Week 3- EEL-Mrs. Hinson

Good Afternoon,

     It has been a beautiful day outside. I hope you still get to enjoy some of it.
Today we talked about nouns and pronouns. We talked about all of the different roles
or jobs that nouns have in sentences. We talked about the noun attributes. We quickly
went over the pronoun chart.  We will be memorizing most of the pronoun chart in Foundations.
We also went over the Analytical Task sheet for the first time in class. One thing, that
I did not touch on that was confusing for a few first time moms, was where to find the sentences
to use on the task sheet.  You can task sheet any sentence you want on the task sheet. However, if you would like the answers for your sentences, you can look in your EEL guide.  For each
week of Essentials starting with week 3, there are 5 sentences in the back of each weekly lessons. These are the weekly lessons, that are found in your Essentials of the English Language Guide. This
is the big scary guide that no one opens up. We divided them out at orientation into 24 weeks.
These sentences are for you to go over at home with your student.
The answers are listed. The first 3 sentences are the basic sentences that first year students should be
able to work on after our class. Sentence 4 and 5 are meant for 2nd or 3rd year students .

    I really do want to stress the importance of you doing these sentences in the EEL guide first
in your homeschool especially if you are a new student.  After you have mastered these sentences, then you can move onto the Daily Checklist that Melissa copied for everyone. The Daily Check list that Melissa copied should be secondary to going over the sentences in the EEL guide. It is a great thing to use, but I do caution you away from ignoring the guide and only focusing on the work in the check list. This again is especially true for 1st year students. You may miss some important foundation building if you do not look at the guide or the sentences in it. Please let me know if you have questions regarding this.
    I also really want to stress with you to please read the lesson in the EEL guide each week. You do not need to read it before class. It should help you understand the things I went over in class.  It should not take you very long, and I really do believe it will help you even more than you think.
This weeks lesson starts on page 43. It is a long lesson this week because it gives you step by step instruction for the whole task sheet. We only did tasks 1-4 this week. You only need to read those sections. If you have any questions please call me or email me. Below I am listing some suggestions for you to work on.
    I did forget to mention that there are songs for the pronouns posted on the EEL home page of this blog. Erin made them to go along with the Foundations memory work. 

* I am going to challenge you to bring your EEL guide week 4 to class next week. (Shelly suggested at orientation, to have a small notebook and to pull each week out at a time, so you do not have to lug the whole guide around. ) This is a great suggestion. I will have a small reward for those of you that do bring the whole guide or just week 4.   I follow exactly what is in the guide in class.

What to do this week!
1. Work on memorizing and copying  Chart E and F( noun and pronoun charts)
2. Task sheet using tasks 1-4 for Sentences 1,2, 3 on pages 69-71 in EEL guide for 1st year.
    2nd and 3rd year task sheet sentences 1-5.  ( When I say "task sheet" I mean do exactly what we
did in class. Dictate the sentence ,and then go through questions to find out if it is a sentence , and so on.
3. Work with noun chart by listing nouns and having your child give the attributes of those nouns.

Don't forget those guides next week!!!
Karen

Week 2-Verbs

Thanks for two great classes today. We did a thorough review of Chart A. I thought most

everyone seemed to have memorized some of the chart. Please continue to review Chart A and B.

Along with asking your child to name the 4 purposes of a sentence, it can be helpful to ask them the other way. Give them the list : Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, and Exclamatory and ask your child

what those are. We did this when I was going over Chart A on the board. 

We looked at the Verb Chart, which is chart C. This chart contains a lot of information.

We went over most of it during class. I wish I had worked a little bit more on just picking

out the verb in a sentence.   We will cover all of the items on Chart C throughout the coming weeks.

Please continue to work on loading the grammar,which is primarily memorizing the charts. 

The week 2 lesson in your EEL guide does a good job explain all of the parts of Chart C and Chart

D. I encourage you to read through it. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

I am going to forward some songs put out on CC connected . One of the songs puts chart C to song.

I am just sending these for you to use if you choose. 

Along with memorizing the charts, you can work with your child on picking the verbs out in any sentence.

Either make some up , or find some in a book. 

Karen  

EEL Week 1

I hope you all made it through class well. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

I know many of you may feel overwhelmed if this is your first year in Essentials. It is normal to feel this way.

Please let me know what I can do to help. I know I presented a lot of information this morning.

I am sending this update via email. I will also post it to the blog. Please subscribe to my Essentials page on our blog.

The address is ccofgreensboro@blogspot.com You will need to subscribe to Melissa's page and mine separately.

We covered Chart A in class. I know it is a lot of information. Our goal is to memorize the chart. If copying the whole chart is 

too overwhelming for your student, then please break the chart down in bite size amounts to have them memorize. The charts 

are a tool to be used. Please do not let them enslave you. You can break it down into pieces. If all of the information is new, maybe start

with having your child copy and memorize the 5 parts of a sentence and the 8 parts of speech. Once they have this down, then you

can have them do the 4 structures. Then move on to  the 4 sentence purposes. You can do each part separately if the whole of the chart overwhelms you.

Working on the memory work of Chart A is a main goal for this week. If you  have a tour 2 or 3 child you can work through the chart similarly to what I 

did in class.  You can give your child a sentence and have them give you the purpose, pattern and structure. You could also just have them give you purpose 

and structure if they do not understand pattern yet. Also, turn it around and give them a purpose, structure and /or pattern and have them give you a sentence.

This would be an advanced skill especially to include the pattern.  Another suggestion  is to give them sentences or phrases that may not be a sentence  and have

them go through the 5 parts of a sentence to determine if the group of words is a sentence.

I also showed you Chart B in class. I made some suggestions on how to use this chart. If you have a first year student, just have them copy the chart. If you

have a 2nd or 3rd tour child maybe have them go through and write a sentence for each pattern. This may also be a challenge. You could also go through it and

do the chart together making simple sentences for each pattern. 

The language "ticket" for coming into class does NOT have to be written. The answer just needs to be told to me entering the class. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Karen

Week 23: Teaching provides me a blessing, in that I learn at the same time, for giving always pays the giver hidden delights.(Compound-complex, S/Vt/IO/DO)

First of all, thank you Tina Gaines for teaching my class today so that I could get away with my husband for the week! We're in Charleston, SC, where azaleas are in bloom!

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.


Looking forward to being with you for our final class next week!  Thanks again, Tina, for covering for me!

Week 22: I am a tutor, who is also a mother, and I feel happy about it! (Cpd-cx, S/Vl/PN, S/Vl/PA)a

Class Overview

Today in class, we focused on compound-complex sentences, this time with the S/Vl/PA and S/Vl/PN pattern focus.  We also tackled verbals and learned the second type, participles.  Finally, we enjoyed some part of speech review by doing three Mad Libs!

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!  They are really sharp.  They got this without any trouble.  We made a few compound-complex sentences then went on, but at home you may want to use the task sheet 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.

Personal Note

We're in our last stretch.  I can't believe that the year is so close to being done.  I love the families that I've gotten to know through weekly interaction.  You all bless me!

Tina, thanks for helping so much yesterday!  Also, thank you to all of you who helped set up my classroom and were gracious about combining classes so I could get home to my sick baby.

See you next week!

Week 21: A compound sentence, which is also complex, is compound-complex, and the students nailed it!

Class Overview:

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, using the S/Vt/Do pattern.  This stretched students a bit more, having to come up with transitive verbs.  Then we used the Task Sheet and "tasked" one of the sentences.

One of the classes came up with this fun compound-complex sentence,
Apple, who was not a fruit, ate juicy oranges, yet she was not a cannibal!

(Thank you Jessica and Ryan for your well-timed humor).

Of course, when they got to the end of task 5, the class had contributed quite a lot of dressing up and decorating and the sentence read,
Apple, who was very much not a delicious fruit, slowly ate juicy oranges, yet she was not a blood-thirsty cannibal!

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 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!


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: Students in the class cheered about adverbial prepositional phrases! (adj. phrase, adv. phrase)

Okay, okay, so students may have groaned about adverbial and adjectival prepositional phrases, but they tackled them brilliantly!

Class Overview

We started off with Grammar Rule #6, Tricky Words!  Then we shifted to different adjective modifiers that can be used when doing task #5 on the task sheet.  Finally, we landed on the very challenging adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases.

Grammar Rule #6, Tricky Words

From there, their, and they're, to continual vs. continuous, to affect verbs and effect nouns, we covered tricky words.  These are words that adults commonly misuse and really need to be studied and focused on in order to correct.  One reason these words become issues is because we speak them incorrectly.  Parents, if you model this through using these words incorrectly, choose one and work on it.  Awareness and constant correction is the way to remedy the mistake.  If your children hear you use the words correctly it will make difference--unless, of course, we're talking about homonyms.

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.

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.

Encouragement

If your child was a deer in headlights during a lot of yesterday, it's okay.  Please be patient with the three tour process of this class.  This year may be your year to be exposed to the terminology and to follow some but not get all.  We are in the last stretch and are encountering many complex concepts.  Just concentrate on the basics if you feel overwhelmed.  Drill the memory work and write out charts.  From there, work on the task sheet at the level of your student.  Assess where they are in their understanding and gently prod them forward or just shore up shaky understanding.  You have next year to tackle this again.  There is no crying in Essentials! : )