Writing 1: Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 4 (September 15)

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 paucity and lackadaisical. After studying the words, we took a minute to write sentences using them correctly.

Writing

Last week we filled out a Story Sequence Chart about the fable “The Wind and the Sun.” I asked the students to memorize the blank chart and we had a quiz at the beginning of class. After that, I checked on their finished Wind/Sun SSC’s. Most students were successful at taking the key ideas from the fable and answering the questions about characters/setting, plot/conflict & resolution of the story. I emphasized that this is a bit different from a Key Word Outline in that students are to take the basic ideas and embellish them from their imagination. They are a starting point for their stories, and students are free to riff off using their SSC’s.I assigned the next step today which is to take their SSC and write three paragraphs to retell the fable. (You may write more if you’d like.) They are to make sure to include the Dress-Ups: -ly adverbs, who/which clause and to use strong verbs (not the “Banned Verbs” see, said, go.) This assignment is due next week. I have an example posted on GC if students need it!)

Literature Discussion

We're reading Ender’s Game, and this week they had a small group discussion using the 4 Square Discussion model to discuss the content. Students were assigned Chapter 5-6 and 3 Responses. They will also need to complete a Week 4 Take Home Quiz.

Grammar

As I mentioned last week, we are having a short contest for our IVAN CAPP mascot. Students can still submit a picture to Google classroom, and we’ll vote on their favorite. The winner will win a prize! The drawings will be posted on Google Classroom.

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. We used 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 October 3.