and email if you have questions. See you in two weeks.

Erin

Week 3 Admission Ticket

For week 3, do the following to earn your gilded coupon:

Choosing from your four IEW vocabulary verbs, write three sentences. The first sentence should use one of your verbs in 1st person singular, present tense. The second should employ another of your verbs in 3rd person plural, future tense. The third should use a remaining verb in 2nd person singular, past tense.

I will give you a bonus ticket if you can tell me whether your verb in each sentence is transitive or intransitive and why.

Week 2: Verbs rule!

EEL families,

Greetings! What wonderful children you are raising! The energy today inspired me (and overwhelmed me -- 18 students is A LOT, even if that is a banned word...). I admire teachers who manage 30 students at a time day after day and actually accomplish something! Whew!

During our 45 minutes of EEL, we focused on verbs. Specifically, we introduced Week 2 memory work and zeroed in on

• the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs,


• the idea that verbs have "person" (1st, 2nd and 3rd),


• the idea that verbs have "number" (singular and plural),


• and the idea that verbs tell time (or tense -- past, present, future).

We also touched briefly on the irregular verbs chart (D), much of which the students will begin memorizing in Foundations shortly.

At home, spend time talking about these basic verb characteristics and discovering whether you can find verbs together in sentences. Choose a piece of literature you both enjoy, pick a paragraph, and start searching for verbs. For beginners, choose a piece of writing with simple sentence structures. For the more advanced students, select something more complex. By the end of the week, challenge yourselves with more difficult material. As you find the verbs, begin asking

• Is this a transitive or intransitive verb?


• Is it 1st, 2nd or 3rd person?


• Is it singular or plural?


• Is it expressing past, present, or future tense?


• Can I find a sentence where my main verb has a helping verb?

Use the basics of your verbs chart (C) and last week's chart (A) to help launch these conversations and review your memory work. But remember, we will revisit verbs every single week all year long, so we have plenty of time to delve more deeply into the finer details.

If you're feeling really brave, flip the idea around and work with your student to write a few basic sentences with verbs of choice. For instance, an example of a 2nd person singular, intransitive, past tense verb would be "You played." Not as difficult as it sounds, is it? Have fun with it! Language can be delightful if we approach it with wonder.

Speaking of delight and wonder, the kids chose superb quality adjectives and other words to describe America in their IEW poems. After hearing them read aloud today, I am anticipating a fantastic year of writing! Their assignment this week is another poem. The structure assigns writing about either Native Americans or European explorers; the style hones in on strong verbs and -ly words. We discussed the lesson during class. At home, you'll want to

• Brainstorm verbs and possibly begin a rough draft on Wednesday;


• Finish the rough draft, including -ly words, Thursday;


• Revise and polish Friday;


• Write or type the final, illustrate it, complete the checklist and practice reading aloud on Monday;


• Bring it to class on Tuesday with your checklist attached and name on it!

Looking forward to Tuesday!

Mrs. Erin

Week 2 Admission Ticket

When the students arrive Tuesday, I will ask them to tell me what five rules a sentence must meet. I'd also like them to use a straight line to divide the subject from the predicate in the following sentences:

1. Students come.

2. They attend Essentials.

3. Essentials is a class.

4. Essentials can be both fun and difficult at the same time.

5. Mrs. Erin will give her Essentials students assignments to complete.

6. Some students will call her an interesting teacher.

7. In return, she will declare her students brilliant!

Week 1: EEL Begins!

Essentials families,

I am going to adore your children this year. What a blessing they already are! Today was marvelous -- so many smiles. I just loved it. :)

When I post weekly, I will write about our EEL time first and our IEW assignment second. Always, always, always, if you have questions, please email me. For new parents especially, I may inadvertently omit information that is pertinent to you because I'm not remembering that you don't already know it! I apologize in advance and encourage your inquiries when something I do or say or suggest is unclear.

On to EEL...

In class, we focused on our 112 Sentence Classifications, which is Chart A. Our Week 1 memory work reiterates the information on this chart, and you may choose to use one, the other, or both to begin memorizing this information at home this week. In addition to loading that grammar, here's what you want to discuss:

• Sentences have structure. This simply refers to how we build our sentences. Are they simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex?


• Sentences have purpose. Our purpose tells us why we're speaking (or writing as the case may be). Are we making a statement (declarative) or an exclamation (exclamatory), asking a question (interrogative), or giving a command (imperative)?


• Finally, all sentences follow seven basic patterns. Our patterns identify how words are arranged in a sentence. Practice reciting those patterns aloud and learning the abbreviations for them.

You do not need to teach the difference between the four structures or the seven patterns this week. We have all year to cover that information, beginning in Week 3 with simple, subject-verb intransitive sentences. I believe the sentence purposes are review for most, however, so you can delve deeper into that if you wish.

Although I didn't cover it in class, the EEL guide introduces Chart B (112 Simple Sentences) in Week 1, too. While I will introduce simple sentences in two weeks, you can use this chart at home to demonstrate how structure, purpose and pattern mix and match to compose 112 different combinations. For example, play a game: Challenge your student to find the simple, declarative, S-Vt-DO sentence. Then find the simple, imperative, S-VL-PN sentence. Keep going with different combinations until you're both comfortable with the "grammar" and abbreviations of structure, purpose and pattern.

In addition, each family should determine how they want to "copy" the charts and how often to do so. You may want to do it orally some days and written others. You can copy from a chart to a blank sheet of paper, or you can study and then try to write one part from memory per day. There is tremendous flexibility. The only thing I'd warn against is burnout. We have all year, and they're going to see this information every week. Spend 20 to 30 minutes a day maximum on everything I've just written!

The IEW time at home this week should be about learning to choose valuable words when we write. Encourage them to use their style charts or a larger thesaurus to find the absolute best quality adjectives they believe describe the nouns in their America poems. If your student chooses an adjective you wouldn't -- just because it sounds neat (jumbo mountains, for instance) -- it's okay. Embrace the fact that they're developing unique style! I'd suggest brainstorming Wednesday, rough drafts Thursday, final drafts Friday, and illustration and practice reading aloud on Monday.

With such a tremendous class, it will be impossible for all students to read aloud every week. We will try to get at least half in next week. Then, for the following week, I'll let the second half choose between reading their Week 1 poem or their Week 2 poem. This is part of the reason I want them to read aloud for an "audience" at home. When they work hard, they deserve for their writing to be heard and appreciated! A note, though: Please let me know if you have a child who hates reading aloud and how you'd like me to help work through that this year.

I'll post next week's admission ticket separately. Don't forget to stick a zippered pouch or ziplock bag into their notebooks to contain their coupons til Week 12!

Thank you for sharing your school time with me today. See you next Tuesday,

Mrs. Erin

Week 1 Admission Ticket

Welcome to our 2011-2012 Essentials year! We begin in less than 48 hours... Take a deep breath!

Here is our Admission Ticket for Week 1. Students should print it, fill in the blanks, and bring it to class in exchange for their first gilded coupon.

1. Tell me your favorite thing to do in one word: I _______________.

2. What is your favorite food to eat? I eat _______________.

3. My name is _______________.

4. What kind of student are you? As a student, I am __________________.

5. For my birthday, my parents gave a _______________ to me.

6. If I had a dog, I would call my dog ________________.

7. Eating candy makes me _______________.

See everyone Tuesday!

Mrs. Erin

Week 23: Diagramming gerunds, infinitives and participles proves simple!

Wow! The kids were simply outstanding yesterday. They really hung with our completely comprehensive review of verbs, including forms, and the introduction to verbals. If you weren't able to attend class, check out the worksheets we completed together.

Continue tackling these verbs and verbals at home this week! Or, if needed for the lower level students, backtrack to where you need to be and hone skills there.

Our IEW assignment is Lesson 23. Once again, we are responding to a prompt. This time, however, we are responding to literature, particularly a rewrite of the story "Seven in One Blow." The students' job is to decide and write whether the main character is admirable or not and to support their opinions with three examples from the story. I only assigned Level A, given that we only have one week and many are still working toward Memory Master.

Only one week left! Amazing! I will review all papers turned into me this week and return them next week with tickets. Please remind your student to bring the tickets he or she already has to class on Tuesday. Whereas we redeemed them in the fall for money to give, this time the kids get to receive cash for every ticket they've earned. They love this part!

See everyone Tuesday.

Erin

Week 22: EEL may be work, but it is fun when we learn it together!

I believe the kids had a great class day today. They classified, diagrammed and QeQ'd our sentences SO well. I am quite impressed!

During our EEL time, we worked with the sentence pattern of the week: compound-complex S-Vl-PN & S-Vl-PA. In your time at home, you can continue working this pattern at your student's level, or you can backtrack to wherever you need to be. I believe next week we'll tackle verbals. Believe it or not, they will have much fun with these.

Because our IEW assignment is straightforward and not due until next week, we devoted almost our entire IEW time (and drill time, for that matter) to vocabulary review. The kids completed a matching worksheet, and then we played a game where we split into teams and they could either draw or dramatize a vocab word chosen from a bag -- basically pictionary and charades with IEW vocabulary. They seemed to relish it!

If you have any questions about EEL or IEW, please let me know. Otherwise, have a fantastic week and I'll see everyone Tuesday. I can't wait to hear their "Middle Age" perspectives on our 21st century!

Erin

Week 21: While home this week, build a compound-complex sentence and diagram it.

Hi moms and students,

Forgive me if I seemed harder on the kids than usual today to PLEASE be quiet while I'm talking -- it's the excitement of spring fever, I'm sure, that's eliciting so much conversation amongst themselves. I love them dearly -- they're so smart and thoughtful -- and I hate fussing, plus I'm glad they're happy in class. But I'd appreciate a reminder from mom at home not to talk while I'm speaking. We've got so much material to cover, and it gets tiresome talking over multiple voices.

Despite the chatter, we had an all-around great day. In EEL, we introduced compound-complex sentences. I chose to do this in three steps:

1. Start with a simple sentence.
2. Add another simple sentence and join the two with a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).
3. Add a dependent clause that begins with either a subordinating conjunction (WWW.ASIA.B) or a relative pronoun (9Ws + T).

The kids handled these steps pretty well as long as we worked together. But when I asked them to create their own sentences and gave them one simple sentence with which to begin, they all tended to make the same mistake. Instead of combining two simple sentences that could each stand alone, they combined the same subject with two verbs, resulting in a compound verb but not a compound sentence. Most of them added a subordinate clause without fail, but a couple continued using coordinating conjunctions to just "add on" to their sentence.

Once we finally settled on a true compound-complex sentence, everyone did extremely well with diagramming. That was encouraging!

So, given classtime today, I'd encourage families to work on building those compound-complex sentences at home this week using the three steps above. Start simple, go compound, THEN change to complex. Continue asking them, "Is your coordinating conjunction joining words, phrases or clauses?" And, of course, it needs to be joining independent clauses rather than two dependent clauses. If it helps, you can even give them two simple sentences to join with a CC. Here are some ideas:

• The team scores. The crowd roars.
• Taxis swerve. Horns honk.
• Cake is good. Ice cream is better.
• The dog scratched. His owner bathed him.

Our IEW assignment is to write a creative essay from a prompt. Just so the kids understand, remind them they are NOT writing about Marco Polo. Marco Polo and his travels to Asia are the PROMPT from which their assignment stems. They are to pretend they are peasants from the Middle Ages who have traveled through time to the 21st century and back and are trying to describe to fellow peasants what the 21st century is like. Level A writes one paragraph; Level B writes three with an intro and clincher.

I've allotted two weeks for the assignment, so I think most everyone could complete Level B. See the lesson, which I distributed in class, for the details. You may want to help them (or at least check up on them) during the brainstorming process. But this should be a blast. I can't wait to read the final papers!

Let me know if you have questions. Have a stupendous week.

Erin

Week 20: Can you QeQ, too?

Good morning. Running the math relay outside on Tuesday afternoon felt invigorating. Spring fever is hitting both me and the kids!

We had a good EEL day with a review of prepositions and our S-Vt-DO-OCN sentence pattern and the introduction (at last!) of QeQ. The students did GREAT! At home this week, keep working at your child's level on dictating, parsing, diagramming and modifying sentences. Then QeQ them to the extent you can using the basic format. I'll introduce the detailed QeQ format next week.

Your IEW assignment is revise and polish the "Ghengis Khan and His Hawk" critique. We discussed critique vocabulary in class and also looked at the Level B example critique together. I can't wait to hear the kids read these next week. They'll be fantastic, I know.

See you Tuesday,

Erin

Week 19: Parse, diagram, and modify your EEL sentences.

Good morning, EEL families! My post is short and sweet this week.

Your EEL guide continues to deepen our understanding of the English language with a thorough review of verbs. Use Lesson 19 as you see fit; back up to previous material if you need to. Continue parsing, diagramming and modifying at your child's level. Work on those verb anatomy charts if you can.

We decided to leave our IEW critique assignment at three weeks. Thus, the only writing the kids are responsible for this week is a rough draft paragraph of their conclusions. We'll revise and polish next week. If they need help figuring out how to write their opinions without using the words "I" or "you" or "my," the book gives suggestions and there may be additional help in the online IEW resource notebook.

It's so hard to believe, but we've only five weeks left in our EEL year! Amazing. Thanks for sharing your kids along the way.

Erin

Week 18: Practice, review and master what you've learned.

Hi, everyone. What a great group of moms and students we have at Westside! It was just a joy to be back among the living today. I missed you all last week!

After a cursory review of adjectives, we devoted most of our EEL time to a fun (at least I liked it...) review of our sentence structures, purposes and patterns. I didn't get to inspect each student's paper for correctness, but we did go over the answers in class. You might want to inquire at home as to how they did on their own. It may help you discover which sentence patterns come easily to them at this point and which they find more challenging.

We also celebrated the fact that we've covered all 18 weeks of memory work. From here on out, it's just review, review, review. Yahoo!

This is the point in the year when each mom needs to evaluate her student's progress in the curriculum. Nearly all of the kids will be at a different point. The next six weeks in class will carry us back to familiar material but take us to a deeper level with that material. To give an example, we'll review verbs next week but go deeper with our charts and forms than we have before. I want to spend some QeQ time in class as well. You'll have to decide how best to invest your time at home: do you need to stick with reviewing the basics (first- and some second-year students) or should you press forward for deeper understanding (some second-year and most rising Challenge A students)?

As far as the sentences you actually use for practice, you can select from your EEL guide or any other place. One of my favorite things to do at home is use whatever literature we're reading at the time. I choose sentences appropriate to Rachel's level and dictate them for spelling and mechanics practice. Then we label and diagram them and, as time allows, modify them. This week, I hope to begin QeQing them, too. Even one sentence a day can result in much progress.

What I'm saying is that it's perfectly fine if what we do in class either goes much deeper than what you practice at home or looks different than what you're working through at home. My desire is that each family finish the EEL year strong for each particular child.

Moving on to IEW, I handed out Lesson 19a, the first of three lessons in a three-week project. Level A assigns a three-paragraph critique on "Ghenghis Khan and His Hawk," whereas Level B assigns five paragraphs. This week's assignment is either two or three rough draft graphs, depending on the level. We completed the Level A outline in class, and Level B students only need a little more information in order to finish their outlines. We also looked at the example Level A critique included in Lesson 20. We'll look at the Level B example (also in Lesson 20) next week in class. In the meantime, let me know if you have questions regarding the assignment.

Enjoy a warm and wonderful week!

Erin

Week 17: Sickness on Essentials days makes your tutor unhappy!

Dear students and moms,

I'm so sorry not to have been there today. I went to bed fine last night but woke up this morning feeling horrible -- fever, chills, aches, congestion, the works. But I'm glad the kids were able to sit in under Ivey, and I hope everyone received the IEW lesson and vocabulary I sent.

Needless to say, this post will be short so I can go back to bed. :)

Here are the EEL sentences I'd planned to use in class today to illustrate our seventh and final sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCA:

1. Maggie painted the walls of her room blue.
2. The excellent science fair projects made competition for first prize stiff.
3. Jesus calls me holy.
4. The campaign declared the election successful.
5. The students' perfect behavior made their teacher happy.
6. Jack found the roller coaster exhilarating.

You can use these, or the ones from the guide, or your own at home this week for practice and diagramming. I'd also suggest modifying a couple by changing them from simple to complex and then diagramming again.

The other thing I'd planned to cover in EEL was an adjective review. We were going to look at descriptive, limiting and possessive adjectives, as well as adjectives of degree (positive, comparative, superlative.) Consult your guides and the associated charts for good information.

The IEW assignment, Lesson 18, is a ONE-WEEK assignment. Level A students may retell their story in one paragraph; Level B assigns three graphs. The idea is for the kids to take a fairytale, recast it with characters from the Middle Ages, and rewrite in their own words. I made up a sheet and photocopied it into the lesson that suggests additional fairytales the kids could use and also some character possibilities. Please note my suggestion that, if the assignment to change characters is blowing their brains, just rewrite the fairytale "as is" without any character alterations. Keep it simple. I'd rather have them writing confidently than stumbling over a blank page.

IEW does introduce www.asia.b clauses this week, both as sentence openers and as dress-ups in a sentence. We've already covered them in EEL, but please point out the change to the kids as they write so they're not surprised when it comes to their checklists.

OK. I hope and pray to see everyone next week.

Erin

Week 16: I call this class a smart group of students!

Good morning! I feel like I need to apologize for my brain power yesterday. I felt completely muddled at times -- pregnancy brain, I suppose, but frustrating nonetheless. I hope the kids didn't leave completely confused about object complement nouns!

I did introduce our sixth sentence pattern yesterday: S-Vt-DO-OCN. We looked at and labeled several sentences together. We modified them by changing either our sentence structure to complex or our sentence purpose to interrogative, imperative or exclamatory. We also learned how to diagram this newest sentence pattern. At home this week, keep reviewing memory work and begin practicing your OCN sentences. Pretty simple!

Thankfully, IEW is simple, too. Complete Lesson 16 from last week and Lesson 17, which I distributed yesterday, for a finished paper on "The Sword in the Stone." We learned a new decoration: the simile, which compares one thing to another using "like" or "as." Examples would be "hard as a rock" or "gentle as a lamb." And though they aren't included in the lesson, I also discussed metaphors, which call one thing another thing, such as "God is my rock," or "America is a melting pot." The kids can choose among these when adding decorations this week.

If you completed two KWOs and two rough draft paragraphs last week, your IEW assignment this week is to complete your third KWO and rough draft graph, then revise and polish your paper and complete your final checklist. The dress ups and decorations are what will really distinguish one student's paper from another with this assignment, so work diligently in this area!

Thanks. Have a wonderful week at home together. Let me know if you have questions.

Erin

Week 15: While you're home, keep asking yourselves complex EEL questions!

Sorry for the late post, moms! It's just been one of those days...

During class yesterday, we diagrammed interjections and complex S-VT-IO-DO sentences. I thought the kids did really well. I showed them the QeQ sheet the guide introduces this week but told them we won't spend any time on it until probably weeks 19-24. QeQ is quite fun; it's like puzzle-solving, so the kids usually take to it with good spirits.

Keep working to identify and diagram those complex sentences using all five of our sentences patterns to date!

IEW requires a bit more explanation this week. We began Lesson 16 yesterday, which uses the "The Sword in the Stone" to teach the story sequence. Basically, the lesson asks the kids to rewrite this story in their own words by breaking it into three sections and asking them to key word outline. The lesson itself is lengthy -- 12 pages -- but don't let it overwhelm you. There's nothing unusual besides its length. Just read the details.

As far as our tackling of it, here's what I think we can do:

At home this week, outline and rough draft Sections 1 and II. You'll find Section I on pages 108 and 109 and Section II on pages 112 and 113. In between, you'll see a brainstorming page for Section 1 (p. 110) and a Level B page on adding conversation to a story (p. 111). There's also a brainstorming page for Section II on page 114. Use those as you see fit.

NEXT week, we'll outline and rough draft Section III (pp. 115-117) and use Lesson 17, which I'll distribute in class next week, to revise and complete our final papers and checklist. If anyone wants to work ahead by outlining and/or drafting Section III this week, go for it. You'll have more time to polish next week.

The following week will be a challenge week to see if the kids can rewrite a three-paragraph story in just one week. Look ahead to Lesson 18 to get a feel for this assignment. ANY FAMILY WHO WOULD LIKE TO SPEND THREE WEEKS ON LESSONS 16 AND 17, THUS SKIPPING LESSON 18, HAS THE OPTION TO DO SO. Having said that, I think it would be beneficial for those planning to enroll in Challenge A next year to complete the King Arthur assignment in two weeks and the Lesson 18 assignment in one week. They will be responsible for writing multiple paragraphs per week next year, and this assignment would be a good preview of that.

I'm praying for a great week for you all. Don't hesitate to ask if you need me.

Erin

Week 14: Finish writing me a fantastic story from pictures!

What a superb Essentials class yesterday! I am so pleased with all the kids are learning. Parents, your children are rising up to call you blessed. Thank you for the time you invest in them at home each week. Even if no one else sees it, our heavenly Father smiles on your work day in and day out!

During EEL, we reviewed what we've learned about clauses, discussed active and passive voice verbs, then moved into S-Vt-IO-DO sentences. Continue reviewing those subordinating conjunction and relative pronoun lists this week in addition to working on indirect objects. Practice constructing complex sentences by taking a simple sentence, choosing either a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun, and adding a dependent clause that begins with that conjunction or pronoun. Next week in class, we will spend a lot of time diagramming complex S-Vt-IO-DO sentences. Fun, fun, fun!

We spent our IEW time learning about the two decorations assigned for their stories: alliteration and conversation. Punctuating conversation can be tricky. Keep working with them at home as opportunity allows!

The IEW assignment for Lesson 14, however, is pretty straightforward. The kids need to finish their stories, complete the Level B checklist, and turn it all in to me on Tuesday. Revise and polish one paragraph per day, perhaps, then complete the checklist on Monday. I do have a couple of pointers:

• We looked at an example story from IEW's Structure & Style guide yesterday that well demonstrates how to capture a picture's central fact in both the topic and clincher sentence of a paragraph. While this sounds easy, it can be difficult. Help your students by suggesting ideas if they need them this week.
• All of our dress-ups and decorations in the checklists are great tools for improving our writing, but it's okay to leave one out of a paragraph every now and then! If students like their paragraphs as is, and you know they've worked hard to produce excellent writing, tell them it's all right to skip that missing adjective or -ly this time! A well-written story is more important than 2 points on a checklist.
• Encourage them to read aloud as they write. Reading aloud often helps us discover what flows and what doesn't. When all three paragraphs are complete, hopefully on Friday, ask them to read aloud to an audience. It will give them time to make final changes and will make for a stronger presentation in class on Tuesday.

Have an outstanding week! Please call or email if you have questions.

Erin

Week 13: Although they can be tough, complex sentences make life interesting.

It was great to see everyone this afternoon, and we heartily welcome Matthew and his family to Greensboro and our CC family at Westside!

As usual, our two hours flew faster than I was able to squeeze in all the important and pertinent information of the day. Only on Tuesdays during Essentials am I jealous of the teachers who have their students for five hours a week per subject! I have to remember that I am the facilitator, and you moms are your kids' teachers at home! And I really wouldn't want it any other way... :)

So during your multiple hours of EEL study at home this week, focus on complex sentences. Lesson 13 introduces both complex sentences AND indirect objects, but we merely skimmed the surface of IOs today. We spent most of our time diving into dependent clauses. As I told the kids in class, we will camp several more weeks with our complex sentence structure and two more weeks with our S-Vt-IO-DO sentence pattern. If you'll devote your time at home this week to the complex sentence structure, we'll spend the next two weeks at home with indirect objects, both identifying and diagramming, before moving onto our next sentence pattern.

In particular with regard to complex sentences, the kids should know the following:

• The difference between a phrase and a clause
• The difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause
• What changes a simple sentence to a complex sentence (Hint: phrases do not!)
• How to recognize dependent clauses in a sentence (Study those relative pronoun and subordinating conjunction lists.)
• How to identify dependent clauses as adverbial or adjectival

There's no need to focus on diagramming this week unless you're just eager to do so. But please review memory work as time allows just to dust away the Christmas break cobwebs.

Onto IEW, we made our switch to creative writing today. Our first assignment is Lesson 14, Writing from Pictures. The kids should have great fun with this two-week, three-paragraph story they will write from the pictures given in the lesson. I allow the kids significant creative license here. As long as their central facts and clinchers capture what's depicted in the sketches, I don't care if the character is a gerbil genie, a carpet seller, or an enchanted pizza chef. Their imaginations are so fertile that I can't make them stay in the box of "Aladdin and the Lamp." This assignment last year produced AMAZING stories. We laughed til we cried, and I don't want to stifle those fresh eyes and minds.

Because it's a two-week assignment, I want the kids complete their KWOs and three rough draft paragraphs this week. Next week, they can brainstorm dress-ups and decorations, polish their finals, and complete the Level B checklist, all of which should be turned in two weeks from today, January 18. Also, we touched on five senses adjectives and emotions in class today, but next week, I will go over the two decorations on the checklist -- alliteration and conversation -- and will give the IEW style charts to those who do not have them.

Lastly, our math time this afternoon got squeezed by heavy EEL and IEW material and the exploding trashcan experiment out in the parking lot -- all good and worthy stuff. However, next week, I'll look to spend our full 30 minutes on math games and drill. Just FYI. :)

As always, thank you for sharing your precious children with me on Tuesdays. They are like a breath of fresh air every week. PLEASE let me know if you have questions. I pray you have a super time learning together at home these next few days!

Erin