Week 24

Our Essentials Class!

Well done!  What an accomplishment to make it through another year of Essentials.  I'm so proud of each student.  Thank you for sharing your Faces of History papers last Tuesday.  It was interesting to hear about so many different characters from our nation's story.

I will read your critique papers and return them to you at the closing ceremony this Tuesday evening at seven.

I wish you well and pray for your continued success as you tackle another year of Essentials or move on to new endeavors.

Much love,
Mrs. Varnell

Our two Ronald Reagans!

Ulysses S. Grant's wife, Julia Boggs Dent Grant

Harriet Tubman

Susan B. Anthony

Clara Brown (not dressed up, of course)

Abraham Lincoln

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Week 23

EEL

Today we covered compound-complex sentences again, this time using the S/Vt/IO/DO pattern. We also talked about the last of the verbals--gerunds. Finally, we wrapped up with an overview of verb mood, focusing on the subjunctive mood.

Compound-Complex

The recipe for a compound-complex sentence is
independent + coordinating conjunction + independent + subordinate clause.
Practice, practice, practice!

Gerunds

These verbals are always in the present participle verb form and are always used as a noun.  When thinking about the definition of a noun (person, place, thing, activity or idea) gerunds usually fall into the activity part.

Here are some examples:

Swimming is fun.
I like biking.

Verb Mood, Subjunctive

Verbs are either indicative, imperative, or subjunctive.  Imperative give commands.  Indicative are everything else, except for those that are subjunctive.  So, what are subjunctive?  They are the sentences that express a wish or hope.

I wish I had made my bed like Mom said.
I wish I were taller so I could dunk the ball.
If only a maid were to magically appear and clean my house, I would be able to relax.

One temptation with the subjunctive mood sentence is to use the verb was, but please remember to use were.

Wrong: If I was green, I could pass for a Martian.
Right: If I were green, I could pass for a Martian.

IEW

Our final unit! Unit IX.  This week we are writing a critique.  You can use the source text provided in U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons on page 211, titled "A Successful Expedition" or you can use your own source text like we did in class.

In class we read the children's story, Parts, by Ted Arnold, and filled out the critique outline on page 213 of U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons.  Use this same outline to complete your critique.  Remember, the critique is just a recapping of a story or event like a movie or play and then adding a fairly technical introduction and a final paragraph stating your opinion.  Follow the outline and you're sure to succeed.  I am attaching the checklist in an email.

Looking forward to being with you for our final class next week!  I will read your papers and be ready to return them to you for reading.  Dress up as the character from you paper, or if you did a character of the opposite sex, dress up in that time period and similar style of your character.

Party!

Everyone will bring a snack to share next week.  I will email the list of food items and supplies that each of you signed up for.  If you were not able to sign up, please email me and I'll put you on the list.

Love my Essentials Class! Have a great week!

Week 22

EEL

Compound-Complex Sentences

We started with a three or four word S/Vl/PA, then added a coordinating conjunction and an S/Vl/PN.  Voila! a compound sentence.  From there, I asked the students what I needed to add to make the sentence complex.  A subordinating conjunction, of course!   We made a few compound-complex sentences then did the front of the task sheet (task 1-4) to take it further.

Verbals-Participles

Participles are the second type of verbal that we have covered.  Last week we worked on infinitives.  Next week we will talk about gerunds.  The important thing to remember about verbals is that they look like verbs (are in verb form) but are used as a different part of speech.  Identifying their use in a sentence is key to recognizing them.

We have seen participles before when working through verb anatomy.  The form used for verb anatomy is infinitive, present, past, present participle, past participle.  So, play would be to play, play(s), played, playing, played.  Notice those last two forms--present and past participle.  These are the verbs + -ing or -ed.  These can be used as adjectives as well as verbs.

Here they are as verbs.
The dog was sleeping.
The child was jumping.
The mother was delighted.

Here they are as adjectives (verbal form)
The sleeping dog jumped when I shouted.
The jumping child was distracted.
The delighted mother received blooming flowers.

Here is one that mixes both.
The boys were swimming in a rushing river.

When a participle is used in verbal form it will always be an adjective and will be diagrammed under its antecedent (the word it modifies) on a line that curves.

IEW

We had a great time playing vocabulary hangman!  Thank you, students, for taking over class and running the show.  I got to sit back and relax and guess words along with all of you.

Assignment

For our papers this week, please finish up your five paragraph Faces of History paper.  Add an opening anecdote and illustration if you would like.

Please include in your page protector...
Faces of History Paper
Bibliography
Body Paragraph Checklists (3)
Introduction/Conclusion checklist

In my email, I have included the Student Resource Notebook download that you are entitled to own if you own the IEW American History-Based Writing Lessons resource.  On page 18 you will find the MLA Bibliography and Works Cited examples. Please pattern your bibliographies after these.

Final Note

The papers are due next week but we will not read them until the final class day.  I encourage you to dress the part of your character on week 24.

Also for week 24, everyone please bring in a treat to share!

Week 21

EEL

This week we covered compound-complex sentences and introduced one of the verbals--infinitives.

Compound-Complex Sentences

We began by having students come up with a two word sentence in the S/Vi pattern.  To that, they added a coordinating conjunction.  Then we added another S/Vi.  (Compound)  But we didn't stop there.  We next added a subordinate clause to one of the S/Vi sentences.  (Compound-complex).  We worked through this a few times.

Verbals (Infinitive)

We tackled infinitives as best we could.  The guide considers this an advanced task that doesn't need to be taught if the class is young in understanding.  But we took the challenge and found ourselves squarely matched.  The point I wanted the kids to see is that to + a verb, that base form of our verb anatomy, is sometimes not used as a verb in a sentence.  Please have them memorize the definition of an infinitive: An infinitive is to + a verb used as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

Infinitives used as subject nouns and direct objects are straightforward and fairly easy to identify. It's those pesky adjectives and adverbs that are rather difficult to place.

Take a look at chart Q (Verbals) to see how an infinitive is diagrammed.  It goes on stilts!  How fun!

IEW

Thank you for reading your papers!  I so enjoy hearing you present them in class.  If you left one of your papers at home and would like to share it next week, please go put it in your backpack right now so you don't forget to bring it on Tuesday!

Dual Dress-Ups and Triple Extensions

We introduced our two final dress-ups this week.  If you use them in your writing, please underline the words or phrases and note it in the margin with either a 2x for the dual dress-up, or 3x for a triple extension.

The first was the dual dress-up, on page 188 of our text. This is just using two adjectives, verbs, or -ly adverbs in a row in a sentence.

Bright, colorful fireworks explode in the dark sky.  (2X adj)
Fireworks, bright and colorful, explode in the dark sky. (2X adj in a different order)
Marines stand at attention and salute when I pass. (2x verb)
Widows tearfully, lovingly mourn over fallen soldiers. (2x -ly adverb)

The Triple Extension can be found on page 50 in your Student Resource Notebook.  It is simply repeating the same word, part of speech, phrase or clause in a sentence.  This adds impact and can even make writing sound sophisticated.  Here is one of the examples that repeats prepositional phrases and words.

"…government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.
(A. Lincoln)

Well, we're winding down for the year, a final 5 paragraph assignment in IEW, Memory Master proofing, and compound-complex sentences. Keep going and finish strong! You have so much to celebrate once you cross that finish line.

Week 20

EEL

Today we looked more in depth at adjectives.  If your student has not yet memorized the definition of an adjective or the questions that adjectives answer, please take a look at chart L and make it a priority to memorize the gray portion.

But today we jumped to the bottom of the chart and tackled types of multi-word adjectives, the adjectival phrase and the adjectival clause.  We looked at many samples of sentences with adverbial and adjectival prepositional phrases and labeled them accordingly.

Adjectival and Adverbial Prepositional Phrases

Identifying adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases is difficult!  Students rose to the challenge, though I got a lot of blank stares too.  The key to this skill is to figure out the word modified and identify which question the prep. phrase answers.

The bridge over the water is lovely.

Over the water is the prep. phrase.  It modifies bridge.  It answers the question Which? bridge--the one over the water.  It's an adjective prepositional phrase.  One thing that may trip up students is that prepositional phrases tell where so often.  Your student may look at the sentence and say that over the water describes Where the bridge is.  Remember that if your phrase modifies a noun, you have an adjective.  If it modifies a verb or adverb, it is used as an adverb.

Bonus

Found the answer to the sentence that tripped us up.  Thank you, Erin Richardson and Rhonda Lin for hunting down the answer even before class was over!  I love smart phones.

There are three monkeys in that tree.

The word there is an expletive.  Nope, doesn't mean a curse word. Who knew?! It just means that it acts kind of like an interjection in a sentence.  It is there to support a style of expression, not to give more meaning.  For instance, you could leave out the word entirely if you switched the word order around.  Three monkeys are in that tree.  Same meaning, different style of expression.  In the original sentence, there would be diagrammed on a floating line above the subject noun, just like an interjection.

Adjective Modifiers

This exercise was taken straight from lesson 20 in the EEL guide.  We matched sample sentences with the correct adjective modifier type.  We identified noun modifiers used as adjectives, adjective clauses, single word adjectives, prepositional phrase adjectives, and even appositives.  This exercise helped identify many different ways that an adjective can appear in a sentence.

IEW

We covered our last four vocabulary words for the year--revel, jaunty, encounter, lure.

We took a look at lesson 29 and talked about the anecdotal opener.  Consider adding one of these to your paper.  Especially if you are ahead in the writing, you will have time to hunt down a good story about your character and stuff it full of five sense descriptions.

Some specifics.
The anecdotal opener is a paragraph all to itself that goes before your introduction.
You can italicize it.
It is no more than 8 sentences long.
It tells an interesting or amusing story.
Its purpose is to hook your reader.
You can repeat and reflect both the anecdotal opener and your introductory statement in the final clincher.

Look on page 203 in U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons to see an outline for the introduction and conclusion of this paper.  To see the outline for the entire paper, check you student guide and look at Chart VIII (Library Research Report).  The only real difference is that page 203 includes the anecdotal opener.

IEW Assignment for this week:

Finish your third fused outline and write all body paragraphs.  Be sure to use the checklists that I passed out last week to check that you have completed all the requirements for each body paragraph.  Next week we will move on to writing the introduction and conclusion.

Week 19

EEL

This week in English grammar, we took a closer look at verbs and walked through the importance of irregular verbs and principle parts of verbs.  Having the principle parts of verbs memory work in Foundations helped smooth this discussion.  For practice applying the concept, we chose to lay (to place or put) and to lie (to lower, something that "I" can do to myself) and worked through sentences with different tenses of these verbs.  Another good set of irregular verbs to work through would be to rise and to raise.

We also reviewed the OCN sentence pattern and composed an interrogative, OCN, complex sentence.  We began with the OCN declarative sentence and practiced the three different ways to make it interrogative.  After making it interrogative, we added a dependent clause.  Voila! Interrogative, OCN, complex.

IEW

This week we began our 3-4 week Library Research Paper.  For homework, students will need to…
1. Locate 2-3 good sources about a person in United States history.
2. Narrow down to three topics to research about that person.
3. Make key word outlines (KWO) from facts in each source for topic #1 then fuse the outlines into one 5-7 fact KWO.
4. Repeat for topic #2.
5. Brainstorm strong verbs, quality adjectives, etc. so that the student is better prepared to write the paragraphs.

Be ready to continue next week with a third KWO and writing all three body paragraphs.

The third week, we will tackle the introductory and concluding paragraphs.

A possible fourth week will allow us to polish up the papers and prepare costumes (optional) for reading on the last day of class.

Note: One option is to write the paper without revealing the person's name.  Then everyone can take a guess about who it is.

Week 18

I apologize for any advertisement links that are popping up in my text.  I didn't put them there. Please don't click on them.

EEL

We mostly focused on review.  I thought the students did a great job at asking the right questions to determine sentence patterns when we did the matching handout.  Those PA/PN, OCA/OCN sentences were the tricky ones.

Finally, we got to the active and passive voice lesson!  We identified whether sentences were active or passive by determining if the subject was doing the action.  Active, yes.  Passive, no.

To identify a sentence in passive voice, look for the following key elements.  1) a helping verb coupled with a past participle form of the verb (example: was helped) 2) the person or thing doing the action is the object of the sentence 3) there will be a stated or understood "by + object doing the action".

John bought a new puppy.   Active: John is doing the buying.

The new puppy was bought by John.   

Passive: "was bought"= helper + past participle, John is an object, "by John"

More examples:
A= I admire her voice.
P= The voice was admired by me.

A= The tornado ravaged the town.
P = The town was ravaged by the tornado.

This week, continue to review your part of speech charts and work on memorizing any questions that help identify adjectives or adverbs, nouns or verbs.  This memory work comes first.  Only after the memory work is solid will the understanding come.

IEW

We began unit VIII today, the Library Research Report.  We will really begin this type of report next week, but will warm up to it this week by adding an introductory and concluding paragraph to body paragraphs that the students have already written.  So, pull out the apple reports or a previous paper that has more than one paragraph and use the outline guide given on page 197 in the student text to write these extra, short paragraphs.

The goal in this assignment is to gain understanding of the structure of the coming paper.

Introductory paragraph

topic one, two, and three paragraphs

concluding paragraph

This paper is technically an essay because it asks for the writer to state his opinion in the closing paragraph.  The prompts "Most significant" and "Why?" create this distinction.  When answering this question, please make sure that the student does not use "I" or "We".  

I think that apples are important because…

Rather, have them simply state their opinion as a fact.

Apples are important because…

Like my passive voice sentence example about Mrs. Apple inventing the apple pie, feel free to make up facts if you wish.

Please contact me with any questions you might have regarding the assignment.  Have a blessed week, and Happy Valentine's Day!  

Week 17

We are beginning to wind down for the year.  It may not feel that way as we tackle more difficult sentences, but really, we only have one more structure to introduce.  One great thing to recognize is that each of us is a student of our language our entire life.  The ultimate goal of language is to convey truth, beauty and virtue, and since these flow from God, the ultimate goal of language is to convey what we know of God.  And because God is infinite in his truth, beauty and virtue, we will always be students, forever learning, forever expanding, forever penning new understanding. So, with that perspective in mind, this is just one little stop on a much longer journey.  Learn a bit now and look forward to comprehending more about God and language in the path ahead.  This class is just one blip of time, one year, one piece of the puzzle.

EEL

Yesterday, we introduced the last sentence pattern, S/Vt/DO/OCA.  We also identified all the adjectives in a very long complex sentence, (pp. 268--269 in EEL guide) diving deeper into understanding adjectives.  We referred to Chart L to determine if each adjective was descriptive, possessive or limiting.

S/Vt/DO/OCA

Determine the object complement adjective by asking the following questions:
1) (V) (DO) whom/what?
2) does it follow the direct object?
3) is it an adjective?
4) does it describe the direct object?

Some examples from class...
Jon painted the car green.
Hank calls her beautiful.
God called the ground good.

Here is a good one for a complex sentence with an OCA.
As long as he treats the horse badly, consider the horse wild!

Adjectives

Using Chart L (adjectives chart) we determined if adjectives in our example sentence were descriptive, possessive or limiting.  The sentence (pp. 268-269 in the EEL guide) was

Old farmer John painted some parts of his barn bright purple, although he was color blind and thought it was red.

From there, we determined that old was a descriptive, positive degree adjective, and farmer was a noun acting as a descriptive adjective, and some was a limiting, indefinite pronoun acting as an adjective...

Pegging adjective types was not the challenge as much as wrestling with identifying each part of the complex sentence.  We even found a noun clause acting as a direct object.

Here is a clickable link to the English Grammar Revolution page (always on the blog sidebar) where I find all kinds of diagramming answers.  Fun! Fun!

Grammar

Drill Chart L grammar, further than you went with your student last semester.
If you have memorized www.asia.wub, try adding to that list.  Many more subordinating conjunctions are on the conjunctions chart (Chart H).  More importantly, ask the right questions to determine if the clause is adverbial or adjectival.  Remember that adverbial are subordinating conjunctions, adjectival are relative pronouns.

Dialectic

Wrestle through some complex sentences that you find in a favorite book.  Identify adjectives and whether they are descriptive, possessive or limiting.

Compose some S/Vt/DO/OCA sentences of your own.  This is a much harder task than identifying.

IEW

We moved on to lesson 26, The Star-Spangled Banner.  This is our last assignment in Unit 7, Inventive Writing.  We are writing from a prompt (pp. 185) and pretending to be the flag and give its perspective.  Students may use "I" or "We" in this assignment.  On page 186, we worked through brainstorming ideas, but before that we came up with so many examples of places that we see the American flag.

Here is our list: schools, Capitol, White House, wars, sporting events, homes, court, churches, parades, 9/11, cemeteries, emergency personnel, Olympics, military weddings, funerals, airplanes.  One we picked up later was on the moon.

We picked four of these and worked through the brainstorming page.  Our notes (and any additional notes that the student creates) should be used to help write a paragraph, using the outline on page 187.  Ask the questions in the left hand column to piece together your paragraph.  It doesn't have to strictly adhere to the list of questions.  They are just there to guide thought.  Feel free to look at the example paragraph in the back of the textbook (pp. 235) to better understand where this assignment is going.  Focus on writing good descriptions with five sense words.

We also looked at the sample paper from the back and demonstrated how to label a paper so that the student can keep track of checklist requirements.  This labeling makes it easier for me when I'm reading through final papers.  I like to see where each student stands in his/her understanding of the checklist.  If a paper is labeled, it saves me tons of time.


Personal Note:
Thank you for your patience and help with getting my house key to my locked-out husband.  Amy Conrad, next time I'll call on you to teach the class if I suddenly have to leave. :)  Patrice, it's a delight to live around the corner from you.  Such a comfort knowing you can bail me out too.  Also, if anyone has footage of our leap frog relay, feel free to send it my way and I can post it on this blog for all to enjoy.  I absolutely love knowing all of you ladies.  You bless me.

Week 15

EEL

Today we...
1. Reviewed S/Vt/IO/DO sentences, but made them interrogative and added an interjection
2. Examined verb anatomy (bottom of chart C)
3. Walked through tasks 1-6, including Quid et Quo.

Verb Anatomy

Verb tense is made up of time + form.  

Time = past, present, and future.
Form = simple, perfect, progressive, perfect progressive.

For students who are not ready for this, please stop there.  Just memorize the above facts and leave understanding to a future time.

Determining time can be tricky when combined with form, so, if you are ready to tackle this, attack these two separately before studying them together.

A couple of memory tricks

When thinking about the perfect tense, the verb anatomy includes a form of "to have" + past participle verb form.  So, play would be have played in perfect form.  To remember that perfect goes with a form of "to have", think, "I have to be perfect!"

This also applies to perfect progressive form because the verb anatomy includes a form of "to have" + been + present participle.  So, when you see perfect, think I have to be perfect.  But you can stretch this word imagery a bit further with perfect progressive and say, "Ben and I have to be perfect as we progress."

When you have practiced with time and form separately, put them together with chart N or O.
Start with the filled in chart and give example sentences.  Have your student identify the right forms and times (tenses) represented in the sentence.

Take it to the next level by using the blank form.

Then take it to the next level by giving the student a time and form and number (singular/plural) and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and having them come up with a sentence that fits the description.

Quid et Quo

We finally made it to task six!  Please spend time this week exploring the Quid et Quo form.  It's strength is that it makes the student think through everything there is to identify about each word in a sentence.  Have fun with it!

Grammar

Keep plugging away at basic memory work.  They should know the questions they need to ask to find the direct object and indirect objects.  They should know the questions to identify an adjective, an adverb, etc.  Really work on the subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns too.

Memory work is the foundation of this course.  If you do nothing else, do this.

Dialectic

Much of task five (back of task sheet) is easy to do orally.  This is great practice for practical application and can be tied to IEW sentences.

Examples:
If the paragraph is too choppy, make them combine two sentences by forming a compound sentence.
Have them use a word other than because to begin their subordinate (www.asia.wub) clause.
Add modifiers, like -ly adverbs, quality adjectives, or prepositional phrase openers.

IEW

We are finishing up our multiple source research papers this week. We are on Lesson 25, Benjamin Franklin continued. We examined another topic and created a fused KWO in class.

You may be opting for 1-3 paragraphs.  Quality is better than quantity.  Don't be afraid to limit the number of paragraphs but really do a thorough job. Use the checklist and thoroughly think through each element.  Finish well with a strong introductory statement (p.45 of the Student Resource Notebook--gray pages.  These give ideas for dramatic paper openers). Finally, add a final clincher that repeats and reflects the introductory statement and title.

Also, feel free to push your child to the next level if they are ready.  A full blown paper for the third year student would be five paragraphs (introductory, three topics, concluding with bibliography and illustration--whew!).

Have a great week!  Sigh! I was so sorry to see that several faces were missing today.  I hope that it wasn't sickness.  If so, take care and God bless!  If not, take care and God bless!  

I would appreciate your prayers for our family this week. My grandmother died on Monday and I will be traveling alone to Indiana to attend the funeral.  My traveling is not the struggle. My husband, Jon, will be home Friday evening-Sunday afternoon with all 7 kids and he just tore his Achilles tendon in his right foot and has surgery scheduled for next Wednesday.  He is able to hobble but please pray that all children would sleep through the night each night so he doesn't have to get up and attend to them.  During the day the big kids are easily able to help and my oldest daughter cooks so they are good there.  Thank you for prayer support!

Week 14

EEL

We reviewed how to make complex sentences.  I was also supposed to go over active and passive voice but I really felt that we needed to camp out at complex sentences.  The explanation about active and passive voice is covered thoroughly in lesson 14 of the EEL Guide and also in the Our Mother Tongue lessons that go along with this week.  Feel free to visit that info.  I will cover it if we have time next week.  Understanding this concept can really help transform writing.

Complex Sentence
Moms, if your child is not getting the subordinate (dependent) clause, please spend some time doing the exercise we did at the beginning of class.  I gave them an independent clause and they had to provide the subordinate to make the complex sentence.  A good way to do this is to split a whiteboard in half and put independent on one side and make them write the dependent on the other.  Or put dependent and make them write the independent.  This makes a good visual separation and hammers in the idea that an independent plus a dependent (subordinate) clause equals a complex sentence.

Remind students that a dependent clause always has a subject and a verb.  

This separates it from the phrase.

If your child already understands the dependent clause, move on to identifying whether it is adverbial or adjectival and have them diagram.

Memorization

Memorizing the list of 
relative pronouns (adjectival sub. clause openers), and 
subordinating conjunctions (www.asia.wub--adverbial sub. clause openers)

If your student is a first year student and is just trying to grasp first semester still, feel free to camp out there.  Second semester information can just wash over them and they can absorb whatever they pick up here and there. Moms, this semester may just be for you to learn.  Next year will be the year to hammer away at second semester.  No crying in Essentials!

IEW

This week we started a two week paper.  We are in Unit VI, Lesson 23. Our source texts are about Benjamin Franklin and we are creating paragraphs by pulling like information from the different sources and then fusing the outlines.

So, we started by identifying the topics in each paragraph of source one.  The first paragraph was Ben Franklin as printer and writer.  The second paragraph was Franklin as community helper.  The third paragraph was Franklin as statesman and diplomat. Next, we identified the topic of each paragraph in source two and three.

Next, we looked at only the two paragraphs about Franklin as a printer and writer.  The first paragraph was from source one, paragraph one.  The second paragraph about Franklin as a prater and writer was found in source three, paragraph one.

At home this week the students need to Key Word Outline (KWO) these two paragraphs then set aside the source text and fuse the outlines into a 5-7 line KWO and write their paragraph from that.

Next, they need to take out their rough draft checklist and brainstorm sentence openers, and other dress ups.  This makes the actual writing much easier.

Finally, write the paragraph, underline dress ups and add a picture if you would like.

For students who do this with little effort, please tackle a second topic and at least have the fused outline done.  That will put you in a good position to finish a second and third paragraph next week.

I will not be collecting paragraphs this week.  We will turn in final work the following week.

Week 13 - Warning: Massive Blog Entry

Welcome back and Happy New Year!  It was wonderful to see your faces again this afternoon. I hope you had a wonderful break, especially considering that we packed the day full of new information.

EEL

Not only did we introduce a new sentence pattern, we also dove right into a new structure.

If you own them, your Our Mother Tongue lessons from the checklist will really help you this week because they will hammer away the information we learned.

Sentence pattern S/Vt/IO/DO

What is an indirect object?
1) a noun
2) only occurs in sentences with direct objects
3) located between the verb and the direct object.
4) received indirect action of the verb
5) answers the question "(subject) (verb) (DO) to/for what/whom?

Examples:

Lisa gave Hank a shoe.
Gave (Vt) + shoe (DO) . . . to or for whom or what? Answer = Hank (IO)

The present gave me joy!
Gave + joy ... to whom? = me

To see a diagram of the S/Vt/IO/DO, please look below at the Complex, S/Vt/IO/DO diagram.

Complex Sentence

Simple sentence = independent clause
Compound sentence = independent clause + independent clause
Complex sentence = independent clause + dependent (subordinate) clause

Dependent (subordinate) Clause vs. Phrase

Dependent clauses and phrases both cannot stand alone in a sentence.  The big difference is that a dependent clause will have both a subject and a verb.   The phrase will not.

While I wandered the desert . . .
In the desert . . .

The first is a clause with a subject (I) and a verb (wandered).
The second is a prepositional phrase and has no S/V.

Adjectival vs. Adverbial Subordinate Clauses

Adjectival subordinate clauses are those clauses that are used as an adjective in a sentence.
When trying to determine whether a clause is adjectival, go to the questions that you memorized to determine if a word is an adjective (What kind? How many? Which? Whose?)  If the clause answers one of these questions, it is adjectival.

Another quick way to identify whether a clause is adjectival is to see whether it begins with a relative pronoun (have to be memorized).  The list of relative pronouns is in the memory work.  It begins with the word who.  As a possible memory help, I always think of describing a relative, who is a who (a person).  The word describing helps me think of adjective.

These are already familiar to us through IEW in the Who/Which clauses.

The adverbial clause works the same way, except it answers the adverb questions, (How? When? Where? Why? To what extent? How often? How much? Under what condition?) and the adverbial clause begins with subordinating conjunctions (www.asia.wub).


The Subordinate Clause and Comma Use

In most sentences, the subordinate clause will be separated by commas.  The exception is when the clause is necessary to the meaning of the noun it modifies.

The family that lives around the corner has eight kids.

We will be practicing this in class.

Try to find the subordinate (dependent) clauses in the following sentences. I didn't put in commas.

When we took a break from school for Christmas I forgot all my memory work.
We love because he first loved us.
My parents who like to surprise my sisters and me won't tell us where we are going for our family vacation.

Diagramming a Subordinate Clause (and S/Vt/IO/DO)

The teacher, who read the class a story, sent me a recording.

We follow the diagram examples from the Essentials guide.  Most sentence diagramming sources prescribe a different way of diagramming the IO.  Please feel free to choose one and stick with it.  We will be using the way it is presented in the guide.  The important thing is that the kids are able to identify the usage in the sentences.

Grammar (Drill)

Memorize this week's memory work.

Review the questions used to determine if a word (or clause) is an adverb or an adjective. (Charts I, L)

Dialectic (Understanding)

Work through the task sheet to diagram some S/Vt/IO/DO sentences.  Come up with three or four per day that fit the pattern then task one of them.  Here are some to get you started.

I bought my friend a birthday gift.

The boy read his sister a book.

Mom baked the kids a cake.

The pirates gave the prisoners a choice between being marooned or walking the plank.

Lucky gave me the pot of gold from the end of the rainbow.

Next, work through some complex sentences.

OVERLOADED? If this is new to the student, please just drill the idea that a subordinate clause + and independent clause = complex sentence.  Next, get to what a subordinate clause is.

IEW

Vocabulary words: incessant, zealous, trepidation, exemplary, prominent, privily, affirm, espouse
Some kind of treat for anyone (yes, moms, you too) who brings in a complex sentence containing a vocabulary word from this week's vocabulary list. Underline your subordinate clause.

Here comes mine. Because she is zealous for complex sentences, Mrs. Varnell, a prominent tutor in the Essentials class (ok, the only one), overcame her trepidation about overwhelming everyone and insisted on incessantly affirming the exemplary virtues of the subordinate clause for a full fifty-five minutes without taking a breath. Bam!

Try two: Because she loves her exemplary students, Mrs. Varnell rewards with candy.

IEW Lesson 22
We began a new unit today, Unit 6: Library Research Report.  The first lesson in this unit (Lesson 22) focuses on the skill of taking information from two sources and making it into one paragraph.   The result is a paragraph written from a fused outline.

There is a chart across from the Unit 6 outline in the IEW Charts section of the student notebook that helps illustrate this process of creating a fused outline.

We used the source text on page 156 about Thomas Jefferson.
We did a KWO of source one (remembering to start with a topic sentence).
We did a KWO of source two (remembering to start with a topic sentence).
Next, we put aside our source texts and just looked at our two key word outlines.
We ended up with 5 facts from the first outline and 7 from the second.

Next, we began a fused outline.
We created a fused topic sentence, looking at the source 1 and 2 topic sentences and combining info.
From there, we eliminated redundant information, merged like information, regrouped information, reordered information, and cut information.
We whittled down the information until we had only 5-7 (not 12) lines of KWO.
Finally, we added a clincher that repeated and reflected the topic sentence.
This was our fused outline.

I leave titles up to each of you.

Since we did this in class, I hope you copied well.  If you wrote down the fused outline, you only have to write the paragraph! Make sure you use your IEW checklist to be sure you include all the dress ups and decorations.

Whew! You made it.  Go eat a piece of dark chocolate. Reward yourself.

Week 11

EEL

Big review today.  The only thing that changed from week 10 was the sentence purpose.  We moved from declarative to exclamatory.  Keep practicing the difference between a predicate nominative and predicate adjective.

This is a great time in the semester to memorize the questions that correspond to adjectives and adverbs.

Adjectives: Which one? How many? Which? Whose?
Adverbs: How? When? Where? Why? To what extent? Under what condition? How often? How much?

IEW

Our vocabulary words were--solemn, tyrant, adept, enthrall

I introduced two new dress-ups and a decoration that will be on the checklist this week.  The dress-ups were both sentence openers.  This means that the first word of the sentence will be a certain type.

The #2 sentence opener is the preposition opener.  Example: In the cold house, the family could barely sleep.

The #3 opener is the -ly (adverb): Thankfully, the repairman came the next morning and fixed their heater.

The decoration that we learned was personification, giving a human characteristic to a thing or idea.  We looked at the explanation of this on page 48 of the student resource notebook (gray pages). Example:

The pine trees bowed mournfully under the weight of a heavy snow.

Finally, we covered Unit 5, Writing from Pictures.  The assignment is a three paragraph paper, but, moms, you can make it one paragraph if you choose.  The idea is to start with a picture and then to ask a series of questions in order to pull a story from the brain.  Our key word outline is pulled from the imagination, but it begins with the central fact of the picture.  So, though we take the story where we wish, it starts with the observable.

On the pictures corresponding with this lesson (p. 143), we stated the central fact of the first picture this way:

boy, riding, message, urgent

From there, we asked the questions found on the bottom of page 142 and also the questions on the left-hand side of the Unit V chart to pull out more information.  Finally, we tied it up nicely by making our paragraph clincher repeat and reflect words from our picture's central fact.

Have fun with this story.  We suggested various plots to go with the picture: we proposed that he was delivering a birthday invitation to General Washington from General Green, also that it was a game of chess and the message was General Green's next move.  Perhaps he was actually running from a lion. Maybe the soldier in the second picture is his best friend and turns away.  Maybe the horse is under him in the water, maybe….maybe… you fill in the blank.

Also, students can use any picture as a source.  If there is only one picture, have them think about what happens before and after.  Also, students can use the pictures on page 149 if they would rather.

Have fun!  Can't wait to hear your stories next week.  We will enjoy doughnuts and there will be plenty of time for reading papers.

Week 10

EEL

This week's focus was the compound, declarative, S/VL/PA sentence.  In order to learn what a predicate adjective is, we must first understand the adjective.

Adjectives

 We went over Chart L (Adjectives).  Remember, the first focus for a good foundation in Essentials is always the memory work in gray.  So above all, memorize the definition of an adjective and the questions that an adjective answers.

Definition: An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, qualifying or limiting.
Questions: What kind? How many? Which? Whose?

S/VL/PA

The predicate adjective (PA) follows a linking verb and modifies or describes the subject.
To proof whether or not you have a PA, first ask,

"Do I have a possible linking verb?"
(If the list of linking verbs is not yet memorized, look at the linking verb list located between Chart C (Verbs) and Chart D.

If you have a possible linking verb, next ask,

"Does the word following the linking verb modify or describe the Subject Noun?
If yes, PA.

So…
The rose smells sweet.

Do I have a possible linking verb?
Well, smells is my verb.  Yes, it is on the linking verb list.

Does the word following the linking verb modify or describe the Subject Noun?
Yes, sweet describes the subject rose. Rose smells sweet. Sweet smells rose.
Sweet is a predicate adjective.

Watch out for verbs on the linking verb list that are used as action verbs.
She smells the rose.

In this sentence, smells is an action verb, transferring action to the rose.  So this is an example of a S/Vt/DO.

An action verb can never be a linking verb.
You should be able to replace a linking verb with is and the sentence still make sense.

IEW
We had fun with vocabulary memory for a good portion of the class. We also were able to read some papers!

Vocabulary: compliant, obstinate, compel, deliberate

Writing assignment:
The assignment is an extension of what we have been working on the last two weeks.  The source text for the final paragraph of the three paragraph paper (due next Tuesday) is on page 116, "Colonial Life: Care of the Sick."  Your student will need to key word outline the text, pulling only 5-7 interesting or important facts.  They will have to include a topic sentence in the beginning of the paragraph and then end the paragraph with a clincher.

Please remember, students, you are not key word outlining every sentence.  You are going to have to skip some information, limiting the facts to the ones you think are the best. This exercise is good for practicing pulling out pertinent information (Like my alliteration?).

In addition to this final paragraph, they will have to add an introductory statement as part of the first paragraph.  This introductory statement will introduce the entire paper, previewing the topics to be discussed. (Tell them what you are going to tell them). Next comes the body paragraphs (Tell them).  Finally, attached to the end of the final paragraph, add a final clincher--a sentence that restates the topics covered in the paper (Tell them what you told them).

As always, if you have any questions or need help scaling this assignment (or any other) for your student, please email, text or call me.  After this, only one more short and fun paper to write this semester! Yea!

Week 9

EEL

S/VL/PN Sentences, Linking Verbs

Today we focused on a new sentence pattern, S/VL/PN.  We learned that a linking verb acts as the glue that connects or links two words together.  Also, we noted that a linking verb is never an action verb.  In the example

A blue jay is a bird.

we noted that the linking verb is acts as the glue, sticking together blue jay and bird.  

Predicate Nominatives

When learning about the S/VL/PN sentence, we noted that finding the PN is just like asking the question to find a direct object except we also have to ask another question.  We start out by asking S+V, who/what?  So, using our example above, 

blue jay + is, who/what? 

The answer is bird.

But we don't stop there.  Before we accidentally assign the DO designation to the word, we have to ask two more questions:

1. Is there a linking verb? (Memorize list, song in sidebar).

2. Does bird rename the subject?

If the answer is yes to both questions, we have a predicate nominative (PN).

Double check by replacing the linking verb with an equals sign.

blue jay = bird, bird = blue jay

We ended the EEL segment by completing a task sheet for the sentence 

Tom is the captain, but Jane is the coach.

This is a compound S/VL/PN.

IEW

Vocabulary

warily, vehemently, destined, confront

Next week we will have a vocabulary game, so practice your vocab. words!

We talked about the decoration, 3sss, three short staccato sentences.  A full explanation is in the student guide in the gray pages (p.43)

Assignment

In class, we agreed to amend the scope and sequence and give this two week paper another week.  So, this week we are working on the second paragraph in a three paragraph paper.  The source text is Colonial Life: Law and Order from page 110 in your History Based Writing Lessons book.  Go ahead and use the KWO we did in class or change it to match your preference for the information you would like to include.

Though I talked about the introductory statement and final clincher, don't worry about adding them until the third paragraph is finished on the third week of this paper.

Blessings!  See you next week!

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.

Week 3

What a lot to cover in one class period.  Whew! We made it.

EEL

Congratulations to the students for winning the Chart A showdown against the moms.  But you only won by seconds.  Watch out! Next time moms may be out to annihilate you.

This week we continued the overview of EEL.  We took a close-up view of declarative and exclamatory sentences and talked about the differences, but mostly we looked at Nouns (Chart E) and Pronouns (Chart F).  Then we moved away from the grammar track and tackled the task sheet.

Grammar Portion (Uploading information)
Nouns (Chart E)
Definition box at the top (Memorize, please).
Usage (jobs) 3rd year? are you ready to memorize?
Attributes, 2nd/3rd year memorize.

A CRASH of Rhinos! Chocolate to whomever brings in a collective noun next week!

Pronouns (Chart F)
Definition box at the top (Memorize, please).
Rest of Chart, 2nd/3rd year students, memorize a bit more than you know.  Just go deeper.

Dialectic Portion (Understanding and applying information)

We started the Task Sheet by touring the student notebook and finding the dialectic section that has
1. Task Sheet
2. Simple Steps for Solving Sentences (Question Confirmation)
3. Weekly Sample Sentences
4. Abbreviation Key

The Task Sheet provides a step-by-step guide to classifying sentences and analyzing their construction.

Task 1, Dictation.  Dictate a sentence to the student and have them write it out on the lines provided. Begin with 2 word sentences in the S/Vi pattern.

Task 2, Mechanics.  Work through the questions and check for all the things that a sentence must have, plus punctuation and spelling.

Task 3, Question Confirmation. Use your Simple Steps for Solving Sentences or your own memory to determine sentence structure, pattern and purpose.

Task 4, Diagramming. Use the correct framework for the sentence pattern you have (See Chart A, Sentence Patterns).  In the case of the S/Vi sentence that you will be working on this week, the horizontal line has the subject on the left and the verb on the right with a bisecting line that goes all the way through the horizontal line.  If you would like to add an article adjective (a, an, the) or an -ly adverb, please remember that these modifiers go on a slanted line under the word each modifies.

Get out the Task Sheet and try it each day.  Do at least one sentence per day.

IEW
A two paragraph assignment! We are working through lesson 5, "The Mayflower Mishap. Please complete the Key Word Outline (KWO) for the second paragraph then write both paragraphs.  But before you write...

We talked about 5 senses words and adding the "show, not tell" factor to our writing.  Use the exercise on p. 44 to work through brainstorming and try to determine which 5 sense words you will add to your paper.  You will need at least one, 5 sense word per paragraph.  Refer to the yellow sheets in the style section of your IEW student notebook if you need suggestions.  After you determine which 5 sense words you want to incorporate…

Now write your paper.

Also, we introduced strong verbs.  Though the strong verb requirement is not on "The Mayflower Mishap" checklist, I would like you to add it.  Please look through your paragraphs and find

Banned Verbs 

(go/went, come/came, say/said, get/got)

Replace them with strong verbs (refer to suggestions on the blue pages).  Please know that strong verbs do not have to be fancy; they just have to show action. For example, run, jump, scribble, and devour are all strong verbs.

For 2nd and 3rd year students, optional 3rd paragraph, "Plymouth Colony and Samoset" from Lesson 6. This checklist already has the strong verb requirement.

Personal
Thank you for sticking with me today.  We had so much material to introduce.  I know that it was difficult to ingest for that long.  If you have any questions or are overwhelmed or need clarification, please contact me; I want to help.