Can you believe we've made it twelve weeks?
I remember the first two weeks of Essentials had many of us (myself included!) wanting to breathe into a paper bag. And now here we are - halfway through the whole year!
I have to give a huge THANK YOU to all you parents who have worked so hard this semester! First time taking Essentials is not an easy undertaking, and is, at times, overwhelming. Your hard work and dedication is evident in the progress of your students!
And speaking of the students, can I just say what an absolute joy it is to be the tutor for your students? You have the most wonderful children, and they make me look forward to coming to CC each week. I love each and every one of them, even on the crazy days!
We have a long break before our next meeting - 6 weeks, to be exact. Obviously some of that time will be spent celebrating the holidays and probably just resting from a full semester. Our return date is January 15th. Please, please do not neglect your EEL work during this time! It is of vital importance that your students have a solid working knowledge of what we've covered this semester before moving ahead. Next semester is tough. We introduce complex sentences, then compound-complex, and also introduce three new sentence patterns. While that might not seem like a lot, the degree of difficulty rises considerably. We will also begin the quid et quo, which is drilling down each word in each sentence until we know every fact about it. It's a lot of work. (But they - and you - can do it!
So what to do during the break?
1. Continue memorizing your charts. As we saw in class today with the discussion of "who" as an adjective and/or possessive pronoun, it's so important to have those charts memorized so you can be familiar with your parts of speech. Practice reciting them orally, write them out, or fill in the blank copies found at the back of your guide (make copies first so you don't use up the only consumable sheets available in your guide - there are no digital copies of the blank charts!). We have covered Charts A-J thus far.
2. Practice, practice, practice your task sheet! I love the idea of letting your students question/confirm & diagram sentences taken from your Christmas letters. If the thought of making up sentences makes you want to pull your hair out, you could also pull out a verse from the Bible during your Bible study time or other sentences from your student's other school materials. Or simply go through some of the sentences we've already done this year and change them up. Swap out nouns & verbs and have your students go through the task sheet for the new sentence. Work with them to memorize the question/confirmation. I've previously linked some aides for question/confirmation from Shurley Grammar on the blog (week 5, I think).
3. For IEW, there are no assignments to complete over the break. But if you come across any writing your student has to do for their other school work, you can always review what we've learned in IEW to make that piece of writing better. Dress ups, decorations, sentence openers, topic & clinchers, etc.
The books I referenced today (for extra help with grammar & diagramming):
Our Mother Tongue: http://www.amazon.com/Our-Mother-Tongue-Introductory-English/dp/1591280117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354056357&sr=8-1&keywords=our+mother+tongue
Grammar & Diagramming Sentences: http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Diagramming-Sentences-Advanced-Straight/dp/093199375X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354056429&sr=1-1&keywords=diagramming+sentences
These are the Amazon links; I am not sure if these are available at local retailers but it would be worth a look if you need something for extra practice.
That said, thank you thank you thank you again for all your hard work! This has been a wonderful semester, and I am excited about everything we're going to learn together next semester!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas & New Year's! Enjoy your break! :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Week 10 Recap & Notes
Here's what we covered today in class:
EEL: We introduced a new part of speech - the adjective! We've now covered all the parts of speech listed on Chart A! We did not spend a whole lot of time on adjectives; please have your students work on memorizing Chart L (on the back of your EEL trivium table or in the guide on page 420). While we didn't go into great detail on the types of adjectives in class, it's important for your student to memorize them because when we move on to Task 6 (the quid et quo) they will need to know the specifics of each adjective.
After studying adjectives, the next logical move was to predicate adjectives. Have your students keep working on memorizing linking verbs! As I mentioned before, they will memorize them in the 2nd half of Foundations this year, but it would be to their benefit to begin memorizing the list of linking verbs now. They can use Chart K (page 418) to help familiarize themselves with the forms of "to be."
Some of the linking verbs can be tricky, because the word can also double as a transitive verb depending on the pattern of the sentence. Remember our examples today:
The crawfish smell spicy. (S-Vl-PA)
I smell crawfish. (S-Vt-DO)
This is why it is so critical for your students to work through the Question/Confirmation on the task sheet. If they don't know how to do question/confirmation, they will have difficulty parsing & diagramming their sentences. This is why it is so important for them to know the question/confirmation process!
For additional help with question/confirmation, you can reference the Analyzing the Task Sheet section at the end of week 3 (beginning on page 49). There are also some helpful tips on the Shurley grammar site. I linked those sites in the blog post from Week 5: http://essentialsmrsguy.blogspot.com/2012/10/week-5-recap-notes.html
Weekly Lesson: page 164-171
Weekly Sentences: page 433
Task Sheet: page 435
For extra help with adjectives, consult these lessons in Our Mother Tongue:
Adjectives: Lesson 3, page 24
Subject Modified by an Adjective: Lesson 13, page 62
Subject Modified by a Possessive Noun: Lesson 14, page 65
Subject Modified by Adjective Phrase: Lesson 16, page 68
Subject Modified by Adjective Clause: Lesson 17, page 71
Predicate with Predicate Adjective: Lesson 24, page 91
Adjectives & Adverbs, Comparative & Superlative: Lesson 48, 172
IEW: We discussed topic & clincher sentences for our papers as a whole today. This week we are combining the paragraphs we've written the last 2 weeks - the pyramids, the Sphinx, & the mummies - and combining them into one paper about ancient Egypt. The assignment is Lesson 8; all that is required of you is to combine your three paragraphs into one paper and write a topic sentence & clincher sentence of the paper. You can see examples of the topic/clincher on page 45 of the Student Book.
We also introduced another dress up: the who/which clause. We practiced adding who/which clauses to our sentences to make them more interesting. Add this dress up to your writing toolbox, and begin including it in your writing. For more help with who/which clauses (also known as adjectival clauses), you can refer to this week's lesson in EEL or to Lesson 17 in Our Mother Tongue.
Can you believe we only have two weeks of class left? We will meet next week and then have a break for Thanksgiving, then wrap up with Week 12 on November 27. Hard to believe this year is almost over! Be looking for an email from me with the tally sheet for the work your student has completed this semester. When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will have our auction based on what all your students have completed so far! They have done excellent work and deserve to be rewarded for their hard work! (Parents, you do, too!)
Please email me with any questions! I'll see you next Tuesday!
EEL: We introduced a new part of speech - the adjective! We've now covered all the parts of speech listed on Chart A! We did not spend a whole lot of time on adjectives; please have your students work on memorizing Chart L (on the back of your EEL trivium table or in the guide on page 420). While we didn't go into great detail on the types of adjectives in class, it's important for your student to memorize them because when we move on to Task 6 (the quid et quo) they will need to know the specifics of each adjective.
After studying adjectives, the next logical move was to predicate adjectives. Have your students keep working on memorizing linking verbs! As I mentioned before, they will memorize them in the 2nd half of Foundations this year, but it would be to their benefit to begin memorizing the list of linking verbs now. They can use Chart K (page 418) to help familiarize themselves with the forms of "to be."
Some of the linking verbs can be tricky, because the word can also double as a transitive verb depending on the pattern of the sentence. Remember our examples today:
The crawfish smell spicy. (S-Vl-PA)
I smell crawfish. (S-Vt-DO)
This is why it is so critical for your students to work through the Question/Confirmation on the task sheet. If they don't know how to do question/confirmation, they will have difficulty parsing & diagramming their sentences. This is why it is so important for them to know the question/confirmation process!
For additional help with question/confirmation, you can reference the Analyzing the Task Sheet section at the end of week 3 (beginning on page 49). There are also some helpful tips on the Shurley grammar site. I linked those sites in the blog post from Week 5: http://essentialsmrsguy.blogspot.com/2012/10/week-5-recap-notes.html
Weekly Lesson: page 164-171
Weekly Sentences: page 433
Task Sheet: page 435
For extra help with adjectives, consult these lessons in Our Mother Tongue:
Adjectives: Lesson 3, page 24
Subject Modified by an Adjective: Lesson 13, page 62
Subject Modified by a Possessive Noun: Lesson 14, page 65
Subject Modified by Adjective Phrase: Lesson 16, page 68
Subject Modified by Adjective Clause: Lesson 17, page 71
Predicate with Predicate Adjective: Lesson 24, page 91
Adjectives & Adverbs, Comparative & Superlative: Lesson 48, 172
IEW: We discussed topic & clincher sentences for our papers as a whole today. This week we are combining the paragraphs we've written the last 2 weeks - the pyramids, the Sphinx, & the mummies - and combining them into one paper about ancient Egypt. The assignment is Lesson 8; all that is required of you is to combine your three paragraphs into one paper and write a topic sentence & clincher sentence of the paper. You can see examples of the topic/clincher on page 45 of the Student Book.
We also introduced another dress up: the who/which clause. We practiced adding who/which clauses to our sentences to make them more interesting. Add this dress up to your writing toolbox, and begin including it in your writing. For more help with who/which clauses (also known as adjectival clauses), you can refer to this week's lesson in EEL or to Lesson 17 in Our Mother Tongue.
Can you believe we only have two weeks of class left? We will meet next week and then have a break for Thanksgiving, then wrap up with Week 12 on November 27. Hard to believe this year is almost over! Be looking for an email from me with the tally sheet for the work your student has completed this semester. When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will have our auction based on what all your students have completed so far! They have done excellent work and deserve to be rewarded for their hard work! (Parents, you do, too!)
Please email me with any questions! I'll see you next Tuesday!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Week 9 Recap & Notes
Here's what we covered today in class.
EEL: We began a new section of EEL today. We're still sticking with compound sentences, but we've added a new pattern: S-Vl-PN.
We began our coverage of linking verbs today. Please work with your students to have them memorize the list of linking verbs. They will do this later this year in Foundations, but it is beneficial to have them memorize the list now. You can find the definition of a linking verb and a list of verbs on the Verbs chart (chart C). This is also a good time to review the principal parts of a verb. For further information about the verb to be, review chart K in the gear section of your EEL. Remember the linking verb test: you should be able to replace the linking verb with an equal sign without changing the meaning of the sentence.
We also added a new noun usage today: the predicate nominative (you will find this listed on your Nouns chart (chart E). Review the definition of a predicate nominative with your students, making sure to emphasize it can also be a pronoun and it renames or replaces the subject of the sentence.
Speaking of renaming/replacing, make sure to work through the question/confirmation for each practice sentence. This is critical for determining whether the nouns in the predicates of our sentences are direct objects or predicate nominatives. Students need to be very familiar with both the list of linking verbs and also the question confirmation process.
Task sheet, as always, is found on page 435. Weekly sentences are found on page 433. You can always scale back days 4-5 if the sentences are too difficult for your students (but this will require some creativity on your part!).
IEW: We are continuing summarizing references, and this week we have added a new dress up: the sentence opener #2 or the prepositional phrase opener. If your students are having trouble with the #2 opener, pull out the list of prepositions from EEL and do the exercise we did in class today - find a subject opener sentence and try different prepositional phrases as openers. The assignment is lesson 7, writing a paragraph each on the Sphinx and the mummies. Work each sentence opener we've learned thus far into each paragraph at least once. Make sure both paragraphs are completed for next week, because you will need them for lesson 8.
Remind your students to keep their KWOs of facts to no more than 5-7 sentences. We're going for most interesting or most important, not writing an encyclopedia article!
Please let me know if you have any questions!
EEL: We began a new section of EEL today. We're still sticking with compound sentences, but we've added a new pattern: S-Vl-PN.
We began our coverage of linking verbs today. Please work with your students to have them memorize the list of linking verbs. They will do this later this year in Foundations, but it is beneficial to have them memorize the list now. You can find the definition of a linking verb and a list of verbs on the Verbs chart (chart C). This is also a good time to review the principal parts of a verb. For further information about the verb to be, review chart K in the gear section of your EEL. Remember the linking verb test: you should be able to replace the linking verb with an equal sign without changing the meaning of the sentence.
We also added a new noun usage today: the predicate nominative (you will find this listed on your Nouns chart (chart E). Review the definition of a predicate nominative with your students, making sure to emphasize it can also be a pronoun and it renames or replaces the subject of the sentence.
Speaking of renaming/replacing, make sure to work through the question/confirmation for each practice sentence. This is critical for determining whether the nouns in the predicates of our sentences are direct objects or predicate nominatives. Students need to be very familiar with both the list of linking verbs and also the question confirmation process.
Task sheet, as always, is found on page 435. Weekly sentences are found on page 433. You can always scale back days 4-5 if the sentences are too difficult for your students (but this will require some creativity on your part!).
IEW: We are continuing summarizing references, and this week we have added a new dress up: the sentence opener #2 or the prepositional phrase opener. If your students are having trouble with the #2 opener, pull out the list of prepositions from EEL and do the exercise we did in class today - find a subject opener sentence and try different prepositional phrases as openers. The assignment is lesson 7, writing a paragraph each on the Sphinx and the mummies. Work each sentence opener we've learned thus far into each paragraph at least once. Make sure both paragraphs are completed for next week, because you will need them for lesson 8.
Remind your students to keep their KWOs of facts to no more than 5-7 sentences. We're going for most interesting or most important, not writing an encyclopedia article!
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Week 8 Recap & Notes
Here's what we covered in class this week:
EEL: We worked on the "Week 8" lesson in the EEL guide, and introduced a new part of speech: the preposition. Any Essentials student who is also taking Foundations has the benefit of memorizing the list of prepositions this year. There is an excellent song on the Foundations memory work audio CD (also available for download on CC Connected) that lists all the prepositions on the chart. So have your students work on memorizing the Prepositions chart (go ahead and memorize all the prepositions - the Foundations tutors, myself included, will just have to deal with it!). Remind your students that prepositions are labeled Pr and the object of the preposition is labeled OP. We also covered the two types of prepositional phrases - adverbial and adjectival. Adverbial phrases modify verbs, adverbs, & adjectives. Adjectival phrases modify nouns & pronouns. A list of questions to test what your prepositional phrase is modifying can be found in this week's lesson in the guide. If time allows, have your students practice adding prepositional phrases to S-Vi declarative sentences and identify if the phrases are adverbial or adjectival.
This week we are working on interrogative, compound, S-Vt-DO sentences. This week will wrap up our coverage of the pattern S-Vt-DO. Remind your students the three ways to make a declarative/exclamatory sentence into an interrogative sentence: 1, change the end mark; 2, use an interrogative pronoun; and 3, add a helping verb. For extra practice, your students can look over the sample sentences on Chart G and practice turning them into interrogative sentences.
As always, weekly sentences are found on page 433 and the editing exercise is at the end of the lesson.
IEW: We get a bit of a break this week after the massive assignment from last week. Today we introduced making KWOs from large blocks of text and summarizing references. Remember, our goal is to outline facts, not just words. Have your students practice selecting the most important and/or interesting facts in their source text(s) and make a KWO from that. Keep your outlines between 5-7 points - no more than 7. You may use the outline we made in class or you can have your student come up with a new outline.
Review a topic & clincher sentence with them, using the paragraph modeled on page 33 of the Student Book. Show how key words in the topic & clincher sentence connect to form a cohesive paragraph.
We did not introduce any new dress ups or decorations this week, but please do not skimp on these in your writing! Make your outline, brainstorm, and check your rough and final drafts against the checklist at the end of Lesson 6.
To find info on this in your materials, we are doing Unit IV/Summarizing References in our TWSS binders, Page 8 of the Student Resource Notebook (top outline only), and Lesson 6/page 33 in the Ancient History-Based Student Book.
Please email me if you have any questions! See everyone next Tuesday! Come prepared to read your papers!
EEL: We worked on the "Week 8" lesson in the EEL guide, and introduced a new part of speech: the preposition. Any Essentials student who is also taking Foundations has the benefit of memorizing the list of prepositions this year. There is an excellent song on the Foundations memory work audio CD (also available for download on CC Connected) that lists all the prepositions on the chart. So have your students work on memorizing the Prepositions chart (go ahead and memorize all the prepositions - the Foundations tutors, myself included, will just have to deal with it!). Remind your students that prepositions are labeled Pr and the object of the preposition is labeled OP. We also covered the two types of prepositional phrases - adverbial and adjectival. Adverbial phrases modify verbs, adverbs, & adjectives. Adjectival phrases modify nouns & pronouns. A list of questions to test what your prepositional phrase is modifying can be found in this week's lesson in the guide. If time allows, have your students practice adding prepositional phrases to S-Vi declarative sentences and identify if the phrases are adverbial or adjectival.
This week we are working on interrogative, compound, S-Vt-DO sentences. This week will wrap up our coverage of the pattern S-Vt-DO. Remind your students the three ways to make a declarative/exclamatory sentence into an interrogative sentence: 1, change the end mark; 2, use an interrogative pronoun; and 3, add a helping verb. For extra practice, your students can look over the sample sentences on Chart G and practice turning them into interrogative sentences.
As always, weekly sentences are found on page 433 and the editing exercise is at the end of the lesson.
IEW: We get a bit of a break this week after the massive assignment from last week. Today we introduced making KWOs from large blocks of text and summarizing references. Remember, our goal is to outline facts, not just words. Have your students practice selecting the most important and/or interesting facts in their source text(s) and make a KWO from that. Keep your outlines between 5-7 points - no more than 7. You may use the outline we made in class or you can have your student come up with a new outline.
Review a topic & clincher sentence with them, using the paragraph modeled on page 33 of the Student Book. Show how key words in the topic & clincher sentence connect to form a cohesive paragraph.
We did not introduce any new dress ups or decorations this week, but please do not skimp on these in your writing! Make your outline, brainstorm, and check your rough and final drafts against the checklist at the end of Lesson 6.
To find info on this in your materials, we are doing Unit IV/Summarizing References in our TWSS binders, Page 8 of the Student Resource Notebook (top outline only), and Lesson 6/page 33 in the Ancient History-Based Student Book.
Please email me if you have any questions! See everyone next Tuesday! Come prepared to read your papers!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Week 6 Recap & Notes
Hi parents!
I hope you all enjoyed your break last week! Let's recap what we covered in class today.
EEL: Today we introduced a new sentence structure (compound), sentence pattern (S-Vt-DO), & part of speech (conjunctions). Study Chart H this week and make an effort to commit the lists of coordinating (FANBOYS) and subordinating (www.asia.wub) conjunctions to memory. This will benefit you greatly as the year progresses.
We also looked at diagramming S-Vt-DO sentences, and also compound sentences. If you have trouble remembering the Question Confirmation for our sentences, refer to the section at the end of week 3 (Special Section: Analytical Task Sheets in Detail).
Work through the task sheet for your sentences found on page 433 (remember to come up with new, easier sentences if they cannot do days 4 & 5), and tackle this week's editing exercise. Another good exercise would be to go through the examples of compound sentences found on Chart G and break them down into single independent clauses.
Another point I didn't mention in class is to remind your students that if a verb is followed by a prepositional phrase, it is not a transitive verb. I believe one of their sentences this week has an example like that. Review prepositions with them so they will be able to notice what is a prepositional phrase and what is a direct object (with a possible article adjective).
I did not cover Task 5A because of time limits, but the students have already practiced this and can continue doing this on the task sheet. They can also move to the first part of 5B, and practice making their compound sentence into a simple sentence.
IEW: We continued our study of Story Sequence Charts. We are working through Lesson 9 in the Student Book. If they haven't done so already, have your students work through the outline pages in the student book, brainstorm for dress-ups, and write their rough draft. If they've already made it that far, have them work through their checklist this week and write their final draft. Please bring the final draft to class to read next week. We will be on this unit one more week before moving on to the next unit.
Thanks for all your hard work! Hope everyone has a great week!
I hope you all enjoyed your break last week! Let's recap what we covered in class today.
EEL: Today we introduced a new sentence structure (compound), sentence pattern (S-Vt-DO), & part of speech (conjunctions). Study Chart H this week and make an effort to commit the lists of coordinating (FANBOYS) and subordinating (www.asia.wub) conjunctions to memory. This will benefit you greatly as the year progresses.
We also looked at diagramming S-Vt-DO sentences, and also compound sentences. If you have trouble remembering the Question Confirmation for our sentences, refer to the section at the end of week 3 (Special Section: Analytical Task Sheets in Detail).
Work through the task sheet for your sentences found on page 433 (remember to come up with new, easier sentences if they cannot do days 4 & 5), and tackle this week's editing exercise. Another good exercise would be to go through the examples of compound sentences found on Chart G and break them down into single independent clauses.
Another point I didn't mention in class is to remind your students that if a verb is followed by a prepositional phrase, it is not a transitive verb. I believe one of their sentences this week has an example like that. Review prepositions with them so they will be able to notice what is a prepositional phrase and what is a direct object (with a possible article adjective).
I did not cover Task 5A because of time limits, but the students have already practiced this and can continue doing this on the task sheet. They can also move to the first part of 5B, and practice making their compound sentence into a simple sentence.
IEW: We continued our study of Story Sequence Charts. We are working through Lesson 9 in the Student Book. If they haven't done so already, have your students work through the outline pages in the student book, brainstorm for dress-ups, and write their rough draft. If they've already made it that far, have them work through their checklist this week and write their final draft. Please bring the final draft to class to read next week. We will be on this unit one more week before moving on to the next unit.
Thanks for all your hard work! Hope everyone has a great week!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Week 5 Recap & Notes
Hi Parents! I hope you are enjoying our break week. It will nice to get back to routine after this week.
EEL Recap: This week we finished covering the S-Vi sentence pattern, and wrapped up our final purpose for simple sentences (the interrogative purpose). Next week we begin covering compound sentences and will start working on the S-Vt-DO pattern. Take some time over the break to begin familiarizing your students with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and subordinating conjunctions (www.asia.wub), a list of which can be found on Chart H. They will need to be able to identify these as we study more complex (no pun intended) sentence structures.
Make sure to review the interrogative purpose and the forms it can take when diagramming. This will be especially helpful for your students as they work through Task 5A and have to change a sentence to the interrogative purpose. We discussed simply having a question mark as the end punctuation (Tara writes?), using a helping verb (Did Tara write?), and using an interrogative pronoun (Who writes?).
Week 4: pages 89-102 of the EEL guide
Blank task sheet: page 435
Weekly practice sentences: page 433
Models of those sentences: pages 97-102.
IEW Recap: This week we began the unit on Narrative Stories. We took our skill of making key word outlines and applied that to making a story sequence chart. The first part of the outline covers the setting & characters of the story - the who, the where, and the when of the story. The second part of the outline covers the plot & conflict - the what of the story. Here the students need to identify the conflict, and what the characters thought, said, and did. The final part of the outline is the climax/resolution/epilogue/moral theme. Have the students identify each of these items in the story. This model can be used on any length of story: short stories, Bible stories, fables, and even novels.
The assignment this week is to work through Lesson 9 in the Student book. Outline, brainstorm, and write a rough draft to bring in on Tuesday. On Tuesday, we will practice making another story sequence chart in class, then go over editing marks on our rough drafts.
Narratives/Unit 3: pages 27-36 of the TWSS guide
Lesson 9: pages 51-60 of the student book
Lagniappe: Brandy at Half A Hundred Acre Wood (a fabulous CC blog - consider subscribing to her posts via email or reader) wrote a post on how they use their Essentials notebook at home. If you're struggling to get in a rhythm of doing Essentials at home, check out her post for some ideas: http://www.halfahundredacrewood.com/2012/09/our-essentials-student-notebook.html.
If your students are having some trouble with question confirmation, here are some links from the Shurley Grammar site (which is the model EEL follows):
https://www.shurley.com/?3f9b06c8f52a14bd1250c9a862d2d
https://www.shurley.com/pdf/parent_help/Parent_Help_Booklet_Level_2.pdf (Q/C beginning on page 8)
See you Tuesday!
EEL Recap: This week we finished covering the S-Vi sentence pattern, and wrapped up our final purpose for simple sentences (the interrogative purpose). Next week we begin covering compound sentences and will start working on the S-Vt-DO pattern. Take some time over the break to begin familiarizing your students with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and subordinating conjunctions (www.asia.wub), a list of which can be found on Chart H. They will need to be able to identify these as we study more complex (no pun intended) sentence structures.
Make sure to review the interrogative purpose and the forms it can take when diagramming. This will be especially helpful for your students as they work through Task 5A and have to change a sentence to the interrogative purpose. We discussed simply having a question mark as the end punctuation (Tara writes?), using a helping verb (Did Tara write?), and using an interrogative pronoun (Who writes?).
Week 4: pages 89-102 of the EEL guide
Blank task sheet: page 435
Weekly practice sentences: page 433
Models of those sentences: pages 97-102.
IEW Recap: This week we began the unit on Narrative Stories. We took our skill of making key word outlines and applied that to making a story sequence chart. The first part of the outline covers the setting & characters of the story - the who, the where, and the when of the story. The second part of the outline covers the plot & conflict - the what of the story. Here the students need to identify the conflict, and what the characters thought, said, and did. The final part of the outline is the climax/resolution/epilogue/moral theme. Have the students identify each of these items in the story. This model can be used on any length of story: short stories, Bible stories, fables, and even novels.
The assignment this week is to work through Lesson 9 in the Student book. Outline, brainstorm, and write a rough draft to bring in on Tuesday. On Tuesday, we will practice making another story sequence chart in class, then go over editing marks on our rough drafts.
Narratives/Unit 3: pages 27-36 of the TWSS guide
Lesson 9: pages 51-60 of the student book
Lagniappe: Brandy at Half A Hundred Acre Wood (a fabulous CC blog - consider subscribing to her posts via email or reader) wrote a post on how they use their Essentials notebook at home. If you're struggling to get in a rhythm of doing Essentials at home, check out her post for some ideas: http://www.halfahundredacrewood.com/2012/09/our-essentials-student-notebook.html.
If your students are having some trouble with question confirmation, here are some links from the Shurley Grammar site (which is the model EEL follows):
https://www.shurley.com/?3f9b06c8f52a14bd1250c9a862d2d
https://www.shurley.com/pdf/parent_help/Parent_Help_Booklet_Level_2.pdf (Q/C beginning on page 8)
See you Tuesday!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Week 3 Recap and Notes
Thanks for working so hard today! I know it's tough trying to get back into the swing of things after a big storm.
To those families who were unable to make it today due to the aftermaths of the hurricane, our prayers are with you and we hope to see you back in class soon! If there is anything anyone in our CC Community can do for you, please let us know!
Here's our recap of what we covered in class today:
EEL: We began working on the Analytical Task Sheet today (found on pages 435-436 in your EEL guide). We will continue to use the EEL sheet each week for the rest of the year. Today probably seemed like a lot of information, but we will continue to build on it each week from here on out. Your notes for week 3 begin on page 43 of your EEL guide. If you look at the gray box on the top, you'll see we're covering simple structure and declarative or exclamatory sentences this week. You might also see that on the far right, it says EEL Tasks 1-3. I went further than that today because I believe our students can handle it. Obviously if going all the way to 5A is too far for your student, scale it back to their level.
Familiarize yourself with the "Special Section: Analytical Tasks in Detail" found on pages 49-63. Many questions you have can be answered there.
The students seem to have a good grasp of the dictation and mechanics. Work with them on those tasks until they can automatically check for the mechanics in the sentence (task 2) without having to reference the check boxes.
For task 3, help them work through the question/confirmation section. The questions we asked today are the first questions you'll ask for any sentence, no matter how long or complex. When you get to the part of identifying the structure & purpose, make them recite the structures and purposes, then explain why their sentence is falls into that category (like we modeled in class). This will reinforce what they've learned memorizing Chart A.
For task 4, have them diagram like we did in class. If you need help making sure the sentences are diagrammed correctly, you can find the answers to the task sheet example sentences on pages 69-73.
The list of sentences for this week can be found on page 433 of the EEL guide. Please make sure to keep these appropriate to your student's level. You can always substitute another sentence in place of one that might be too difficult.
Please try to have your students do one sentence per day. You can record the task sheets in a notebook (like we did in class), make copies of your own sheet (if you take it to a printer and need a release for copying the material, let me know and I'll send you the permission form), you can use a white board, or you can put your sheet in a page protector and work with a dry erase marker on that.
Also don't forget reviewing nouns & pronouns and memorizing Charts E & F!
Math: We will continue to do our timed math sheets each week (make copies for your own practice at mathfactcafe.com). We will have multiplication sheets coming up later this semester, so you might want to help your students brush up on single digit multiplication.
IEW: This week the assignment is Lesson 4 on page 21 in the student book. Read the paragraph several times to make sure there is comprehension. Have your student make the Key Word Outline in the space provided (or write their own KWO on a separate sheet of paper). Rewrite the paragraph in their own words. Once the paragraph is written, have them go through and identify any banned words and areas where they could add any dress-ups or decorations previously discussed (quality adjectives, strong verbs, -LY words, and alliteration). Then assess the sentence openers. Try to incorporate an -LY sentence opener and a very short sentence (VSS) opener somewhere in the paragraph.
The checklist for this week's paragraph is found on page 23 in the Ancient History-Based Writing Student Book. In order to help you and/or your student check their work, use the notations we discussed in class. Examples of these can be found on page 31. Notate your sentence opener numbers in the left margin. The numbers for the sentence openers can be found on page 150 in the AHBW student book or page 5 in the student resource notebook - we are currently using opener styles #1 (subject), #3 (-LY word), and #6 (VSS). Abbreviations for our previous dress ups can be found on the checklist on page 23. They are as follows: strong verb - v; -LY word - ly; quality adjective - adj; and vocabulary word - voc. These dress ups should be notated in the right margin.
If your students have time, have them illustrate their writing this week!
Great work this week! Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!
To those families who were unable to make it today due to the aftermaths of the hurricane, our prayers are with you and we hope to see you back in class soon! If there is anything anyone in our CC Community can do for you, please let us know!
Here's our recap of what we covered in class today:
EEL: We began working on the Analytical Task Sheet today (found on pages 435-436 in your EEL guide). We will continue to use the EEL sheet each week for the rest of the year. Today probably seemed like a lot of information, but we will continue to build on it each week from here on out. Your notes for week 3 begin on page 43 of your EEL guide. If you look at the gray box on the top, you'll see we're covering simple structure and declarative or exclamatory sentences this week. You might also see that on the far right, it says EEL Tasks 1-3. I went further than that today because I believe our students can handle it. Obviously if going all the way to 5A is too far for your student, scale it back to their level.
Familiarize yourself with the "Special Section: Analytical Tasks in Detail" found on pages 49-63. Many questions you have can be answered there.
The students seem to have a good grasp of the dictation and mechanics. Work with them on those tasks until they can automatically check for the mechanics in the sentence (task 2) without having to reference the check boxes.
For task 3, help them work through the question/confirmation section. The questions we asked today are the first questions you'll ask for any sentence, no matter how long or complex. When you get to the part of identifying the structure & purpose, make them recite the structures and purposes, then explain why their sentence is falls into that category (like we modeled in class). This will reinforce what they've learned memorizing Chart A.
For task 4, have them diagram like we did in class. If you need help making sure the sentences are diagrammed correctly, you can find the answers to the task sheet example sentences on pages 69-73.
The list of sentences for this week can be found on page 433 of the EEL guide. Please make sure to keep these appropriate to your student's level. You can always substitute another sentence in place of one that might be too difficult.
Please try to have your students do one sentence per day. You can record the task sheets in a notebook (like we did in class), make copies of your own sheet (if you take it to a printer and need a release for copying the material, let me know and I'll send you the permission form), you can use a white board, or you can put your sheet in a page protector and work with a dry erase marker on that.
Also don't forget reviewing nouns & pronouns and memorizing Charts E & F!
Math: We will continue to do our timed math sheets each week (make copies for your own practice at mathfactcafe.com). We will have multiplication sheets coming up later this semester, so you might want to help your students brush up on single digit multiplication.
IEW: This week the assignment is Lesson 4 on page 21 in the student book. Read the paragraph several times to make sure there is comprehension. Have your student make the Key Word Outline in the space provided (or write their own KWO on a separate sheet of paper). Rewrite the paragraph in their own words. Once the paragraph is written, have them go through and identify any banned words and areas where they could add any dress-ups or decorations previously discussed (quality adjectives, strong verbs, -LY words, and alliteration). Then assess the sentence openers. Try to incorporate an -LY sentence opener and a very short sentence (VSS) opener somewhere in the paragraph.
The checklist for this week's paragraph is found on page 23 in the Ancient History-Based Writing Student Book. In order to help you and/or your student check their work, use the notations we discussed in class. Examples of these can be found on page 31. Notate your sentence opener numbers in the left margin. The numbers for the sentence openers can be found on page 150 in the AHBW student book or page 5 in the student resource notebook - we are currently using opener styles #1 (subject), #3 (-LY word), and #6 (VSS). Abbreviations for our previous dress ups can be found on the checklist on page 23. They are as follows: strong verb - v; -LY word - ly; quality adjective - adj; and vocabulary word - voc. These dress ups should be notated in the right margin.
If your students have time, have them illustrate their writing this week!
Great work this week! Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Class Tuesday the 28th has been cancelled
Hi all, CC will be cancelled this Tuesday due to the impending storm. When we return we will continue with week 3's information. We will make up the day at the end of this semester. I will be praying for all the families and please be safe. I will see everyone next Tuesday. Thanks!
Class on Tuesday has been cancelled
Hi all, CC will be cancelled this Tuesday due to the impending storm. When we return we will continue with week 3's information. We will make up the day at the end of this semester. I will be praying for all the families and please be safe. I will see everyone next Tuesday. Thanks!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Week 2 Recap
Hi Parents!
Give yourselves a big, double-handed pat on the back, because you've completed the overview weeks of EEL!
We've covered Charts A, B, C, & D so far, so please keep review these with your students. Copy them, recite them, play games with them. One game that students seem to love is beating their parents at a task, so challenge them in copying a chart (like I did in class) and see if they can beat you at copying it out. As Ruth mentioned, please do not neglect Chart A. It is critical that your students become familiar with Chart A!
You can also have your students work on the editing exercises found on page 41 in the EEL guide. If you need help with reinforcing punctuation, capitalization, & spelling rules, you can find some helpful resources in the Excursion part of your EEL guide on pages 455-466.
This upcoming week we will start drilling down on our first sentence classification, simple/declarative/S-Vi. We will also introduce the Analytical Task Sheet, which we will be working with for the remainder of the year.
For IEW, practice making keyword outlines with your students. As I mentioned in class, any block of text or paragraph can be used for making keyword outlines. If your student is having trouble making his or her outlines, try finding a passage of text that is at or below their reading level so it is easier to read. We want to hone their writing skills during this time, rather than multitask by trying to improve their reading skills at the same time. Follow our class guidelines outlined in the TWSS book on pages 7-14.
This upcoming week we will continue working on making keyword outlines and hone our skills retelling passages based on our key words. We will also cover different kinds of sentence openers.
If you would like to try challenging your students at home with timed math sheets, you can find the sheets we used in class at www.mathfactcafe.com. I used sheets based on the 3rd grade level because I figured that would be a good level for our class. You can also find some timed math games at www.mathisfun.com. This is a great way to provide your students a way to measure their progress throughout the year.
Again, congratulations on surviving the overview weeks! And please remember that Essentials is designed in a way that your students go through the program three times. So if your students don't "get" every single piece of information this year, that's OK! I am responsible for covering everything in class, but you ultimately decide what they do at home! You want to challenge your students, but not overwhelm them to the point where they are miserable. Scale the material to their needs, or use your guide and materials to add to it if they need more of a challenge.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, and I'll see everyone on Tuesday!
Give yourselves a big, double-handed pat on the back, because you've completed the overview weeks of EEL!
We've covered Charts A, B, C, & D so far, so please keep review these with your students. Copy them, recite them, play games with them. One game that students seem to love is beating their parents at a task, so challenge them in copying a chart (like I did in class) and see if they can beat you at copying it out. As Ruth mentioned, please do not neglect Chart A. It is critical that your students become familiar with Chart A!
You can also have your students work on the editing exercises found on page 41 in the EEL guide. If you need help with reinforcing punctuation, capitalization, & spelling rules, you can find some helpful resources in the Excursion part of your EEL guide on pages 455-466.
This upcoming week we will start drilling down on our first sentence classification, simple/declarative/S-Vi. We will also introduce the Analytical Task Sheet, which we will be working with for the remainder of the year.
For IEW, practice making keyword outlines with your students. As I mentioned in class, any block of text or paragraph can be used for making keyword outlines. If your student is having trouble making his or her outlines, try finding a passage of text that is at or below their reading level so it is easier to read. We want to hone their writing skills during this time, rather than multitask by trying to improve their reading skills at the same time. Follow our class guidelines outlined in the TWSS book on pages 7-14.
This upcoming week we will continue working on making keyword outlines and hone our skills retelling passages based on our key words. We will also cover different kinds of sentence openers.
If you would like to try challenging your students at home with timed math sheets, you can find the sheets we used in class at www.mathfactcafe.com. I used sheets based on the 3rd grade level because I figured that would be a good level for our class. You can also find some timed math games at www.mathisfun.com. This is a great way to provide your students a way to measure their progress throughout the year.
Again, congratulations on surviving the overview weeks! And please remember that Essentials is designed in a way that your students go through the program three times. So if your students don't "get" every single piece of information this year, that's OK! I am responsible for covering everything in class, but you ultimately decide what they do at home! You want to challenge your students, but not overwhelm them to the point where they are miserable. Scale the material to their needs, or use your guide and materials to add to it if they need more of a challenge.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, and I'll see everyone on Tuesday!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Week 1 Update and Notes
Hi Parents!
I owe you all a big THANK YOU for all the grace you extended to me today during class! Thank you for your patience with me while we settle into this new course!
We have all the English flashcards cut out and bagged up for those of you who did not get to pick up your cards today. These will be a great way to review important EEL terms we will cover over the year.
Some follow up for EEL:
I owe you all a big THANK YOU for all the grace you extended to me today during class! Thank you for your patience with me while we settle into this new course!
We have all the English flashcards cut out and bagged up for those of you who did not get to pick up your cards today. These will be a great way to review important EEL terms we will cover over the year.
Some follow up for EEL:
- Practice those charts! The students need to work diligently on having charts A & B memorized. Some of the parts of Chart A I didn't get to cover very well are the 8 Parts of Speech and the 5 Parts of a Sentence. Review these with your students, as well as the parts we covered in detail in class (the structure, purpose, & patterns). Quiz them orally and make them copy the charts by hand. Work on these charts at least once a day. A lot of it is not going to make sense to them, but they need to know it. It will all start making sense once we start breaking down the big puzzle.
- For Chart B, sit down and go over it with your students. Discuss each purpose and pattern (the structure is the same for all - Simple).
- Each week there are editing exercises at the end of each lesson. You will find week 1's editing exercise on page 31 in the EEL guide. Follow the instructions on the page and see how many mistakes your student can catch in the passage.
- Don't stress! So, we hit a lot of topics today, right? It's a lot to take in. We'll do another bird's-eye-view of the course next week, then we'll start drilling down. Don't worry - at the end of the year, your student is going to know every inch of Chart A (including what each little word/letter combo/line mean!).
- When your students are copying their charts, please make sure they are copying the lines exactly like they are shown on the chart. The vertical line between the subject & predicate must extend below the line underneath the sentence structure. Any line that is diagonal must go in the direction as shown on the chart. This will not make sense to them now, and that's OK. It will make perfect sense once we get into diagramming around week 7. So when you check for accuracy, don't just check letters - check lines, too.
- Reminder: the scope and sequence of EEL can be found on page 18 of the EEL guide.
- The Week-at-a-Glance suggested home schedule can be found on page 22 of the EEL guide.
Some follow up for IEW:
- The assignment for this week is the two poems in Lessons 1 & 2 in the Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons Student Book. Have your students do the brainstorming for quality adjectives on page 9 and strong verbs on page 13. After they have brainstormed, get them to complete the poem using words they have chosen from their brainstorming pages. Don't forget to remind them of alliteration and -LY words! If they would like to illustrate their poems after writing them, that is always encouraged!
- Bring 2 copies of the poem(s) next week for class - one for you to keep and follow along with the student and one to turn in for their writing book.
- The instructions for the stylistic techniques can be found in your TWSS book on pages 17-18.
- Don't forget to download the student resource notebook from the IEW website! Follow the instructions on the blue sheet in the front of your Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons Student Book.
- Vocabulary cards are in the back of the student book!
Coming next week:
- We will continue our overview of EEL as a whole
- We will focus in on verbs
- We will learn how to make Key Word Outlines in IEW
Please keep track of what work your student completes for Essentials this week! Next week I will have the ticket tally sheets, and we will go over what your student has completed and award tickets as needed.
A few housekeeping notes: next week when class is over, I would greatly appreciate it if you (and/or the students) can help me get the room back in order the way Lakeside keeps it. This includes collapsing and stacking the chairs and moving the tables back to their correct rooms/places.
A few housekeeping notes: next week when class is over, I would greatly appreciate it if you (and/or the students) can help me get the room back in order the way Lakeside keeps it. This includes collapsing and stacking the chairs and moving the tables back to their correct rooms/places.
I cannot even tell you what a wonderful job all your students (and you!) did today! We have such a fun class, and I am so excited about this year!
As usual, if you have any questions, please email me! Thank you all for your participation and excitement today!
Friday, August 10, 2012
Labeling Your Trivium Tables
Hi parents!
If you purchased the two trivium tables for Essentials, you might have noticed that the tables aren't labeled the same as the charts in the guide. I recommend using the tables in class, as they are easy to write on & erase (with dry-erase markers) and portable. Please get a Sharpie or permanent marker and label your charts as follows for ease of use in class:
English Grammar Trivium Table
Sentence Classifications - Chart A
Nouns - Chart E
Pronouns - Chart F
Verbs - Chart C
Principal Parts of Verbs - Chart D
Adverbs - Chart I
Adjectives - Chart L
Conjunctions - Chart H
Interjections - Chart J
Prepositions - Chart J
Quid Et Quo
Sentence Classifications Examples - Chart B
Verb Anatomy - Chart K
Thanks!
Tara
If you purchased the two trivium tables for Essentials, you might have noticed that the tables aren't labeled the same as the charts in the guide. I recommend using the tables in class, as they are easy to write on & erase (with dry-erase markers) and portable. Please get a Sharpie or permanent marker and label your charts as follows for ease of use in class:
English Grammar Trivium Table
Sentence Classifications - Chart A
Nouns - Chart E
Pronouns - Chart F
Verbs - Chart C
Principal Parts of Verbs - Chart D
Adverbs - Chart I
Adjectives - Chart L
Conjunctions - Chart H
Interjections - Chart J
Prepositions - Chart J
Quid Et Quo
Sentence Classifications Examples - Chart B
Verb Anatomy - Chart K
Thanks!
Tara
Welcome to Essentials!
Hello Essentials parents!
I'm Tara Guy, your child's Essentials tutor for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. A little bit of my background: I am married to Boyd Guy, who is the art director at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is also completing his masters and preparing to start his doctoral work next year. We have one daughter, Sara Claire, who is 6. Sara Claire is entering her second year of Foundations, and she is involved in dance, art, & science lab classes. We are members of Edgewater, where my husband teaches the adult men's Sunday school class and I co-teach the 4 & 5 year old Mission Friends class. We volunteer as a family each month at a nursing home/assisted living facility in our neighborhood with our life group through Edgewater. We are huge Saints fans and try to make at least one game each year.
I am so excited about this upcoming year! I think we are going to have a blast delving into the English language together. With the exception of one student, we're all newcomers to Essentials (myself included!).
Leigh Bortins wrote in her intro to the EEL guide that each student should (ideally) take three "tours" of Essentials. Just about everyone here is on their first tour of Essentials. What does this mean for you as a parent? It means that your goal this year should be the mastery of the grammar and definitions of Essentials. Leigh set up the Essentials curriculum based on the classical method of learning. So the focus this year is to fill their minds with the backbone of the English language (the grammar of English grammar, if you will). Does this mean that if your child memorizes the charts quickly that they shouldn't move on to something harder? Absolutely not. You are your child's teacher, you know their strengths and weaknesses, and only you can decide what to teach and what not to teach in your home. We will cover everything in class; it's up to you to decide where your child is and what their focus should be. The beauty of the Essentials program is that it is easily tiered to different abilities, so that students can be studying the exact same material but working on it at different levels.
Please make sure you read through the day's lesson in your EEL guide before coming to class. Familiarize yourself with terms and charts so you will be prepared for what we'll be studying.
Our afternoon will break down as follows:
I'm Tara Guy, your child's Essentials tutor for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. A little bit of my background: I am married to Boyd Guy, who is the art director at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is also completing his masters and preparing to start his doctoral work next year. We have one daughter, Sara Claire, who is 6. Sara Claire is entering her second year of Foundations, and she is involved in dance, art, & science lab classes. We are members of Edgewater, where my husband teaches the adult men's Sunday school class and I co-teach the 4 & 5 year old Mission Friends class. We volunteer as a family each month at a nursing home/assisted living facility in our neighborhood with our life group through Edgewater. We are huge Saints fans and try to make at least one game each year.
I am so excited about this upcoming year! I think we are going to have a blast delving into the English language together. With the exception of one student, we're all newcomers to Essentials (myself included!).
Leigh Bortins wrote in her intro to the EEL guide that each student should (ideally) take three "tours" of Essentials. Just about everyone here is on their first tour of Essentials. What does this mean for you as a parent? It means that your goal this year should be the mastery of the grammar and definitions of Essentials. Leigh set up the Essentials curriculum based on the classical method of learning. So the focus this year is to fill their minds with the backbone of the English language (the grammar of English grammar, if you will). Does this mean that if your child memorizes the charts quickly that they shouldn't move on to something harder? Absolutely not. You are your child's teacher, you know their strengths and weaknesses, and only you can decide what to teach and what not to teach in your home. We will cover everything in class; it's up to you to decide where your child is and what their focus should be. The beauty of the Essentials program is that it is easily tiered to different abilities, so that students can be studying the exact same material but working on it at different levels.
Please make sure you read through the day's lesson in your EEL guide before coming to class. Familiarize yourself with terms and charts so you will be prepared for what we'll be studying.
Our afternoon will break down as follows:
- 45 minutes of EEL (English)
- 30 minutes of math games & review
- 45 minutes of IEW (writing)
Parents, please make sure your students are in class promptly at 1:00 pm, because we will begin right away. Since this is the first time through Essentials for almost every student, we have a lot of ground to cover in each class. I am not 100% positive, but I think this year the lunch and recess times have been swapped, so students will need to be collected from outside and need to get a drink of water/take their bathroom breaks with enough time to be present in class for 1:00. Our classroom is room 107.
I also encourage you to bring a notebook and pen for your own note-taking. The EEL guide is excellent and a wonderful stand-alone resource for English grammar, but you may see something demonstrated in class or hear a suggestion from another parent you'd like to implement at home.
Some tips to help you with Essentials this year:
- If your student has trouble memorizing the parts of charts & definitions of English grammar, sign up for the Foundations side of CC Connected and download the audio files for the English grammar memory work from each cycle. There are even some musically-gifted CC moms who have put some parts of the English grammar memory work to music! These are great to listen to in the car or while your children are coloring or playing. It will help reinforce the definitions of critical terms. When you log-in, do a search for English grammar for all cycles and narrow your search results by .mp3.
- I strongly encourage signing up for the Essentials side of CC Connected. There you will find many resources to aide your teaching of Essentials. If you are interested in this, let me know and I'll check with Simone on what you need to do to get signed up.
- Consider practicing math facts with your children using flashcards and help them brush up on their mental math. During our Essentials training, there was a big difference between the students who practiced their math with flashcards and those who did not.
- IEW Webinars - this is a great site that can offer more clarity on IEW units.
- IEW Yahoo! Group - an online network of families studying IEW.
As I come across more tips & tricks, I will be sure to post them here. I will also post after class each Tuesday what we covered that day and what the upcoming assignments are.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions! The best way to reach me is via email, which is tara (dot) guy (at) gmail (dot) com. (I wrote it that way because blogger is notorious for spammers!)
I'll close by paraphrasing something Leigh said in the intro to the EEL guide (if you have time, go ahead and read "The Expedition" in the front of your EEL guide - it does a great job of communicating the scope and vision of the Essentials program!). We are all disciples of the "Word made flesh." God places a high priority and emphasis on language. It is one of the many names of our Savior Jesus Christ (John 1:1). God uses the written word of the Bible to communicate to His people. It is critical that we have an understanding of language because it is a critical method of communication from our God.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday! It's going to be a GREAT year!
In Christ,
Tara
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