CHAT Wrting 1 Class Notes--Weekk 9 (10/30)

 Dear Students,

We were rolling quite along today and spirits were high!

Quick Write

After a Quick Write about this artistic interpretation of Peter Pan (with stop  motion animation using American Girl Dolls!), we got started with the class.

Literature

We finished Peter Pan this week which means it was time for the final exam :)  Students took the exam in class.  Students picked up their copy of  A Christmas Carol this week. We read part of the document called “Introduction to A Christmas Carol” in class. There is a quiz assigned on Google Classroom over that material.They should read Stave 1 and answer 3 questions (Reader Response) this week. I also handed out the A Christmas Carol Vocabulary worksheet. This is a long range project that they should work on as they read. They should define 4 words per Stave. It is due at the end of the semester.

Writing

The Biography KWO was due today. Students who met the deadline received points for that. If you didn’t show it to me in class today, you may scan and upload it to Google Classroom by midnight tonight for full credit. After that, I will close the submissions. 

This essay requires some research and students will be getting practice incorporating MLA style quotes and paraphrases.   To help students include these quotes smoothly, we use the acronym ICE. We had a mini-lesson on this concept today. Next week, there will be a Door Quiz on what the acronym ICE stands for.

I=Introduce C=Cite E=Explain

Since they are required to incorporate at least one quote and one paraphrase, they will need to complete a Works Cited page for this essay. I handed out a sample of what that should look like and  posted a slideshow on details. Since most academic writers use online helps, I encouraged students to consult the MLA Style Center if they have questions about how to format a citation for their Works Cited page. Online citation generators like My Bib or Owl Purdue are also VERY helpful.

Grammar

No Grammar today. I decided to postpone the Grammar presentations today. Instead, we will have two presentations next week:  Conjunctions & Adverbs. (See below.)

Have a great weekend and–try not to eat too much candy!!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Biography Essay--bring it to class for Peer Review!

MLA Quotations, Summarizing & Paraphrasing

Quiz–Introduction to A Christmas Carol 

ACC 3 Questions

ACC Vocabulary–Not due until Week 15!

Links for this week

Quick Write

ACC Introductory Material

MLA In Text Citation Practice + MLA Sample

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 8 (10/23)

We are officially halfway through the Fall semester now.  Can you believe it?!? Things are heating up homeworkwise in Writing 1. You will definitely need to work a a little each day to keep up this week. Be encouraged, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Visual Vocabulary

Our words today were obtrude and licentious.  We talked about how Elsa’s catchy song is essentially about licentiousness. When someone else’s licentious behavior obtrudes on another person, in some cases, it could be considered a crime! Deep conversation while learning vocabulary words!

Writing

Today was a writing heavy day. I handed back paper copies of their essays. If they were submitted on GC, I printed them out. I find it is helpful to have a hard copy in order to do this next step:  Final Edits. 

Here’s a step by step of that process:

Step 1:  Number all the marked errors on your paper for both grammar and content issues. (Each student has a copy of the Grammar Codes and the Content Codes for this essay.)

Step 2: On a separate sheet of binder paper, work through each of your errors by (neatly) writing the rule you violated and showing how you would correct the error.

Please note: you do NOT need to rewrite the entire essay

Step 3: Staple these hand-written corrections to a paper copy of your essay and turn in. They are due next week.You may also submit on GC by scanning your marked up essay and your handwritten corrections and posting them to the Edits assignment. (No pictures, please.)

Optional Step 4:  If you are not satisfied with the grade your essay earned, you are invited to resubmit it after you have polished it and applied the suggested corrections. In this case, write “Resubmitted” on the Edits you will turn in

After practicing this skill together on a sample paragraph, students got a start on those edits in class.

Last, I handed out the description of our next essay: the Biography Essay. Students will choose a fascinating person and write about their life and work. Here are the parameters:

• They must be an important historical figure

• They must be no longer living

• No pop stars

They are required to include some Style elements and a Works Cited page for this one. I will do some teaching on that subject next week. The KWO is due next week along with a list of possible sources. 

Grammar

We're continuing with the Parts of Speech presentations, and today we had the Nouns group.  After a short teaching, they had a Mad Libs style activity for students to play and a worksheet. They have homework to practice identifying nouns.   Here are the next next two groups on deck:

Literature

This is our last assignment on Peter Pan. They are to finish the book and answer the 3 Questions Reader Response. Have your tissues ready as the Darling kids return home. It is especially poignant when Peter visits years in the future only to find Wendy completely grown up with a daughter of her own.

To review for the in-class test next week, students should look at the Study Guide & KEY that is posted on Google Classroom.

That’s it!  Reach out with any questions.

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Personal Essay Final Edits

Biography Essay KWO

Finish Peter Pan– Chapters 16 & 17–Review for Final Exam

3 Questions–Reader Response

Nouns Homework–1

Nouns Homework–2

Nouns Evaluation

IVAN Review Quizzes (open notes)

Interjections

Verbs

Adjectives

Nouns

Links for this Week

Visual Vocabulary

About the Biography Essay

Peter Pan Study Guide

Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 7 (10/9)

 Hello All!

Quick Write

We got right to it this morning as I taught a mini-lesson on the -ing Sentence Opener. After learning the rule: “the thing after the comma must be the thing doing the inging,” we added that sentence opener to our Style sheet. Students will now be required to use one of those per paragraph in their essays and to practice using it today in our Quick Write–along with an -ly adverb. They will need to indicate those by underlining. As usual, bonus points will be given for each Visual Vocabulary word they use. Today’s topic choices were: 

NATIONAL HERO DAY

NATIONAL MOLDY CHEESE DAY

NATIONAL PRO-LIFE CUPCAKE DAY 

Grammar

Today was the Grammar presentation kick-off with the Adjectives group.  They did a great job teaching, leading an activity and taking the class through a worksheet. I was very impressed with their acting job on the video they made that helped to teach about adjectives–the “foreign exchange student” and family dog helped as well ;) The class will evaluate their teaching as well on GC.  They have two worksheets from me on adjectives which are due next week. Don’t forget to mark and correct them!

Literature

Before we got to the discussion, we had a quiz over today’s reading assignment. As usual there were six questions.

Today was our Literature Circles discussion. Students came to class prepared having read Peter Pan up to chapter 13 and filled out their role sheets. After reviewing what the roles' duties entailed, they were split into mixed groups and they began their discussion. I heard some very insightful comments. I hope this was both fun and a way for students to understand the themes of our novel more deeply.

Writing

Today there was no instruction on writing, however the Personal Essays were due. Most students submitted them on GC. I will grade them over the break. Please note: the Final Edits will be due Oct. 30 NOT Oct. 23. Changes are updated on the syllabus/homework checklist.

Homework

Quick Write #3 & who/which clause 

Literature Circles Evaluation

Read Peter Pan Ch. 14 & 15

Reader Response–Captain Hook’s–or any character’s Obituary

Adjectives Worksheet–1

Adjectives Worksheet–2

Adjectives Evaluation

Links for this week

Literature Circles Discussion–Roles and Groups

CHAT Writing 1 Class Notes–Week 6 (10/2)

 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.)

Grammar

Today marked the beginning of learning the parts of speech.   Since we don’t have an Interjections group to present, I did the honors of teaching a mini-lesson.  I modeled 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

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.  After each student presentation, the class will evaluate the presentation and I will take their evaluations into account for their grade. This evaluation is a five question Google Classroom assignment. To complete this “pilot presentation”, and give them a taste of what they will be doing for each group that presents, students will fill that out for my presentation today.

Last, the Verbs group was scheduled to present today. However, due to a scheduling challenge, we had to pivot. Therefore, I gave a very brief presentation on verbs and assigned worksheets. Those are due next week.

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.

Writing

Since the focus of this first essay is narrative and strong use of language, we quickly discussed talked figures of speech–aka “decorations.” I posted a slideshow on  similes, personification, metaphor, alliteration, the VSS and 3SSS and duals/triples. We will work with these more next week and play a game.

Their KWOs which were due today. If they didn’t have them in class, they have until 11:59pm tonight to post it on GC. Personal essays are due next week! They must be composed on Google Classroom using the template–use some decorations :)

Enjoy this gorgeous, summer-like weather!

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Homework

Interjections

Interjections–Circling

Interjections Practice

Interjections Evaluation–Evaluate my “presentation”

Verbs

Where is the Verb–Worksheet–Homework 1

Identify the Verb in the Sentence–Homework 2

Personal Essay–due next week (10/9)!

Read chapters 12 & 13 Peter Pan

Prep your Literature Circles Roles

Literature Circles Roles

Links for this week

Visual Vocabulary #3

Decorations slides 

Grammar Presentation Groups

Grammar KEYS