Fourteen weeks down and ONE to go. Since I know what we're going to do next semester, I'm already looking forward to another 15 weeks of writing and reading with this great group of students.
For our Quick Write this week, I asked students to invent something that they feel the world needs. While it may be a while until technology catches up to some of the ideas, they had some practical and creative new items to add to our world.
Our final Words of the Day were Christmas-related words:
yule -- origin uncertain -- the winter festival celebrated by Germanic peoples that was Christianized and reformulized into Christmas
nativity -- fr. Latin, nativus, born -- birth, especially referring to the birth of Jesus
carol -- fr. Middle English, carole, a ringdance with song, fr. Latin corolla, a pipe dance -- a song of joy, especially referring to Christmas songs
epiphany -- fr. Latin, epiphania, to appear -- the manifestation of Christ to the Magi
Speaking of Words of the Day, we will have our Words of the Day Test next week during class. I've attached a study guide with all of our words. The test will be a combination of multiple choice, true/false, matching, and fill-in-the-blank. It won't be a hard test, but it is another opportunity for me to promote my passion for words!
I handed back the Rough Drafts of their Comparison/ Contrast Essays. We went through common corrections made on these essays. I maintain that students learn best how to write by simply writing and then learning from their mistakes. Some of these mistakes that we talked about this week: using last or whole names instead of first names, comma splice sentences, fragments, parallel construction.
Students were given a half sheet for them to fill out as they revise their rough drafts. They are to note the first five errors in their papers and to comment on the area they want to focus on for their next papers.
We finished up the class watching a couple videos about Mark Twain. The first was a story about Twain's brush with death via a duel. The second was a Hal Holbrook presentation as Twain, in which he talks about lying and slavery. Twain was able to be funny and profound at the same time.
Next week, we will take the Word of the Day test, have some literature/Christmas activities, and share some treats. We had some requests for ugly sweaters.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Final Draft of Comparison/Contrast Essay
-- First Five Mistakes sheet
-- Study for Words of the Day Test.
Links for this week:
Class Notes
Blessings and stay safe in the snow!
Mrs. Prichard
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