Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 1 (January 11)

 Hello Dear Students,

Even though some may not be that excited to start up again, I am very proud of you for all your effort this past year.  There’s much to be grateful for!

We started the day out with a Quick Write.  Today’s topic was a bit humorous as they were to imagine that their toaster has gone on strike.  They were to come up with a list of demands from the toaster (Clean my crumb tray!  Stop sticking forks inside!) and optionally, to design a snappy sign with a slogan.

After that, we previewed the Spring Syllabus, Homework Checklist and Late Homework dates.  We highlighted the important due dates and took a brief look at what this semester has in store.  I told them a good strategy is to use the Homework Checklist to help them parcel out their work during the week to avoid having it all pile up at the last minute.

For Literature, we kicked off the class by introducing our new book:  Six Great Sherlock Holmes Stories by Arthur Conon Doyle.  Some students had seen a TV show or movie based on the stories–and some had read a few stories themselves.  After handing out the book, we had a  discussion on what images come to mind when you think of “Sherlock Holmes” and what elements make a good detective story.  

Some students were surprised to hear that Sherlock Holmes never actually said, “Elementary, my dear Watson.”  He merely said “Elementary!”  We watched two short videos on Sherlock and the fact that this character is so enduring that he is a palimpsest–he’s been reinterpreted so much over which makes him an enduring and timeless character.   I hope students will thrill at meeting this calculating and intense sleuth themselves.  

We read a few pages of the first story aloud and they are to finish reading “Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League” this week and answer 4 questions from the Study Guide.  As they encounter new words, they are assigned to define three words per story on a Vocabulary Sheet.

Lastly, for Grammar, I introduced the comma unit we will be studying this year. We discussed coordinating conjunctions–FANBOYS and compound sentences. They got started on the three worksheets they will need to complete this week.  Don’t forget to correct your work and mark it!  KEYS are posted in GC.

Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Homework for This Week

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates

Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle videos (in class)

Read Ch. “Scandal in Bohemia” & “Red-Headed League” 

Study Guide Questions

Sherlock Holmes Weekly Vocabulary sheet

FANBOYS

Compound Sentences and Commas

Sentence Structures:  Simple and Compound Sentences

Links for this week

Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle videos (in class)

Comma Reference Sheets

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 15 (December 14)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day today and combined both work and fun on this final day. 

Homework & Grades

Students handed in their final drafts of their Historical Person Composition. I will grade those projects and any other homework that was handed in; my goal is to have final grades out soon.  I mentioned to the class that I will take any homework submitted by December 22 at 11:59 p.m. If there are any questions, please contact me.  Because I have final drafts and projects from both my classes, I know that I won't have the work ready for final grades until after Christmas.  Look for them some time after the New Year.  

The Wrap-Up

As a culminating event, we combined work and fun by a quiz on the Fall Visual Vocabulary in the form of a KAHOOT! Game.  I will record their scores and use it as their grade. 

The final students to present their Peace Like A River projects were next:  We had a movie trailer, a timeline, some outfits that the main characters would wear among others.  This is a wonderfully creative group!

A Contest

Last, we had the Annual Writing 1 Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest–there were some other choices for coloring and word searches too (as per their request last week.)  They were pretty intent on their drawing and coloring, for the hotly contested 1st Prize:  a quality Spork!  Thank you, Julia, Evangeline and Sam, for impartially judging the winner.   Congratulations, Lydia!  Enjoy that spork!

After that, we enjoyed some Christmas music, a  Hot Chocolate Bar and cookies–thanks to the students who brought treats to share.  Between the quiet chatting and their choice of more coloring and/or word searches, the class really enjoyed this wrapping up time together.

Links for this Week

Ugly Christmas Sweater Template

Historical Person composition

Writing 2 Class Notes (on blog)

My prayer is that all of you have a great Christmas that includes lots of love and laughter!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Writing 2 Class Notes--Week 14 (12/12)

We had a wonderful day in class today. A lot of the hard work of the semester is over, so our "work" today was a little more fun. Our Visual Vocabulary words for today were: laggard and efface.These words will show up on our end of the semester quiz next week–so make sure to review those. The slides are posted on Google Classroom. Writing The Historical Person composition is due next week-although students could turn it in early in order to get more time for revisions. I checked in on their source/fused outlines and answered a few questions. Grammar The class was assigned a Fall Grammar Test about parts of speech and verbal phrases. I sent home a paper copy of the test to be taken at home. They can use their notes to answer the questions at home. The best way of learning grammar is through lots of reading and writing. Direct instruction of grammar is important and helpful, and combined with literature and writing it can be pretty potent. Next semester we'll be working on commas! Literature The rest of class was used for presenting our Peace Like A River projects. Each one of them showed not only that the students had a good grasp on the details of our novel, but they also had a strong understanding of the themes and motifs of the book. We had two games (Jeopardy! And Kahoot!), sampled some delicious cinnamon rolls like the ones Roxanna made for the kids, and Nathan showed us his amazing 3D printed Airstream trailer and station wagon. All around it was a fantastic day. Next Week Our last week of the semester is next week, December 19. All work should be handed in by that date. They should not wait until then to do their work and hand it in. I will not accept any work submitted after midnight on Sunday, December 22nd. Next week we will have our "Class-mas Party." I will bring warm drinks, and students can bring goodies if they like. (Please label if there are allergens.) We will have a ZAP! Game based on what we have learned this semester, a quiz on our Visual Vocabulary. After that we will have some time to enjoy some Christmas cheer. Blessings, Mrs. G Assignments for Next Week: Historical Person composition Review Visual Vocabulary words Presentation Self-Evaluation Fall Grammar Test–open book/notes

Writing 2 Class Notes--Week 14 (12/5)

Hello All! There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I cannot believe this semester is coming to a close–that means we are starting to wrap things up. The subject of our final Quick Write this week was: hair. As usual, they brainstormed some clever writing topic ideas! The Magical Realism One-Pager assignment was due today. For the Literature part of the class, students shared some insights on what they learned about the genre through reading a short story and whether or not Peace Like A River fit into that genre. Speaking of our last novel, we had a handful of students present their final projects–Elise shared a delicious pie sample and Caroline wrote an alternate ending. They did a great job! Next week, the rest of the class will present. For Writing, the focus today was on sources for our last assignment. Over the break, they were to look for 3-4 suitable sources on the topic of their choosing for the subject of: a historical person. The homework was to bring the physical copies of them today. For this class, we will be using MLA style to compose a type of bibliography called “Works Cited” page. After a slideshow on MLA style 9, students got into table groups and were given a folder with instructions and sources. They worked together to format the more common sources like books, websites, podcasts, movies, and YouTube videos. Though students don’t need to memorize the formatting rules, they do need to be familiar with them. It is super important to give credit to the original source–they don’t want to accidentally plagiarize–and the good folks at MLA have helped to standardize how that credit should appear on the page. On the slideshow we looked at a few online places to help them cite any source. I handed out the checklist for our last composition of the semester. It is the same process as we just did on Squanto, but this time, they have chosen the subject (a historical person), the topics, and the sources. This composition will be three paragraphs instead of two. We quickly reviewed the process: 1. Generate a list of possible topics that are common across all 3 of your sources 2. Choose 3 of those topic ideas 3. Take the first topic you chose (Topic A) and make one (shorter) source outline from each source--there will be 3 source outlines on that topic--one for each source. 4. Choose the best of the best from your source outlines and fuse them into one fused outline. Repeat that process two more times (for three paragraphs in total.) If it helps, use a big piece of paper like we did in class. I haven't posted the Checklist yet, but it's all 5 Dress-Ups and the #2 sentence opener and the topic-clincher rule. The outlines are due next week and the compositions are officially due 12/19–the last week of class. I told them it would be wise to turn it in early. That way, they can get feedback from me to avoid getting it marked “In process” at the end of the semester. Next week, we’ll cover our last Grammar topic–no grammar this week! Blessings on your weekend! Mrs. G Homework Source and fused outlines on Historical Person of Choice Summarizing Mult. Refs.--Historical Person of Choice –Composition due 12/19 Links for this Week About Summarizing Mult. Refs.--Historical Person of Choice Works Cited Practice

Writing 2 Week 12–11/21

 

Dear Students,

The weather is turning and we are all ready for a break! But before the break:  one last class!  

Our visual vocabulary words this week are: jaded and gambit. We had some chess players who were a bit jaded with the vocabulary word gambit.

Writing

Today, the composition on Squanto is due. I checked in on how the process of summarization went. Writing source and fused outlines is a new skill to most and is very important to the “bones” of writing. After fielding some questions, we moved on to the next writing topic.  

I emphasized that up to this point, we have used the source texts provided and we haven’t used outside sources.We will continue to practice summarizing multiple sources, but for this next assignment, students will get to choose their own references/source texts.The subject is a historical person After brainstorming on their own and then as a class, they should have a pretty good idea of what subject they will choose.  

The parameters:  the person must no longer be living AND the person should have lots of material out there about them.  For example a more contemporary person probably wouldn’t have books/magazine/journal articles written on them.  It will be easiest to stick to well-known historical persons vs. more recent persons.  I advised them to take a look at their homeschool shelves–there’s sure to be some great ideas lurking there! 

Their homework over break is to find AND bring 3-4 references/source text to class. Two references may be internet articles and the other one(s) must be from a different source– a book, magazine/journal or documentary. Bring a hard copy of your references–that means bring the physical book/magazine or printed article to class with you next class.  

Literature

Today we played a board game that was a review for the Peace Like A River exam.  Each group had a game board, a stack of cards and a penny.  As they flipped the penny, they moved their piece forward and answered questions on our novel.

After that, I handed out the exam.  When they finished, they took a One-Pager assignment that they will fill out over the break after listening to a short story. We are expanding our understanding of the genre “magical realism” and after watching a short video on that topic, they will choose to listen to a story that fits that genre:  ”Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman or “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu.  The One-Pager’s focus is their chosen story, magical realism, and the question of whether or not Peace Like A River fits into that magical realism genre.  I am looking forward to the discussion afterwards!

Grammar

Since we needed the bulk of the time to review for and take the Peace Like A River exam, I simply assigned the two worksheets on Active & Passive voice.  There is a video linked on one of the worksheets with tips for using this voice in their writing.

Homework

Choose a writing subject (historical person)

Bring 3-4 (physical) references about a historical person to class

Two references may be Internet articles–bring the printed article to class; bring physical copies of the other reference(s)

Magical Realism One-Pager

Active to Passive Voice–1 & video

Passive to Active Voice–2

Links for this week

Magical realism genre and short stories

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 11 (Nov. 14)

 Hi Everyone!

We had a great class today!  I am always encouraged to see such bright, inquisitive students each week who are engaged and ready to learn!

We kicked off with our Quick Write.  As our writing subjects get a little more “random,” it’s great to see students leaning in to ask themselves good questions in order to think of potential topics to write on.  Today’s subject:  silverware.

Next, we moved on to the Writing portion of our class.  Today, I introduced a new unit–really an expansion of the summarizing we’ve been working on.  From now on, we will be working with multiple references, so today we worked on the skills of making source outlines and then combining those source outlines into one fused outline. 

After viewing some short teaching videos which gave an overview of the process,  I handed out three source texts on the subject of Squanto.  The tie-in is fantastic–obviously because Thanksgiving is upon us.  Also, a major theme of our novel this fall was miracles.  What is more miraculous than the story of how God used Squanto to preserve the lives of the pilgrims? In fact, God miraculously intervened in Squanto’s life many times. 

 On to the writing. Together we read through the texts and picked out possible writing topics.  After assessing which topic had the most important, interesting and relevant information, we chose one.  

Then, from each source (labeled A, B & C), we filled out three abbreviated KWOs (also labeled A, B & C) and we ended up with three short source outlines.  After that, our work is easy:  simply scan the source outlines for the “best of the best” information and fill out one fused outline.  This fused outline helps organize information, and causes us to think critically on how the pieces should fit together.  It’s like a first draft and I explained that once that process is complete, the paragraph basically writes itself!  For a two paragraph composition, they will need to repeat this process twice.

As I wrote my outlines for the first topic on the board, students worked on theirs.  For this first paragraph, they are welcome to use my outlines or make their own.  Their homework is to write a second paragraph on a topic of their choosing using these source texts.  They should continue making source/fused outlines and use their checklist to write.

Whew!  They worked hard during that teaching, so I decided to forego any Literature  and Grammar this week.  We’ll make it up next week.  (There’s still time to submit a question for the review game.)

Homework

Summarizing Multiple References–Squanto

Finish PLAR (final exam next week)

Submit a PLAR review question

Links for this Week

Quick Write #5

About Summarizing Multiple References (with teaching videos)

Updated Assignment Checklist

CHAT Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 10 (11/7)

 I noticed how golden the sun is coming in the windows during their class period.  Something to be thankful for during this time of year.

We started the class with our Visual Vocabulary words:  gist and fealty.  Now that the election is over, hopefully none of us feel that way anymore!

Writing

After reviewing the www.asia.b clause, the new #2 preposition sentence opener, students we read the Checklist together, they are now ready to write their compositions.  The three paragraph summary is due next week.

Grammar

Today’s grammar discussion continued our unit on Phrases.  Today it was Participial Phrases.  Using these phrases correctly is key to “leveling up” your writing.  Students took notes on how participials look like verbs, but they function as adjectives because they describe a noun/subject.  Participials usually end in “ed” or “ing.”  Students had a chance to write a few practice sentences and they were assigned homework.  

Students then got in small groups and played a round of Phrases Matching.  Each set of cards had the phrases we have learned so far:  prepositional, infinitive and participial.  For homework they are to complete a Phrases Review, which is posted as a Google Form on Google Classroom.

Literature

They have reached the pinnacle climax of our story.  The students have been enjoying our novel and it is coming to an end.  They are to finish it this week and do a 3 Responses worksheet as usual.  Next class, we will be prepare for the final exam by playing a Peace Like A River board game.  ATTENTION!  I did not assign this in class:  For next week, they each must write a question on their assigned chapter to add to their question decks.  See your assigned chapter and post your question on  Google Classroom.

Have a blessed weekend!

Mrs. G

Homework

About Summarizing a Reference w/ Checklist

Summarizing “CIA Training” OR “Tony Mendez”

Participials–1

Participials–2

Phrases Quiz

Read PLAR Chapter 20-end

PLAR Review Game question

3 Responses

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #5

About Participial Phrases