Essentials - week 12

Hello Emoms!  Week 12 was a lot of fun - here's what we did!

EEL - Structure - Compound
          Purpose - Interrogative
          Pattern - S-Vl-PN and S-Vl-PA

We added the Interrogative purpose to our Compound Sentences.  Nothing was new this week, we are just building on what we already know.

We reviewed how to make an Interrogative sentence (3 ways) and discovered that when asking "Is Jesus holy..." The Verb linking moves to the beginning of the sentence.  We remembered that a way to make an Interrogative sentence is to add a Helping Verb at the beginning of the sentence.  The verb 'Is' can either be used as a Helping Verb or a Verb linking - in this instance we moved the Verb linking to the beginning of the sentence and made an Interrogative sentence.

Clear as mud?  I remember that there was quite a bit of discussion about this because I kept saying Helping verb when we weren't adding one, just using the linking verb in the sentence.  Thanks for your graciousness and patience with me as I'm still learning and studying!

We used question confirmation to label our sentence and used the ATS to record and diagram.  Starting week 15 we will begin using all 6 tasks - just a heads up!

We did a Mad Lib as part of our end of semester fun and was able to go over all the parts of speech.  

We also found out that we had copied/recorded over 300 charts and the kids were rewarded with a Sonic gift card! So proud of all their hard work!  There will be another challenge for this semester!

IEW - We didn't read any papers this week.  I think everyone needed a break.  :)  I passed out a Faces of History packet that I had printed and we went over that and talked expectations concerning FoH.  Remember that FoH is optional - you are the teacher, you decide what your child is capable of doing.  No pressure from me. If you decide not to participate in FoH, the weekly writing assignments should still be completed in order for the kids to continue practicing what we are learning in class. 

We talked about what week 24 will look like, with the option to change our plans as needed.  Costumes are optional for the kids but they do lend to the fun. 

We will talk some each week about FoH and will do some work on it in class as different things come up in our weekly lessons. I have some other handouts and tips/tricks to share with you later. 

The last 30 minutes of our time together we had a hot chocolate bar based on Chart A - 4 kinds of stir ins, 4 kinds of toppings and 7 kinds of cookies!  It was so much fun sharing that with the kids and they were all very careful and respectful of each other and the moms as they waited in line.  I just love your kids!

Looking ahead to the spring semester - begin talking with your child about who they want to do their FoH paper on and let me know. We want to avoid having the same subjects of our papers.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please let me know!  :)

Essentials Week 11

Woo hoo!  Week 11!  Remember: no class next week!  Week 12 is on November 29th!

EEL: Same structure, new purpose and 2 patterns!

Structure: Compound

Purpose: Exclamatory

Patterns: S-Vl-PN and S-Vl-PA

We began class taking a few minutes to fill in Chart B from memory.  Proud of the kids - they worked hard!  We also reviewed linking verbs as they are in both of the patterns we reviewed today.

We remembered that a Predicate Nominative *renames* the subject and a Predicate Adjective *describes* the subject,

Jesus is God. - S-Vl-PN  Jesus=God

Jesus is holy. - S-Vl-PA  Holy describes Jesus

I then passed out sentences to everyone to work out on their ATS.  We had Simple and Compound structures and the 4 patterns we've studied so far - S-Vi, S-Vt-DO, S-Vl-PN and S-Vl-PA.  I appreciated Caleb and Selah coming forward and demonstrating how they labeled and diagrammed their sentences.  It's good for the kids to see each other working these things out!

We did a sentence together on the board from our week 11 sample sentences:

The bear is a carnivore, and he is hungry!

We labeled all the parts of speech using our question confirmation flow chart that I handed out yesterday. Please use this at home to encourage your kids to begin identifying sentence patterns and parts pf speech quicker. I'll be using the questions in class in various ways to help solidify their knowledge.

HOMEWORK: Mom: Week 12!  Kids: ATS!  Charts!  10 more charts each by week 12 and there will be hot chocolate and cookies as an extra reward!  :)

IEW: We broke into different groups and read our Writing from Pictures aloud to one another.  Then I had each group write a poem using prepositions at the beginning of each line.  Our kids are so very creative!

We learned about Similes and Metaphors today.  Similes use 'like' or 'as' to compare two things.  Metaphors make an indirect comparison. 

The snow was like softly falling feathers. - Simile

The snow was a white blanket. - Metaphor

We brainstormed a bit from the suggestions in our HBW in hopes of making the two decorations a little more accessible to the kids.

Similes and Metaphors should be used in papers now, IF your child is ready to add that to EZ+1.  Please don't stress if they're not added to papers.  

Still working with Writing from Pictures and writing about the Underground Railroad this week. I read a bit of history to make it more real to the kids.  Remind them that they should look at the picture, write their central fact based on the picture, then write their KWO about what had happened leading up to the picture.  Ask the questions on the right of the page to get words for the KWO. I think this style of writing is easier for them and I'm looking forward to hearing their papers on week 12!

HOMEWORK: Mom: help your kids write their KWO!

Kids: KWO, rough draft and final draft!  Mark all your sentence openers and decorations!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, friends.  I am thankful for each and every one of you and each of your children.  You bless me so much!

As always, if you need anything, please let me know.

Blessings,
M

Essentials Week 10

Good morning Emoms!  Life is plugging right along and I'm seeing progress in each of your children.  How encouraging!

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

EEL: New sentence pattern and our last part of speech!

Part of Speech: Adjectives - Chart L

Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns and ask questions What kind? Which? How many? Whose?

We spent some time marking information on Chart L to hopefully make it make sense.  We won't need a lot of the information on the chart until we begin using our Quid et Quo and we have to break down what kind of Adjective the word is.  But it is beneficial to begin learning it now so the process of QeQ is easier. Copy the chart and begin committing it to memory!

Structure: Compound

Purpose: Declarative

Pattern: S-Vl-PA

Same structure and purpose this week but a new pattern!  PA = Predicate Adjective.  PAs follow a linking verbs and describes the subject. 

The list of linking verbs doesn't change but the to be verbs aren't used as frequently.  You'll encounter the other linking verbs more often when you have a PA in your sentence (feel, become, remain, taste, etc). Continued work on Chart C - Verbs - will be helpful to the kids in recognizing the different kinds of verbs.  If our kids can immediately recognize linking verbs, then the sentence can only be one of two patterns.  This makes parsing much simpler!

These particular linking verbs can also be used as action verbs which changes the sentence pattern.  Following the question confirmation with the practice sentences will help the kids become familiar with the questions to ask to know what kind of verbs, adjectives, direct objects are in their sentences. Check your sample sentence exercises in the back of each week's lesson. 

HOMEWORK: Mom - Read ahead to week 11!  There's a lot of review next week but your prior knowledge of what's coming will help your kids!

Kids - Charts L, C and G!!  Do your charts - 10 more each in 2 weeks to reach our goal!

IEW: Unit 5 - Writing from Pictures

New unit this week and more opportunity to be creative!  Writing from pictures directs our kids to look at a picture and describe what they see, then allows them to ask questions to tell what happened before the picture.  Look at this unit as "Event Description".

Still working with the KWO the kids tell 3 things as the 'central fact' of the paragraph. Then they continue on the KWO with 3 more words describing the scene using the questions What (thinking, saying doing)? When? Where? Why? How? Before? After? Outside?

You read or have your kids read through each part of the KWO being as descriptive as possible. They will begin to see how the words can flow easily as they tell the story in their own words. 

Each paragraph should have a clincher and the final clincher should repeat or reflect the title. Some helpful info: If younger kids are having difficulty with constructing clinchers that meet all the criteria, they can repeat the central fact exactly then rewrite with a synonym.  Just choose a few words to change.

The kids can be as creative as they'd like. The pictures this week are about the Gold Rush.  Have fun with this!  

HOMEWORK: Mom - Read through the next lesson - Lesson 14 - Escape on the Underground Railroad.

Kids - Finish your KWO and write your story about the Gold Rush.  Can't wait to hear them!

PASSWORD: Definition of an Adjective.

Have a great week! If you have any questions or need anything, please let me know!

M

Essentials Week 9

Hello, hello!  Week 9 is in the books!  What a fun day we had yesterday.  Anyone need a glass of milk?  :)

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

I AM the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

John 15:1

I AM the God of Abraham...

Matthew 22:32

God gives us a glimpse of who He is in His word. God is all these things and more! God created language so we can know Him better.  God is who He says He is!  How comforting to know this!

EEL: We began our EEL study this week with a rousing game of I have, who has? This is always fun.

Structure: Compound Sentence (FANBOYS)

Purpose: Declarative

Pattern: S-Vl-PN

Linking verbs link 2 words together - the subject to the noun or adjective that comes after the verb. (We will hear about adjectives next week -week 10). Linking verbs rename the subject and have NO ACTION. The most common linking verbs are the principal parts of the verb 'to be'. If you see a 'to be' verb in a sentence, it is most always a linking verb. 

A Predicate Nominative is a noun or pronoun that describes the subject. Predicate because it comes after the verb and Nominative as that is the Subject (check Chart E - Nominative is a Latin Noun Case for the subject)

S  Vl          PN

    Bob is a ball hitter. 

Bob=ball hitter.  Ball hitter is a noun that describes Bob.  You can switch the sentence around: The ball hitter is Bob.  Ball hitter=Bob.  

Make sure your kids aren't confusing S-Vl-PN with S-Vt-DO.  Have them check their verb - that's the way to make the distinction.  Vt - there is action being transferred.  Vl - No action at all. We spent a few minutes with sentences written both ways to show the kids the difference. 

There is a list of Linking verbs on Chart C.  It is important that our kids memorize the list as it will make it easier in the future to recognize the S-Vl-PN/S-Vl-PA pattern.  The 'to be' verbs are used most often with PN, the other verbs are used more often with PA (week 10!). 

We worked with our ATS tasks 1-4 on the sentence Our Lord is God, so Jesus is my Savior using our new sentence pattern. Continue to work with this sentence is you'd like to cement the pattern in your kids brains.

Chart K begins the interesting work for Verb Anatomy. Using the verb 'to be' we begin to break it down and see all the different tenses of that verb. Copying and eventually memorizing this verb, plus others, will help in he future in parsing.  1st tour students need only to copy the Simple tense to start.  2nd/3rd tour kids should be able to copy all of it.  Do what's best for your kids. 

HOMEWORK: Mom: Read week 10 and become smarter than your kids! ;)

Kids: Chart K for sure, then review Charts C&D.  We are still working toward our goal of 260 charts!  Do your charts and help your class!!

IEW: We read our papers in our groups this week and I heard a lot of encouragement from the kids to one another. That makes me so proud of our kids. :)

This is our last week to "Some"-a-rize a reference!

We read two examples of paragraphs at the beginning of our time together. We discovered that the 2nd paragraph gave more information and was more interesting to listen to. We talked about varying the length of sentences and beginning sentences with things other than the subject.

This is where Prepositional Phrases comes in.  Using prepositional phrases gives more information about the sentence and captures the readers attention. Using a prepositional phrase as a sentence opener is the #2 sentence opener. When you use one, mark them with a 2 in the left margin. 

The kids gave me some prepositional phrases and we used them as the opener to sentences we completed together.  I don't think I've laughed as much with the kids.  It was so fun and it showed them how to use prepositional phrases as the opener to sentences to make them more interesting. :)

We read our source text together, the Trail of Tears, and they began a KWO with you.  We went over the checklist found at the end of the chapter and I reminded everyone that that is just a list of all the things we have covered so far this year.  It's not the list to check off to make sure you get everything in.  You know your child best and can scale the checklist to your child's ability. EZ+1.

HOMEWORK: Mom: P&P Monday night, Nov 6 at 6:00 pm in the annex.  Jennie and Valerie are in charge of our food and theme!  Read ahead about Unit 5 in your TWSS - writing from pictures.

Kids: Finish your KWO and find a way to use a prepositional phrase!

PASSWORD FOR NEXT WEEK: Tell me an example of a #2 sentence opener - a sentence with a prepositional phrase at the beginning!

Looking forward to seeing everyone Monday night!  Let me know if you can't make it!  Thanks!

Have a blessed weekend!

M

Essentials Week 8

Good morning Emoms!  Sorry for the delay in publishing the blog.  Todd left yesterday for a 4 month TDY and I spent the time with him.  I'm sure you understand! :)

WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

"...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16

What privilege we have to study and learn the English language so we can better share the word of God in spoken and written words!

EEL: We started with a sentence on the board again and worked our ATS tasks 1-4.

Jesus loves me, and He loves you.

New material this week:

Structure: Compound (FANBOYS)

Purpose: Interrogative

Pattern: S-Vt-DO

I introduced Interrogative purpose in the Compound structure this week.  Remind your kids of the three ways to make an Interrogative sentence:

1. Add a ?

2. Use an Interrogative pronoun as the subject (Who, Whose, Whom, Which, What)

3. Add a helping verb - do, does, did, has, have, had...

When diagramming your Compound Interrogative sentence and use a helping verb, the helping verb comes before the main verb on the predicate side of your diagram.

Phrase: We were reminded that a phrase DOES NOT contain a subject or verb and it may be used as a single part of speech.  This led to our next part of speech...

P.O.S. - Prepositions: relates a noun or pronoun to another word.  (Pr)

We saw how a Preposition with the noun/pronoun makes a Prepositional Phrase and the noun/pronoun is called the Object of the Preposition (OP)

                                    Pr  AA      OP   

 Bobby hugs his mother in the morning.

(AA = Article Adjective)

Every prepositional phrase answers either an adverbial question or an adjectival question. We only focused on Adverbial this week - we will get to Adjectival on week 10.  The above picture is an AMAZING way to remember how to diagram prepositional phrases!!

Remembering what the Adverb definition is and the questions it answers...

How? When? Where? Why?

How often? How much?

To what extent? Under what condition?

In the prepositional phrase above, we find that 'in the morning' answers When does Bobby hug his mother?  So the prepositional phrase is an Adverbial Prepositional Phrase. You need this information in order to place the phrase in your diagram correctly. 

At the end of class we used the sentence 'Did Dad love me, and has he brought presents?' on our ATS to practice the Interrogative purpose.  We didn't get to using/diagramming with prepositional phrases this week but we will begin using them soon!  As you're practicing with the ATS remember that your can use the same sentence multiple times to gain confidence in the process! 

HOMEWORK: Mom: read ahead for week 9. There may be things that we don't get to in class; therefore, if you read the week's lesson you can introduce new info to your child!

Kids: ATS and charts!  Chart J is prepositions - do this one at least once!  We are still working toward a goal of 260 charts by week 12 to earn the Sonic gift card - help our class out to get there.  :)

IEW: We gathered around our tables and read our papers.  The kids are doing a great job listening for dress ups in their friend's papers!

We spent some time learning about Quality Adjectives.  We found that the now banned adjectives pretty/ugly and big are vague and they don't lend themselves to giving the reader a picture of what is happening.

We also learned that Because isn't the only way we can give more information in a sentence. The kids can now use www.asia.b as a clausal dress up.

When While Where.As Since If Although.Because

Use these words to begin a sentence or at the end of a sentence to provide more information.

While Thomas Jefferson was the third president, he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence while he was the third president.

***If the www.asia.b clause is at the beginning of the sentence, use a comma at the end of it.  If it is at the end of a sentence, a comma isn't necessary.***

The kids are now to use 1 www.asia.b clause in every paragraph of their papers.  But remember: EZ+1!!!  If your child isn't ready to add this new dress up, don't use it.  Stick to what they know!

We are still in Unit 4 - 'Some'-a-rizing a Reference.  This week's source text is The Louisiana Purchase.  I demonstrated the method for writing their KWO this week.

1. Read through the entire source text.

2. Read through the source text again and mark interesting (to them!) facts.  Choose 4-7 facts.

3. Read again and add the facts to the KWO.  Remember - you can change the order of your facts but get them on the KWO first!

4. Read then write your KWO in your own words.

Also, a good way to make sure all the above steps get done is to assign steps to days of the week.  Since we meet on Wednesday, this is how we do it at our house:

Wednesday: class day - Timothy generally begins working on his KWO in class.

Thursday: Read through the source text together and validate the facts he found interesting.

Friday: Finish the KWO and he reads it aloud to me so I can make suggestions for dress ups, etc.

Monday: He writes his rough draft and adds in dress ups, etc that he knows.  We watch for banned words!

Tuesday: He dictates his paper to me and I type it in.  He points out where his dress ups are and tells me how to mark them in his paper. Then he reads it aloud again and we make changes if needed.

You may have a system in place that works for you - that's great!  If not, and you're struggling to get the IEW portion done at home, try the system above and see if it works for you.  Tweak it if needed to fit your style.  I put it here in order to give some guidance if needed.  I don't want anyone to feel behind or defeated because this is a tough way to write!  Please let me know if you have any questions or need some help!

HOMEWORK: Mom: read through Lessons 12: Trail of Tears.  Still utilizing Unit 4!

Kids: KWO and paper! You can do it!

PASSWORD FOR NEXT WEEK: What does www.asia.b stand for?

Have a great weekend - see you on Wednesday!  As always, please, PLEASE contact me if you need some encouragement or help!  That's what I'm here for!!

Be blessed!

M

Essentials Week 7

Second 6 weeks - here we go!

Words of Encouragement

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

While it seems like a burden some days and there is promise in our work, we and our children will be blessed by this process.  God's direction is where we are headed! 

EEL: We started the day with practicing on our ATS - Jesus loves me, so Jesus loves you.  The kids knocked this out of the park!  They were engaged and on task!

Structure: We are still working with Compound structure. Remembering our FANBOYS that connect two complete sentences. 

Jane dusts the furniture AND Jack takes out the trash.

Purpose:  Imperative purpose.  These sentences give a command, have an implied (you) as the subject and require a 2nd person verb.  2nd person meaning you are talking to someone else.

(you) Jane, dust the furniture and (you) Jack, take out the trash.

Using the Imperative purpose the person we are talking to becomes a Noun of Direct Address. (NDA)  while the (you) becomes the subject.  NDA describes who we are talking about. For example, in the sentence above Jane and Jack now become NDA because the subject is (you).

Pattern: We stayed with S-Vt-DO this week and practiced it in our ATS.

P.O.S: Adverbs - we sang the Adverb song from Foundations last year and we answered all the questions using the sentence Mama danced.

Mama danced.

How?   terribly

When?    yesterday

Where?   in the hot tub (prepositional phrase!)

Why?  because she was happy (subordinate clause! -because)

How often?    daily, frequently

How much?   abundantly

To what extent?    very slowly, rather clumsily

Under what condition?    while it rained (subordinate clause! www.asia)

Adverbs can be found on Chart I in your Gear section.  Have the kids copy this! 

We also learned another type of Noun: the Appositive (AP).  An appositive is a noun (or pronoun) directly beside another noun that describes it. 

My dog Rover can learn tricks.

Rover is the Appositive - it describes dog.

HOMEWORK: Mom - read week 8 - new pattern next week!  Practice the ATS with your kids!  Have them read a sentence to you and work out the ATS together!

Kids: Charts!  We are still working toward the Sonic gift card!  260 charts by week 12!!

IEW: We changed groups this week for reading our papers.  The kids really worked hard over the break.  I heard numerous examples of dress ups!  We split into groups this week but because we were missing a few people, and will have others out next week, I will wait to assign groups until everyone is back.

I introduced the Topic Sentence and Clincher this week.  The topic sentence introduces what the paragraph is about.  The clincher ties a nice bow on the end of the paragraph by repeating or reflecting 2-3 words from the topic sentence.  From here on out, each paragraph in your child's paper should have a topic sentence and a clincher.

We discussed researching a topic and realized that if we were to write a paper on all the information we found on a topic, it would be too long to read!  This is where Unit 4 comes in: Summarizing a Reference.

I told them to "Some-a-rize" their reference/source text.  They need to choose the most interesting information and put those facts into their KWO.  Remember mommas:

Hands ON structure and style

Hands OFF content

This style of writing can be fun and exciting!  We are using the HBW Declaration of Independence as our source text but please find a reference that will interest your child if the one provided doesn't capture their attention. 

Remind the kids that they are looking for FACTS that are INTERESTING to them.  And they need to read the entire text before starting on their KWO.  They may not find any interesting facts in the first paragraph but will likely find many in the other ones. 

They can rearrange their facts to make their paper flow if they want.  They can combine facts into one sentence.  When they edit their paper is when the arranging and finding places to add dress ups can happen.  Remember: EZ+1.

We talked about Quality Adjectives this week as well.  Banned Adjectives are good and bad. The kids must find other ways to say those words from here on out.  In your SRP starting on page 106 are lists of adjectives your kids can select from.

Our assignment for next week, the Declaration of Independence paper, should be 1 paragraph.  If you choose a difference reference/source text still keep the paper to one paragraph.

HOMEWORK: Mom - read week 11 - the Louisiana Purchase. We will use Unit 4 style for weeks 7-9.  We are introducing www.asia.b next week!

Kids: KWO, Edit, dress up and write the final draft of your paper!  I know you can do it! :)

Have a great week friends.  As always, my offer to help in any way stands.  See you next Wednesday,

M

Week 6 - We made it!!

Hello Emoms! 6 weeks into the year - you are doing an amazing job hanging in there!  Proud to know you and walk along side you in this journey!  And what fun the Chart War was!  I'm so glad they enjoyed that.  Remind your kids that we now have a goal of 260 charts by week 12 to be rewarded with a Sonic gift card!!

Words of Encouragement

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be bought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Congrats! You made it through the first SIX weeks! The foundations have been laid, and now we can set our minds to the action of learning Essentials!

EEL - A new sentence structure and pattern were introduced this week.  Compound sentence structure and S-Vt-DO pattern.  We used Declarative and Exclamatory purpose this week.

A Compound sentence is 2 independent clauses joined together by a conjunction. Chart G is Compound structure with all patterns and purposes on it.

We went over Chart H - Conjunctions - to get a broad overview of all conjunctions.  We are focusing on Coordinating Conjunctions right now. The mnemonic for Coordinating Conjunctions is FANBOYS.

My mother loves me.  She cares for me.

My mother loves me, SO she cares for me.

The S-Vt-DO pattern has a subject and a Transitive Verb and a Direct Object.  Transitive Verbs transfer the action to a Direct Object (always a noun or pronoun).

A good test to find a DO is to ask (S-V) what? or (S-V) who?  If you can answer those questions, you have a DO in your sentence.

We didn't get to our ATS this week, but continue to work on this as you are able. 

HOMEWORK: Mom - read through week 7.  Dictate simple sentences for ATS and help kids use coordinating conjunctions to make compound sentences.

Kids - Work those charts! Definitely work ACE, and then G and H.

IEW: We are moving right along with our Story Sequence Chart papers.  This week we used Lesson 7 "The Shot Heard Round the World". 

We learned a new stylistic technique - the Because clause.  A because clause on its own is not a complete thought. It can come at the beginning or at the end of a sentence but it must be added to a sentence that is already complete. There are comma rules for the because clause as well: if the BC comes at the beginning of the sentence, you must follow it with a comma.  Do not put a comma before a BC clause at the end of a sentence.

We also learned a new dress up - conversation and how to use quotation marks. There are rules for how to use quotes on page 153 in your SRP.

We worked through the first part of the story on the board and filling out our SSC.  I emphasized that the kids could be creative with the fictional parts of the story but the historical accounts must be left intact.  This unit has been challenging for many of us (me included!). I believe with time it will become easier.  Remember: if this is your first tour, you will have 2 more opportunities to learn about this and practice it then!

HOMEWORK: Moms - we have our next P&P on Monday the 16th!  Come prepared with your IEW materials!  Help your kids complete their SSC KWO.  EZ+1!!

Kids - do as much as you can to complete your KWO. Add dress ups and style techniques as you can! We will take time to read your stories in your groups!

Have a great week!  See you next Wednesday!

M