We had a full day in class, and it was made better by the sun shining in the windows. (We've had a number of weeks when the room feels darker because the sun is hiding behind clouds..)
I chose our Quick Write today, and used the National Days Calendar for the prompts. Today is National Frozen Yogurt Day, so students could express opinions about frozen desserts; tomorrow is National Send a Friend a Card day, and students could write a letter. Because writing letters is becoming a lost art, I've offered an incentive for them to actually send a letter. I had envelopes ready, and any student who brings it back next week addressed with a letter sealed in it will get extra credit points. (Note: Students can also mail it from their homes or hand deliver it, but they need to take a picture of it as proof.)
I also chose our Words of the Day. Today's selection were words words.
acronym -- fr. Greek, akron, "or tip" -- an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g. NASA, SCUBA)
aptronym -- fr. Latin, aptus, "fitting" -- a person's name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation (e.g. a florist named Katie Gardener)
capitonym -- fr. Latin caput, "head" -- a word that changes its meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) when it is capitalized. (e.g. Concord/ concord; Polish/polish)
homonym -- fr. Greek homos, "same" -- a word spelled and pronounced like another but has a different origin and meaning (e.g. the small flying bat and the baseball bat.) Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, e.g. sea and see.
pseudonym -- fr. Greek pseudos, "false"-- having or using a false name, a pen name, or an alias. For example, Mark Twain was a pseudonym for Samuel Clemens.
I handed back the rough drafts of the Mystery Stories. These were delightful to read! We went over common errors, which consisted of verb tenses, punctuating dialogue, and paragraph divisions. In writing stories, it is to mix up verb tenses. Students often start with past tense verbs, but some where along the way they switch of present tense. I also talked about MLA page format.
We have finished all of the assigned Sherlock Holmes stories, and for their final exam, students were supposed to write whether Holmes was a hero or not. In class, we had a mini debate over the topic. This year, all but three students thought Holmes was a hero. In past years, the class has been more evenly divided. However, after hearing strong points on each side, some of the students changed their minds and felt that Holmes was not a true hero.
We are done with Sherlock Holmes and are starting a new book: Great Short, Short Stories. This book has a collection of short stories from Russian, British, Italian, and American authors. They are to read the 3 stories by the Russian authors (Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Chekhov). They have one worksheet; they should choose one of the stories and fill in both sides.
At the end of class, we started on the Grammar homework for the week. This week the Grammar topic is the comma the separates introductory phrases that are at the beginning of sentences. This includes dependent clauses, interjections, and longer prepositional phrases. One worksheet also incorporates the serial/Oxford comma. This is the comma that precedes the coordinating conjunction in a list of two or more items.
Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
Assignments for Next Week
-- Read the stories by Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov
-- Fill in the charts on the Short Story Worksheet
-- Mystery Story Final Draft
-- 2 Grammar Worksheets (front and back)
Links for This Week
Class Notes
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