Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Essentials - Week 14

Good Morning,
 
Great class yesterday of student and parent involvement!  Encourage your student this week to continue studying charts: A, E, H, I, L, M, and new chart DD.  We looked at CC &  DD in class but we just realized CC, active voice, is not on this weeks lesson. 
 
Attached is the calendar with our warm-up/review game and math rotation.  Gill family is next week:) Review time is so important and grabs the students attention.  Let's begin 5 till 1 so that they have enough time to review and we can begin class at 1:05.
 
For IEW, please go back to your TWSS and look over Unit 6 to get a better understanding on this lesson.  On the training videos, Unit 6 example was on elephants and we had several small pamphlets for our sources.  If you need to still watch videos please let me know and we can get them to you.
 
Please read if your student is researching a 3rd Source for IEW:
I think I dreamed about IEW last night:)  I woke up this morning and realized I mixed up the optional extra source.  If your student wants to do a 3rd source, it's not just topic 3/paragraph 3.  It will be the 3rd source that you will pull material from for each paragraph. Page 69 in the SB explains it and calls this Level B.   See the attachment for fused outline.
 
Blessings in your homeschool week,
Michelle
 
 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Week 11

 
 
Awesome job today!  Great job working hard in class and studying at home.  We have one more week to go so stay strong and continue to do all study work.
 
Essentials:
 
Make sure you work with practice sentences each day this week.  Just change the words to make additional sentences or use sentences from handouts in class.
 
We didn't talk about charts today but please make sure you study them.
 
Writing:
 
Encourage your student to be creative and have fun with their Unit V picture writing.  Go through the checklist and add or take away as needed for your student.
 
Attached is vocabulary words typed out to help students study.
 
 
***Reminder: Class will be pushed back next week, 1:15-3:15 because of our Thanksgiving feast.
 
Have a Blessed Week,
Michelle
 
 
 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Wow!  Our fall semester is almost finished with only 2 more classes to go. We have learned so much!  Keep of the good work and focus on finishing strong by drilling charts and completing work. 
 
Password:  Linking Verbs for all and add Helping Verbs only if you have the Linking Verbs memorized.
 
Math/Grammar Games:  Hebert Family
 
Essentials:
 
The EEL Guide goes through the Adjective Chart L and our new pattern S-Vl-PA in detail.  Read this with your student when you study Adjectives and S-Vl-PA if you want to have a better understanding of how the different types work.  It has a lot of great examples.
 
Writing:
 
*Study Vocab this week.  We will play a game in class next week.
 
*Have fun with the Stylistic Techniques.  Brainstorm on a whiteboard and write silly words this week along with words to be used in their paper.  Make writing from pictures a positive experience.  If you are not sure how to explain one of the sentence openers, dress-ups, or decorations use examples to teach from TWSS, Student Book, and the Student Binder(Resource Notebook).  All 3 sources have examples of each.
 
Writing Assignment:        (Please pick what is best for your student.)
 
-Continue working on Unit 4, Vikings
 
or
 
Assign 1 Paper-Write a 3 paragraph paper for the next 2 weeks on our new Unit 5. Pick pg. 99, The Magic Lamp, or pg. 104, The Knight and the Dragon.  Write this week and next week focus on stylistic techniques.
 
or
 
Assign 2 Papers-This week, write a 3 paragraph paper on The Magic Lamp, pg.99.  Next week, write a second paper on The Knight and the Dragon, pg. 104.
 
 
With Joy,
Michelle
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sent from Windows Mail
 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Week 9

Next Week's Password: Linking Verbs  (Sing to Happy Birthday)
Review and Math Game: Diliberto Family
 
Essentials:
 
Add to Checklist:
Practice Sentences 1-3 and for older students do 4-5, which are more advanced.  Remember this week's structure is Compound so to make this easier for your student, just do half of the sentence or 1 independent clause if needed.
 
Continue Memorizing Prepositions.  We will sing them in a circle where each student says one preposition.
 
Study Chart K, to be,  but don't worry about understanding.  You will notice information from Verb chart and Pronoun chart on K.
 
Extra Examples of S-Vl-PN:   
Charlotte is an elderly spider but Wilbur is a youthful pig.
Sage and nutmeg are favorite fall spices.
Rembrandt is the artist and this painting is a masterpiece.
Jane is a girl.
Micah is a soccer player.
Ethan is a drummer.
 
Writing:
 
Continue writing 1, 2, or 3 paragraphs on the Vikings.  In class, we only  read the source for the 2nd paragraph on page 58 and went through the practice paragraph on page 54.  
 
Checklist are attached again.  They are set-up in Excel so you can edit them as needed.  Print Landscape.  Scale down or up as needed.
 
If you have any questions please call or text.
Have a blessed and joyful week,
Michelle
 
Sent from Windows Mail
 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Week 8

 
 
 
Great job this week!  I loved seeing all the students (and parents) engaged and learning in class.  Thank you for your help, keeping the students on task, and cleaning.
 
Focus on encouraging your student this week to get through all there memory work.  If they continue on the path to mastering each chart, you will begin to see light bulbs go off as we dig deeper each week. 
 
Add to your checklist:
  1. Make sure you are adding practice sentences 1, 2, and 3 to your weekly checklist (found at the end of each lesson).  Students should task 1-4 with each and 5 and 6 for a challenge.  Our checklist says to do forum sentences or Our Mother Tongue sentences which are great but more advanced like practice sentence 4 and 5.  If your student is not overwhelmed after doing the practice sentences, add what the checklist says: forum sentence or Our Mother Tongue and the more advanced practice sentence 4 and 5.
  2.  Add more charts to drill if needed.  Our checklist alternates memory work and charts.  I'm noticing that we need to do chart work each day because it's just to much to grasp in 2 days.  So, on the memory work days, you could simply add a chart.
 
Password for week 9:  What does www.asia.b stand for? 
 
Homework:  Preread the lesson. I know we are all busy but this was recommended to pass along to help you, the teachers, to get the most out of class and Essentials.   Please read the lesson for Tuesday's class so that you can review the new material, have questions ready,  and be prepared to teach Wednesday at home.  You can do it!
 
Mid-Semester Check:If you would like a Mid-Semester Check to answer questions, run through a lesson together, or work out details of Essentials, I am available to meet up to do that.  Last year, we planned a couple of evenings at a coffee shop but the times kept most from attending. 
 
Reminder:
No class November 12--Thanksgiving banquet
Make-up class November 19-- 9:00-11:00
 
Have an awesome week!
Blessings,
Michelle
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Week 6 Essentials

Congratulations! We made through 6 weeks of Essentials!!! 

Next week, October 1st, will be a break.  No CC.  Class will resume October 8.  I recommend completing your work this week so that the next week is truly a break or just a review week. :)

For Essentials:

Double Password:  What is a Compound Structure?  A compound sentence has 2 independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction 
What is a Coordinating Conjunction and Examples?  Chart H has definition and examples(FANBOYS)

Forgot to mention Test/Proof on page 109 in your EEL book. What I will do this week is just separate it out. We have 6 charts, A-F.  Wed, Thurs, and Fri we will do 2 charts each day.  Then on Monday, we will do a practice sentence from Week 3 or 4 lesson.  (After you read page 109, this will make sense.)  Make this fun and give a simple reward when done.  

Below is for Practice Sentence, Task 3- Question Confirmation, Memorize these questions:

Ask :     Who (verb)? Or What (verb)?   subject     

Ask :     What is being said about (subject)?  subject  verb

Ask :     (subject) (verb) what or  (subject) (verb)  whom?   answer     

* If there is no answer your verb is intransitive and you are done finding your sentence pattern.

* If there is an answer, then you must ask 2 more questions. (because it could be a Direct Object, but it could also be a Predicate Noun/Adjective)

Ask :     Can (DO) replace or describe (subject)? If no, answer is a DO, label verb transitive


For IEW:

Week 6 & 7- Our writing source will be Charlemagne and our TWSS Unit is on Unit IV, Summarizing References

Level A- 1 Paragraph for weeks 6 & 7, do page 42  

Level A- 2 Paragraphs for weeks 6 & 7, do pages 42, 46. (Skip page 44)

Level B- 3 Paragraphs for weeks 6 & 7, do pages 42, 44, 46

We have learned so many Stylistic Techniques: dress-ups, sentences openers, and decorations.  Remember that you can scale down by requiring only 2 dress-ups and omit the rest.


Have a great week off!  Please call if you have any questions.

Blessings, Michelle





 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Week 5

Hello Parents,

Password for next week: Name the 5 interrogative pronouns-
who, whom, whose, which, what
(Not "where" b/c that's an adverb -Thanks Jena!)

For Essentials:

Have fun this week reviewing charts A-F. Get dice out like class, give tokens or pennies/dimes/nickels for each correct answer, or let your student be the teacher and ask the questions.

For IEW:

We will continue with Unit III: Narratives Stories. You have options to scale up or down (1 or 3 paragraphs) with Genghis Khan pg.131 or continue working on The Sword in the Stone.

Everyone can add in some of our old and new stylistic techniques. This is a lot to add but if students practice each week then it will eventually become their natural way of writing. Several people asked question about how many stylistic techniques per paragraph. Just found some rules:
1) Minimum rule for dress-ups and sentence openers --1 of each per paragraph (only ones we covered)
2). Minimum rule for decorations-- 1 different decoration per paragraph, 4 per story max

*Remember to look at the 2013-2014 Schedule to help you focus on the right unit, source text, page, and stylistic technique for each week.

Ya'll are wonderful! Thanks for your help in class. Have a great week.

Blessings, Michelle
985-373-9225

P.S. Your invited to Fun Friday at St. Philip house.

Who: CC of Covington families
When: This Friday, September 20th
1:30-4:30ish
Where: 76021 Green Valley Road
Folsom 70437 (Off hwy 1078, very end of Green Valley)
Why: To be a community, encourage each other, and play:)
What to bring: drinks for your family & also a snack for a snack table