The prompt for Week 5 in Writing 2 was:
NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of ........
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of impatience for Spring! All the students can hardly stay in their seats for class because of the nice weather. Mrs. Prichard sometimes has to remind them that she's at the front of the class, not out the window. They can not stop giving spring time activities when Mrs. Prichard asks for an example.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of human saturation. Everywhere I look, I see people all around me.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of Writer's Block! How terrible to have Writer's Block when the whole class is about writing. They've researched and asked others what to write about but simply can not get creative with it. It's a very trying time for the students of writing, but they know that they can get through it.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of pen flipping!
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of sleepiness, and it is spreading rapidly as more and more students begin to bob their heads in preparation to fall asleep on the spot! Eye witnesses say, "The students look like zombies ready to eat our brains."
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of being sick of winter. Symptoms include trying to wear shorts when it's 30 degrees out, becoming restless, complaining about the cold, and slipping on ice. This illness usually affects people around mid-February.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of books. The ones they've picked out are flimsy flicks with no real morals. The bookcase itself is terrible! Thin, cracking wood and rusty nails literally hold together literary crap. There is no cure for this case full of books except fire. I am ashamed to even admit their condition. So long to the sanity. Bring on the bookcase.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of Writer's Block. No one seems to know what to write about for today's Quick Write. They try this and try that, but still they cannot come up with anything.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of sneezing. No one can finish a complete sentence because the sneezes stop them. Even Mrs. Prichard cannot stop sneezing because the sneezes are contagious and we cannot figure out a way to stop. We need to find a method or way to find a solution to stop the sneezing.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of cabin fever! Symptoms are: anxiety, inability to sit still, no focus, slight insanity, weight gain, and/or lethargy. If you see any signs, please report to the authorities before it spreads.
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NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of having lots of people writing about its bad cases. I mean, I looked around and everybody is writing a bad case about it. So there must be something wrong.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Literary Love Letters, 2017
Below are submissions by the Writing 1 class for the Quick Write prompt to write "Literary Love Letters."
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Oh long and drawn out explanations, how I love the way you explain mountains, trees, and crystal streams. I love the way that you drone on and one and one about the majesty and serendipity of all the wondrous places you paint with your words, but my favorite part is the way that all of this doesn't tie ino the plot. It's only there for immersion.
------------------------------------
Dear Onomatopoeia,
I love the way you can spice up any story. You make it come alive. With the words "Crash! Bang! Boom!" one is able to better picture what may have happened or is happening.
You help everyone express what they heard or saw. The best children's book are filled with you. You make stories come alive.
From a lover of exciting stories
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Dear Book Series,
Boy, do I love a good book series. It's always nice to know that when you finish one book, there's another on the way. It's a good feeling when you finish one good book, that six or seven of maybe more are sitting there waiting to be read. There's a nice amount of depth to the story that is enjoyable to read when you know that the story has just begun and you can really familiarize yourself with the characters and the story.
A lover of books
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My favorite thing to write is a rhyme
It's how I spend most of my time
Yes, my heart is pure and true
Dear Literary Device, I love you.
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Oh how I love C. S. Lewis's, the Chronicles of Narnia series. With such vivid and imaginativ e writing, not to mention the subtle Biblical ties in his books. I just can't step away from these books that I just can't stop loving.
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Oh long and drawn out explanations, how I love the way you explain mountains, trees, and crystal streams. I love the way that you drone on and one and one about the majesty and serendipity of all the wondrous places you paint with your words, but my favorite part is the way that all of this doesn't tie ino the plot. It's only there for immersion.
------------------------------------
Dear Onomatopoeia,
I love the way you can spice up any story. You make it come alive. With the words "Crash! Bang! Boom!" one is able to better picture what may have happened or is happening.
You help everyone express what they heard or saw. The best children's book are filled with you. You make stories come alive.
From a lover of exciting stories
------------------------------------
Dear Book Series,
Boy, do I love a good book series. It's always nice to know that when you finish one book, there's another on the way. It's a good feeling when you finish one good book, that six or seven of maybe more are sitting there waiting to be read. There's a nice amount of depth to the story that is enjoyable to read when you know that the story has just begun and you can really familiarize yourself with the characters and the story.
A lover of books
------------------------------------
My favorite thing to write is a rhyme
It's how I spend most of my time
Yes, my heart is pure and true
Dear Literary Device, I love you.
------------------------------------
Oh how I love C. S. Lewis's, the Chronicles of Narnia series. With such vivid and imaginativ e writing, not to mention the subtle Biblical ties in his books. I just can't step away from these books that I just can't stop loving.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 16)
Greetings!
We had a good class this week even though I made to take frequent breaks to sneeze or deal with my runny nose. Our Quick Write prompt this week was to finish and elaborate on this sentence: "NEWS ALERT! Writing 2 has a bad case of the ...." For students who are willing, I will put their Quick Writes on the class blog.
Our Words of the Day:
equa/equi -- Latin, "same/even/level" -- equal, equation, equality, equinox, equilibrium, equate, equidistant
ex/e -- Latin, "put out of" -- exclude, exterior, exclaim. excavate, exhale
extri/extra -- Latin, "outer, outside of" -- extricate, extraterrestrial, extract, extraction, extraordinary, extrovert
Students handed in the Final Drafts of their Mystery Stories. If a rough draft was handed in late, I will get it back to them within the week so that the final draft can be brought to class after our break. We are now ready to start our next essay. Students can choose between a Cause and Effect Essay or a Problem/Solution Essay. Both of these are 2-part essays, and the students need to consider which part should receive the most attention. For example, if when writing a Cause/Effect essay, the cause is simple but the results (effects) are more complicated, the focus of the essay should be on the effects.
I handed out their next book for this class: Great Short, Short Stories. I love short stories because they are a microcosm of the key literary elements but are more of a bare-bones sketch than a full, deep picture. Most short stories are either character-driven or plot-driven; few are setting-driven. The assigned stories are listed below.
We took a longer time to work on our Comma studies. As I corrected the worksheets, I saw that we needed some more time to go over subordinate clauses/complex sentences, introductory elements, and items in a series. After a quick review of these topics, I divided the class into groups. Their first assignment was to review as a group to make sure each one of them could explain subordinate/dependent clauses to someone else. We used the rest of the time to work through the other two uses for commas: introductory elements and items in a series.
We do not have class next week, so they have two weeks to do their assignments.
Assignments for March 2:
-- Read the following short stories
-- "The Coffin Maker" by Alexander Pushkin
--"The Three Hermits" by Leo Tolstoy
-- "The Sphinx Without a Secret" by Oscar Wilde
-- "Wee Willie Winkie" by Rudyard Kipling
-- "The Open Windoe" by H. H. Munro
-- Fill in the charts on the two short story worksheets
-- Pre-Write for Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution Essay
-- 3 Comma Worksheets (if not completed in class)
Links for this Week:
Have a great weekend and a lovely break!
Mrs. Prichard
Commas and Items in a Series
Use a comma to separate words and phrases in a series. Present usage advocates the use of the comma
before and connecting the last two words of a series; some writers,
however, prefer to omit the comma before and.
This comma is called the “series comma” or the “Oxford comma.” When etc. ends a series, it should be
preceded and followed by a comma. Use
commas to separate pairs of words in a series.
Use a comma between adjectives preceding a noun when they are coordinate
qualifying words.
Examples:
·
The vendor sells hot dogs, pretzels, hamburgers,
and soft drinks.
·
For my birthday I got a sweater, a pair of
gloves, a hat, and several other items.
·
Last week a sale of chairs, beds, desks, etc.,
was advertised in the newspaper.
·
Official and nonofficial, national and state
agencies attended the convention in Boston.
·
The boss agreed on a form for a shortened,
simplified uniform report.
EXERCISES
1.
It makes me wild mad crazy and frustrated when teachers give too
many assignments about commas.
2.
Your brother dropped by with your suitcase blanket lamp
books and box of junk.
3.
The corn beans squash tomatoes and various things I
don’t recognize are coming up in the garden.
4.
If you’re going upstairs please carry this basket of
clothes the pile of mail and whatever those things are over there in the
corner.
5.
He collected stamps from Great Britain Ireland Spain France
Italy Switzerland and Germany.
6.
We toured the quaint old mining town in Flagstaff, Arizona.
7.
For our picnic, I packed peanut butter and jelly ham
and cheese and egg salad sandwiches.
8.
My mother washed by favorite brown flannel shirt.
9.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to Florida California
Texas or Mexico for spring break.
10. My
parent’s cousins neighbors Mr. Smith and Miss Larson came to my recital.
Commas with Introductory Elements
Use a comma after certain introductory elements.
(1) Use a comma
to set off a mild exclamation such as well, oh, or why at the
beginning of a sentence. Other introductory words, such as yes and no,
are also set off with commas.
|
EXAMPLES
|
Oh, I see.
|
Yes, she has
that book.
|
(2) Use a comma
after an introductory phrase or clause.
|
EXAMPLES
|
At the bend in the road, turn right.
[two prepositional phrases]
|
|
Signaling carefully, she
changed lanes. [participial
phrase]
|
|
|
To water the garden, use
the sprinkler. [infinitive
phrase]
|
|
|
When the artists painted, they followed several rules. [adverb clause]
|
EXERCISE A In the following sentences, insert
commas where they are needed. If a sentence is already correct, write C to
the left of the item number.
|
Example
|
1. On the shores of the Nile, a great civilization was born.
|
1.
No the Egyptians were not just farmers.
2.
Concerned with the afterlife Egyptian rulers built
great tombs for themselves.
3.
Built for monarchs and nobles many great stone tombs
contained supplies for use in the afterlife.
4.
While he was alive the king had his picture painted.
5.
On the wall of his tomb a picture shows the king
hunting.
6.
Well it shows how the king once hunted.
7.
When I saw the jewels I thought the kings were rich.
8.
Why they believed they could take jewels to the next
life.
9.
Based on things found in tombs the assumption can be
made that they believed they could take almost everything!
10. In Egypt
great riches have been found in these tombs.
Introductory Elements & Commas Worksheet
Introductory Elements
·
If a sentence
does not being with the subject, it may open with an introductory element that
tells when, where, how, or why the main action of the sentence
occurs. Separate that introductory
element from the main part of the sentence with a comma.
·
Use a comma
following phrases that begin with if, when, although, because, and other
subordinating conjunctions
·
Introductory prepositional
phrases can be set off by commas if it is necessary for a clear understanding
of the sentences meaning.
·
If the
introductory element is short, and the sentence cannot be misread if the comma
is omitted, you can omit the comma.
EXERCISES
Underline each introductory
element and punctuate the sentence with the appropriate commas. Be careful to look also for other places in
the sentence that require commas. (Hint:
Not all sentences have introductory phrases, and some are compound
sentences.)
1. Discovering
the book under the chair she went to the den and read until dinner time.
2. When
I couldn’t find the cookies I ate an apple but my brother ate some candy.
3. Driving
home from the party Paul and I got lost.
4. Feeling
sick Debbie complained about going to school and her mother let her stay home.
5. Before
my aunt came from Chicago we bought tickets to the community play because I was
in it.
6. Agnes
gets out her skis whenever it snows.
7. I
think I will go out for dinner when Tom finishes his chores.
8. After
they finished their breakfast they took the dog for a walk and I did the
dishes.
9. Because
the road was glazed with ice many cars slipped on the highway and ended up in
the ditch.
10. When I
looked through the newspaper I couldn’t find the article she told me about, but
I had already seen the information online.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 9)
Greetings!
Another great class! Our discussions were good, and we learned quite a bit, too.
I asked the students to write "Literary Love Letters" for the Quick Write this week. Every year I use this as a prompt during the class closest to Valentines Day. I have a collection of these letters written by previous students. (See the links below,)
Our Latin roots for our Words of the Day:
dict -- Latin, "to say/speak" -- derivatives: dictate, dictation, dictionary, contradict, predict, dictator,
dorm -- Latin, "to sleep" -- dormant, dormancy, dormitory, dorm
duct -- Latin, "to lead" -- conduct, conductor, introduce, introduction, reduction, abduct, deduct
When I handed back homework, if students were missing any pieces of homework, they got a print out listing that homework. Now that I'm more familiar with My GradeBook, I'm hoping to get these out every 3 - 4 weeks so that students don't get behind with their work. Students and parents can also check on progress. For specific information for signing in, follow the link at the bottom. (Please contact me if you have any questions.)
I handed back the Rough Drafts of the Mystery Stories -- these were all very well written papers. We discussed the most common errors found in the essays: punctuation with dialogue, appropriate verb tenses, run-on and comma splice sentences, and paragraph divisions. I chalk up to the story-telling aspect of this assignment, but many students wrote their longest papers so far. The Final Drafts are due next week. (Note: A couple students have mentioned having a hard time with the creative writing nature of this assignment. If this was the case, they have permission to write an essay that is either a narrative essay or one that discusses some "mystery.")
We've finished our Sherlock Holmes stories, and we discussed what the students wrote in their Take Home Essays, "What Makes a Hero?" As I had thought would happen, the class was divided on their opinions about Sherlock Holmes character and heroic capabilities. I listed their ideas on the board, and after some discussion, we had some points and counterpoints written on the board.
Next week they will get their next books, Great Short, Short Stories.
Finally, I gave a quick but brief explanation of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses along with appositives and parenthetical phrases. They have 3 worksheets for next week.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Final Draft of Mystery Story
-- 3 Comma Worksheets
Links for this week:
Class Notes
Have a great weekend! Rumor has it that warmer weather is coming!
Mrs. Prichard
Appositives & Parenthetical Comments
Appositives
An
appositive renames the noun or pronoun it follows. If omitting the appositive would change the
meaning of the sentence, then do not set it apart with commas. If the “renaming” does not change the
meaning, then use commas.
Parenthetical Comments
Parenthetical
comments are those which can be left out but are included to add color or
personality to the sentence.
Exercises:
Insert the commas for the appositives.
1. Pride and
Prejudice a book by Jane Austen is
one of my favorite novels.
2. Houston the largest city in Texas was named after Sam
Houston.
3. The speaker who had risen from his chair to begin his
talk fell off the platform.
4. The athletes for whom the party was given broke into
singing the school song.
5. The dog that ran under the chair was the one who had
eaten her shoe.
6. The truck that changed around the corner finally broke
down across the street.
Insert commas for the parenthetical phrases.
1. Believe it or not I haven’t been home a single night
this week.
2. I know Susan was at the party I spoke with her myself
bu she may have left early.
3. Then I thought oh dear I’ve lost my wallet.
4. I have an idea let’s call Robert and Jill and take
them out for dinner.
5. Your mother called an oh yes she said you left your
history book at home.
Misc. Sentences
1. The clock which had been ticking very loudly burst a
spring and flew off the wall.
2. Down in the valley where the grass is greener than it
is anywhere else you can see the men on tractors and other equipment.
3. My friends Hannah and Rebecca whom I haven’t seen for
six years are coming to visit me this week.
4. The old car that sat in the driveway all winter was
finally hauled away.
5. The man who broke into our house while we were away
was arrested.
Practice: Identifying Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses
For each sentence below, decide if the adjective clause
(in bold) is restrictive or nonrestrictive.
Insert the necessary commas.
.
- Parents
who have young children are
invited to use the free daycare center.
- I left
my clothes at the dry cleaners which is free to all full-time students.
- John
Wayne who appeared in over 200 movies was the biggest box-office
attraction of his time.
- I
refuse to live in any house that Jack built.
- Merdine
who was born somewhere in Arkansas grows homesick every time she
hears the wail of a train whistle.
- My new
running shoes which cost more than a hundred dollars fell apart
during the marathon.
- I lent
some money to Earl whose house was destroyed in the flood.
- The
thing that impresses me the most about
- A
physician who smokes and overeats has no right to criticize the
personal habits of his patients.
- The
beer that made
Introductory Elements & Commas Worksheet
Introductory Elements
·
If a sentence
does not being with the subject, it may open with an introductory element that
tells when, where, how, or why the main action of the sentence
occurs. Separate that introductory
element from the main part of the sentence with a comma.
·
Use a comma
following phrases that begin with if, when, although, because, and other
subordinating conjunctions
·
Introductory prepositional
phrases can be set off by commas if it is necessary for a clear understanding
of the sentences meaning.
·
If the
introductory element is short, and the sentence cannot be misread if the comma
is omitted, you can omit the comma.
EXERCISES
Underline each introductory
element and punctuate the sentence with the appropriate commas. Be careful to look also for other places in
the sentence that require commas. (Hint:
Not all sentences have introductory phrases, and some are compound
sentences.)
1. Discovering
the book under the chair she went to the den and read until dinner time.
2. When
I couldn’t find the cookies I ate an apple but my brother ate some candy.
3. Driving
home from the party Paul and I got lost.
4. Feeling
sick Debbie complained about going to school and her mother let her stay home.
5. Before
my aunt came from Chicago we bought tickets to the community play because I was
in it.
6. Agnes
gets out her skis whenever it snows.
7. I
think I will go out for dinner when Tom finishes his chores.
8. After
they finished their breakfast they took the dog for a walk and I did the
dishes.
9. Because
the road was glazed with ice many cars slipped on the highway and ended up in
the ditch.
10. When I
looked through the newspaper I couldn’t find the article she told me about, but
I had already seen the information online.
My GradeBook Information
Greetings Students and Parents!
Below are instructions for signing up for the online grade book that I will be using this year. In past years, I've used Engrade, but that site is no longer available to individual teachers. After lots of research and trials, I've settled on My Gradebook. As we progress through the year, I'd appreciate any feedback.
First, a quick note about your use of this resource. I'm using this online resource to help me compute grades and to divide the grades into categories. Parents and students can use it to see scores and to check for missing assignments. But a word of warning -- some weeks the homework scores will make it to my 3-ring binder but not immediately to My Gradebook. I will send out mid-term reports and a "grades update" a few weeks before the end of the term.
Directions for Signing Up:
1. Go to www.mygradebook.com
2. In the username box, give the class code:
writing2spring17
3. Your password is the student's first name and the first letter of the last name, all lower case. For example, Bobby Smith's password would be "bobbys."
4. Click on "My Account," and on that page click on Create Primary Login.
5. Set the Primary Login (username) and Primary Login Password that you want to use for this class. (Note: This username and password will be the same for the student's account, so parents and students should communicate the choices with one another.)
6. If any of the e-mail information needs updating, click on "update email."
7. When all information is updated, click on "save."
When you have finished these steps, you can go to the assignments page, the calendar page, etc. for the class. I'm hoping this website will not be difficult for all of us to navigate.
Blessings,
Tammy Prichard
Tammy Prichard
Friday, February 3, 2017
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (February 2)
Greetings!
We had a productive class this week and covered a lot of material. I brought two dates up for the Quick Write: 1887 was the first official "Groundhog Day" in the US (it had been a tradition in Europe and according to folklore, if the groundhog, or hedgehog in Europe, sees its shadow, we will have 6 more weeks of winter); and 1996, which was the day the record low was recorded in Minnesota (60 degrees below zero in Tower, MN). I asked the students to put together a Winter Survival Kit.
Our Words of the Day were the following Latin roots:
capit -- Latin, "head" -- derivatives: captain, capitol, capital, decapitate, chief, chef, chapter, recapitulate
circum -- Latin, "around" -- derivatives: circumference, circumnavigate, circumvent, circular, circumstance
contra -- Latin, "against/opposite" -- derivatives: contrary, contract, contradict
cred -- Latin, "believe" -- derivatives: credible, incredible, credit, credence, creditor
Students handed in their rough drafts of their Mystery Stories. I've told them that if they ever forget their homework at home, they can bring it in the next week, except for when Rough Drafts are due. I need the week to grade them, and if they come in late, then their final drafts are late. If a student didn't bring a paper copy to class, he/she can share it on Google docs or send it as an attachment either as a Word doc or a PDF. (I don't have a patch in my computer to open documents from Apple Pages.) I will have the rough drafts back next week for them to revise. I am really looking forward to reading these!
We briefly walked through the content of the two assigned Sherlock Holmes stories. A simple action that I ask of them to get a feeling for how they felt about a reading assignment is to show a "thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs sideways." The class consensus seemed to be that the story "The Engineer's Thumb" was not as interesting as "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." The first story didn't have any clues that led to solving a mystery, not did it have much action. The second story also had some unexpected details that made it more interesting.
I handed out a Take Home Test for the Sherlock Holmes stories. They are to answer the question "Is Sherlock Holmes a hero?" In order to do this, they must first define "hero" and then apply this definition to Sherlock Holmes as he is presented in the stories. With this essay exam, I'm not looking for a specific answer but for the students to do some of their own thinking and analyzing. I explained to them that I will be grading according to the number of specific ideas and examples that they include.
We took the rest of the class for Grammar in order to go over compound and complex sentences. In our quest to be experts in the Comma, we need to learn many other elements of grammar and sentence construction. Students have encountered and written compound and complex sentences but are not 100% sure about how and why they work.
A final note: Many of the students seem to have good friends in the class. This last week the neighbor-to-neighbor chatting seemed to be more than usual, so I'd like to remind all of the students to stay engaged with the class and to resist the urge get involved in those little conversations that distract everyone. I will start separating people during class if it seems necessary to the wellness of the class.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House."
-- No study guide questions
-- Write the Take Home Test for Sherlock Holmes
-- 2 Introductory Elements Worksheets
Links for this week:
Class Notes
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
Final for Great Sherlock Holmes Stories
What Makes a Hero?
Is Holmes a hero?
What qualities do you admire in heroes?
In at least 3 paragraphs, discuss whether or not Holmes possesses these
qualities, using examples from the text.
Specific instances and quotes should support your comments. You may want to consider whether some of the
flaws Watson acknowledges keep Holmes from becoming truly heroic in their
eyes. Feel free to compare Holmes with
other literary characters.
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