Our Writing 1 Class went well this week, and I'm sure that most of the students are looking forward to having another break from CHAT classes for our Easter break. We'll resume classes again the week following Easter/Resurrection Sunday.
Our Words of the Day were words that sound the same, spelled the same, but have different meanings:
The Quick Write for this week recognized Washington Irving, an early American writer whose birthday was this month. Though most of the students were unfamiliar with his writings, I'm sure parents are familiar with his two well-known stories, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Since Rip Van Winkle was a lazy man whose plan to get out of work cost him 20 years of his life, I asked the students to think about and write about their favorite getting-out-of-work strategies. I heard some very interesting ideas from this creative group of students.
Our Words of the Day were words that sound the same, spelled the same, but have different meanings:
principle (a basic belief or primary idea) & principal (the leader of a school)
capitol (the building that houses a state's or nation's legislature) & capital (the primary seat of government)
council (an assembly of persons with a focus/goal) & counsel (wise advice)
Embedded in this discussion were some other terms related the relationships between certain types of words. Below are some helpful definitions:
homograph -- words with the same spelling, different sound, different meaning. E.g. The wind blows/ Wind the clock. Lead the people to safety./ Avoid using paint with lead in it. The desert has sand./ Don't desert your friends.
homonym -- words with the same sound, same/different spelling and different meaning. E.g. Spruce up the house./I have a spruce tree. I will pay a fair price./ Will you go to the fair?
homophone -- words with the same sound, different spelling,and different meanings, E.g. to/two/too. their/they're/there
synonym -- words that mean the same. E.g. big/large/huge/immense/colossal/sizable/massive
antonym -- words that are opposites. E.g. hot/cold; huge/tiny; wealthy/poor
I handed back to them the Rough Drafts of the most recent essay, a News Story. In class we discussed some of the common errors and mistakes that I found as I read them. In addition to revising and editing their rough drafts, I also want them to fill out a self-evaluation for their essay. These self-evaluations give them time to reflect on their own writing. I've handed out the rubric that I use when grading the essays. On the back side of the self-evaluation sheet, I would like them to list 5 corrections they made on their essays and explain their reason for the correction.
We're continuing to read from our Poetry book. I divided the class into 4 groups and assigned a poet to each group. They were to select one of their poets poems to discuss and then to prepare a discussion question to share with the class. All of our selections this week were from either the Romantic or Victorian period of British literature. I loved hearing them mull over the ideas, style, and meanings found in their poems.
About the Poetry Presentations: I have scheduled Presentations for the last 2 classes of the semester. (James is going to help me put this together.) At the other school where I teach, they hold annual Poetry Out Loud competitions and have hosted a Poetry Slam. In a Poetry Out Loud competition, students recite poetry from a pre-selected list. Poetry Slams, on the other hand, feature original poetry. In past years, we've done at the end of the school year what I have called a "Poetry Slam Out Loud." Students can choose to either recited poetry from our book or recited something they have written.
Assignments for April 24:
-- Read poems by the following poets:
Shakespeare: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day? When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes, Let me not to the Marriage of True Minds
Donne: Death, Be Not Proud
Jonson: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
Quarles: On the World
Carew: The Unfading Beauty
Milton: On His Blindness
-- Finish Final Draft of News Story
-- Complete Self-Evaluation and 5 Corrections
-- Be thinking about your poetry selection for our Poetry Presentations.
This week's links:
Class Notes
Have a great week and very blessed Easter!
Mrs. Prichard
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