Greetings!
It was so good to be in class again. The students all brought good, attentive attitudes to the room, and I think we're going to have a good year together. All the students are new to me, so we'll hopefully be able to quickly get to know one another. In my classes, I incorporate full class and small group discussions, which I think we can still do in a socially distanced manner.
Our first order of business for our class periods, after praying, of course, is to complete a Quick Write. The prompts for these are usually light-hearted, but occasionally the topics require a little more serious thinking. For today, I asked students to write about what they would put in a "Back to School Survival Kit." Each student shared aloud one or two items, and snacks, drinks, and music were the top choices of items that students wanted to help them get their homework done.(You'll notice the embedded link -- it is for the Google Classroom assignment. I will include these homework links in these emails; they will be especially helpful for students who were absent, who forgot what an assignment was, or who lost an assignment.)
We had a small group of students joining the class via Zoom, and I'm hoping it worked well for those students. This is an option for any students who might miss a week for one reason or another.
Most of our first morning together was spent in getting acquainted with materials and some of the logistics of the class. I'm trying something new this year: I handed out a complete Materials Packet for the whole semester, which included essay explanations, writing-related material, literature study guides, grammar worksheets, extra Rocketbook pages, etc. I recommend that students put all of this material in a 3-ring binder and insert dividers or a piece of colored paper between the Writing and Literature papers and between the Literature and Grammar papers. If the binder has inside pockets, the front pocket could be for homework to hand in and the back one could be for homework that is returned. In the past I've handed out materials one week at a time, but this year I thought having everything at the beginning would help avoid the issue of any missing papers should a student be unable for any reason to be in class.
One piece of paper from the packet needs both the student's and the parent's attention: the Class Policies handout. Students are to read it and put their names (not initials) in the top margin, and then I would like parents to read it and initial it. Thank you! (You can do the paper version or the Google Classroom version.)
I also took time to check in on the chatclasses emails, Google Classroom, and the Rocketbook app. I will include that information on another email.
Our first Writing assignment is a rough draft of a Descriptive Essay. For this essay, students should choose a place, event, or situation that they can describe using multiple senses. (i.e. sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) They can organize their essays chronologically, spatially, or by the senses. This is meant to be a shorter essay, and a pre-write/outline is not required. The rough draft should be submitted on Google Classroom. Students can type their papers on the Word or Pages, but they will need to copy and paste them onto the Google doc template attached to the assignment. (They can also hand in a paper copy in class if they would like.)
We will start reading Animal Farm by George Orwell after next week. For this week, they are to read the Introduction and take the short quiz that is posted on Google Classroom. The short writing assignment, "What makes a good leader?" is not due until Sept. 17.
Finally, for the Grammar portion of the class, I briefly mentioned to the class that this semester will focus on the parts of speech, and the students will become the teachers. More on this next week!
If you are new to my classes, this is what the weekly Class Notes will look like. I'll tell you about Quick Writes, writing assignments, literature discussions, and grammar lessons. I'll include links to the Google Classroom assignments and attach any pertinent materials. At the bottom of the email I'll list the homework and any links. (I've found that most students simply scroll to the bottom of the email to get homework info.) These class notes will be the record of what we cover in class.
Have a great weekend! Enjoy our beautiful weather.
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
Homework for Next Week:
(Note: Any assignments that are designated GC must be completed on Google Classroom)
-- Class Policies -- signed & initialled
-- Organize your materials packet (binder? folders?)
-- Descriptive Essay rough draft (GC)
-- Animal Farm Introduction
-- Animal Farm Quiz (GC)
-- Extra Credit -- Draw a picture of IVAN CAPP
Other Links for this week:
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (Sept. 3)
Writing 1 Google Drive folder
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