CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–October 1--WK6

 Greetings, Everyone!

We’ve finished the first third of this semester and the weather is still gorgeous out there.  Time sure flies with this wonderful group of students!

We started the class with Visual Vocabulary as we discussed the words epigram and edifice.  In today’s world, there seem to be edifices of epigrams wherever we look!  If you want to see a lot of epigrams in one place, go to your local Hobby Lobby!  😀 (See the example on the left.)

Writing

Their KWOs which were due today.Personal essays are due next week! They must be composed on Google Classroom using the template. Staple the Style Checklist to the top of your essay. We spent some time going over the Style checklist. Students are to consult their outlines and use their style checklists as they compose their essays on the template provided.

As per our class discussion, if text is copied and pasted from another source, it will be flagged as possible plagiarism. In that case, a student will receive a notification from me and will need to re-do the assignment or receive a zero. If it happens again, they will need to have a conference with parents, CHAT directors and me to determine if the student will be allowed to continue at CHAT. (Refer to the class guidelines and the CHAT Academic Agreement that we went over and each student and family signed at the start of the semester.)

Grammar

Today marked the beginning of our parts of speech presentations! There was a quick review of  the “I do, We do, You do” teaching technique that I’d like to see in their presentations: 

📚“I do” = the  mini-lesson on interjections where I explained what an interjection is and I projected some example sentences on the doc camera

📚“We do", a fun fill-in-the-bank comic book activity they completed with a partner

📚“You do”= worksheets

After that, the Interjections group presented and were followed by the Verbs group. They both did a splendid job! I will assign each group a grade based on their presentation and how they worked together.The class will also fill out an evaluation form for each group as homework. Performing self and peer evaluations is a very valuable learning tool! Adjectives group–be ready next week!

As promised, I also assigned two worksheets for each part of speech–four total for next week. They got a start on their worksheets in class.  I also passed out the KEYS for the Grammar worksheets for this semester and explained the procedure.  

Students are to complete the worksheets and then (using a different colored pen) correct their own work.  There is a lot of learning that occurs during this process!  They will receive a base score for completed work no matter how many they get wrong.  Please make the corrections very visible to me so that I can see you have completed the assignment or it will be returned to you with a “0.”  The same applies to work completed on Google Classroom.  

Literature

Roles for next week’s Literature Circle discussion were assigned.  You will receive a grade on your preparation and participation and we went over the expectations.  Each student has a part to play in order to make this a fruitful discussion.  They are to keep reading chapters  12 & 13 this week and prepare for an in-class reading quiz next week.  The discussion will follow the quiz and cover Peter Pan up to chapter 13.

Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Interjections

Interjections–Circling

Interjections Practice

Interjections Evaluation

Verbs

Verbs–Where’s the Verb?

Verbs–Identifying Verbs

Verbs Evaluation

Personal Essay–due next week (10/8)!

Read chapters 12 & 13 Peter Pan

Prep your Literature Circles Roles

Literature Circles Roles

Links for this week

Grammar Presentation Groups

Grammar KEYS

Writing 1 Class Guidelines

CHAT Academic Agreement

Writing 1 Class Notes–September 24 (WK 5)

 Greetings and Salutations! 

Our bellringer this morning was a bit of an unusual Quick Write. Today’s prompt was a choice of prompts in honor of National Hobbit Day! As usual, I set the timer, they chose a prompt and  wrote for five minutes.As usual, I set the timer, they chose a prompt and  wrote for five minutes. They were required to include and indicate and -ly adverb dress-up. Bonus points if you include any Visual Vocabulary word we’ve had so far.

Writing

Today I introduced our first formal essay: The Personal Essay. Though we will be using the traditional essay form (Intro, Body, Conclusion, etc) the emphasis in this piece will be on the strong use of descriptive language, figures of speech, and creative thinking as they explore a very early childhood memory. I mentioned that I posted a sample essay, the grading codes and the rubric in the “About the Personal Essay” material on Google Classroom. We will go into more detail on the sample next week. This week, I spent time explaining the grading process. 

The Key Word outline is due next week. They may either show it to me in class OR scan and upload it online. It is due on the due date or it will not receive credit.

Literature

Since we had an in-depth discussion last week, today we kept it short. Students had an in-class quiz over Peter Pan chapters 7 & 8. They should keep reading chapters 9-11 and complete the Reader Response worksheet this week.

Grammar

I announced the winner of our IVAN CAPP mascot! Congratulations, Adalyn! Though all entries win some extra credit points, Adalyn gets that AND bragging rights. 😎Her beautifully rendered, hand-drawn “Swashbuckling IVAN CAPP” will adorn the whiteboard during Grammar time.

The remainder of the class time I gave to students to plan their and prepare for their presentations. Due to some last minute changes, we will have two presentations next week:  Interjections and Verbs!  

There was no Grammar homework from me this week, other than to prepare and coordinate your presentations. Next week we will jump in with both feet and presentations will run through the end of the semester.

That’s It! Blessings on your weekend.

Mrs. G

Homework

Personal Essay KWO

Read Peter Pan Chapters 9-11

Reader Response–Whose Cell Phone?

Work on your Grammar Presentations

Material for this Week

About the Personal Essay

Parts of Speech Groups

Class Blog–Archived class notes

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 4--September 17

 Greetings!

I cannot believe how the time flies with these students!  We covered a lot, but I find myself wishing we had more time.

Visual Vocabulary

Our words today were lackadaisical and paucity.  After studying the words, we took a minute to write the definitions and sentences using them correctly. Bonus points for when I see these words in your writing!

Writing

Last week we learned the Topic-Clincher Rule and students had a “door test” when they came in. Most of them remembered the rule and the actions that go along with it. Good job! Next week I will be introducing our first essay–the Personal Essay. In the meantime, we discussed the importance of childhood memories in our novel Peter Pan. I would like students to do like David in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and press their hands against their temples really, really hard to help them remember their very earliest childhood memory ;) If they can’t remember their first memory, they should brainstorm a few very early memories that they’d like to write about. I’ll go into more detail about this next week.

Literature Discussion

Speaking of  Peter Pan, this week they had a small group discussion using the 4 Square Discussion model to discuss the content. Students were assigned Chapters 7 & 8 and should be prepared to take another in-class quiz next week.

Grammar 

As I mentioned last week,  we are having a class contest for our IVAN CAPP mascot. Students who want a chance to win extra credit points should submit a picture to me by Monday 9/21  I will post a “ballot” on Google Classroom for them to vote for their favorite and the winner will be announced next class! (email pictures to:  amanda.gonsalves@chatclasses.com)

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, and also a short worksheet.  Some students use Google Slides, Canva or other types of presentations.  Sometimes videos are helpful.Today, we  had time to explain the presentations and get them in groups long enough for them to set up a way to communicate with each other. Next week, we will use a large portion of our class time to work in groups to prepare these presentations. Students will likely need to connect outside of class to finish their presentations, so they also exchange information.  Our first presentation will be September 21. (See schedule below.)👇

Assignments for Next Week

Brainstorm early childhood memories

Read Chapters 7 & 8

Prep for in-class quiz

Work on Grammar presentations

Grammar Pre-Test–complete it and self-correct

Optional Extra Credit:  IVAN CAPP mascot picture

(email pictures to:  amanda.gonsalves@chatclasses.com by 9/21)

Links for This Week

Writing 1 Class Blog–Archived Notes

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 3--September 10

 Hi All!

We got right to it today with our very first Quick Write. Every other week students are given a topic, five minutes and a few parameters. Then I play some music and our goal is to write continuously during that time. Today, before writing, we talked about their first stylistic Dress-Up technique which is -ly adverbs. After talking about what an adverb is and what an adverb isn’t we looked at a long list of options. They stowed their papers in the binders and got a clean sheet of paper.

Today, they had a creative writing prompt where they had to imagine a scenario with nursery rhyme characters. They are required to use one -ly adverb. Any visual vocabulary words that are used will earn Extra Credit! So far, we’ve learned ostentatious and fatalistic.

Writing

The topic sentence and the clincher sentence

 MUST 

repeat or reflect 2-3 key words

…

In the writing portion of our class, we dove a bit deeper on the Key Word Outline. After talking through the attributes of a basic paragraph (see handout), students will use the KWO on J.M. Barrie that was due today to write a basic paragraph. We decided the topic of the first two paragraphs was “J.M. Barrie’s Background”–so that is the topic sentence. From there, they are to pick out 5-7 key facts. Last, they need to repeat or reflect two to three key words from the topic sentence. That is the Topic-Clincher rule!👆 They had some time to start their paragraphs.  They will need to indicate one -ly adverb by underlining it and bold their repeating or reflecting words in their topic and clincher sentences. 

After all that, I handed out an article about AI. For homework, students are to read the article and create one KWO for each paragraph (three total) then write one basic paragraph summarizing all three KWOs. Hand in both pieces of writing next week–and there will be a door test on the topic clincher rule!  

Literature

There was an in-class quiz today over chapters 3 & 4 of Peter Pan. Keep reading chapters 5 & 6 and complete the Reader Response sheet over a character of your choice.

Grammar 

No time in class to sign up for the group projects. Instead I posted a sign up sheet on Google classroom  Please select a day/group to present.  (I will finalize the groups and post as soon as possible).  

Group assignments are based on the mnemonic device IVAN CAPP.  Each letter stands for a part of speech. Students will be presenting their part of speech using the model:

1. I do (explain the concept)

2. We do (lead the class in a short game)

3. You do (assign the class a worksheet designed by your group)

We will talk through these details next week, but as a preview:  Each component of the presentation should take no longer than five minutes–15 minutes max. total. Students will have time next week in class to prepare for their presentations. 

They got started on a Grammar Pre-Test to see how much they already know about the parts of speech.  They have two weeks to complete and correct it at home.  (KEY is posted on GC.)  They will receive a base score no matter how many they have incorrect.  At the end of the semester, they’ll re-take it and see how much they have learned!

 

As an optional assignment, they can still email me  a picture by midnight on Tuesday 9/14 of "IVAN CAPP" to be voted on as a class favorite to use as a mascot for this unit. 

Homework

KWO & Basic Paragraph (AI)

–Handwrite one KWO for each paragraph (3 KWOs total)

–Write one basic paragraph summarizing the KWOs

Grammar–Sign up for a Presentation Group by 9/14

Grammar Pre-Test–correct it (due 9/24)

Read Peter Pan Chs. 5 & 6

Reader Responses–Enneagram

Links for This Week

Win a Prize!--IVAN CAPP drawing–email me a picture by 9/14

Parts of Speech Group Sign Up Sheet

Wr 1 Class Notes--WK 2 (September 3)

 Hello All!

I appreciated the students’ hard working attitudes today as they dove into another great day of learning together. After a quick check-in, we got started.

We had our first edition of Visual Vocabulary (VV).  Today, we learned:  ostentatious and fatalistic.  These words are taken from SAT/ACT vocabulary lists and each week we do VV, students are given the definition, the part of speech, the synonym and antonym.  Then they write a sentence using the word in context. We will be adding to the list throughout the semester–so don’t lose that worksheet–keep it in your 3 Ring Binders. Speaking of that, as we passed in homework, I gave students credit for having their binders assembled and ready.

After that, we switched gears to Literature–Peter Pan.  We talked about some  Victorian vocab and practices. One of those practices is that little boys usually wore what we’d consider “dresses” until they are potty trained and they normally had long hair. When they turned two it was common to have a “breeching ceremony” where they received their first pair of pants or breeches, cut their baby curls and were paraded down the sidewalk because now they are considered a “big boy.” Typically a sad time for all mothers 🥲. It dovetails nicely with what the quote we discussed from the beginning of chapter one:  

FDR in 1890–before his 

“breeching ceremony”

“You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.” 

I gave them time to think about some more questions pertaining to chapters 1 & 2 and to  discuss with their small groups. I was very impressed with some of their insightful comments about J.M. Barrie in relation to this Peter Pan story. They are to keep reading and be prepped for an in-class quiz over the reading next week.

In the Writing portion of the class, I introduced a very important skill: Key Word Outlines. Students will be writing and using these throughout their year, so we spent today laying a good, solid foundation. After reading a biography on our author J.M. Barrie we took a stab at writing a KWO on that information. For each sentence, students are allowed to use 3 words; symbols and numbers don’t count toward this. An outline like this is an excellent way to critically think about what one is reading AND to synthesize the text–thereby making it your own. You do not have to worry about plagiarism when you use this method AND it helps us organize our thoughts for the next step of writing (or speaking.) Today, for the first paragraph students were invited to copy my KWO from the board, the next section we did together. The last section they can finish on their own as homework.

In the last few minutes of class, I introduced the Grammar project students will be working on throughout this semester.  Next week, we’ll talk in more detail.  For now, know that for this project, students will be the teachers–in teams they’ll gather information about an assigned part of speech and present it to the rest of the class.  I introduced them to Mr.  IVAN CAPP and invited them to submit a picture for a contest (optional.) Next week we’ll split into groups to begin work on this project.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Read Chapter 3 & 4  Peter Pan

Be ready for a quiz!

J.M.B. KWO–finish “Barrie’s Writing Career” & “Inspiration & Influences”

Material for This Week:

Visual Vocabulary #1

About Key Word Outlines

Parts of Speech Project

IVAN CAPP Drawing Contest (optional)

CHAT Writing 1--Week 1 (August 27)

 

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.

We started with a timed in-class writing assignment. I gave them a prompt, handed out Blue Books and set the timer for 20 minutes. The rationale for this assignment is to simply get their writing juices flowing AND to give them a baseline of their skill level. My hope is that by the end of the year, they will see vast improvement in their ability to write clearly and effectively. I “suffered” along with them by participating myself.  (I hope everyone comes back next week. 🙂) 

During a short break, they enjoyed a “food reward” while filling out a “name tent one-pager” with their names and some information about themselves. Having the names is not only a help for me, but for them as they get to know each other better and we build a supportive class community.

After that, we got right into the nitty-gritty class details: expectations, homework deadlines and the syllabus. I talked about the importance of “budgeting” for about one hour each weekday to Writing class. I suggested they map out their week by designating a chunk of homework to that day.  

For example:  

Fridays=literature 

Mondays=grammar worksheets

Tuesdays & Wednesday=essays & writing

By chunking it down, they will avoid having that work pile up. They have an assignment of having a parent sign the Guidelines–they can bring them in next week or submit on GC. 

Included in our class business was a slide show that presented a sort of “carrot and stick” approach to generative AI. I hoped that this would be a “pep talk” about the importance of learning how to think critically and write clearly. 

The carrot:  Writing is simply thinking–it’s thinking made manifest. To think is a God given gift. The author John Warner said that “To outsource writing and reading is to cease being human.” We took a minute to discuss the validity of that statement. 

The stick: We talked about acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI and I reviewed the consequences of using AI to do your homework or write essays instead. I have also sent a summary of the Academic Integrity Agreement along with a home with students for both students and parents to sign.

On to more delightful topics: our Literature selection for this semester –Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.  Today, we read Peter’s origin story from  chapter 2 Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. This book was written for adults in 1906 and in it we get a glimpse of Peter before he is more fully developed in Barrie’s later work, Peter Pan & Wendy. Definitely different from the Disney version! 

For homework, students should finish that chapter and continue on to chapters 1 & 2 of Peter Pan. Then they should complete the Reader Response.

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

Assignments for Next Week

Welcome Back #1

Welcome Back #2

Signed Guidelines & Assembled Binders

Finish Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens ch. 2

Read Peter Pan chapters 1 & 2

Audiobooks

Reader Response–new book “Fortune Teller”

Materials for this Week:

Writing 1 Assignments Checklist

Writing 1 Syllabus

Homework and Late Dates

Audiobooks

About the Author J.M. Barrie

Scanning handwritten homework tutorial

How to turn off notifications tutorial

Warner, John. More than Words. Basic Books, 4 Feb. 2025.

Thoughts about Grades

 Dear CHAT Writing 1 Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox in just a few minutes.  As tutors, we give you suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

Allow me to share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschool my own children, I don’t give them grades.  I feel that grades are far too subjective, especially coming from their mother.  Instead, I teach my own children for mastery, and we don’t proceed with a topic until they are ready, no matter how long that takes.  In a class setting, knowing where each student is with regards to his/her understanding of a topic is not always possible, so any grade given is not a complete representation of what the student learned or accomplished this year.

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as people or as  academic learners.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

For this class, I gave points for Quick Writes, short assignments, literature assignments, grammar exercises, and longer essays. The final drafts of the essay assignments were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories:  focus, content, organization, and mechanics.  

The scores for class work are divided into the following categories:  Quick Writes and Miscellanea, Writing, Literature, and Grammar.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  These scores are also weighted; in other words, not all of the categories have the same importance.  The Quick Write points are 15% of the total grade, the Writing assignments are 30%, the Literature homework is 28%, and the Grammar work is 27%. (You will see that each of these categories has subcategories.  This is  for the purpose of keeping the internal category weighting correct.)

The grade breakdowns for Writing 1 are as follows:

98% - 100% (A+), 93% - 97% (A), 90% - 92% (A-),

87% - 89% (B+), 83% - 86% (B), 80 % - 82% (B-),

77% - 77% (C+), 73% - 76% (C), 70% - 72% (C-),

67% - 69% (D+), 63% - 66% (D), 60% - 62% (D-),

55% - 59% (Pass), 50% - 54% (Fail); 0% - 49% (Incomplete)

Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and a suggested overall grade for this semester. (Note:  You will need to scroll down to the bottom of the document.)   I’ve seen each student improve with each paper and have truly enjoyed my interactions with this class.  Good Work!

Blessings to all,

Mrs. G