Thursday, March 10, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 10)

 Greetings!

We are officially over half way through the Spring semester.  I don't know about you, but once we hit daylight savings time and the days get longer, the days also seem to fly by more quickly!

For the Quick Write this week students had 3 options: 
  • March 10 is National Pack a lunch Day. Write about your favorite lunches.
  • Where is the one place you never want to go to again?
  • List 20 of your favorite foods
  • And, as always, the "Whatever" option

We had three Words of the Day
lunette-- fr. French, lunette, "little moon" -- a small window, often crescent shaped in a dome
telluric -- fr. Latin, terra, "earth" -- of or pertaining to the earth
ozostomia -- fr. Greek, ozein, "to smell' and stoma, "mouth" -- having bad breath

I handed back the rough drafts of the Cause/Effect and Problem/Solution Essays that the students had written.  As part of our writing/grammar instruction, I covered common errors in the papers.  For this round of essays, these were the topics:  paper format, the word "things," there is/are sentences, comma splice sentences.  The final drafts are due next week.  In addition to the final draft, students are to fill out a form for their first 5 and last 5 mistakes on their rough drafts.

We have read more Short Stories by Twain, Jewett, Crane, and Gilman.  As promised, we had a short quiz.  I asked students to write a 1-minute version of the stories they had recently read.    

Then for the rest of our Grammar portion of our class, we are continuing our work with commas.  This time, we are practicing putting commas in the correct places for dates and addresses.  We had time in class to work on our worksheets.

Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week:
Links for This Week
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 10)




Tamera M. Prichard
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Thursday, March 3, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 3)

 Greetings!

It was so good to see the students; including our week off and the week my son subbed for me, it's been 3 weeks since I've seen their smiling faces. ðŸ˜€

Below are our Quick Write prompts for the day.  

  • Tuesday, March 1, is National Minnesota Day!!  What do you like the most about Minnesota?  What might you say to convince someone to move to or at least visit Minnesota?  If you were to have visitors from a far away place come to Minnesota, what sights would you like them to see?
  • Wednesday, March 2, is World Teen Mental Health Day.  What does it mean to be mentally healthy?  What do you do to be mentally healthy?  How do you help others who might be struggling with their own mental health?
  • Friday, March 4, is National Grammar Day  (It’s “imperative” that we “march forth” on this day!)  Write either a rant or a praise about what you think of this system for understanding language and communicating with one another.


We usually do a quick Homework Check between our beginning of class activities and instruction.  Students can hand in their work for this week when they come to class next week.  With the exception of their rough drafts.  Those should be finished and put on the Google Classroom assignment for the Problem/Solution or Cause/Effect Rough Draft. 

Speaking of the  Problem/Solution or Cause/Effect Rough Draft, we took some time for each student to share about their topics.  The framework for this essay is fairly straightforward.  As we went around the class sharing topics, I was impressed with wide variety of topics and their good ideas.  I look forward to reading their rough drafts this week.

We turned our attentions to our short stories.  We watched a short Lego animation of a story that is assigned for next week, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country."   After that we broke into small groups to share funny stories that had happened in their lives.  It seemed that a number of the students had not read all of the stories assigned for this week.  When that happens, I often find a good "pop quiz" is in order.  

For our Grammar lesson, we're still learning about commas.  We've looked at commas with compound sentences, commas with complex sentences, and commas with introductory phrases/clauses.  This week, we are adding commas to sentences with appositives and phrases that "interrupt" a sentence.  We did almost half of the assigned work during class, so that students could ask questions.  

Have a great weekend.  
Blessing,
Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week
Links for This Week
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 3)

Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard

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Thursday, February 10, 2022

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

 Greetings!

We had a delightful class this week.  Our class time was quite full.

We started with a Quick Write, and these were our prompts:  
  • Ask me (Mrs. Prichard) 3 questions, and I will answer at least one of them.
  • Tell me something you've not told anyone.
  • Write about keeping a secret or planning a surprise.
  • Tell about something mysterious that has happened to you
  • Whatever . . . 
Our Words of the Day came from Ike, Megan, and Grace.  
avuncular-- fr. Latin, avunculus, "uncle" -- pertaining to an uncle
uxorious -- fr. Latin, uxor, "wife" -- devoted to or ruled by a wife
ataraxia-- fr. Greek, ataraxia, "impassiveness" -- calmness; impassivity
hystricine-- fr. Latin, hystrix, "porcupine" -- pertaining to porcupines 
ailorophile-- fr. Greek, ailouros, "cat" and philo, "love" -- a lover of cats 

We are now in Week 5, so students need to check in on their homework. I give students three weeks to get assigned work in (actually, they have 4 weeks from the assigned date until I will no longer take it.)  After that extended time, assignments will be given zeros.  According to my late homework policy, any assignments due on Week 2 is now overdue.  You will be getting a Grades Report sometime over the weekend.  

Students handed in the final drafts of their Mystery Story.  I'm really looking forward to reading these because their rough drafts were so good!  As a reminder, they should hand in their rough drafts with my marks/corrections when they hand in the final drafts.  The final drafts should be handed in to the Google Classroom assignment. 

When we finish one paper, we start another.  For the next round of essays,  students can choose to write an Cause/Effect Essay or a Problem/Solution Essay.  We did a lot of brainstorming about how to structure these kinds of essays.  Students have the next three weeks to do their brainstorming and research.  The pre-writes and rough drafts should be handed in on March 3.

We have finished our Sherlock Holmes stories and are not reading from a selection of short stories. For this week they read 3 stories by Russian authors, and we discussed the main points and overarching themes for each.  Then I gave the students cards from a game, Storymatic, and they were to compose a story that incorporated one of the themes from the Russian stories.  When they were done, they shared their stories with the rest of the class.

At the end of class, I gave a very brief Grammar  "power lesson" about the commas that follow introductory elements.  These elements can include interjections, personal addresses, prepositional phrases, and dependent clauses.  The have 2 worksheets to  practice this.  

I want to commend this class in its ability to take down the room every week.  Because we're the last class to meet in our room, the students have to fold the tables and take them to another room down the hall.  Then they have to load all of the folding chairs onto a rack.  They always do it with cheerful attitudes, and I'm so grateful for their work!

Next week my son Ryan Prichard will be subbing for me.  I will Zoom in for part of the class and he will take charge of the rest.  

Assignments for March 4

Links for This Week
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 10)

Have a good weekend and a wonderful week off!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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Thursday, February 3, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 3)

 Greetings!

We had an fun class today -- we covered a lot of material.  Before we started with our Quick Write I had them do a little drawing exercise, using as inspiration a picture I drew when I was a toddler.  They had to draw a stick figure -- with their eyes closed. 

Here are the Quick Write prompts for the day:

  • February 2 –  World Read Aloud Day.  Do you have a favorite story that was read aloud to you when you were young?  Write about it.

  • February 4, 2004 –  the day that Facebook was launched.  Do you use Facebook?  What are your thoughts about social media?

  • February 4, 1789 – the day that George Washington was elected our first president by a unanimous vote of the first electoral college.  Do you have any opinions about the electoral college?  Do you have opinions about what makes for a good elected leader


Our Words of the Day
mellifluous -- fr. Latin mel, "honey" and fluus, "flowing" -- sweetly flowing
monoglot -- fr. Greek, mono "one" and glotto "tongue" -- speaking only one language
borborygmus -- fr. Greek, borborygmos, "to have a rumbling in the bowels" -- a rumbling or gurgling noise in the digestive system
progeniter -- fr. Latin, progenit, "begotten -- an ancestor, parent, or origin (as of an invention or practice)

I handed back the rough drafts of the Mystery Stories.  These were amazing!  I found myself thinking of the plots and characters long after reading and correcting them.  Many students wrote more than they usually did, and they were pretty creative.  As per my practice, I go over common mistakes as part of our rough draft discussions and use these for grammar instruction.  The most common errors I found in their write had to do with punctuating dialogue, paragraph formation, comma splice sentences, and compound sentences with commas.  Students are to revise their rough drafts into final drafts for next week. Ask your student to share his/her story with you. 

We've now finished our 6 short stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  To round out this literature unit, students are to write an essay exam in which they address the question, "Is Sherlock Holmes a Hero?"  They must first define what a hero is and then apply their definition to Sherlock Holmes.  We had NO discussion on these points because I want students to give me their own original ideas.  Usually we had a debate-like discussion after this assignment, so I look forward to that next week.

I gave them their next book, Great Short, Short Stories,  they have a reading assignment, but no required homework for the stories.  

Our Grammar  was on hold for the week.  Students have enough other work to do for the week.

Assignments for next week

Links for This Week
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 3)


Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
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Saturday, January 29, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

Greetings!

This week's Quick Write prompts were taken from the list that the students in Writing 1 and Writing 2 contributed to last fall.  Here are the prompts for today’s Quick Write:

  • What is a favorite childhood memory?

  • What is one of the best days of your life?

  • What was a highlight of your week?

  • Whatever …..


Our Words of the Day came from Michael, Nina, and Annelise
virile-- fr. Latin vir, "man" -- strong, manly
corvine-- fr. Latin corvus, "raven"  -- resembling a crow  
feriation-- fr. Latin, feriatus, "to rest from work" --  to take a vacation or holiday
misanthrope -- fr. Greek, mis, "hate" and anthropos, "man" -- to hate mankind

Students have handed in the Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts of their Mystery Stories.  Many of them enjoyed writing these and felt that they wrote more than they usually wrote.  Others felt that this writing assignment was a bit harder since it's not easy to be creative.  This kind of writing required some different planning and a different kind of thinking.  I am looking forward to curling up with a cup of coffee and reading my pile of Mystery Rough Drafts.  

We are 4 stories into our book of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and the consensus this week was that the "Speckled Band" was more interesting than "The Engineer's Thumb."  Most agree that there was something satisfying about following clues and deducing solutions.  Someone mentioned the "red herrings" in the story about the speckled band.   These false clues and distractions add another layer of interest.

For the Grammar portion of class, we worked again on complex sentences.  In our unit on Commas, we also need to learn about sentence structures.  You won't understand where the comma goes with regards to dependent clauses in complex sentences if you don't know what a complex sentence is.  You won't know the difference between an independent and dependent/subordinate clause if you don't understand what the essential elements of a sentence are.  All of grammar is interconnected, and the students are doing a great job at working to understand these intricacies.  

Assignments for Next Week:
 
Links for This Week
Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 3 (January 27)

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard
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Thursday, January 20, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 2 (January 20)

 Greetings!

We started today with a Quick Write using prompt options that they had written:
  1. What are some of your pet peeves?
  2. What do you do that annoys others, either accidentally or intentionally?
  3. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?
  4. What is the best/worst part of your hous?
  5. Whatever????
Our Words of the Day were from Michael, Nina, and Annelise
cantillate--  from Latin cantillare, "to sing low" -- to chant or intone
onychophagy-- from Greek onux, "nail;" phago, "to eat" -- nail-biting 
apathy -- from Greek a, not, without; pathos, feeling/emotion -- lack of feeling or interest; indifference
empathy -- from Greek em, "in;" pathos, feeling/emotion -- the ability to identify with feeling the suffering of others.

The usual Agenda for the class time is to do these beginning of class activities and then most of the time we cover these topics in this order:  Writing assignments/instruction, Literature discussion, and Grammar instruction/work.  My plan is to give the last 10 - 15 minutes of every class to working on Grammar assignments so that if students have questions, they can ask them right in class. 

For our Writing discussion, I checked in with them about the progress of their Mystery Stories.    The Pre-Writes and Rough Drafts are due next week. We discussed for a bit how writing this story will take a different kind of planning.  Students are thinking about putting in clues and even red herrings.  I am really looking forward to reading their stories next week!  By the way, if students want to read some student-written stories, they can go to the Writing 2 blog, and the stories are listed on right hand margin.  

The class has read the first 2 stories from our book, Six Great Sherlock Holmes Stories. I read sections from the first pages of the story and we discussed the character and abilities of Sherlock Holmes.  Then I divided the class into 2 groups, and they played the game "Enter the Mystery Mansion."  Students were given cards with pictures, and as a group, they were to compose a mystery and/or spy story.  When they were done, they retold their stories for the Zoom portion of the class.  They were quite creative!

The last part of class was for Grammar instruction.  Today, I did a short lesson on simple and compound subjects and predicates along with compound sentences.  I often use fairly simple sentences to illustrate the concepts, but then we take these concepts and apply them to the students' own writing.  T

Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard

Homework for Next Week:
Is it a Compound Sentence? -- Note: This one's extra credit because I left the worksheet at home


Links for this Week
Writing 2 Class Notes


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Friday, January 14, 2022

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 13)

 Greetings!

It was good to be back in the classroom and to see everyone's smiling faces.  

For our Quick Write today, students had 3 options:  1) On January 12, it was National Hot Tea Day, and students could write about their experiences with tea; 2) Yesterday, January 13, is National Stickers Day, and students could write about sticker collections or uses for stickers; and 3) Today, January 14, is National Take a Missionary out to Lunch Day, and students could write about a missionary they know.   

We did not have any Words of the Day, but students can bring them to class for us to enjoy.  (And get some extra credit, too.)  For the rest of the semester, students can bring in interesting words for our weekly Words of the Day part of our discussion.  For these words, they also need to include the etymology and a definition.  

The first topic we covered was our first Writing assignment -- a Mystery Story.  This is one of my favorite assignments of the whole year.  Every year students come up with such creative and clever stories.  We talked at length about what made for a good mystery, and one student offered some good advice, which is to start the mystery from the end.  In other words, know how it will resolve and work backwards.  If you go to the CHAT Writing 2 blog, you will find on the right side-bar some stories from previous years.  The Pre-Write and Rough Draft are due in 2 weeks on January 27.

Next on the agenda was our first book for the semester.  This semester we will be reading 6 Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Many are familiar with the BBC show Sherlock, which takes some of the original stories and gives them a 21st century interpretation.  In our pre-reading discussion we discussed the elements for a detective novel.  I'm looking forward to hearing their impressions of the original stories.  [NOTE:  Most of these stories can be found as audioversions on Youtube or Librivox. Feel free to listen to the stories.]

Last semester in the Grammar portion of the class we covered types of phrases, including verbal phrases.  This semester, we will be all about the comma (and a few other bits of punctuation.  I find that to fully understand comma rules, a writer must understand basics about other facets of sentence writing.  In other words, I'm using the comma as an avenue to teach other aspects of grammar.  As with last semester, students must correct their own worksheets and hand them in with corrections.  I must see clear evidence of that, or the assignment will get a zero.  

Glad to be back in the classroom with these great students!  See you all next week!

Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard

Assignments for Next Week
-- Read "The Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Redheaded League"
-- Start working on the Mystery Story
-- Mystery Story PreWrite & Rough Draft
-- Grammar -- Compound & FANBOYS
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