Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 2 (Aug. 29)

Greetings!

As with every week, we had a full class time.  In fact, I do my best to fill every minute with good learning opportunities.  

This week's prompt for the Quick Write asked the students to write convincing arguments why they should be admitted to the exclusive "Awesome Problem Solving Club" and include specific contributions that they might make.  Their responses showed a wonderful blend of the practical skills, interpersonal abilities, and creativity that are in this group of students. 

Our Words of the Day were contributed by students.  These words came from their My Antonia reading.

oracular -- adj, fr. Latin, oraculum "speaking" -- of or relating to being a person giving wise or authoritative answers; a prophet or seer

vermilion -- noun, fr. Latin vermiculus, "bright red color" -- a vivid reddish orange

impetuously -- adv., fr. Latin impetus, "drive by force" -- marked by impulsive or vehement action

Students should be writing these words down because we will have an end of the semester test.

Before we proceeded the bulk of our the content of the day, I walked the students through the My GradeBook site.  Some of them had already signed in.  If you or your student have not done that yet, go to this document, Instructions for My GradeBook,  for instructions.  As I told the students, they might never need to go to this site if they are keeping track of their homework.  However, if they are absent for a number of weeks or have forgotten if they have handed something in or not, this is a good place to find that information.  As parents, you can check it to see if work is getting in or to check on current grade status.  It is by no means required of students or parents to regularly check this online grade book.    

Students were to hand in their rough drafts of their Personal Commentary Essays.  For those who want to hand in digital copies, they can choose any of the following options:  email a Word attachment, send a PDF of the paper, share a Google Doc, or share a OneDrive doc.  This week I will go over their essays and hand them back next week.  They will then make corrections and revise their rough drafts into final drafts.  

Students were assigned to read pages 1 - 23 of My Antonia, and I had them divide into small groups to discuss their impressions thus far about the time period, geography, characters, and themes of the book.    For those who are interested, I've included links to audio versions of the book with the links at the end of these emails.  For next week, the students will be with the same students in Literature Circles.  In these small groups, students are assigned specific roles for discussing the assigned reading for next week.  Those roles -- discussion leader, illustrator, luminary, word nerd, connector, summarizer -- have been assigned and students should prep for the circles by doing the following:

• Discussion leader -- be ready to lead the discussion by reading the assigned portion; be thinking about the major events and themes of that portion; 
• Illustrator -- draw a picture of one of the scenes or an interpretation of one of the themes
• Luminary -- find quotes that seem to sum up the main points of the section; choose quotes that seem particularly thoughtful, funny, or serious
• Word Nerd -- select words that are especially unusual and look up their roots
• Connector -- be ready to connect events, themes, character types, etc. with real world examples
• Summarizer -- at the end of the discussion, summarize and connect the comments that everyone has made

The Discussion Leaders for next week are Laura M, Aaron H, Elliana S,and Annika C.  In a separate email, I will send the students contact information for one another in case they need to make contact.  (Note:  Students will be graded on participation.)

We rushed through our Grammar portion of the class, but the material I handed out will probably be review for most of the students.  They were give 2 sets of worksheets, one for Nouns & Pronouns and one for Adjectives and Adverbs.  These are to be done for next week.

Assignments for Next Week (Sept. 5)

-- Read p. 24 - 47 of My Antonia

-- No Reader Responses

-- Prepare for Literature Circle roles

-- 5 Vocabulary Words

-- Nouns/Pronouns Worksheet

-- Adjectives/Adverbs Worksheet

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Literature Circle Guidelines

Nouns & Pronouns Worksheet

Adjectives & Adverbs Worksheet

My Antonia audiobook, part 1

My Antonia audiobook, part 2

My Antonia audiobook, part 3

My Antonia audiobook, part 4

My Antonia audiobook, part 5

My Antonia on Vibrivox (downloadable)

Have a beautiful Labor Day Weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

Adjectives & Adverbs Worksheet

ADJECTIVES

Definition:  Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns (persons, places, or things) in the sentence. The articles — a, an, and the — are adjectives.  Multiple adjectives can be used to modify/describe a noun. Possessive pronouns are also adjectives (e.g. my, your, his, etc.)

Adjectives answer these questions: what kind, which one, how many, and how much.  They may be placed before the noun (or pronoun), after the noun (or pronoun), or after a linking or helping verb.

In the following sentences, the adjectives are underlined and in bold:

·         The funny movie was the best part of a long day.

·         My old gray sweater has a large hole on the left sleeve.

·         Four dogs ran wildly in the enormous hay field.

·         That blue car belongs to his grumpy Latin teacher.

·         The fifth student in that long line fainted in the hot summer sun.

ADVERBS

Definition:  An adverb is a word (or phrase or clause) that modifies or describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.   Adverbs answer the following questions:  How? When? Where? To what extent? How much? How often? 

Placement:  Adverbs of one word almost always come before the word modified.  Clauses and phrases should be placed as closely as possible to the verb is modifies.

Formation:  Adverbs can be formed by adding “-ly” to an adjective.  (e.g.  correctly, happily, sparingly)  Another way to form an adverb is to place an adjective in the following formula:  “in a _________ manner.”

In the following sentences, the adverbs are underlined and in bold:

·         The horse lazily meandered through the very dense forest.

·         Her brother playfully teased her yesterday.

·         Tomorrow the band will carefully practice that insanely hard piece.

·         Carefully, John put a foot on the thin ice.

·         Bill stubbornly refused to do his homework.

·         Joan instantly recognized the very famous actor.

·         I secretly planned a party for the students.

  

Adjectives Practice

Underline the adjectives in the following sentences.

1.       My ancient grandfather wrote an insightful book about his long time as a cattle rancher.

2.       The woman’s new wool coat sold for fifty dollars at the neighborhood discount store.

3.       The tangy red ketchup on the grilled hamburger dripped on the clean picnic table cloth.

4.       This smelly garbage in my uncle’s car is gross and disgusting.

5.       My amazing essay was read by some appreciative students.

Fill in adjectives for each of the blanks in the sentences below.

1.       My _____________________ book is both ______________  and  ___________________.

2.       The _________________ kitten slept on the _______________ blanket.

3.       The ___________________________ weather ruined my ________________________ trip.

4.       My __________________________ sailboat on the lake was  _________________.

5.       The __________________________ student in the _______________________ class studied for the

_______________________ test.

Adverbs Practice

Underline the adverbs in the following sentences.

1.       The horse raced speedily around the very crowded racecourse.

2.       The man next to her coughed annoyingly all through the performance today.

3.       Katherine accidentally deleted her files.

4.       We silently watched the amazingly beautiful sunset.

5.       We will all take that infuriatingly difficult test tomorrow.

Fill in adverbs for each of the blanks in the sentences below.

1.       The boy ran ______________________________ 

2.       Jackson  ______________________________  finished his homework.

3.       I  ______________________________  drove to the store.

4.       Corey ______________________________  handed in his essay.

5.       The team  ______________________________   played the game.

Nouns & Pronouns Worksheet

NOUNS

Definition:  A noun is a word (or phrase or clause) that names a person, place, think, idea, or quality. 

There are several categories of nouns:

Common – every day words, not capitalized (ex:  dog, cat, building, town, man, woman)

Proper – specific names, capitalized (ex:  Spot, Fluffy, Empire State Building, Northfield, Mr. Jones, Sally Forth)

Compound – nouns made up of two or more words (ex:  ice cream, playground, mainstream, brother-in-law)

Collective – nouns that in its singular form denotes many within (ex:  army, company, herd)

Concrete – tangible, touchable things (ex:  rock, ball, bird, house)

Abstract – a quality or idea; something that cannot be touched (ex:  liberty, hope, honesty, love)

Countable – nouns that form their plural with an s or es, that can be counted and numbered (ex:  bugs, projects, boys, girls)

Non-countable – nouns that have no plural and cannot be counted (ex:  poverty, peace, ideas, principles)

Nouns can be used as subjects of a sentence, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of a preposition, and predicate nouns.

In the following sentences, the nouns are underlined and in bold:

·         The dog under the tree had a leash around his neck.

·         My dog, Scooby, wanted freedom from his collar.

·         The playground in Northfield had a statue of General Washington who fought for liberty.

·         Sarge’s Parlour, a small business, sold ice cream in Storm Lake, Iowa to many generations of residents.

·         My brother bought a snowmobile because he wanted to have fun during the winter.

Some words can be both a noun and a verb.

Examples:

I had a swim in the lake.

I swim in the lake.

I will drive to school.

We had a nice drive.

I watched the third act of the play.

This man can really act.

I wrote a check at the diner.

Will you check to see if it is right.

I have a new dress from Target.

The doctor will dress my wound.

She has a delightful laugh.

I laugh all the time.

PRONOUNS

Definition:  A Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a nouns.  We can substitute a pronoun for a noun in a sentence.  Pronouns are classified in five (5) different categories. They are personal pronouns, relative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. 

Antecedent:  The antecedent is the word or words that the pronoun is substituting. 

Examples:

The lady drank her coffee. She said it was hot.  (lady is the antecedent for her & she; coffee is the antecedent for it)

Roger sat on the chair, but it broke when he sat down. (Roger is the antecedent for he; chair is the antecedent for it)

Below is a chart showing the forms of personal pronouns

Personal Pronouns
	Singular			Plural
Person	Nominative	Objective	Possessive	Nominative	Objective	Possessive
1st person	I	me	mine	We	us	ours
2nd person	You	you	yours	You	you	yours
3rd person	He, she, it	him, her, it	his, hers, its	They	them	theirs

In the following sentences, the personal pronouns are underlined and in bold.

·         I gave her the bottle that used to belong to you.

·         She knew right away that it was a collector’s piece.

·         It had been used by Queen Elizabeth in her castle.

·         They say it held the perfume that she used every day.

·         My family has had many antiques in their collection and loves to talk about them.

·         Do you think she will get any money for it?

Reflexive pronouns are a compound of personal pronouns with “self” or “selves.”  They are used when you refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause.

Examples:

·         I saw myself in the mirror.

·         She made herself some lunch.

·         The bird hurt itself when it flew into the window.

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses (dependent clauses that relate the clause to a noun or pronoun in the sentence).  The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that.

Examples:

·         The car that hit me was yellow.

·         The student whose phone just rang should answer it.

·         Jane is the girl who won the contest.

·         Mr. Jones is a man on whom I can rely.

Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point out.  They are this, that, these, and those.

Examples:

·         This is my hat.

·         I like these, not those.

·         That is a great idea.

·         How much money do you want for this?

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not point out specifically. They point out generally. They include such words as another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, others, some, somebody, and someone.

Examples:

·         Does anyone have a pencil?

·         Please stand with the others.

·         No one can solve this equation.

·         Both of you should do the dishes.

Interrogative pronouns ask questions. Who, whom, whose, which, and what are interrogative pronouns.

Examples:

·         Who will give me the money?

·         With whom are you going to movie?

·         Whose books are these?

·         What will you bring to the dinner?

Nouns Practice

Underline the nouns in the following sentences.

1. Our job has become harder this year.
2. Elizabeth looked in her backpack for her homework.
3. This plant looks dead.
4. Mrs. Jones called the doctor from the other clinic.
5. Her son bought a cheeseburger and fries.

Fill in a noun for each of the following sentences:

1. Jane baked the __________________  yesterday.

2. My __________________  ache after gardening.

3. The __________________  sang a solo at the concert. 

4. The __________________ fell into the river.

5. __________________  is my home.

Pronouns Practice

Underline the pronouns in the following sentences.

1.       Sally, your mother needs you to call her.

2.       Steve brought his own lunch because he is allergic to most foods.

3.       I have strong opinions, but my sister doesn’t agree with them.

4.       The amazing performance brought the crowd to its feet.

5.       You can tell her because she will keep it a secret.