Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 23)

 Greetings!

We had a good class this week and covered a lot of information.  

Quick Write

For our Quick Write, students had 2 options:  1) For what are you willing to pay "top dollar,"  and for what items would you be willing to go the cheap route? and 2) Do you or someone you know have a notable collection.  As always, they could always take the "Whatever" option.

Words of the Day

This week our words were "cheap" and "extravagant."  Rather than discuss their etymologies, we explored 2 online resources:  Visual Thesaurus and Thesaurus.com.  Both of these sites are great tools for writing.

Writing Discussion

Students handed in their final drafts of their Descriptive Essays; I always want them to hand in the rough drafts so that I can compare them to see what revisions have been made.  As soon as we're done with one paper, we move right along to the next one.  Their next essay is a Personal Essay.  For this essay they should choose a personal experience or a topic that is of strong personal interest to them.  As a part of the discussion, we went over introductions, thesis statements, and essay structure.  The rough draft is due next week.

Literature Discussion

We did not take time to talk/discuss our book Animal Farm because I wanted to give students more time to work together on their parts of speech presentations.  We'll spend more time with the book next week.

Grammar

This week students spent about 30 minutes in their Parts of Speech groups planning what they will do for their chosen parts of speech.  I roamed through the room and heard good comments, and I also shared some ideas of activities other students have done.  In the list of links below are 3 samples of videos that students have done to explain their parts of speech.   I'm looking forward to our first presentation, which is the Interjections group, next week.  

A Quick Comment about Homework & Scores

As I mentioned in the email before sending out the Grade Reports, if a student wants to know if he/she is missing work, then Google Classroom is the place to look.  If a student wants to know scores and percentages, then the weekly email is what you should look at.

Assignments for Next Week

(No Writing Circles Preparation mentioned on the Checklist.)

Personal Essay Rough Draft

Read Ch. 7 & 8 of Animal Farm

3 Reader Responses

Interjections group preparation

All other groups, keep preparing

Links & Resources for this Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 23)

About the Personal Essay

Adjectives Videos 

Adverbs Video from 2016

Verbs Video

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 16)

 Greetings!

This week's class was productive, but I always find myself wishing we had more time together.  They are a great group of students!

Quick Write

This week's prompts was a little more academic.  On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower departed from England.  In addition to bringing faith to this new land, the Pilgrims helped lay the foundation for democratic, self-government for the sake of community well-being in their document, the Mayflower Compact.  I had the students write about what they felt were essential rights AND responsibilities.  These could either be attributed in a large scale to humanity as a whole or closer to home (e.g. I have a right to my personal space and a responsibility to keep it clean.)  AND, if they were not thinking so deeply, they could write about their favorite fall beverage!

No Words of the Day this week.

Writing Discussion

I handed back rough drafts and went over common mistakes.  Students were to start a document in their folders or notebooks titled either "Watch out for ..." or "Areas to Work On."  On this page I want students to keep track of their own common writing mistakes.  We will refer to this list often over the course of the year, using it to set personal writing goals and to gauge progress.

Literature Discussion

We're reading Animal Farm, and this week we had a good discussion about our reading.  We talked about the primary characters and a timeline of the plot so far.  We also did a little singing. If you have been in the hallway, you would have heard animal noises to the tune of La Cucaracha and Clementine.  

Grammar Discussion

Students were to have taken their pre-test, which I handed back this week.  For pre-tests, students are given a base score, regardless of the number correct.  Since we are covering Parts of Speech using the memory device IVAN CAPP, we had a short contest for our mascot.  A number of students contributed drawings and pictures.  I'll let them know the winner next week.

I've fielded a number of questions about the Parts of Speech presentations.  Students have been put in groups of 3, and they are to research and come up with explanations about their assigned parts of speech.  Additionally, they are to come up with an activity/game/video for the class.  Some students use PowerPoint or other types of presentations.  Sometimes videos are helpful.  I've extended the first presentation.  Instead of starting next week, I've pushed the first presentation off until Sept. 30.  Interjections and Verbs will present on that week.  STUDENTS SHOULD CONNECT WITH THEIR GROUP MEMBERS TO PLAN!

Parts of Speech Groups

Interjections -- Peytan, Sarah, Noah

Verbs -- Estelle, Johnny

Adjectives -- Megan, Ava, Rhyan

Nouns -- Grace, Jaden, Eliana

Conjunctions -- Molly, Charissa, Katelyn

Adverbs -- James, Phoebe, Joren

Prepositions -- Chase, Will, Liam

Pronouns -- Kevin, Evan, Ike

Assignments for Next Week

Descriptive Essay -- Final Draft

Discussion Question -- Top Character Quality

Week 4 Take Home Quiz

Read Chapters 5 & 6

Reader Responses for Chapters 5 & 6 

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 4 (September 16)

Quick Write -- Sept 16

Discussion Question -- Descriptive Essay

Parts of Speech Checklist

Grammar Worksheets KEY

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 9)

Greetings!

We had a good class today.  The students came into class ready to learn, and we had a productive time.  

Quick Write

Sept. 10 is National Swap Ideas Day, and it encourages us to share a creative or helpful idea with someone and trade them for their thoughts in return. 

• Where do you go to get good ideas?  

• What great ideas do you have to share with others?  

• What kind of group that you’d like to be in to share ideas.

On Sept. 8, 1930, the American company 3M began marketing a transparent adhesive tape that later became known as Scotch® tape.  On Sept. 10, 1846, American inventor Elias Howe was granted a patent for his sewing machine, which revolutionized garment manufacture in the factory and in the home.  

• What is one of your favorite inventions/gadgets?  

• What invention do you think the world needs? 

Words of the Day  (These were invention-related words to go with our Quick Write.)

Patent -- fr. Latin, patere, to lie or be open; including litterae patentes, which means open letters. -- a document that is a license issued by the government conferring rights of ownership of an invention.

Innovation -- fr. Latin innovare, to change or renew -- a new method, idea, or product

Enigma -- fr. Greek ainigma, a dark saying or riddle -- a problem, puzzle, or mystery

Revised Syllabus

This week I was going to hand back the rough drafts of their Descriptive Essays and go over common writing errors, but I'm afraid my week took a turn that I had not expected.  I was with my mom from Friday to Tuesday until she passed away on Tuesday.  The papers weren't graded, so I pushed back the due dates of some of the writing assignments.  I will have the rough drafts back to them next week and will have all of the homework corrected and updated on Google Classroom.

Google Classroom

I reminded the students that if they don't do an assignment on Google Classroom, they should leave it alone.  I will update the scores for work that was handed in during class.

Literature Discussion

The class has read the first 2 chapters of Animal Farm and done their first set of reader responses.  Next week we will have a 4-Square Discussion on Chapters 1 - 4.  (More on that next week.)

Grammar Topics

I gave the students two documents to help them plan for their parts of speech presentations.  Students signed up for their parts of speech.  (See the list below).  Students should connect with one another over this week, and they will have time next week in class to prepare for their presentations.

As an Extra Credit assignment, they can submit a picture of "IVAN CAPP" (our mnemonic device for the parts of speech) to be voted on as a class favorite to use as a mascot for this unit.  As a class, they decided to make this a competition.  May the best IVAN CAPP win!  We will vote next week, so if a student hasn't done a picture but wants to, there's still time.

Parts of Speech Groups

Interjections -- Peytan, Sarah, Noah

Verbs -- Estelle, Johnny

Adjectives -- Megan, Ava, Rhyan

Nouns -- Grace, Jaden, Eliana

Conjunctions -- Molly, Charissa, Katelyn

Adverbs -- James, Phoebe, Joren

Pronouns -- Chase, Will, Liam

Prepositions -- Kevin, Evan, Ike

Assignments for Next Week

-- Week 4 Take Home Quiz  (on Google Classroom)

-- Parts of Speech Pre-Test  (if not finished this week)

-- Parts of Speech Planning Worksheet

-- Extra Credit IVAN CAPP drawing

-- Discussion Question -- Descriptive Essay (on Google Classroom)

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 3 (September 9)

Parts of Speech Checklist

Grammar Worksheets KEY

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 2)

 Greetings!

We had a good class today.  The students were engaged and interacted well with the material and with one another.  

Quick Write

Students had 4 options today:  1) Sept. 1 was National No Rhyme Day  Students could try to rhyme some words that don't have clear "rhyme partners."  2) Sept. 2 is National Blueberry Popsicle Day.  Students could write about favorite frozen treats or foods "on a stick." 3) Sept. 3 is National Lazy Mom's Day, and students were prompted to write about tasks they could do for their moms or tasks that their moms do that they would never want to do.  4)  "Whatever."  Students could write about something else that was one their minds.  

Words of the Day

• Pertinacious -- fr. Latin, pertinax, "very firm, tenacious" -- stubbornly persistent.
• Ulotrichous --- fr. Greek, oulos, "curly, woolly" and thrix, "hair" -- having very curly, wool-like or stiff hair
• Gobbledygook -- a word coined by Maury Maverick in 1944 - means unintelligible, whether in communication is nonsense/gibberish or overly complicated

Google Classroom Instructions

I took a few minutes to go over the CHAT classes email and Google Classroom.  Some students haven't used Google Classroom and are unfamiliar with this resource.  It might take a while to become completely comfortable with all of the necessary aspects of Google Classroom.  

Writing Discussion

The rough drafts of the Descriptive Essay were due today.  They could be handed in on Google Classroom or as paper copies in class.  I will go over these rough drafts and hand them back next week for students to revise into final drafts.  I clarified that all students get a basic score for their rough drafts.  A qualitative evaluation will be given for the final draft using a rubric.

Literature Discussion

We're starting into our book for the semester, Animal Farm by George Orwell.  For a Pre-Reading exercise, they are to compose their thoughts about "What Makes a Hero."  This is due next week, but some students were finished and handed it in this week.  As part of our discussion, we talked about the sub-title for the book: a fairy story.  When we're all done with the book, we'll talk about how our definitions of a fairy tale match with the book.

I gave students an introduction to the book and a study guide.  For each reading assignment, they're to complete 3 Reader Responses, and those could be study guide questions or something from the "Ala Carte" section at the end of the study guide.  They can do a mix of questions and ala carte options.

Grammar Topics

This week I introduced our grammar unit:  The 8 Parts of Speech.  Students will be the teachers -- in teams they'll gather information about their assigned part of speech and present it to the rest of the class.  We will divide up into groups next week.  For their homework, they are to complete a Parts of Speech Pre-Test.  They can complete the paper copy or the Google Classroom copy.

As an Extra Credit assignment, they can submit a picture of "IVAN CAPP" (our mnemonic device for the parts of speech) to be voted on as a class favorite to use as a mascot for this unit.  As a class, they decided to make this a competition.  May the best IVAN CAPP win!

Assignments for Next Week

-- Discussion Question -- Topic & Senses (on Google Classroom)

-- Read Ch. 1 & 2 of Animal Farm

-- Quiz -- Intro to Animal Farm (on Google Classroom)

-- What Makes a Good Leader?  

-- Parts of Speech Pre-Test

-- Extra Credit IVAN CAPP drawing

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 2)

Descriptive Essay Rough Draft

Introduction to Animal Farm

Parts of Speech Unit

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (August 26)

 Greetings!

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.

I almost always start class with a Quick Write and sometimes with a Word of the Day.  I use a variety of prompts for these short writing opportunities that give students a chance to shift into a writing mode.  These prompts are sometimes serious but usually lighthearted.  For our Words of the Day, I like to choose unusual words, words of current interest, or words with interesting backgrounds.  I especially enjoy looking at the etymologies of words and trying to figure out the journey of the word from its ancient meaning to its modern meaning.

For this week's Quick Write I asked students to respond to these 3 questions:  1) What do you need to be successful this school year?  2) What do you need from others, including me, to be successful this year? 3) What can you do for others in order to help them be successful?

We had two Words of the Day:

education -- fr. L. educare, to lead or bring out -- the act of teaching or receiving knowledge

teach -- fr. OE takn, token, to show, point out, declare -- to show or explain how to do something.  

Much of our first class of the year is spent taking care of logistics and looking at some Class Resources.  I gave the students a Class Policies handout, a syllabus, and a checklist of assignments.  These are important documents that will help us be organized with our work this year.  (Note:  Parents, please read the class policies and initial it)

In addition to an overview of the topics in the class, we discussed Google Classroom.  All of the materials and assignments will be posted on Google Classroom.  If they haven't, students need to sign in to their chatclasses email and then join the Google Classroom for Writing 1. Many students are familiar with Google Classroom, but I plan to spend a little more time explaining it next week in order to clear up any questions students might have.

A quick note about scores on Google Classroom -- if a student has handed in a paper copy of an assignment, I will record the score on Google Classroom, usually by the next class period.  A student SHOULD NOT use the "Turn In" option on the Google Classroom assignment that coincides with the paper assignment they have handed in.

We will write 4 essays this semester, and I introduced the first Writing assignment of the semester, a Descriptive Essay.  They should choose something that they would enjoy describing, using as many of the 5 senses as they can, including taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell.  They are not required to do an outline or pre-write for this essay.  (This is my chance to get a feeling for their writing styles and abilities.)

Our Literature selection for this semester is Animal Farm by George Orwell.  I will introduce the book more fully next week, but for a pre-reading exercise, students should take time to think about what qualities they think a good leader should have (not due for 2 weeks).  Students also have a short introduction to the book and a quiz on Google Classroom.

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

Have a great weekend!!

Blessings!

Mrs. Prichard

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 1 Class Policies (signatures needed)

Descriptive Essay Rough Draft  (Please use the Google Doc template attached to this assignment.)

Pre-Reading -- What Makes a Good Leader?  (due 9/9)

Read the Introduction to Animal Farm

Quiz -- Intro to Animal Farm

Before school started assignments -- Students can still do these.

Welcome Back #1

Welcome Back #2

Links for this Week:

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 1 (August 26)

Mrs. Prichard's Guide to Technology 2021 - 2022 (on the blog)

Mrs. Prichard's Guide to Technology 2021 - 2022 (on Google Classroom)

Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

Writing 1 Syllabus

About the Descriptive Essay

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Welcome to Writing 1 with Mrs. Prichard

 Greetings!

This is just a short note to say "Hello!" and to welcome both students and parents to my Writing 1 class at CHAT.  I'll be sending a longer, "here's what you need to know before school starts" email over the weekend, so this is just a brief greeting.  

This year I will be using Google Classroom for all of the assignments, so you should be getting from Mrs. Nelson a student chatclasses email for your child who is enrolled in this class.  My practice is to send all class emails and updates to parents and students, so if you want to use another email in addition to this one, please let me know.  

I hope you've had a good, fun, and relaxing summer.  And I also hope you're looking forward to a new school year.  I know I am!!

Blessings, 

Mrs. Prichard

Mrs. Prichard’s Guide to Technology for 2021 - 2022

 Mrs. Prichard’s Guide to Technology for 2020-21

Greetings CHAT families!

Last year because of the potential restrictions from COVID-19, I put all of my materials and assignments on Google Classroom.  For many students, Google Classroom helped them keep track of assignments, was a repository of any handouts from class that they had lost, and offered an online way to complete homework.  Considering those benefits, I will again be using Google Classroom for my classes at CHAT.  Below are explanations and descriptions of some helpful resources to help you get set up for the year.

Online Option using Zoom.

• If at any point we require distance learning this year, the classes will meet via Zoom

• Students who are sick or out of town can attend my classes via Zoom.

• Follow this link:   Tamera Prichard’s Zoom classroom.  (password:  chat)

• Note:  Google Classroom offers a Google Meet address for the classes, but at this time I will not be using Google Meet

The G-Suite for CHAT Classes

Kim Nelson has assigned an email account with chatclasses.com to all of my students.  (Last year’s students will continue with their emails.)  This is essential for using Google Classroom and the multiple tools that come with the G-Suite for education.  Mrs. Nelson has also made some videos and a teaching sheet for using your CHAT email account and getting into Google Classroom.  She uses an Algebra 1 class as an example, but the steps will be the same for my writing classes.  

• How to Sign in to Gmail and Google Classroom for CHAT students

• How to Forward Your Email and Create a Filter

• Intro to Google Classroom for Students (20 minutes)

• How to scan a multi-page document using Genius Scan (free) and get it into Google Classroom  (Note:  Genius Scan is phone app that scans documents and saves them as PDFs.)

• Student Quick Guide to Google Classroom

• Another Google Classroom Tutorial

Google Drive

• With the G-Suite, students have access to Google Drive, which is a multi-dimensional platform for documents, slides, spreadsheets, etc.  Think of it as a filing system for your digital content.

• To get started, students should create separate folders for each of their classes.  For some classes, they might want folders within a folder.  (e.g. A Writing 2 folder could have subfolders for Essays, Grammar, Literature.)

• A well-organized Google Drive will help students stay better organized with their school work.  

Google Classroom

• All assignments for the semester will be posted in Google Classroom even if we’re face to face.  

• Students will be added to the roster and will get an invitation to join the class.  Follow the links in the email.  Parents will also be added.  If you prefer to not be added, let me know.  

• The assignments will come in one or more of the following formats:

• An attached Google Doc on which students can type

• A quiz or form that students can complete

• A discussion question on which students can type a comment or respond to a classmate

• An assignment where a student can upload a document or some other type of electronic work

• Students will need to remember to “Turn in” their homework via a button on the assignment page.

• Google Classroom has an attached grade book and should be used for checking for missing work.  This year I will be using it as my online grade book.  

• Google Classroom also has a calendar that keeps track of due dates for assignments.

Communication

• Email:  My email is tammy.prichard@chatclasses.com.  (Some of you have my older gmail account, so please change it to this one.)

• Blog:  I send weekly notes in an email and post them on the class blog.  I will also use the blog for sharing other information, such as videos, websites, etc.

• Writing 1

• Writing 2

• Writing 3

Finally, the 2 most important questions

• “Where to find worksheets and materials?”

• Attached to Class Notes emails.

• Attached to Google Classroom assignments

• In the shared folder for your class

•  Writing 

• Writing 2

• Writing 3

• Note:  These documents can only be accessed by students with CHAT emails; they are also set to be “View Only.”

• On the gradebook after the assignment has been posted on Classroom.

• “How can students hand in homework?”

• When we’re face to face, all work can be handed in physically in class

• For face to face OR distance learning:  Via the Google Classroom assignment (using the attached document or uploading material)

• If and only if the Rocketbook app is not working or a student is still in the process of figuring out Google Classroom

• Send an electronic version (i.e. pdf, Google docs, or Word document – NO Pages or photos) via email.

• The specific name of the assignment must be in the subject line.

• Send only one assignment per email.