Thursday, November 18, 2021

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (November 18)

 

Greetings!


We had a good day in class and covered a lot of ground.

Quick Write
For today's Quick Writes, we had the following prompts:
1 -- Contribute to the list of Quick Write ideas to be used for my classes for the rest of the year.
2 -- Write about a sports mis-hap that happened to you or that you know about.
3 -- November 18 is National Princess Day and November 16, 1553, was the day that Queen Elizabeth I became the queen of England following the death of her sister, Mary.  Write about any royalty that you are especially interested in.


Homework Check
A reminder to students:  make sure you correct your grammar worksheets and show on the worksheet or the Google Classroom assignment that you're corrected it.  Also, make sure you turn in assignments that you've done on Google Classroom.  A number of assignments have been finished, but students have forgotten to turn the work in .  

Writing Discussion
Students have been assigned another essay -- a History Essay.  The Pre-Write and Rough Draft are due the week after Thanksgiving break.  We did some brainstorming about topics and then some more for possible thesis statements.  Coming up with thesis statements is one of the hard parts of writing a paper.  The thesis statement is more than a topic sentence; it is a sentence that tells the reader what the topic is and what the writer's stand or opinion is.  When students are thinking about their topics, they should also be thinking about that topic's importance or significance.  I often call this the "Why should I care?" element.

Literature Discussion
We are three chapters (Staves) into A Christmas Carol.  We've read about Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, and the Ghost of Christmas Present.  Most of my questions concerned details about the story and not as many analysis questions.  A number of students didn't bring their books to class.  Remember to bring them next week.

Grammar
We had our last presentation for our parts of speech unit.  Today we heard from the Prepositions trio.  They had a slide presentation, a video, and a game.  Students have Prepositions worksheets and evaluation to do for homework.  They also have a review of the last 4 parts of speech before the final test.  (CAPP Review)

Assignments for December 2
Prepositions Evaluation (Google Classroom)
CAPP Review -- Conjunctions (Google Classroom)
CAPP Review -- Adverbs (Google Classroom)
CAPP Review -- Pronouns (Google Classroom)
CAPP Review -- Prepositions (Google Classroom)
Read Stave 4 of A Christmas Carol


Links for This Week
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (November 18)


Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!
Blessings!
Mrs. Prichard
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Saturday, November 13, 2021

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 11)


 

Greetings!


We had another full class time this week.  When I first started teaching at CHAT, I didn't know how I would fill a 90 minute class.  Now I wish I could have the students for even more time because there's always more to cover.  

Quick Write
Our prompts for today:
Nov. 10 was the birthday of the US Marine Corps
Nov. 11 was Veterans/Armistice Day
Nov. 12  was National Chicken Soup for your Soul
Students could write something about the military or about something that has to do with social/mental/emotional self-care.

Words of the Day
Today's words were war-related:
military -- fr. Latin militis, "soldier" -- of or relating to war, soldiers, army
veteran -- fr. Latin, veteranus, "old, aged, experienced" -- someone who has served in the military; someone who has had long experience in an occupation/skill
armistice -- fr. Latin, arma, "weapons" and stitium, "to stand, be firm" -- a temporary halt in battles
war -- fr. PIE (Proto-Indo-European) wers, "to confuse, mix up" -- a fight carried on in battle using arms

Writing Instruction
The final drafts of the Biography Essay were due this week, and we're on to the next essay -- a History Essay.  For the Biography Essay, students were to write about the significance of a person, and for the History essay, students should discuss the significance in history and culture of an event, item, or period.  For the rest of the essays that they will write for Writing 1, students will write a Pre-Write, Rough Draft, and Final Draft.  I have the Pre-Write "due" next week because I want students to take the week to plan and research for their essays.  However, they don't have to hand in the pre-writes until they hand in the rough drafts, which will be on December 2 (3 weeks from this week.)

Literature
We didn't talk about Stave Two of A Christmas Carol today.  Next week we'll cover Staves Two and Three.

Grammar
We had a good presentation about Pronouns that also included a little "story time."  Students have pronouns homework and a pronouns evaluation to do for their Grammar homework.  Next week, our final presenation:  Prepositions.

Assignments for Next Week
First 5 Corrections (if not done)
History Essay Pre-Write (work on for 11/19 and due 12/2)
Read Stave Three of A Christmas Carol

Links for This Week
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 11 (November 11)

Enjoy the changing of the seasons!!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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Thursday, November 4, 2021

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 4)

 Greetings!


We had a full day, but the we do every week!  We had some difficulties with Zoom today.  I'm not really sure what happened, but I've recorded the class and posted it on Google Classroom.  The link is at the bottom.

For today, we had a few options:
Students could write about favorite sandwiches, candy, and political activism.


Words of the Day
Autumn -- fr. Latin autumnus, "increase" -- the season of harvest between summer and winter
Equinox -- fr. Latin aequus, "equal" and nox, "night" -- the time when day and night are equal length
Cornucopia -- fr. Latin cornu, "horn" and copiae, "plenty" -- a horn-shaped container containing food, drink in endless supply
Susurrus -- fr. Latin susurrus, "humming, whispering" -- a soft murmuring or whispering sound
Hibernaculum -- fr. Latin hibernaculum, "winter residence" -- the winter quarters of a hibernating animal

Homework Check
Usually our first concern after our beginning of class activities is to check in regarding homework.  Because last week was a rough draft week for all 3 of my CHAT classes, I did not enter all of the scores for the other homework.  That will be done by next week.

Writing Discussion
I handed back their rough drafts of the Biography Essays.  We talked about these common writing errors:  the word 'things," parallel structure, using names, and writing out numbers.  Students should revise their rough drafts into final drafts. They were also given an 1/2 sheet to list their first 5 corrections on the their essays and their primary area to work on.  Those who still need to hand in their rough drafts, should send me an email as soon as they've submitted their essays on Google Classroom.

Literature Discussion
Students have read the first "Stave" of A Christmas Carol.  We did a "roll call" and listed the characters we've met so far in the book.  We also talked about the mood and tone of the book thus far.  The students came up with some good, descriptive words:  eerie, melancholy, misanthropic.  For homework, the students should read Stave Two, answer 3 discussion questions, and complete a discussion question on Google Classroom.  

Grammar
The Adverbs group gave a good presentation on Adverbs.  We watched a short video and the students had a quick game that they played.  They have a two-sided worksheet to do for homework.

Assignments for Next Week
-- Read Stave Two of A Christmas Carol

Links for This Week
-- Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 4)

Have a wonderful weekend!  Enjoy your extra hour of sleep!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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Thursday, October 14, 2021

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (October 14)

 


Greetings!


Great class today, as always.  This is a lively and engaged group of students.   Writing 1 is a great part of my Thursday!

Quick Write
For today's Quick Write, I asked students to choose a topic about which they have strong opinions.  It could be something light-hearted and close to home, or it could be a topic of current cultural or political interest.  Then, they were to think about the perspectives of those who are on the other side of the issue.  My goal is that they would take some time consider what others think.  Not so that they could change their minds about their opinions, but so that they could be more understanding of those who they might view as opponents.  Being able to do this is a mark of a mature, wise, and graceful thinker.

Words of the Day
stubborn -- fr, OE, stybb, "stump" -- fixed or set in an opinion; refusing to change
dogmatic -- fr. Greek, dogmatikos, "pertaining to doctrines" -- adhering only to principles or dogma 
indomitable -- fr. Latin, in, "not" and domitare, "to tame" -- incapable of being subdued
inexorable -- fr. Latin, in "not" and exorabilis, "moved/persuaded by entreaty" -- not convinced or persuaded by requests or petitions.

Writing 
Students handed in their Final Drafts of their Personal Essays.  As soon as we complete one essay, we start the next. Our next essay is a Biography Essay.  I talked about the differences between a report and an essay.  In this essay, they are to make sure that they have an opinion about the person and write in a way to show the significance/importance of that person.  For our previous papers, we followed a 2-step process (rough draft to final draft).  For the rest of the papers we write this year, we'll follow a 3-step process:  pre-write (which could include a mind map or outline) to a rough draft to a final draft.  The pre-write and rough draft of the Biography Essay is due on October 28.

Literature 
We've finished Animal Farm, and as a final activity, we had campaign speeches.  I had the students group themselves according to the character they had chosen to write a character sketch; as a group, they put together a campaign speech -- claiming that their character would make the best leader of Animal Farm.

The next book that we'll read is Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.  I gave them their books.  Below I'm posting the background information and the Introduction Quiz.  The quiz is not due until Nov. 4.

Grammar
We're continuing with the Parts of Speech presentations, and today we had the Nouns group.  They gave a slide presentation and had a game for the students to play.  They have homework to practice identifying nouns.  They also have an "IVAN" review of the first 4 parts of speech that we've covered.  (A reminder:  students should also fill out the evaluation for the presentation.)

Fall Break
We don't have CHAT classes next week; October 20 & 21 are our Fall Break days.  I hope you can find some fun outside activities to do.


Homework for October 28
Animal Farm Final (on Google Classroom)
IVAN Review (on Google Classroom -- due Nov. 4)
A Christmas Carol Intro Quiz (on Google Classroom -- due Nov. 4)

Links for this week:
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 8 (October 14)

Have a marvelous Fall Break!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard


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Thursday, September 30, 2021

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 6 (September 30)

 Greetings!


We had a full day in class today.  I'm sure enjoying this group of students!

Quick Write
Today's prompt was inspired by the fact that is was on this day, September 30, in 1890 that Yosemite was named a national park.  I'm afraid I gave some incorrect information.  Yellowstone was the first national park, not Yosemite.  For the prompt, students were to write about some "great out of doors" adventure.  For responses, I heard about some close calls and some good times in nature.

Words of the Day
Vernacular -- fr. Latin verna (home-born slave) & vernaculus (domestic; native) -- "home-style language;" common language
Colloquial -- fr. Latin com (with) & loqui (to talk) -- language of a conversational style
Dialect -- fr. Greek dialektos (talk, conversation, speech) and fr. PIE -leg (to collect, gather, or pick out words) -- language specific to a particular region
Idiom -- fr. Latin idiomas (peculiarity in language) -- a figure of speech; words that have meanings other than their literal meaning

Homework Check
Usually after the beginning of class activities, I check in with the students about any homework questions.  We discussed assignments on Google Classroom.  I want to clarify an issue relating Google Classroom and the Grades Report that is emailed.  If students are missing an assignment, it will say "missing" on Google Classroom.  When I import the scores onto a Google Sheets spreadsheet using a grade book app, the missing scores are changed to zeros.  

Another note about homework.  I don't have a specific day that I correct homework, but the plan is to have it done and returned for the following class period.  When I'm done correcting work, I will update Google Classroom to reflect both the paper homework that was handed in during class and the assignments finished on Google Classroom.  

Writing Discussion
Students handed in the rough drafts of their Personal Essays.  We also discussed the final drafts of their Descriptive Essays that were returned.  These were graded using a rubric that takes a holistic view of the writing process. It considers the following categories:  Focus, Content, Organization, Sentence Structures, and Mechanics. (For this essay, I did not grade the Focus area because I did not require an introduction, conclusion, or thesis statement.)

Next Week we will meet in small groups for Writing Circles.  I've posted on Google Classroom a handout that they can fill out beforehand -- we will also have time in class.  It's a short 4 question survey.

Literature Discussion
We talked again about Animal Farm and the characters of Napoleon, Boxer, Squealer, Clover, and the dogs.  We covered ideas about leadership, manipulation, and propaganda.  In that discussion were comments about some similarities between this book that was written in 1944 and today's culture.  For next week, the students are to read chapters 9 & 10 and to take a quiz on Google Classroom.


Grammar Discussion
In class this week we had our first student presentation.  We heard about Interjections from Noah, Sarah, and Peytan.  They had a video that categorized interjections and an activity that had the students write sentences using words from a list of interjections.  They have a worksheet that requires them to identify interjections.  Remember, these worksheets must be corrected before they are handed in; students must indicate on the worksheet that it has been corrected.

As a part of the Parts of Speech project I would like students to evaluate the presentations.  There is a link to the evaluation below.

Assignments for Next Week
Discussion Question -- Personal Essay (Google Classroom only)
Read Chapters 9 & 10 of Animal Farm
Take Home Quiz #2 (Google Classroom only)
** No extra credit option for Chapters 9 & 10

Links for This Week
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 6 (September 30)

Have a great Fall weekend!
Blessings, 
Mrs. Prichard






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Friday, September 24, 2021

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.)
Read Ch. 7 & 8 of Animal Farm
Interjections group preparation
All other groups, keep preparing

Links & Resources for this Week
Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 5 (September 23)
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Friday, September 17, 2021

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
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