CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 6 (10/3)

 Greetings, Everyone!

We’ve turned the corner into Fall and the weather is still gorgeous.  Time flies with this wonderful group of students!

After checking in about homework, we started the class  with Visual Vocabulary. Today we bandied about the definitions for bandy and entity.  Students are really catching on to these vocab words!  (See the hint for bandy on the left.)

After that, we got to our Writing.  Today’s focus was on learning the last of the dress-ups–strong adjectives and www.asia.b.  The latter is not a website, but a mnemonic device to help us remember the subordinate conjunctions which begin this adverbial clause dress-up.  Students should memorize these www words for a quiz at the beginning of class next week.  (Try to be able to recite them in 3 seconds or less!)  For a more fulsome discussion of these dress-ups, see the slideshow posted on GC. We also learned some rules about how to write numbers in compositions.  The numbers thing is normally a point of confusion for writers at this level.  We filled out a worksheet in class to help solidify the concepts.

They are to choose “The Miller and His Son” or “The Stag and the Pool” to write three paragraphs.  As usual, hand in all four pieces EITHER on GC OR on paper:  checklist, rough draft, final draft and KWO (which is a story sequence chart.)  Follow the directions on your checklist.

Literature

I assigned roles for our big Literature Circle discussion next week (see below.)  You will receive a grade on your preparation and participation and we went over the expectations.  Each student has a part to play in order to make this a fruitful discussion.  They are to keep reading chapters  11 & 12 this week and complete a 3 Responses worksheet.  Any material up to chapter 12 is fair game for the discussion.  I did assign  the 3 Response worksheets this week (left them at home!)  Now you can focus more fully on reading and preparing your roles!

Grammar

Today’s grammar concept was on misplaced and dangling modifiers.  A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word or clause it modifies or describes. Because of this separation, the meaning of the sentence is often  awkward, ridiculous, illogical, or confusing.  A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it  modifies or describes.  These mistakes can often be amusing:

The waiter served a dinner roll to the woman that was well buttered.

They have two worksheets on this concept that are due next week.

Homework

Retelling Narrative Variations–”The Miller and His Son” OR “The Stag and the Pool”

Literature Circles Roles

Read chapters 11 & 12

3 Responses

About Misplaced Modifiers

Misplaced Modifiers #1

Misplaced Modifiers #2

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #3

About -ly adjectives & www.asia.b clause Dress-ups & Numbers Slides

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 4 (Sept. 15)

 Greetings!

I cannot believe how the time flies with these students!  What a great group!  We covered a lot, but I find myself wishing we had more time.

Visual Vocabulary

Our words today were dastardly and sophomoric.  After studying the words, we took a minute to write sentences using them correctly.

Writing

Last week we filled out a Story Sequence Chart about the fable “Stone Soup.”  I asked the students to memorize the blank chart and we had a quiz at the beginning of class.  After that, I checked on their finished Stone Soup SSC’s.  Most students were successful at taking the key ideas from the fable and answering the questions about characters/setting, plot/conflict & resolution of the story. I emphasized that this is a bit different from a Key Word Outline in that students are to take the basic ideas and embellish them from their imagination.  They are a starting point for their stories, and students are free to riff off using their SSC’s.I assigned the next step today which is to take their SSC and write three paragraphs to retell the fable.  (You may write more if you’d like.)  

I took a minute to teach some Style.  We discussed strong vs. weak verbs and how to use a thesarus.  I banned the verbs see, go & said.  I also handed out a sheet with a long list of suggestions of -ly adverbs. They are to make sure to include the Dress-Ups:  -ly adverbs, who/which clause and to use strong verbs (not the “Banned Verbs” see, said & go.)  This assignment is due next week.  I have an example posted on GC if students need it!

Literature Discussion

We're reading Peace Like A River, and this week we had a good discussion about our reading.  After we brainstormed the book’s major events on the board together, we broke into groups and used the 4 Square Discussion model to discuss the content. I heard some very intelligent insights!  Students were assigned Chapters 6-8 and 3 Responses.  They will also need to complete a Week 4 Take Home Quiz.

Grammar 

Today’s topic covered a review of interjections and conjunctions.  After a mini-lesson, students got a start on their worksheets.

Assignments for Next Week

Stone Soup Retelling

Read Chapters 6-8

Week 4 Take Home Quiz–Ch. 6-8 (GC)

Grammar

Interjections

Conjunctions–check your work!

Links for This Week

Visual Vocab. #2

Stone Soup Retelling example + Resources

Interjections & Conjunctions Mini-Lesson

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 3 (9/12)

 We had a good class today.  The students were ready to learn and we got a lot accomplished.

How does one think?  I propose that thinking is really made up of asking and answering questions.  And since writing=thinking, it makes sense to spend some time cultivating the skill of asking good questions. When you get good at asking questions, you will never lack for anything to write about!  Our Quick Writes This year will be focused on the skill of asking good questions.  This time, students were given the topic of Pencils.  In three minutes, students each generated as many as possible:

things about

topics pertaining to

aspects of 

PENCILS

as they could think of.  They had some GREAT ideas!  Each week we do it, the better they will become.

                                                    Grammar 

Students were given the KEY to all the grammar worksheets for this semester.  I explained that as we work through our grammar–parts of speech and phrases–they will need to correct their own work.  There is alot of learning that happens in that process! The KEY is also posted on Google Classroom–I won’t be handing out another one.  For the most part, I will teach grammar mini-lesson and they will have some in class time to complete their worksheets.  This works well so I can answer any questions they might have while we are all together.  Today, we reviewed nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs.  They have four worksheets.

We didn’t take time to discuss Peace Like A River in Literature today.  Instead, we will have a more in-depth discussion next week for a Literature Discussion. For homework, they will read chapters 4 & 5 and complete 3 Reader Response questions.

Writing

In the writing portion of our class, we shifted from writing a Key Word outline for factual articles into a different type of outline used for narratives (stories).  It is called a Story Sequence Chart.  Instead of choosing 3 key words from each sentence as in a KWO, I modeled how to answer questions for each part of a story:  setting/characters, plot/conflict & resolution.

I wrote a blank Story Sequence Chart on the board and students copied it in their notes.  I asked students to memorize it for next week.  (There will be a quiz on it!)

Then we filled in the template together after reading Aesop’s fable “The Wind and the Sun.” Students are to finish it as homework and bring it next week.  (I attached a copy of my SSC you can look at if you need extra help.) In the future, we will rewrite the fable using that chart.

Homework

Read Peace Like A River Ch. 4 & 5 

3 Responses

Story Sequence Chart, Template & Source Text–Complete the template & bring it next week

Grammar–complete; correct your work!

Nouns & Pronouns Review

Adjectives or Adverb Review

Action Verbs Review

Verb Tenses Review

Links for This Week

Updated Assignment Checklist

Grammar Worksheets KEY

Writing 2 Class Notes--Week 2 (Sept. 5)

 This is such a fun group of students–I think we are really going to enjoy learning together this year!

We started out class with some housekeeping and some announcements:

1. Please clean up after yourselves after class.  No wrappers on floor; push in chairs 🙂

2. Turning in HW:  EITHER turn it on digitally OR turn it in manually.  NOT BOTH 🙂  (I have posted a tutorial on how to scan handwritten homework.)

3. AI:  Grammarly has added a generative AI aspect to their free program.  For this reason, I am asking students to avoid (uninstall) Grammarly if they have it on their browser.  We discussed the difference between the basic AI tools on Google Docs/Word vs. “generative” AI like ChatGPT.  The goal is to use authentic word choices and develop a writer’s voice.  When we rely too much on the suggestions that AI generates, the paper we meant to write can end up VERY differently.  AI can be a wonderful tool to use–later.  And not in CHAT writing. 🙂

We had our first edition of Visual Vocabulary (VV).  Today, we learned:  poignant and blight.  These words are taken from SAT/ACT vocabulary lists and each week we do VV, students are given the definition, the part of speech, the synonym and antonym.  Then they write a sentence using the word in context. We will be adding to the list throughout the semester–so don’t lose that worksheet–keep it behind the Vocabulary/QW tab! 

After that, we switched gears to Literature–Peace Like A River.  We talked about themes of the book and the fact that our protagonist has a debilitating illness–asthma. They are to read chapters 1-3 and do three study guide questions or 1 a la carte option. (In class I assigned all the questions.  Only choose three!)

In the Writing portion of the class, we continued on the topic of asthma.  We read a source text on George L. Maison and make a key word outline for paragraphs one and two.  Students are to finish it at home.  We discussed two Dress-Ups (-ly adverb and who/which clause.)  I also went over the title rule:  grab readers’ attention and repeat 1-3 words from the last sentence of the last paragraph.  They are to write three paragraphs using 1 dress-up per paragraph.  Students should:

1.  Write a KWO 

2. Write a Rough Draft.  Print it (see me if this is a problem).  

3. Have an Editor read and mark on Rough Draft.

4. Write a Final Draft.  

5. Hand in all four pieces.  EITHER on GC OR in class.  (Keep it all together!)

No Grammar Discussion today.  Next week, we’ll start as promised!  

Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Read Chapter 1-3 Peace Like A River

3 Responses

About Writing 3 Paragraphs from Notes–Maison (with Dress-Ups)

Maison KWO

Maison–3 paragraphs

LInks for This Week:

Scanning Homework Tutorials

Visual Vocabulary #1

CHAT Writing 2--Week 1 (Aug. 29)

 Hello Writing 2 Students and Parents!

We've started out our new school year well.  I'm looking forward to working with this group of students.  Below are the Class Notes for this week.  Every week I will send out notes similar to these.  I include the topics of the class and the direction of instruction.  At the bottom of each email I list the homework and links to the blog, to the Google Classroom assignments,  and to any other helpful information.

We got right into the nitty-gritty class details right away:  Class Guidelines, homework deadlines and Syllabus.  They have an assignment of having a parent sign the Guidelines–they can bring them in next week or submit on GC.

After that, we had a 10 minute Ice Breaker game where students got into groups, rolled the dice and answered corresponding questions.  It was a low-key way to connect with classmates and hopefully learn something new.  While they were engaged, I went around and checked on their Writing 2 Binders to see that they are complete–one of the first assignments.

Our Literature selection for this semester is Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.  We will start the  novel next week, but for this week, they are to read the introductory material on Google Classroom and complete the Quiz.

In Writing, our first exercise was to make a Key Word Outline on Source Texts about Leif Enger.  Outlining is a very powerful tool in learning to write well–it forces us to read and synthesize material so that we can express it succinctly. 

As a class, we read the source text, and we chose the three (and three only!) most important, (“key”) words.  Abbreviations and symbols are “free” and don’t count toward the three.  After we compiled a KWO for the first paragraph, students wrote one on their own for the next paragraph.  We gathered their ideas on the board and, after that, flexed our public speaking muscles.  

How do you test whether an outline is good or not?  You tell it back using your outline.  Students paired up and took turns telling back their outlines to each other. I think some were surprised about how challenging this can be!  The technique is deceptively simple:

Read

Think

Look up

Speak

Can you remember what your symbols mean?  Were you able to tell it back successfully?  Then your outline is “good!”

For homework, students can choose to outline the text “Outlaws” OR the text “Structures & Style.”  Tell it back to someone at home and then have that person sign the KWO.  It is due next week.

No Grammar this week -- we'll jump in with both feet next week! 

Assignments for Next Week

(Note:  The links will take you to the Google Classroom post for the particular assignment.  If you plan to do the paper version, you can ignore the link.  If an assignment is labeled "GC," that means that is something that must be done on Google Classroom. These are usually quizzes or questions)

Writing 2 Class Guidelines (signatures needed)

Before school started assignments–Students can still do these:

Welcome Back #1

Welcome Back #2

Assembled Binders

“Outlaws” OR “Structures & Themes”  Key Word Outline

Links for this Week:

Writing 2 Assignments Checklist

Writing 2 Syllabus

Homework and Late Dates

Peace Like A River Material

PLAR Introduction Quiz

Key Word Outline