Week 8

Thank you for being flexible with me and allowing me to run the classes together and slip out during math.  I thought I was just exhausted from being up with sick girls, but it looks like it was a bit more than that.  I spent the rest of that day and the next day in bed. I pray that no one caught anything from me.  I was careful to wash hands well and not breathe all over people just incase I was carrying germs.

EEL

Prepositions

I hope you enjoyed The Spooky Old Tree! My kids love the book.  I've not found a better one for introducing prepositions.

We started class with "Preposition and Treat" and wrote down the preposition. Mine was...

between

This became the foundation of our sentence.  We added an object of the preposition by asking preposition + who/what?  Remember, without an object, a preposition is just an adverb. (Example: Jane went out.) Here is mine.

between the pages

We added a subject and verb to the preposition to complete our simple sentence. Mine had a direct object too.

She hid money between the pages.

Finally, we added a second simple sentence, using the interrogative form.  We connected these sentences with a comma and coordinating conjunction.

She his money between the pages, but where did she hide the book?

Voila! A compound interrogative sentence with a prepositional phrase.

We also checked out Chart J (Prepositions) and talked about memorizing them.  There is a song for this in the sidebar, in Cycle 1.  It's lengthy, but worth memorizing.
We also walked through the C.S. Lewis quotation and found tons of prepositional phrases.

IEW

Vocabulary words: animosity, provoke, indignant, audacious.

We moved from Unit 3 Story Narrative (creative writing based) to Unit 4, Summarizing References (report writing based).  Your Unit 4 chart in your IEW charts section gives the outline that we use.

Topic:
     1.
     2.
     3.
     4.
     5.
Clincher:

We looked at "The First Thanksgiving" p. 102, and identified topic sentences and clinchers and saw how they repeat and reflect.

With topic/body/clincher, remember…
Tell them what you're going to tell them.
Tell them.
Tell them what you told them.

Next, we read our source text for Lesson 14, "Colonial Life: Church" p. 104.  We constructed our KWO by reading through and choosing facts that were important or interesting. Do not KWO each sentence.  With a lengthy text, you will have no choice but to limit information.  The idea is to learn how to extract facts from too much information and to prioritize and limit what goes into your paper. Feel free to use the outline we did in class or change it to incorporate facts that you wanted to include.

The one paragraph paper is due on Tuesday.  Please remember to check off your checklists and highlight words in the topic sentence and the clincher that repeat and reflect.

Week 7

EEL

Recipe for a Compound, Imperative Sentence

2 imperative independent clauses
1 comma
1 coordinating conjunction

Preheat your brain to focused and on. For the first layer, put down one of the imperative independent clauses.  Add a pinch of comma. Spread on a coordinating conjunction.  Top with the other imperative independent clause.

Climb mountains, but don't climb the furniture.
Cook supper, but do not cook grammar.

Make up some of your own! Follow the recipe.

Appositives

An appositive follows immediately after a noun and renames it.  A good test--you should be able to switch around the appositive with the noun it renames.

Mrs. Varnell, my teacher, uses a low-tech overhead projector.

or

My teacher, Mrs. Varnell, uses a low-tech overhead projector.

Also notice that the appositive is set apart in the sentence by commas.

Adverbs

Study Chart I and memorize the definition of an adverb and the questions that you have to answer to determine if a word is an adverb (gray boxes).

Thank you, Mrs. Reaves for looking up the answer to the question, "Do all adverbs have degrees?" The answer is no, not all, just most.  Adverbs that are already absolutes/extremes do not have degrees.  For example, nothing cannot be more nothing.  It's opposite, everything, cannot be less than all, therefore, does not have degree.

IEW

Lesson 12

Feel free to use the KWO we did in class and compose your own final paragraph.  Finish your own brainstorming for dialogue, but feel free to incorporate any of the other brainstorming we did in class today.  Go over that final checklist to make sure you have included all the elements.  Polish your paper and add an illustration! Illustrations are optional, but I enjoy them so much!

Challenge

I would love to hear more alliteration puzzles like we did at the beginning of class.  So, if you can come up with your own alliteration and then disguise it, I might just bring in candy to reward your extra effort.  Make up as many as you like, but save your very best for class.

Week 6

EEL

This week we tackled a new structure and sentence pattern; we learned compound sentences and subject/verb transitive/direct object (S-Vt-DO).

S-Vt-DO
We talked about the fact that a transitive verb transfers action to an object.  We started with a subject/verb, then added an object.  For example,

Matthew threw...
(verb, who or what?) threw ball.

Watch out for the prepositional phrase ending instead of a noun acting as a direct object.  For example,

Mary swam in the lake.
If we are trying to find a direct object, the question that we ask is swam, who or what?.  In the lake answers the question where? and is adverbial. So, to make a direct object, we have to answer the right question, who or what?.  A possible answer would be,
Mary swam a mile.
swam, who or what? swam mile.  Mile is a noun, acting as a direct object.

Please remember to ask the question, subject, verb, who or what? when finding the DO.  If it doesn't answer that question, it isn't a direct object.

Compound Sentences
A compound sentence has to have two independent clauses (sentences) joined by a coordinating conjunction, both elements or it isn't compound.

First, we made compound sentences by adding a coordinating conjunction to join some independent clauses.  I gave them many examples,

I take good care of my cat.     He loves me.
The British attacked.     Washington defended.
Carl became an intern.     He makes great coffee.
I spent all my money.     I am broke.

Next, we moved on to differentiating between coordinating conjunctions that are joining words only and those that are joining independent clauses.  For example,

Bob and Carl ate donuts and talked.
(first and joins Bob, Carl = words (compound subject); second and joins donuts, talked=words (compound verb)) 

Claire sneezed, and milk came out her nose.
(and joins Claire sneezed, milk came out her nose=independent clauses)

Please note that a compound sentence requires a comma before the coordinating conjunction.  A compound subject or compound verb does not require a comma.  In fact, adding a comma is probably the biggest comma misuse out there.

Here is where it gets tricky.

Thomas hiked the mountain and reached the summit.  

No comma necessary because and is joining an independent clause with the phrase reached the summit.  This is a compound verb, not a compound sentence.  The temptation is to add that comma, but it doesn't belong.

When diagramming a compound sentence, use a dotted line with a "chair" between verbs.

Grammar (Drill)

Take a look at chart H (conjunctions) to see that there are many types of conjunctions.  Just memorize the grey area at the top (definition) and the coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so); forget the rest for right now.

Dialectic (Understanding)

Work through many compound sentences.  Create them, and "task" them on the task sheets.  Challenge yourself with S/Vt/DO compound sentences if you want.

English grammar is a puzzle! Have fun taking it apart and putting it back together and seeing the wonderful picture of language that God created so that we could relate to one another!

IEW

This week we started a two week paper, lesson 11, using the Shot Heard Round the World text. We also introduced a new dress-up, quality adjectives; a new decoration, similes and metaphors; and dialogue.  We had to jump around in the IEW resources quite a bit to cover these items.

Adjectives

In your writing this week, add some quality adjectives and avoid banned adjectives (good/bad, pretty/ugly, nice/mean, big, a lot, interesting).  Refer to the pink pages for suggestions. Underline these in your paper.

Similes and Metaphors

Try to incorporate a simile or metaphor in your writing this week.  For a thorough review of this and for practice and brainstorming instruction, please refer to the gray pages in the student notebook (p. 44-45).

Dialogue

Add a bit of dialogue to your two paragraphs this week.  The practice page we used in class is on page 68 in the student notebook (white pages that are not in page protectors).  The answer key is on page 88.

Assignment

Lesson 11, The Shot Heard Round the World is our source text.
This is a two week paper.  The first week we are writing paragraphs for
I. Setting, characters, mood
II. Conflict (plot)

Follow the outline on pp. 87 and use the questions in the left column to pull out a KWO.  Follow this with the brainstorming pages that follow in order to add adjectives and dialogue.  Finally, work in a simile or metaphor.

You will not turn in your rough draft for these two paragraphs to me.

Happy writing!

Week 5

I was so pleased that everyone had a chance to read a paper yesterday!  Will Reaves, we were glad to see you again this week, but we missed Aiden Ward.  Thank you, Mrs. Bate, for providing Smarties and Tootsie Rolls.  Nothing like some sugar to enliven the troops!  You are a fantastic group of kids. I enjoy your company and your enthusiasm.

EEL

In class we introduced the interrogative sentence. We talked about the three ways to change a declarative sentence into an interrogative:

1) Inflection, "Robert talks." vs "Robert talks?"

2) Interrogative pronoun
(who, whom, whose, which, what--9th song on sidebar in Cycle 2) replaces the subject,
"Robert talks." vs "Who talks?"
 This form is labeled (SP) when we are labeling sentences in task #2 on the task sheet.

3) Helping verb introduces the sentence, "Robert talks." vs "Did Robert talk?"
The helping verb is labeled (Vh) when we are labeling sentences in task #2 on the task sheet.
We will memorize the list of helping verbs in Foundations this year, after we finish prepositions.

We spent time working through the task sheet with each of these forms and focused on diagramming the helping verb sentence, which students have to switch around in their heads to the declarative form in order to diagram.  For example, "Did Robert talk?" becomes "Robert Did talk." (Did capitalized to remain the first word of the sentence).  This is much easier to work with when diagramming.  Remember to put both the helper and main verb together to the right of the bisecting line.

Robert (line) Did talk

What do I do this week?
Review memory work through week 5, and charts (A-F)

Work with your student to make up interrogative sentences using all three forms: inflection, interrogative pronoun, and introductory helping verb.  Then "task" a few sentences as far as your student can go.  Remember, new students, if you make it through task 2, you've accomplished big things.  If you can go all the way to task 4, you've arrived.

Moms, please remember that quantity is not king.  Quality is the focus of EEL.  We take one sentence and tell everything there is to know about that sentence before setting it aside.  We don't just identify all the nouns in 20 sentences, we go much deeper because we identify nouns in every sentence throughout the entire year.  There is a cumulative effect.

Special Note for those using the checklists
You will see the Quid et Quo introduced this week in Thursday's lesson.  This tool is a separate page from the task sheet, but is task six.  There is a basic and advanced form.  If you would like to do this, please have at it, but don't worry about it if you have never used this tool before.  Remember that the checklists were written with year two and three students in mind.  If you have no idea what the Quid et Quo is, just skip that part.  Year two students, it's time to try this.  Year three students, advanced form as far as you can.

One other thing about checklists.  This week and last you may have noticed that it just says "forum sentences" and then gives the numbers you are to cover.  All this means is that your student should parse these sentences with you.  This is meant to be an oral drill instead of the formality of the task sheet.  This is task sheet without it in front of you--very dialectic.  Just look at the sentence and tell everything you can about it:  part of speech, gender, number, person, tense, talk about what kind of verb it is, what kind of noun, what purpose, structure...  Talk about the sentences and identify.  This is like a mini Task Sheet/Quid et Quo.

IEW

Vocabulary words: cunning, contemplate, gravity, persevere

This week we introduced Unit 3: Story Sequence Chart (p 69).  Unit 1 and 2 were all about understanding how to key word outline (KWO) and write paragraphs from them. With the introduction of Unit 3, we jump to creative writing. We read our source text on p. 68, "The Boston Massacre" and talked about how to take KWO notes from questions, not from each line.

On page 68, we looked at the Unit 3: Story Sequence Chart and talked about

I. Setting, Characters, Background
II. Conflict (Plot)
III. Climax and Resolution

and covered the meaning of each.

We also constructed a KWO outline for, I. Setting, Characters, Background, using the questions on p. 69 to the left of section I.  For example, we asked the first question, "What is the setting?" and our KWO answer was something like...

Boston, 1770, cold, crowded street

The second question was, "Who are the characters?" and we said,

John, Hugh, British (picture of soldier), (frowning face) colonists.

When we reconstructed the paragraphs from our KWO, we found that the writing lacked 5 sense words, so we looked at p. 70 and brainstormed words to inject back into our story to give it life.

Next, we talked about the because clause, p. 62, and saw how it demands more information. Remember that if a because clause is a the beginning of a sentence, it is followed by a comma.  If it comes at the end of the sentence, no comma is necessary.

Base sentence: Mrs. Varnell's class is clever.
Because clause: Because Mrs. Varnell's class is clever, (needs more info.)
Final because clause sentence: Because Mrs. Varnell's class is clever, she gives them candy!

This week's assignment:
KWO using question format (p.69)
Finish the brainstorming pages (p. 70-71)
Write the three paragraph paper using your brainstorming words
Check off your checklist (p. 72)

Moms, please remember that you have the option of combining Setting, Conflict, Climax and Resolution into a one paragraph paper.

Week 4

I loved your collective nouns! Thank you for looking them up and bringing them in. They were a great excuse to buy chocolate.

EEL

We introduced the imperative sentence with the understood you.  We practiced changing declarative sentences into imperative sentences.  For instance, Sarah writes, becomes, Write.  The colossal toddler stomped on an unsuspecting ant, becomes, Stomp! or rather Don't Stomp if you prefer.

A few things to remember about imperative sentences.

1. They are commands or requests.  (Make your bed.  Sweetheart, please make your bed.)

2. The subject of an imperative sentence is always, "you".

3. If the subject you is not spoken, the you is implied.  When diagramming, implied you goes in parenthesis on the subject line. (you)

From the imperative sentence, we moved on to interjections.  We talked about how the interjection is not really part of the grammar of a sentence, except to add emotion.  I explained that if we use an exclamation point after an interjection, it demands more emotion than a plain comma after an interjection. When diagramming, the interjection goes on a horizontal line above the subject.

We also talked about nouns of direct address (NDA).  In the example, Sarah, write. the name Sarah is an NDA.  The speaker is directly addressing her.  The subject of the sentence is still the implied you. When diagramming, the NDA goes on a line by itself above the subject.  If there is also an interjection, stack the lines on top of one another in the order that they appear in the sentence.

IEW

Our vocabulary this week was: hostile, perilous, subside, secluded.

We played a round of hangman with our banned verbs.  Please memorize these and avoid them in your writing!  (go/went, come/came, see/saw, get/got)

We also talked about state of being verbs. (be, am, are, is, was, were, being, been)  These are the is-ing verbs.  Mrs. Varnell is in the room.  In that sentence Mrs. Varnell is "is-ing".

After having covering banned verbs and state of being verbs, it should be no surprise that our focus for this week was the strong verb. We looked at the blue strong verb section in the student binders.  Please refer to these lists if you need help or get stuck.  Also, a synonym finder (thesaurus) can help.

In lesson 7, we introduced poem writing with a focus on the strong verb.  This week you will compose two poems, one about he Native American as they watched the explorers arrive, and one about the explorers arriving in America. Each line must include a strong verb.

We started the brainstorming page on p. 57 and then transferred our favorites from the brainstorming page to our poem template on p. 56.

Finally, we talked about alliteration. It is an IEW decoration (not dress-up).
Alliteration is really rather remarkable.  R-r-r- sound repeated.  It should be used sparingly.  Please attempt one example of alliteration in one of your poems.

In labeling your paper, dress-ups are underlined, but decorations are underlined and also labeled in the margin next to the decoration.  Write the abbreviation allit. to the right or left of the sentence where it appears.

Great week!  I look forward to hearing more papers next week.