Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 3)

Greetings!

We had an fun class today -- as usual, we covered a lot of material.  We started with our Quick Write.  Here are the prompts for the day:

• February 2 –  World Read Aloud Day.  Do you have a favorite story that was read aloud to you when you were young?  Write about it.

• February 4, 2004 –  the day that Facebook was launched.  Do you use Facebook?  What are your thoughts about social media?

• February 4, 1789 – the day that George Washington was elected our first president by a unanimous vote of the first electoral college.  Do you have any opinions about the electoral college?  Do you have opinions about what makes for a good elected leader?

Our Words of the Day came from Megan, Grace, and Ike:

hoopla-- fr. American English, earlier houp-la, exclamation accompanying quick movement (1870), perhaps borrowed from French houp-là "upsy-daisy," also a cry to dogs, horses, etc. 

poppycock--  fr. American English -- trivial talk; nonsense

xertz-- fr. unknown origin; to gulp something down quickly and/or in a greedy fashion 

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis -- a term for a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust, 

I handed back the rough drafts of the Narrative Essays.  These were very enjoyable essays to read.  Many students wrote more than they usually did, and they told interesting stories in the contexts of their essays.  As per my practice, I go over common mistakes and use these for grammar instruction.  This week I had them go to the white board and write their top three mistakes.  The most common errors I found in their write had to do with punctuating dialogue, paragraph formation, comma splice sentences, and compound sentences with commas.  Students are to revise their rough drafts into final drafts for next week.  I forgot to mention in class, but there's a form on Google Classroom for them to list their first 5 mistakes.  NOTE:  Remember to bring your corrected rough draft to class next week to hand in with the final draft.

We had a short discussion about Richard Hannay and The Thirty-Nine Steps.  We talked about what we liked and didn't like about the book.  The students had some profound statements about the plot and the writing style.  We watched a clip from the 2008 adaption of the book and then discussed if the Hannay in the movie was like the one we imagined.  In the chapters that they will read for next week, the spy aspect of the story will evolve, so that by the end, there is a solution to the whole mysterious situation.  For next week, they will read Chapters 7 & 8 and take a quiz.  If they want, they can do the study guide questions for extra credit.

Our Grammar instruction included a sentence review and prepositional phrases review.  We worked on it for a bit in class, and students should correct their work before handing it in.  

Assignments for next week

• Narrative Essay Final Draft

• First Five Mistakes (on Google Classroom)

• Read Ch. 7 & 8 of The 39 Steps
  

• Quiz:  Ch. 5 – 8 (GC)

• Ch. 7 & 8 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

• Grammar – Wk4:  Simple Sentence Review

• Grammar -- Wk4: Finding Prepositional Phrases

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 3)

The 39 Steps (Scene 1)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Librivox)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (YouTube)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

 Greetings!

This week's Quick Write prompts were taken from the list that the students in Writing 1 and Writing 2 contributed to last fall.  Here are the prompts for today’s Quick Write:

• What is a favorite childhood memory?

• What is one of the best days of your life?

• What was a highlight of your week?

• Whatever …..

Our Words of the Day came from Megan, Ike, and Grace:  and Kaylynn:

hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia  -- an extension of sesquipedalian (long words) with monstrum (“monster”) and hippopotamus (intended to exaggerate the length) and phobia -- the fear of long words

defenestration -- fr. Latin de, "down from" and fenestra, "window" -- to throw someone out of the window

kakorrhaphiophobia-- fr. Greek, kakos, "bad and evil," and phobia, "fear" --  a fear of failure

Students have handed in the Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts of their Narrative Essays.  Most of them enjoyed writing these because they could write about personal experiences.  I look forward to reading them.

We are 4 chapters into our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and most of the students are enjoying the story line.  Some aspects are unfamiliar because it was written for another time and place.  I reminded the students to look up unfamiliar words.  I divided the class into small groups to discuss these 2 questions:  Was Hannay a good or bad spy? and Why does he keep telling his story to people?

For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on simple and compound sentences.  We reviewed the basic elements of a sentence (subject + verb + complete thought).  Many times students write sentence fragments and run-on sentences and comma splice sentences because they don't have a strong sense for these sentence elements.  We took time to do a few of the sentences on each worksheet.  [Note:  Remember to correct your grammar worksheets and to clearly mark that they've been corrected.]

Assignments for Next Week:

• No writing -- I'm correcting rough drafts this week

• Read Ch. 5 & 6 of The 39 Steps

• Week 4 – 3 Study Guide Questions

• Grammar – Compound Subject

• Grammar – Compound Predicate

• Grammar – Compound Subject & Predicate

 

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

The Thirty Nine Steps audiobooks

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 20)

 Greetings!

We started today with a Quick Write using prompt options that they had written:

1. What are some of your pet peeves?
2. What do you do that annoys others, either accidentally or intentionally?
3. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?
4. What is the best/worst part of your hous?
5. Whatever????

Our Words of the Day were brought to use by Liam and Grace:  

bork:  obstruct (someone, especially a candidate for public office) by systematically defaming or vilifying them.  (taken from the nomination experience of Robert Bork)

sesquipedalian:  fr. Latin sesquipedalis, a foot and a half --  characterized by long words or long-windedness

The usual Agenda for the class time is to do these beginning of class activities and then most of the time we cover these topics in this order:  Writing assignments/instruction, Literature discussion, and Grammar instruction/work.  

For our Writing discussion, I checked in with them about the progress of their Narrative Essays.  The Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts are due next week.  Students were reminded that a Narrative Essay is kind of like a "story with a purpose."  

The class has read the first 2 chapters of our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps.  We talked about some points in chapters 1 and 2.  Then I divided the class into 4 groups, and they played the game "Enter the Mystery Mansion."  Students were given cards with pictures, and as a group, they were to compose a mystery and/or spy story.  When they were done, they retold their stories for the Zoom portion of the class.  They were quite creative!

The last part of class was for Grammar instruction.  Today, I did a short lesson on simple and compound subjects and predicates.  Students got their worksheets at the end of class.  Remember, they should be corrected before they are turned in!

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:

Narrative Essay Pre-Write

Narrative Essay Rough Draft

Read Ch. 3 & 4 of The 39 Steps

Quiz:  Ch. 1 – 4 (Google Classroom)

Ch. 3 & 4 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

Subject/Verb Agreement

Sentences: Finding the Complete Subjects and Complete Predicate

Links for this Week

Class Notes

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on YouTube

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on Librivox

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 11)

 Greetings!

We had an fun class today -- we covered a lot of material .  We started with our Quick Write.  As I told them last week, the plan was to write letters of encouragement and gratitude.  to someone.  They wrote their letters, put them in sealed envelopes, and handed them in.  If need be, they can bring the addresses next week if they forgot to bring them today.  I will mail them.

Our Words of the Day came from the class contributions:

thalassophile -- fr. Greek, thalasa, "sea" -- a lover of the sea

geminate --  fr. Latin, geminatus, "twinned, divided, equal" -- duplicated, found in pairs; something arranged in pairs

susurrate -- fr. Latin, susurare, "to hum, murmur, mumble" -- to make a whispering or humming sound

costermonger -- fr. French, costard, a large variety of apple; Old English mangare, "merchant, broker" -- a vendor of vegetables

I handed back the rough drafts of the Narrative Essays.  These were very enjoyable essays to read.  Many students wrote more than they usually did, and they told interesting stories in the contexts of their essays.  As per my practice, I go over common mistakes and use these for grammar instruction.  The most common errors I found in their write had to do with punctuating dialogue, paragraph formation, comma splice sentences, and compound sentences with commas.  Students are to revise their rough drafts into final drafts for next week.  In addition to their final drafts, they must fill out a form titled, "First Five Mistakes" on a Google Classroom assignment.

We had a short discussion about Richard Hannay and The Thirty-Nine Steps.  We talked about how Hannay was so quick to share his story with those he met, even though dangerous spies were on his trail.  We discussed employing a "willing suspension of disbelief."  In other words, some parts seem unbelievable, and they will remain just that -- unbelievable.  We accept it and go on.  In the chapters that they will read for next week, the spy aspect of the story will evolve, so that by the end, there is a solution to the whole mysterious situation.  For next week, they will read Chapters 7 & 8 and take a quiz.  If they want, they can do the study guide questions for extra credit.

Our Grammar instruction centered on prepositional phrases.  These phrases function as either adjectives or adverbs.  It is important to identify them in sentences so that they can be eliminated as other sentence parts (e.g. subject, direct object, etc.)  Students have 2 sides of one worksheet to do for next week.

A note on homework:  last week with 46 rough drafts from Writing 1 and Writing 2, I only corrected student papers.  The other grammar and literature homework will be graded and entered into Track My Grades this week. Again, if you are not able to get into Track My Grades, let me know.  We discovered today that I had the wrong email entered for one student, and I was able to correct it.

Assignments for next week

• Narrative Essay Final Draft

• First Five Mistakes (GC)

• Read Ch. 7 & 8 of The 39 Steps

• Quiz:  Ch. 5 – 8 (GC)

• Ch. 7 & 8 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

• Grammar – Wk4:  Prepositional Phrase Practice

• Grammar -- Wk4: Prepositional Phrases as Adj/Adv

• Remember to bring your address for your envelope.

Links for This Week

Class Notes

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Librivox)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (YouTube)

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (February 4)

 Greetings!

We started our class thinking about "Gratitude."  I shared with the class that research shows that people who develop intentional habits of expressing gratitude have stronger cognitive functioning, better immune systems, and a greater degree of happiness.  For our Quick Write prompts today, students could choose from these options:  

• What is a simple pleasure that you are grateful for?
• What is something that you are looking forward to?
• Who is someone who could really use a "thank you note?"

The students had some great comments, and we decided that next week we would write some real thank you notes.  I will bring envelopes and stamps and the students are to bring addresses.  (What a great group this is!!)

Our Words of the Day came from Nina and Kaylynn:

oikofugic -- fr. Greek oiko, "house" and Latin fugere, "to flee"  -- a desire to wander or run away from home. 

lachrymose -- fr. Latin lachrymosis, "tear" -- suggest of or tending to cause tears; mournful

mammonism -- fr. Latin mamonao, "wealth" -- the greedy pursuit of riches.

For class this week, we had extras on Zoom due to the bad roads.  Unfortunately, the internet kicked me off, and I couldn't get Zoom up and running again.  I'm afraid those students attending on Zoom missed that last 1/3 of the class.

Students have handed in the Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts of their Narrative Essays.  Most of them enjoyed writing these because they could write about personal experiences.  I look forward to reading them.

We are 4 chapters into our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and most of the students are enjoying the story line.  Some aspects are unfamiliar because it was written for another time and place.  I reminded the students to look up unfamiliar words.  We also read some of the landscape descriptions.  Even though these aren't the most important aspects of the story, they geography and Richard Hannay's response to the weather, plants, etc. have a subtle effect on the mood of the story.

For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on simple and compound sentences.  We took time to do a few of the sentences on each worksheet. 

Assignments for Next Week:

• Read Ch. 5 & 6 of The 39 Steps

• Week 4 – 3 Study Guide Questions

• Grammar – Subject/Verb Agreement

• Grammar – Simple Sentences (Compound Subject & Predicate)

• Grammar – Simple Sentences Review

 

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Librivox -- The Thirty-Nine Steps audiobook

YouTube -- The Thirty-Nine Steps audiobook

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 28)

 Greetings!

We started today with a Quick Write using prompt options that they had written:

1. Does water have flavor?
2. Do you have any family traditions or quirky things that only your family does?
3. What is your favorite room in your house?

Our Word of the Day was brought to us by Nina:

geloscopy -- fr. Greek gelos, "laughter" and scopein, "to examine" -- fortune telling by examining laughter.

[Note:  I reminded the students that they can bring 1 word each week for extra credit as long as they have the etymology and definition.]

The usual Agenda for the class time is to do these beginning of class activities and then most of the time we cover these topics in this order:  Writing assignments/instruction, Literature discussion, and Grammar instruction/work.  My plan is to give the last 10 - 15 minutes of every class to working on Grammar assignments so that if students have questions, they can ask them right in class. 

For our Writing discussion, I checked in with them about the progress of their Narrative Essays.  The Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts are due next week.  Students were reminded that a Narrative Essay is kind of like a "story with a purpose."  

The class has read the first 2 chapters of our book, The Thirty-Nine Steps.  I divided the class into 3 groups to discuss the overall plot development so far, points of confusion, and top traits or our main character, Richard Hannay.  As a class we agreed that some points were confusing simply because we skimmed rather than read carefully some sections.  Another challenge in reading this book is  that students are unfamiliar with the historical places and names, with some of the expressions, and with some of the vocabulary.  For example, Richard Hannay mentions the "veld" quite often.   Knowing the definition of the word would make a world of difference in their understanding of the book.  So here's some advice -- look up words that you don't know!

The last part of class was for Grammar instruction.  Today, I did a short lesson on simple and compound subjects and predicates.  Then the students had time to work on the worksheets and ask questions.  Some of them got a lot of work done during that time.

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:

Narrative Essay Rough Draft & Pre-Write
Read Ch. 3 & 4 of The 39 Steps
Quiz:  Ch. 1 – 4 (Google Classroom)

Ch. 3 & 4 Study Guide Questions (Extra Credit)

Simple Sentences (Compound Subjects)

Simple Sentences (Compound Predicates)

Sentences: Finding the Complete Subjects and Complete Predicate

Links for this Week

Class Notes

Track My Grades

Spring Writing 1 Syllabus

Spring Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on YouTube

The Thirty-Nine Steps audio book on Librivox