CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 5 (2/12)

 

Greetings!

Nothing like warmer temps, sunshine and knowing that we have off next week to put a pep in our step! These students are a joy to teach–and today was no exception

Quick Write

Since Valentine’s Day is this weekend, our Quick Write today was topical. First, there was a short teaching about quality adjectives and we banned some “boring” adjectives. The words bad and good are now banned from essays. We will add periodically to this list. We talked about a much easier way to use interesting adjectives without banning every boring one.

 Today’s writing was to come up with as many quality adjectives as they could about a loved one, a friend or a Valentine. Early finishers were challenged them to come up with as many “Gen Z” messages for conversation hearts as possible.  (6-7 anyone?!?) After the timer went off, we took a minute to try folding an origami heart–the perfect container for the missive they just wrote! 

Literature

We have read up to chapter 8–almost done with the book, so we took some time to think about all the different characters we’ve met so far. They had some time to brainstorm three strengths and three weaknesses of one of them.  For homework, they’ll need to write a “character sketch” that details these aspects of their chosen character.  They should finish the novel and complete the Reader Response questions. We will have the Animal Farm final exam when they come back from break.

Writing

The Narrative Essays were due last week and most have been graded and coded. The next steps are to work on the Final Edits. We do this so that the rule can be internalized and hopefully avoid making that same mistake in the future. Together, we worked through an example as a refresher for what is required for Final Edits. First, we used the Grammar Codes sheet to interpret the codes. Then we numbered the codes chronologically on a lined piece of binder paper. After that, students NEATLY copied the first sentence of the rule that was violated and under that they made the fix.  In some cases that means a simple correction and in other cases that means writing or rearranging a sentence or two. The Final Edits are due next week.

After that, the next essay was introduced:  The Compare/Contrast Essay. In comparison and contrast essays, the writer places two subjects side by side and examines their similarities and/or differences in order to clarify the qualities of each (to inform) or to make a point (to persuade).  We brainstormed a few ideas and then used a Venn diagram to help compare two subjects. I encouraged them to look beyond the surface to find patterns. Not how does the subject look; but how does the subject act? The trick is to pick subjects that have some surprising things in common though on the surface they may appear to have nothing in common. You show your analysis skills when you highlight the similarities. After brainstorming topics and possible thesis sentences, we talked through the requirements. A sample is also posted on Google Classroom. Key Word Outlines are due next week. I have posted the template for the essay in case students want to get started over the break. It will need to be ready for Peer Review by 3/12.

Grammar

At the end of class, I assigned the Grammar worksheets, practicing identifying and classifying prepositional phrases.  Prepositional phrases function either as adjective phrases or adverb phrases, and it can be tricky to tell what kind of phrase it is, so we had a mini-lesson. Corrected worksheets are due when they come back from break.

Have a wonderful break!

Mrs. G

   

Homework

Read Ch. 8 & 10 Animal Farm

Ch. 9 & 10–3 Responses

Animal Farm Character Sketch

Narrative Essay Final Edits

Compare/Contrast KWO

Classifying Prep Phrases

Prepositional Phrases -- Adj or Adv

Links for This Week

How to fold a Valentine’s Heart

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 4 (2/5)

Hello All,

We’ve hit a “warming trend” to break up the cold snap. Who knew 26 degrees would practically be tropical?Our Visual Vocabulary words today were delineate and discordant.  We took a few minutes to discuss the words. They wrote some sentences (and drew pictures!) to help cement these words into their brains.  I always look forward to reading these sophisticated words in their writing!

Writing

Today, the Narrative Essays were due today and I am looking forward to reading them! This class has some very creative ideas! I will get them graded and coded as soon as I can and hand them back ASAP. Enjoy the week off from writing assignments!

Literature

We are moving along in Animal Farm and are up to chapter 6.  We broke into groups and had a 4 Square Style Discussion over the significant events in those chapters. Each group member was assigned a role and we had some great participation.  After the small group discussion, each group presented their most significant or surprising takeaways to the large group.They demonstrated some wonderful critical thinking!  I told the students I wish we had the entire class time to just talk about the book and many agreed.  Instead of reader response questions, they have a take home quiz to complete on Google Classroom.

Alas, time moves on and Grammar awaits.  Today’s topic was on a Simple Sentences Review and the other was practice on prepositional phrases.  Make sure to correct your work before you turn it in!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Compare/Contrast KWO

Read Animal Farm ch. 7 & 8

AF Take Home Quiz #2

Grammar

Simple Sentences Review

Prepositional Phrases Practice

Writing 1 Class Blog

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–WK 3 (1/29)

Quick Write:

Today, we practiced thinking! As discussed earlier, we think by asking ourselves questions and then answering them. It’s funny that we humans always want to circumvent the hard word of thinking–especially in the age of AI! So, we are going to practice today! We stretched our muscles by generating as many questions about, topics pertaining to and aspects of:  SNOW. These questions we ask, become fodder for writing as we attempt to answer them using research and organizing our thoughts.

Since today’s National Days are about Puzzles and Corn chips, students selected a topic, I set the timer for five minutes and they began to generate as many questions as they could.

In Literature, we had a check-in about the Animal Farm.  We are getting momentum in the story now and we reviewed the ballad that was sung in chapter 1–”Beasts of England.”  I asked them to skim the lyrics and notice how the song was filled with descriptive images, hope for a bright future of what life will be like when they finally get rid of the oppression of man.  After that, we stood up and sang it to the tune of “O My Darling Clementine.”  In true capitalist style, enthusiastic singers received a fabulous juiceprize.  (In true communistic style, they ALL received one! ;)  As homework, they are to read chapters 5 & 6 and complete the discussion questions in preparation for our in-class discussion.

Writing

First up, we checked-in about the upcoming Narrative Essay that is due next week. I fielded some questions. It should be a fun essay to write as these students have a lot of creative ideas! After that, we flexed our storytelling muscles by playing a few rounds of Story Matic. While they played, I checked their Key Word Outlines, which were due today.

Because we were enjoying our storytelling, I opted to simply hand out the grammar worksheets. Students can watch the mini-lesson videos I have posted on Simple Sentences with Compound Subjects and/or Compound Predicates should they need some guidance. The worksheets are due next week. Make sure you grade them–and mark your corrections!

That’s it! I hope you have an awesome weekend. Have fun writing your stories. Reach out with questions if you have any.

Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Homework:

Narrative Essay

Read Ch. 5 & 6 Animal Farm

Answer the Discussion questions

Grammar

Simple sentences/Compound Subjects

Simple Sentences/ Compound Predicates

Simple Sentences/Compound Subjects & Predicates

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 2 (1/22)

 Today, we started our Visual Vocabulary words for Spring.  This is where we work with some ACT/SAT vocabulary words; we learn the definition, the part of speech, and use it in a sentence.  I gave them this semester’s worksheet where the words will be cumulatively compiled.  They turned in the sentences or prompts that they completed to help cement this word in their memories and to “furnish the mind” as writing teacher Andrew Pudewa says. I hope to see some of these words in composition this semester!  The words today were:  bellicose and presume. 

Writing

Today I introduced our first essay for this semester: The Narrative Essay. This style of essay tells a story from a clear point of view. A narrative essay allows for some creativity and is more informal than expository essays–and tells a story from a clear point of view. In this assignment, students will tell the story from the perspective of a character from a Normal Rockwell painting. (Paintings are posted on GC). 

On the board, we talked through how to break writing this story down into manageable parts. We looked at the painting “Happy Birthday, Miss Jones” by Norman Rockwell. I gave the class a chance to do a “picture study” as we observed all the details we could. After naming some, we began to ask ourselves questions:   who, what, (what are they thinking/doing/saying/feeling) when, where, why, how?  And then a level deeper:  what happened before the picture?  After?  Outside the picture?  What may have happened before or after?  In this way, students begin to access their thinking and imagination and create their own story.

We also imagined what could have happened before this moment, then what was happening in the moment captured on the canvas and last, what happened after. That’s where they come up with their story’s message or takeaway. Those three “moments” will become their three paragraphs for the story.

After reading and discussing the sample essay based on the same painting, students will be ready to compose their story. They are to use the Topic-clincher rule for each paragraph and to employ all the Dress-Ups we have used so far:  -ly adverb, who/which clause, strong verb and a decoration of some sort. In addition, I encourage them to use dialogue where appropriate. Please take the dialogue quiz (GC) to brush up on how to punctuate dialogue correctly. The Key Word Outline is due in class next week!

Literature

We had a quick check-in today on Animal Farm.  I asked them to think/pair/share on a few questions.  They had some thought-provoking answers!  After touching on the qualities of a good leader, I shared with them a free resource on the topic of socialism and communism.  It’s a FREE course through Hillsdale College for those students who are interested in learning more about the political background of this novel.  It is excellent! For homework, they are to keep reading (chapters 3 & 4), answer the questions AND take the quiz over chapters 1-4 posted on Google Classroom.

Grammar

For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on simple and compound sentences.  The worksheets are a review of 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.  [Note:  Remember to correct your grammar worksheets and to clearly mark that they've been corrected.]

Homework

Read Animal Farm Ch. 3 & 4

Take Home Quiz #1–Chs. 1–4(GC)

Narrative KWO–due IN CLASS next week!

Grammar worksheets

What is a Sentence?

Sentence Patterns–N-V

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #1

Hillsdale College Socialism/Marxism course

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 1 (January 15)

 Hello Dear Students,

Even though some may not be that excited to start up again, I am very proud of them for all they had been learning this past year.  There’s much to be grateful for!

We started the day out with a Quick Write.  Today’s topic was a choice between:

JANUARY 15–NATIONAL BAGEL DAY

JANUARY 15–NATIONAL HAT DAY or

JANUARY 17–NATIONAL CLASSY DAY

After that, we previewed the Spring Syllabus, Homework Checklist and Late Homework dates.  We highlighted the important due dates and took a brief look at what this semester has in store.  I told them a good strategy is to use the Homework Checklist to help them parcel out their work during the week to avoid having it all pile up at the last minute. Students should plan to work on this class at least 30 minutes per day.

After that, we switched gears to introduce the novella Animal Farm. We talked through a slideshow on The Cycle of Revolution and the Iron Law of Oligarchy.  We had a Jigsaw style discussion on the three themes from the book:  Government, Equality/Equity and Leadership. They had some interesting insights!  There were some that argued that though we are all created with equal rights, some people have different gifts and therefore, in reality, it is impossible for everyone to be “equal.”  How smart is that?!!  Our discussion led beautifully into the main slogan of “Animalism” from our novel which is an allegory for Communism. 

For homework, they are assigned to watch two videos and take a quiz on the historical background on this novella–which is actually an allegory about the Russian Revolution. For homework, they will keep thinking about the theme of leadership as they answer the discussion question (on GC) about what character quality makes for a great leader.

They should start reading the book (Ch. 1 & 2) and answer 3 Study Guide questions.  They also have a Vocabulary Worksheet that they should be filling out as they read–it will be due at the end of the unit.  

Grammar

After that, I introduced this semester’s grammar focus:  Basic Sentence Patterns. I explained that while English depends largely on word order to convey meaning, other languages often rely on inflection (modifications to word forms) to determine relationships between words, making their sentence structures more flexible in comparison. Some students have studied another language, so they were able to illustrate that with examples.

We watched a Youtube Short on the Basic sentence patterns and I handed out two worksheets. 

Students had time to get started on those and are to complete and correct them. This semester, instead of paper KEY, students are to use the KEY that is posted with each worksheet on Google Classroom. Please remember to correct your own work and mark those corrections! I was more lenient on that last semester than I will be this semester;)

Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings, 

Mrs. G

Homework

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates

Read Ch. 1 & 2

Animal Farm Vocabulary Worksheet

Ch. 1 & 2 Study Guide Questions

Introduction to Animal Farm Quiz (GC)

“Top Character Quality–Leader?” Response 

Links for this week

Syllabus

Homework Checklist

Homework & Late Dates

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 15 (December 18)

 Greetings!

We had a wonderful day today and combined both work and fun on this final day. 

Homework & Grades

The Final Edits for their Victorian Invention Essays were due today. I will grade those and any other homework that was handed in; my goal is to have final grades out soon.  I mentioned to the class that I will take any homework submitted by December 21 at 11:59 p.m. If there are any questions, please contact me.  Because I have writing and projects from both my classes, I know that I won't have the work ready for final grades until after Christmas. Look for them some time after the New Year.  

The Wrap-Up

As a culminating event, students were given a few minutes to put the finishing touches on their A Christmas Carol presentations. When the timer went off, students were ready to put on their productions. They had the option of a game show, a news broadcast, a mimed scene or a one-minute story all based on the characters and action from the novel. They sure are a creative bunch!

Next, we combined work and fun with a quiz on the Fall Visual Vocabulary in the form of a KAHOOT! game.  I will record their scores and use it as their grade. 

Before our next segment, each table helped themselves to the hot chocolate bar and snacks that I brought. These were good fortifications before they took their test.

The “test” over A Christmas Carol was in the form of a game called ZAP!  The class split into teams and had fun answering questions and things got a little competitive!  ZAP! Is not only a question/answer game, but it also allows teams to steal points from each other. The winners received bragging rights and a candy reward. The class really enjoyed this wrapping up time together.

My prayer is that all of you have a great Christmas that includes lots of love and laughter!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Due Today

Victorian Invention Final Edits

Grammar Test (corrected)

Link for this Week

Writing 1 Class Notes (on blog)

Class Notes–Week 14 (December 11)

 Class Notes–Week 14 (December 12)

We had a wonderful day in class today.  A lot of the hard work of the semester is over, so our "work" today was a little more fun.

Our last Visual Vocabulary words for today were: amalgamate and alienate.  These words will show up on our end of the semester quiz next week–so make sure to review those.  The slides are posted on Google Classroom.

Writing

The Victorian Inventions composition was due last week and I handed the graded/coded essays back. I forgot to remind you in class, but the Final Edits are due next week. 

Grammar

I handed out the Parts of Speech Post-Test in class today.  It is identical to the Pretest they took at the beginning of the semester.  It is an “open-book” test and can be finished at home.  The KEY is posted and, just like a regular grammar worksheet, it needs to be corrected before it is handed in.  They will receive a base score when it is completed.

The best way of learning grammar is through lots of reading and writing. Direct instruction of grammar is important and helpful, and combined with literature and writing it can be pretty potent.  Next semester we'll be working on sentence structures.

Literature

First, I reminded the class about the A Christmas Carol vocabulary worksheet that is due next week.  If they have been defining four vocabulary words from each Stave as they have been reading, it should be a simple matter of finishing. It is worth 40 pts, so it is a bigger project.  

For homework, they were to invent their own ghost.In small groups, they compared and contrasted their creations. They had fun with this creative assignment to wrap up this novel. After that, we had fun creating some impromptu creative presentations on A Christmas Carol. We will have a test over the novella next week.

Next Week

Our last week of the semester is next week, December 19.  All work should be handed in by that date.  That said, they will be given until Sunday, December 21st to get any last work in.  They should not wait until then to do their work and hand it in.  Next week we will have our "Classy Classmas Party."  I will bring warm drinks, and students can bring goodies if they like.  We will combine work & play:   During the first part of the class,we will have the A Christmas Carol Final Exam and Visual Vocabulary quiz. The rest of the class time we’ll spend enjoying Christmas games, music and holiday cheer. 

Assignments for Next Week:

Review Visual Vocabulary words–quiz next week

Grammar Post-Test–open book/notes

ACC Vocabulary