Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (December 14)

Greetings!

Every Thursday this semester it's been delightful to see the smiling faces of this class.  I love this place in the school year when we've gotten to know one another and have a productive learning community.

We started class with a Quick Write, using these prompts that came from their list of suggestions:

Option 1:  What is your favorite Christmas tradition?  Describe it.

Option 2:  What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done.? Tell about it.

Option 3:  What is something you’ve always wanted as a little kid?  Why?

Our Words of the Day were winter-related words:

solstice -- from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and sistere, "stopped, stationary" --  the time or date at which the sun reaches its maximum or minimum declination, marked by the longest (June 21) and shortest (Dec. 22) days.

hibernate -- from Latin hibernare, from hiberna ‘winter quarters’, from hibernus ‘wintry’ -- when a plant or animal spends the winter in a dormant state.

apricity -- from Latin apricus, "having lots of sunshine" or "warmed by the sun" -- the warmth of the sun (We talked about how cats are especially good at finding that one sunny spot in the house.)

subnivean -- from Latin sub, "under" and nives, "snow" -- the area between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the snowpack.

The Rough Drafts of their Comparison/Contrast Essays were handed back, and I commented on how much I enjoy teaching writing because I get to learn about so many topics from their essays.  I covered some common writing issues/errors, including writing dates and numbers, correcting comma splice sentences and revising "there is/are" sentences.  The Final Drafts are due next week.

To end our Grammar portion of the class for the semester, I have 2 short assignments:  a phrases review Nearpod presentation.  Nearpod is an online platform for presentations that includes interactive capabilities.  Students should sign in with Google using their chatclasses email.  At the end of the presentation I have a short 4 question quiz.  I also have a Phrases Final Exam for them to take for next week.

The rest of our class was spent enjoying the Book Projects for My Antonia.  This included a set of memes, some artwork and inspirational quotes, a children's ABC book, a quiz, and some yummy baked goodies.  I'm afraid I don't have pictures this week.  I was so busy enjoying the presentations that I forgot to take them.

We will finish up our projects next week.  Everyone who hasn't already presented will present.  Speaking of next week, I like to spend that last week before Christmas doing fun stuff.  We can't have food in the classroom, but we can set up a table in the hallway for treats and eat out there.  Students are invited to bring goodies.  

Since we're almost at the end of the semester, students should finish up any work they have not done.  In the assignments list, I've included a couple past assignments in case students have forgotten to do them.  (All assignments are on Google Classroom in case students no longer have the paper version.)  ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE WEEK 15 (DECEMBER 17).  I will accept work until midnight on that day, but nothing after that.  

Note:  Students, if you hand in any work that is late, please also send me an email so that I can record it.  

You've worked hard this semester; just a few more sleeps until our long Christmas break!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:

Quick Write 12/10

Comparison/Contrast Final Draft

Comparison/Contrast Pre-Write (missing many of these!)

Discussion Question -- Improved!

Discussion Question -- Christmas Fun!

My Antonia Rubric -- Self-Evaluation

Verbals Practice #1

Verbals Practice #2

Phrases Review (Nearpod)

Phrases Final Test

This Week's Links

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 14 (December 10) 

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (December 3)

 Greetings!

It's hard to believe that we're in December already and that there are only 2 weeks left.  I feel like I'm just getting to know the students, so I'm already looking forward to working with them again next semester!

For our Quick Write, I chose from the long list of ideas that the students put together.  Here are the prompts for this week:

• Option 1: Do you like to take pictures or be in them? Why?
• Option 2: Do you re-watch TV shows or re-read books? Explain.
• Option 3: Share a story about a long car ride. 

After the Quick Writes we enjoyed some more obscure, Christmas-related words for our Words of the Day:

natal -- fr. Latin natus, "pertaining to one's birth" -- often this word is used to describe the star that appeared over Bethlehem, i.e. Jesus' natal star  [Note:  nativity also comes from the same root.]

epiphany -- fr. Greek epiphainein, "to reveal" -- a festival, manifestation, or commemoration; traditionally, Epiphany is on January 6 and is a celebration of the the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).

poinsettia -- fr. John Poinsett, an ambassador to Mexico who brought this plant to the attention of botanists -- a plant of large green leaves and large red blossoms that is used to decorate at Christmas.

wassail -- fr. Old Norse, ves heill, "be well/healthy" -- a greeting of good cheer; also hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval Christmastide English  ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year.

swaddling -- fr. Middle English, swathlen, to bind with clothes -- longs strips of cloth used to wrap or bind.  Jesus was "laid in swaddling clothes."

Note:  For the Spring semester, I've encouraged students to bring in unusual or interesting words that they find.

Following our beginning of class activity, we had a thoughtful discussion about the role of grammar instruction.  I had read a study about teaching grammar in 3 different ways:  through direct instruction, in the context of student writing, and in the context of reading quality material.  In this study, students in the writing-only and reading-only groups scored higher on a post-test.  For that reason, I like to incorporate as much of my grammar instruction with the students' own papers and with the literature we read.  As I mentioned to the class in response to a question, this does NOT mean that I will discontinue grammar lessons.  In the study, those who experienced grammar through direct instruction still learned a lot!

The bulk of our class time was given to the My Antonia student presentations of their book projects.  I love seeing the creativity of the class and encourage them to find a way to respond to their reading that fits who they are.  We had a short dramatic interpretation of Jim's encounter with the snake (thanks, Michael, James, Ethan, and Carson), a waltz lesson from Nalani, a quiz from Ava, some amazing sketches from Ingrid, and a game of My Antonopoly from Tyler.  (I've post pictures and videos on the blog -- see link below)

Here's the schedule for the next two weeks:

December 10

Jesse T

Josh

Bennett

Jessie M

Anna

Kara

Michael S

Ellie

Josie

Maddy

Grace

December 17

Philip 

Elliot

Leighton

Zach

Peter

Levi

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Quick Write for 12/3 (for those absent)

-- Discussion Question -- How improved (GC)

-- Comparison/Contrast Rough Draft

-- Comparison/Contrast Pre-Write

-- Verbals Practice #1

-- Verbals Practice #2

Links for This Week

Class Notes Blog Post 12/3

My Antonia Book Projects, Day 1

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

My Antonia Book Projects, Day 1

 Below are some photos and videos from class on Dec. 3.  I'm afraid the picture of My Antonopoly didn't turn out.  I also didn't get pictures of the amazing pages of Ingrid's sketch book.

Thanksgiving Thoughts -- Grades & Grace

 

Happy Friday!!

I want to give a quick update on the grades for this semester.  We have only 3 weeks left before the end of the term, and I want to commend the students for their hard work.  As homeschoolers your schedules are not as disrupted as those of public or private schools, but this year has been far from normal.  Using Google Classroom and attending classes via Zoom has been both a benefit for distance learning but also a challenge for keeping work and grades organized.  I've just finished triple checking my folder of hand in homework, my paper grade book, Google Classroom, the GradeSheets, and a few stray emails, and I believe everything is 90% accurate.  Here are some notes about grades:

• If you can't find the link to your student's individual GradeSheets, send me an email and I will re-send a link.  (Search in your Inbox for "GradeSheets" first)
• On the GradeSheets, any homework that has not been handed in is marked M, which averages into the score as a zero.  Because we have just finished Week 12, I am not accepting any homework that was due before Week 8 (October 22).  
• On the GradeSheets, each assignment has a link to the Google Classroom assignment.
• If a student has handed in some homework that I've missed, please let me know.

As we head into our Thanksgiving break, I think that it's an important time for some self-care. I have heard Christians say that we should have joy during this time, and I always want to jump in and interrupt and correct them.  As Christians we are faced with the same challenges of this pandemic, the election chaos, and economic situation, BUT WE GET TO HAVE JOY. God has abundant grace, compassion, peace, and comfort for us; these difficult times give us lots of opportunities to learn how to access and take hold of what God has for us.  (For example,I know that God gives grace and comfort, but pretending that I'm NOT sad because I won't see my children at Thanksgiving and Christmas because they can't travel is just plain silly. Instead, I need a little bit more of a peaceful quiet time to soak in that grace.)

As I tell my students, you got that little sermonette free of charge.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings on your family time whether it's face to face or virtual.    

Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (November 19)

Greetings!

We had a great class today.  Students have worked hard this semester, and it shows in their attitudes and the quality of their work!

For our Quick Write today, I had students come up with some ideas for our weekly Quick Writes.  By now, they have an idea of what works for a good Quick Write, so it will be good to have ideas from them.  Usually, I type up a numbered list and students choose random numbers every week.

We covered 3 Latin roots in our Words of the Day. As I explained to the students, having some background knowledge about Latin roots will help them decode unfamiliar words that they might encounter in their academic careers.

ambi - Latin, ambiguu, having double meaning or both -- derivatives:  ambidextrous, ambiguous, ambidexterity

aud - Latin, audire, to hear -- derivatives:  auditory, audio, audience, auditorium.  (by the way, audacious comes from audacia, boldness)

aqua -- Latin, aqua, water --  derivatives:  aquatic, aquarium. aqueduct, aquifer

While the students are busily writing their Quick Writes, I hand back their homework.  Following our beginning of class activities, we discuss the homework.  This week I handed back their final drafts of the Biography Essays.  They've done a wonderful job writing!  I'm waiting for a few students to give me their rough drafts with my corrections before correcting their final drafts.  I've asked students to hand in their rough drafts when they hand in their final drafts.  I like to compare their drafts so that I can see what improvements they've made.  

Students should be working on the Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts of their Comparison/Contrast Essays, which are due the week after Thanksgiving Break (on 12/3)

For the Literature portion of the class, we talked about our presentation for our book projects for My Antonia.  We watched 2 videos that the students from previous years had done for their book projects.

Finally, in the Grammar portion of the class, we did a review of the phrases that we had previously worked on, including prepositional phrases, participle phrases, and gerund phrases.  During our next class we will go over infinitives.  Verbal phrases can be really confusing.  For example, when we looked at gerund phrases (verbals that serve as nouns) we had a sentence that had a verbal phrase that was an object of a preposition, and they gerund had its own direct object.  So it was a direct object of a verbal as the object of a prepositional phrase.   Confused??  Most of the students had glazed eyes and spinning heads by the end of class!

Finally, I encouraged the students to check their GradeSheets to make sure that what I have recorded is accurate and to see if they are missing any homework.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!  Be blessed!!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Week 13 (12/3)

-- Quick Write for 11/19

-- Comparison/Contrast  Essay Pre-Write and Rough Draft

-- Discussion Question for Writing

Links for This Week

Class Notes

My Antonia Book Review

My Antonia Trailer

Here's the presentation schedule:

December 3

Michael M

James

Ethan

Carson

Nalani

Benjamin

Ava

Ingrid

Tyler

December 10

Jesse T

Josh

Bennett

Jessie M

Anna

Kara

Michael S

Ellie

Josie

Maddy

Grace

December 17

Philip 

Elliot

Leighton

Zach

Peter

Levi

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 12)

 Greetings!

We had a good class this week.  We had a few more in our Zoom class, reminding me of what a blessing it is to have Zoom as an option these days!

For our Quick Write we used these 3 prompts:

• What would you do if you were locked inside your favorite department store overnight?

• What would you do if you woke up one morning to find yourself invisible? 

• What would you do if you were able to communicate with animals?

Our Words of the Day followed a Latin root theme of omni, which means "all."

omnibenevolence -- Latin, omni, "all," bene, "good," and volo, "to be willing; have the power to do" -- Unlimited kindness and generosity

omnia vincit amor -- Latin -- love conquers all

omniarch -- Latin, omni, "all" and arch, "lead, command" -- the ruler of everything

omnific -- Latin, omni, "all" and facere, "to make, to do," -- capable of doing everything

Students handed in their final drafts of their Extended Definitions or Classification Essays, so it was time to introduce the next essay, which is a Comparison/Contrast Essay. We talked at length about the challenge of composing a strong thesis statement for this essay. When students write about similarities and differences between topics, they should have a reason for the comparison. I also explained 2 different ways to organize a Comparison/Contrast Essay.

We have finished My Antonia and took some time to discuss the end of the book. Some people were sorely disappointed that Jim and Antonia did not marry. Others liked the book and the descriptions, and some did not like the book at all. We will start sharing our book projects on 12/3. Following our wrap up of My Antonia, the students divided into small groups to discuss the reading from Giants in the Earth.

Here's the presentation schedule:

December 3

Michael M

James

Ethan

Carson

Nalani

Benjamin

Ava

Ingrid

December 10

Jesse T

Josh

Bennett

Jessie M

Anna

Kara

Michael S

Ellie

Josie

Maddy

Grace

December 17

Philip 

Elliot

Leighton

Zach

Peter

Levi

No Grammar for next week!

Great job this week! Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Grapes of Wrath section and answer the question (GC)

-- Comparison/Contrast Pre-Write

-- Comparison/Contrast Rough Draft

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Quick Write 11/12

About the Comparison/Contrast Essay

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 10 (November 5)

 Greetings!

I can't believe that we're 2/3 of the way through this first semester.  At the beginning of the year, I think many of us were uncertain about how school would go, but the students have been amazing.  Working with Google Classroom, attending class via Zoom when necessary, and wearing masks has not daunted this great group of students. Pat yourselves on the back and thank God for his abundant grace!

I gave a plethora of options for the Quick Write today. 1) Nov. 5, 1605 is Guy Fawkes Day in England, which commemorates the plot to blow up parliament, the king, and his family. 2) Nov. 5, 1872 is the day that Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting (it was not yet legal for women to vote); 3) Nov. 5, 1935 is the day Parker Bros. launched the Monopoly game; 4) Thursday was National Donut Day; and finally, 5) Thursday was National Men Make Dinner Day.  Students could write about violence vs. civil discourse, women in politics, board games, donuts, or men who cook.

Our Words of the Day were common Latin abbreviations, some I often use in notes to students and others students might encounter in their reading:

i.e. -- Latin id est, "that is"-- this signals an expansion on a comment.  (Make sure you do your homework, i.e. your rough draft and worksheets.)

e.g. -- Latin, exempli gratia, "for the sake of example" -- this signals possible examples.  (You must create a project, e.g. an activity, artwork, or game.)

c.f. -- Latin, conferro, "to compare with" -- this is often used in reference materials as a shortcut to point out comparisons

n.b. -- Latin, nota bene, "note well" or "a good note" -- used to draw attention to a side, related comment.

Rough drafts of the Extended Definition and Classification Essays were handed back, so it was time for me to discuss common errors found in the essays.  I especially took time to go over the introductions.  Personally, I think one of the hardest and yet most important aspects of writing an essay is developing a strong thesis statement and giving a clear road map/plan of development.  By the end of an introduction, the reader should know not only the topic, but should know the driving idea (the thesis tells why it's important) and where the essay is headed (the road map tells what subtopics will be covered to support the thesis.)  Strong thesis statements elevate a paper from a report with some details to an essay with a strong purpose.  The Final Drafts are due next week.

Following our discussion of the Grammar topics related to the essays, the students broke into small groups to discuss some sample introductions. They worked together to find the hooks, thesis statements, and road maps.

The last portion of the class was spent discussion active and passive voice, which refers to the verb and whether or not the action of the verb is being done by the subject or the action of the verb is being done to the subject.  e.g. The boy hit the ball (active voice).  The ball was hit by the boy (passive voice).  They have two worksheets to do for this topic.

A quick note about Google Classroom -- I have rearranged the assignments in the category so that the newest assignment is at the top of the list and the assignments are now in order from the newest to the oldest.  (This should save some time for students because they won't have to scroll through the whole list.)  And a reminder -- if you go into Google Classroom from another gmail account, you will not be able to answer discussion questions, fill out quizzes, or turn in homework.  If you're not sure if you are in the right account, look in the upper right hand corner of the screen where the settings and Google apps icon are.  Hover your cursor over the small circle to the right.  This will tell you what account you're in.  

Have a wonderful weekend!  Enjoy this great fall weather, Rumor has it that winter is coming!

Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week

-- Complete the My Antonia Final Test (GC)

-- Read the handout of the first chapter of Giants in the Earth

-- Answer the Discussion Question for Giants in the Earth

-- Active & Passive Voice Homework:  Active/Passive Voice, Fun with Active/Passive, Using Active/Passive in Writing

-- Extended Definition or Classification Final Draft

Links for this Week

Class Notes (11/15)

Fall Writing 2 Google Drive folder

Tamera M. Prichard

Writing Instructor at CHAT

Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing 3

ACT Prep, British Literature