Essentials - Week 18

Week 18!  We are so close to the end! You've persevered well, mommas, and the fruit of all our labor is seen in how much our kids have learned this year!

EEL: 

Structure: Complex

Purpose: Imperative

Pattern: S-Vt-DO-OCN/OCA

We began class working on Chart N - to have.  Each table had a portion of the chart to complete.  Working together, I heard them encouraging each other and discovering what the sentences should be for each box.  It is encouraging to me to hear them talking together and helping each other! Then we talked through the Perfect Progressive portion of the chart and found where the repeats are.  Knowing this will help the kids complete the chart faster and commit it memory easier!

Still working with the Complex structure and reviewing OCN/OCA patterns.  This time with the Imperative purpose, while not new, is the first time we've seen it in the Complex structure. Remember: Imperative sentences have an implied (you) as the subject.

Fact: In a complex sentence, the independent clause will be Imperative. The subordinate clause will be another purpose.  And the verb tense will be present tense!

Make me a saint as you make me an heir.

We also reviewed what makes a Complex sentence - Adjectival clauses (who/which) and Adverbial clauses (www.asia.b).  

We also reviewed S-Vt-DO-OCN/OCA patterns.

OCN replaces the DO - The snake called the mouse lunch.

OCA describes the DO - The farmer painted the barn red.

We used these examples to practice turning them into complex imperative sentences.  Lots of thinking going on this week!

The kids were to bring a sentence from home to use in class this week.  We got out our ATS and the kids completed them as far as they could.  Good practice for home, too!

HOMEWORK: Work with the ATS so it becomes easier for your kids.  Use the sentences available in the EEL guide - start with week 1 and work your way up to the more complex sentences.  

IEW: We spent time reading our Hopes and Dreams papers. I'm proud of our kids for working hard on this unit!  

We talked briefly about FoH and considering having a wax museum for our End of Year presentation.  Talk with your kids if they would be willing to dress and participate in the end of year celebration this way.

We learned our last sentence opener - #6: the very short sentence (vss). This is a sentence of 2-5 words that makes a short statement. "I am your father."  "Live long and prosper." Lots of meaning in those words.  VSS should be placed in a spot in your paragraph where it can be emphasized or can stand out.  Because they are usually among longer sentences, placing them after long sentences will highlight them. 

We also learned about the 3 short staccato sentences (3sss). This is simply the use of the #6 opener 3 times.  This can be a strong stylistic technique.  Use it as a decoration in your paper.

We came. We saw. We conquered.

Our subject this week for Unit 7 is the American Flag and using it as the subject in our paper.  Writing as if in 1st person, we talked about how the flag would feel, see, or sense in several different situations. I read for them the sample paper in our HBW and showed the kids how the first person is used.

The kids then walked around the room and wrote words on large post its that they felt the flag would be experiencing in those pictures. 

After they were done, we brought the post its to the front of the room and talked about how each of those words were written in first person, as if the flag was doing the talking.  I don't know about you, but that was a powerful experience for me.  Our military kids are resilient, aren't they? 

We talked about writing our FoH paper in first person, as if they are the person they have researched.  This makes the presentation of their person easier than if it is written in 3rd person.  Encourage your kids to write this way.

HOMEWORK: Continue working on those FoH papers!

NO PASSWORD THIS WEEK!

We have our next P&P on Monday evening, March 12 at my house.  Last one of the year!  Pudewa and Pizza Pie (or Pizza and Pie)!

Have a great spring break!  See you on March 12th!

Moms: if you've read this far, tell me on March 14th the Star Wars reference in this blog post and you'll get a surprise! :)

Essentials - Week 17

Hello!  Here's what we accomplished!

EEL - Structure - Complex

          Purpose - Exclamatory

          Pattern - S-Vt-DO-OCA**

**Our last pattern!!

Today was Open House and we had 4 families joining us to observe.  Thanks for loving on those families well!

We reviewed what makes a Complex Sentence and reviewed S-Vt-DO-OCN and remembered that the OCN can replace or rename the Subject.

Then we talked about OCA - Object Compliment Adjectives.  The OCA relates to the DO and describes it. 

God called the earth good.  

God didn't just call the earth, neither did He call the good.  He called the earth good.  The earth being the DO and good describing it making good the OCA.

You must have a DO in order to have an OCN/OCA.

There will not be an OCN/OCA if there is an IO.

We played Pass the Board in which the kids filled in the SN/SP, DO and OCA in a sentence.  I think this helped them understand how OCA works.

We spent quite a bit of time talking about Adjectives - Chart L.  I wanted the kids to understand how Chart L works so when you work on ATS and QeQ at home, the kids are able to label the Adjectives with no problem.  Reviewing and working on Chart L at home will help too!

We used some sentences in class to identify and label some adjectives and how the adjectives worked in the sentence.

We filled in the adjectives on our QeQ to the last detail.  As you're working on the QeQ at home, really discuss how Adjectives are labeled.

HOMEWORK:  Review Charts  L, M and N!

IEW: We gathered in our groups and did a sentence stretch activity.  Each group had a different set of dress ups to use on their sentence.  Our kids are so creative and I so appreciate your leading them in the best way to complete sentences without the sentences being totally outrageous!  Keeping the kids on task isn't easy but you do an amazing job!

We talked about our FoH papers - we have 7 weeks until week 24.  Please don't leave all the work until the last minute!

We also talked about the 2 paragraphs for our Hopes and Dreams paper.  This week we are adding the Introduction and Conclusion to that paper.

Writing the Conclusion is generally easier to do as after the 2 paragraphs are done, the mind is still fresh with details.  Bringing all the information back around and writing a clincher sentence to conclude the paper works easily.  The Conclusion clarifies the most important thing about your topic.  After the Conclusion is written, going back to the Intro and getting ideas from the conclusion works well.  

Use an attention grabber to begin your Introduction. A fun fact or an interesting question are good ways to get your reader's attention.  The state your topics and lead into your two paragraphs.

The FoH paper should include an Intro and a Conclusion as defined here.  

(This image really has nothing to do with how we teach Introduction and Conclusion.  I just thought it was a funny drawing!)

PASSWORD: The kids should bring in a sentence of their own writing to diagram.  Be prepared to share your sentence with those at your table!

Have a great week!  See you soon!

Mommas - If you've read this far and can tell me Wednesday  what is in the Intro and Conclusion picture, I'll have a surprise for you! :)

Essentials - Week 16

Hello!  Here's what we did this week!

EEL - We completed puzzles as tables for Charts E and F - Nouns and Pronouns.  Work with your kids to get these charts memorized as they will help immensely when doing Quid et Quo!

Structure: Complex

Purpose: Declarative

Pattern: S-Vt-DO-OCN

We discovered that Object Compliment Nouns follow Direct Objects and can replace or describe the DO.

     S     Vt    DO    OCN                 

 Jesus made me a saint.

The question confirmation to know if there's an OCN or not is 'Can (OCN) replace or describe, and follow (DO)? If the answer is yes, you have an OCN!

Just as we discovered that S-Vl-PN, the PN=S, the same goes for S-Vt-DO-OCN.  The OCN (=) DO.  

We went over Charts E and F and I showed the kids how to complete their QeQ.  Then we did it together!  We did the question confirmation for the above sentence and then completed the QeQ.  It took us awhile to finish it but I hope that it helps the kids know how to do it.  

A suggestion: if you have a first year Essentials student, or one that is struggling no matter what year, go back to the first weeks in your EEL guide and choose sentences from those weeks to complete on the QeQ.  Build confidence before moving to more challenging sentences.  I have complete confidence that our kids can do this!  

HOMEWORK - Tasks 1-6 ATS and Review Charts E, F and N

IEW -  We learned about #5 Clausal Openers this week.  Start using www.asia.(wu)b to begin sentences.  We talked through a few on the board.

When using a #5 clausal opener, be sure to follow it with a comma.  

We also began working with Unit 7 - Inventive Writing - writing a paper without source texts.  I told the kids that we would be writing a paper on... paper.  We listed all the things we know about paper - kinds, weight, uses, where it comes from, etc.  We chose 2 topics and wrote KWO on those topics.  

Then I explained to the kids that they would be doing this very thing for the next 2 weeks - Inventive Writing on the topic "Hopes and Dreams".  The prompt in the HBW book is on the Statue of Liberty and how she is a symbol of hopes and dreams for those who immigrate to America.  The kids are to choose a broad topic on what their hopes and dreams are, make a list of what they know about that topic, then choose 2 sub-topics to write their KWO on those.  

I hope this will be a fun paper to write. It's purely about what they think about their future. Next week we will add the Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs to this paper and complete it.

We divided into our groups and filled out POWER SENTENCE posters using details listed on the posters.  I think the kids really enjoyed this!  We will do it again soon!

HOMEWORK - Choose a topic based on your kids "Hopes and Dreams for your future".  Work on the two paragraphs and KWO.

PASSWORD: Demonstrative Pronouns - this, that, these, those

Have a great week!!

Essentials - Week 15

Hello there!  Another week in the books - it's moving so quickly!

EEL - New chart this week!

Structure: Complex

Purpose: Interrogative

Pattern: S-Vt-IO-DO

We reviewed what makes a Complex sentence and how to make an Interrogative sentence.

1. Add a ? to the end of the sentence.

2. Add an Interrogative Pronoun at the beginning.

3. Add a Helping Verb to the beginning of the sentence (change the tense of the main verb).

We used the following sentence to practice:

Jesus, who made you a home, made me a crown.

The kids seemed to grasp the ways to make an interrogative sentence.  

We moved on from there to discussing Chart N - Verb Anatomy for to have.  We started by listing all the 'to have' verbs and the 'to be' verbs.  We also listed the singular and plural pronouns. I told the kids that there was a formula for verb anatomy - you just have to look at what tense you're trying to figure out.

Simple tense - no changes.

Perfect tense - form of 'to have' + past participle

Progressive tense - form of 'to be' and present participle

Perfect Progressive tense - 'to have' + 'been' + present                                                                                      participle

I enjoyed figuring this out with the kids.  I hope they understood what was going on.  Being able to complete Chart N will help them immensely in the long run as they write and as they begin to learn foreign languages.

We also talked about and worked out tasks 5 & 6 of the ATS.

Task 5 is changing the structure and purpose of sentences.  

Task 6 is the Quid et Quo.  I tried to move quickly and help the kids understand the purpose of the QeQ - I hope they aren't too confused!  We will (hopefully) begin doing tasks 1-6 during class (if we don't run out of time each week).  :)

HOMEWORK:  Chart N (review K) and ATS tasks 1-6 on any sentence from EEL.  Start slow with sentences from the first few weeks.  Don't expect your kids to be able to do 1-6 if this is their first year.  Take it slow and help them to feel successful.

IEW: We talked further about fused outlines for the FoH project. I felt it was necessary for them to understand how the process should go. It is daunting and intimidating to do the paper and fully incorporate Unit 6 if it hasn't been completely explained. 

I demonstrated how to choose your source texts then your topics.  I showed how to read your texts to find info on ONE topic and write KWO on that topic then fuse the outlines together for ONE TOPIC. Doing the same for topics 2 and 3 then using the fused outlines to write the paper.  I hope I helped out in my explanation.

We also practiced writing a bibliography page.  The bibliography is part of the FoH paper - please help your kids find the info for their texts.  If you need help formatting your bibliography, or need to know if your source is legitimate, please use MLA Help Purdue OWL or Citation Generator

No paper due this week as we didn't follow the writing schedule that was put out.  We kind of followed our own path.  ;)

If you've not chosen your subject for your paper or your source texts, make that your focus this week.  Be proactive and begin now working on it.  Remind the kids that this isn't a last minute project to complete.  The sooner it's done, the better off they will be!

HOMEWORK:  Choose subject, source texts and topics!

PASSWORD: Chart N - Tenses - Simple, Perfect, Progressive, Perfect Progressive

Have a great weekend!

M

Essentials - Week 14

Good afternoon Emoms!  We had a fun day yesterday in class!  I hope you enjoyed it, too!

EEL - We reviewed from last week and added information about Verbs.

Structure - Complex
Purpose - Imperative
Pattern - S-Vt-IO-DO

Reviewing our sentence structure and pattern, we tried it out in the Imperative purpose. The Imperative purpose is a command. Remembering that the Imperative purpose has an implied 2nd person (you) as the subject.  

         Jesus made me a crown - to - (you) Make me a crown. 

We began studying about Verbs and Verb Anatomy, specifically Active and Passive Verb Voice.  I dropped the papers on the floor and described how I dropped the papers (active voice) and how the papers were dropped (passive voice). 

Active voice - the subject does the action

Passive voice - the action is done to the subject.

We read the blueprint for changing active to passive voice on page 221 and tried out the formula on a few sentences.  I think the kids began to understand how to change the voice. Work on this at home with some simple sentences to help cement the understanding.

We also did our ATS this week on the #3 sentence from week 14. Next week, week 15, we will begin adding on tasks #5 and 6.  We will take it slow and easy.  Show your kids what #5 and 6 involve and hopefully it won't be such a shock.  :)

HOMEWORK - New chart - DD (passive voice: to love).  We didn't get to it in class but it has examples of the passive voice. Review charts A, E, H, I, L, M.  Chart Challenge!!

IEW - We read our papers in our groups this week.  I heard a lot of encouragement from each other - great job!

We played Sentence Stretch this week and it was great fun!  I enjoyed hearing the kids getting excited about filling in the words/clauses to stretch our sentence.  We will do this again!

We are still in Unit 6 and multiple sources.  There are 2 choices for source texts this week - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.  Choose which one your child wants to write about and have at it!

I introduced 2 new sentence openers - #3 - -ly adverbs and #4 - -ing openers.  They are basically what you see.  You start the sentence with an -ly adverb or an -ing verb. Using the -ing, the subject must be doing the -inging.  The -ing opener will be attached to a phrase and be followed by a comma and a complete sentence. 

Next week, week 15, I need to know who your child is writing about for FoH.  I'll have a list of everyone's names and they can add their subject to it.  

HOMEWORK - Lesson 17 or 18 in the HBW for your paper this week. Finalize your FoH topic and begin gathering sources.

PASSWORD: Definition of Active/Passive voice.

Active voice: subject does the action

Passive voice: the action is done to the subject

Have a great week! 

Essentials - Week 13

Welcome back!  It's time to jump right back in where we left off!

I explained to the kids about our semester Chart Challenge.  We will have an epic Nerf gun war and other rewards IF they complete the following number of charts:

250 charts - everyone receives 25 Nerf darts

500 charts - everyone receives 50 Nerf darts

750 charts - Nerf war and ice cream

1,000 charts - Nerf war, ice cream and taco bar at my house!

Encourage your kids to complete as many charts as they can! If you use the Chart Tracker it will make it a lot easier and you can keep the charts at home for posterity!  ;)  If you have questions, please ask!

EEL - New structure and pattern!

Structure - Complex

Purpose - Declarative and Exclamatory

Pattern - S-Vt-IO-DO

We started class reviewing S-Vt-DO pattern and then morphed it into S-Vt-IO-DO.  Doing this made it easy to understand the new pattern.

Remember: an IO is a noun or pronoun that answers the question to whom or for whom.  It does not receive the action of the Vt.  There has to be a DO to have an IO. The IO will come between the Vt and the DO. 

                       SN     Vt       IO  aa    DO

                    Jesus  made  me   a   crown.

Jesus made a crown for whom? me - IO

We started discussing the Complex Structure as well.  We reviewed Independent Clauses by referring back to the Simple and Compound structures.  Then we discussed dependent/subordinate clauses. Independent clauses have a S-V and can stand alone as a sentence (makes complete sense).  A dependent/subordinate clause also has a S-V but is dependent on the Independent clause to make sense.  The dependent clause makes a statement or answers a question about the independent clause.

Tom, who loves animals, owns a Shetland sheepdog.

While 'who loves animals' could stand on its own as an interrogative question, it is a dependent clause in this sentence because it is describing Tom.  It is an adjectival clause.

Two kinds of clauses:

Adjectival clauses begin with a relative pronoun and usually begin with who or which.  

Adverbial clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions - www.asia.wub - and answer the Adverb questions. 

If our kids can begin recognizing who/which and www.asia.wub in sentences, they will immediately KNOW that they are looking at a clause and will be able to identify what kind and label it as such!  So exciting!

I don't have a picture of the chart I made but here is the picture that I based mine on:

We also discussed Phrases.  In the most simple terms, Phrases do not contain a S-V.  There can be adjectival, adverbial or noun phrases.  A good example of a phrase is a Prepositional Phrase.  

In the garden, over the hedge, under the water

We used the #3 sentence in our weekly practice sentences to review all we had learned that day.  We did the question confirmation for both the Independent and dependent clauses and discovered that they each had their own pattern. Learning all this info will really stretch our kids' thinking! 

HOMEWORK - Moms - please read through the upcoming week's lesson.  It will benefit you and your child both if you are aware of what is coming in class!

Kids - New Chart - M - Complex structure.  Work on this as much as you can.  The quicker they learn the structure, the more successful they will be as they write their papers.  Many charts to review this week - A, E, F, H, I, L

IEW - New Unit - Unit 6 - Summarizing Multiple Sources

In preparation of writing their FoH papers, we will be focusing on different aspects of writing a 'research' paper.  This week, summarizing multiple sources is the first step.

I reminded the kids that when they are finding their facts for their KWO they don't need to write *everything* down.  We are SOME-a-rizing the information.  They only need to use some of the info, what they think is interesting or important from the source text. 

We began by reading through the first text about the Civil War and the kids highlighted or underlined what sentences they wanted to use. We completed a KWO on the board together with the facts they shared.  Then we read the second text and did the same thing. 

After we completed the second KWO I described to the kids how to fuse their KWOs into one KWO using facts from each outline. We decided on the info we thought was most interesting or important.  I showed the kids that they didn't have to use their KWO in the order they had written them.  We combined sentences together if they had the same info in them.  We didn't get to writing a topic sentence or a clincher though.

I think it helped them to see that they are not bound by the KWO they create.  They have the freedom to write what they want based on the KW they chose but they can rearrange their sentences to write a paper that expresses what they want to say. It leads to such freedom in writing!

I neglected to discuss the #3 opener - the -ly adverb.  Having used -ly adverbs in writing already this year, I don't think it will be a problem for the kids to begin using this in their papers.  It's probably already happening without the kids realizing it! :)

HOMEWORK - Moms - help your kids read and write their KWO if they didn't copy the one in class.  Use the checklist on page 130 to include as many dress ups as your child is able to do. Remember EZ+1!

Kids - read the source texts, highlight or underline for your KWO, fuse your KWOs together and write that paper!  You can do it! 

PASSWORD - Adjectival clauses have who/which; Adverbial clauses have www.asia.wub

Have a great week!  See you on Wednesday! :)

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!  :)