Students should be researching for their debates.

Students should be researching for their debates.

Where do you get support for your position in the ant debate?
1. Examine each statement from the story.
    - Examine the arguments each character gives.
    - Research the truthfulness of each statement.

2. Research ants, specifically, the type of ant in the story.
    - There are good, helpful ants in Nature.
    - There are also some deadly ants.
    - Can a case be made that some types of ants deserve to die?

3. Research each character's motivation.
    - Why does the boy feel he must squish the ant?
    - Why is the ant arguing with the boy?

4. Research both sides of the debate.
    - I said in class that weak supports will actually give points to the opponent.
    - Be ready for the arguments your opponent will make.  Have supports ready!
   
(You get a point for repeating the point the opponent made.  Then you get points for rebutting the point.  "My opponent said this ... . *point earned* He is wrong because ... *point earned* and ... *point earned * and ... *point earned*."  So weak arguments cause you to loose points!)

We researched in the library today

Here is what we worked on today.

Homework:  The better students will be researching whether the boy in the story should squish the ant in the story.

I collected the PTA Reflections pieces today

Have a nice break... because December will be quite a month!  Please see the due dates on my website. 

PTA Reflection contest piece is due tomorrow!

Homework:  PTA Reflection Piece is due tomorrow.  They must have the following:
1. The picture or whatever they made.
2. The 250 word (max) written piece explaining how their piece fits "Together we can..."
3. The completed and signed PTA student entry form.

Today:
We read Hey, Little Ant.  This is the beginning of out ant debate project.
Here are some upcoming due dates:

Dec. 3: All research in library will be done
Dec. 6: Note check, and bibliography (25 points)
Dec. 10: Outline due (25 points)
Dec. 13: First debates begin (100 points)
Dec. 14: Rough draft of essay due (25 points)
Dec 17:  Quiz Unit 5
Dec. 20: Ant essay due! (100 points)

I have paired the students up.  I explained that  only the winner of the debate is able to receive an A for the debate.  If you are interested in knowing who your child will compete with and in what order, please see the bottom of the assignment page.

PTA Reflection contest piece is due Tuesday

I found this link on Reddit.  Give these pictures a look if you want to be amazed by beautiful photography.

Go here if you need to know what is due.

Sentence Structure Quiz Friday

I put the notes from class on MrBoZ.com.
Here are the terms I reviewed in class.

Sentence Structure
  Complete subject-
  Complete predicate-
  Simple subject
  Simple predicate or verb
Verb phrase
Action verb
Helping verbs
Linking verbs
Compound subjects
Compound verbs
Compound sentence
Fragment
Run-on
Sentence types:
     Declarative
     Interrogative
     Exclamatory
     Imperative

November 17, 2010

Homework:
I gave the students a worksheet for subjects and verbs in unusual order. 

Today:
We are continuing to practice identifying subjects and verbs in sentences.  The main goal for doing this is to eliminate run-on sentences and fragments.  In order to know where to place a comma in a compound sentence, students need to be able to identify that there are, in fact, two complete sentences. 

But more importantly, I want to give students the pleasure of looking at all the words in a sentence to find subjects and verbs.  It's strange.  I don't think teaching grammar is terribly important, yet some things do need to be taught.  I can't not teach grammar either.  I try to find a balance.  Sentences are made up of words.  Every word has a name and a function.  The words can be arrange in various ways to create interesting sentences.  Much of this is learned through reading.  We pick up on the patterns we read.  Teaching grammar is a way of explicating those patterns we pick up on as we read and try to emulate.

I do not know why I felt the need to say all that.  :)

HB class narratives have been graded

As of now, all the narratives are graded and the second marking period grades are in.  I work hard to keep the grades as up to date as possible. (I have a few unit 4 quizzes waiting to be scored, though.)

Homework:
I gave 3, 4, 5, and HB sections a quick worksheet to do on compound subjects and verbs.  If today's responder daily drill is any indication, they need practice.

PTA Reflections pieces are due Tuesday.

November 15, 2010

Section 6 narratives are graded.  The grades are updated on HAC.  
I will have section HB narratives done tomorrow... I hope.

Homework:  PTA Reflections Contest is due next Tuesday.  I collected the proposal today.

Here is what we covered in class today:

Lesson 3: Simple Predicates, or Verbs (page 10)

The simple predicate, or verb, is the main word or words in the complete predicate.

Prairie pioneers lived in sod houses.
Few trees grew in the prairie grasslands.

A verb is a word used to express an action, a condition, or a state of being.
Linking verbs- am, is, are, was, were, appears, seems, feels, and others

He is the president.
He was happy to be alive.
Pioneers made sod bricks.

Practice and Apply
1. My great-grandparents lived in a sod house, or soddy, on the great Kansas prairie.
2. They traveled west from their home in Tennessee.
3. The men used nearly and acre of sod for the house.
4. The home had only two windows and one door.
5. My family built their soddy in the side of a hill.
6. Sometimes the cows ate through the roof of the house.
7. Once, a cow fell through the roof into the house.
8. Heavy rains at times soaked through the sod.
9. The dirt floor turned into a giant mud puddle.
10. Still, sod houses protected my family from the harsh winters.

Lesson 4: Verb Phrases (page 12)

A verb phrase is made up of a main verb and one or more helping verbs.
A “smart house” may cook your food for you.

Main verb and Helping Verbs
A main verb can stand by itself as the simple predicate.
Computer networks run smart houses.
The network is the brain of the house. (linking verb)

Common helping verbs
Forms of be- am, is, are, was were, be, been (sometimes a linking verb)
Forms of do- do, does, did
Forms of have- has, have, had
Others- may, might, can, should, could, would, shall, will


Practice and Apply
1. The first “smart house” was developed in the early 1980s.
2. Its appliances could communicate with each other.
3. Suppose you were running the vacuum cleaner.
4. The noise might keep you from hearing the phone.
5. In that situation, the house would stop the vacuum cleaner automatically.
6. Those with disabilities may benefit the most from a smart house.
7. The house will perform some of the tasks beyond their capability.
8. For example, meals could be brought to a person’s bed.
9. The food will have been prepared by a smart kitchen.
10. Surely, you can imagine other uses for a smart house.

Lesson 5: Compound Sentence Parts

A compound subject is made up of two or more subjects that share the same verb.

Salyut 1 and Skylab were the first space stations.
American astronauts or Russian cosmonauts lived aboard the stations.

A compound verb is made up of two or more verbs that have the same subject.

The Skylab crew worked and slept in close quarters.
They worked hard but slept little.

Practice and Apply (page15)
1. Space stations and orbiting platforms are our first step away from Earth.
2. In the future, we may design and build outer-space cities.
3. Several nations or international groups could pool (consolidate) their resources.
4. They could create and manage a colony on the moon.
5. Minerals and other raw materials would be shipped to colonies in space.
6. We already design and plan model cities.
7. In one design, two huge cylinders and their solar panels form the main body of the space city.
8. The cylinders rotate and create an artificial gravity.
9. Special greenhouses shelter and sustain the city’s food.
10. These cities or other space colonies could bring is closer to the stars.

PTA Reflections proposal due Monday

Grades are updated in all classes for the 2nd MP.  Please check HAC.  However, sections 3, 4, and 5 are the most accurate because I finished grading the narrative essays for them.  I will get to the other two classes ASAP.

PTA Proposal Due Monday
Here are some things to think about for Monday's proposal. You could also check out the winners from last year here.

PTA Reflections Contest theme: “Together we can…”

1. Make a list of 25 things that can be done together.

2. Pick one of the items from your list.
         Explain what the activity would look like if it were not done together but alone.

3. What is so special about being/doing something together?
        Free think about how you feel about “togetherness.”
       What is togetherness?
       Who needs togetherness?
       Why do we need togetherness?
       Where do you see togetherness?
       When do we need togetherness?

4. What type of art project could you do to demonstrate how you feel about togetherness?
       What could you photograph? What would be in the picture?
       Could you write a poem about a moment?
       How about a poem that paints a picture?
       Can you make something graphic on your computer?

Here is a sample explanation from last year’s theme, “Beauty is…”


"Beauty is not about being young with a perfect complication. It is about you, as an individual and how you treat others... My great grandmother who is 89 truly defines the word beauty. She has lived a very long life, has seen and experienced things we read about in history class. She grew up on a farm with nine brothers and sisters. Since she was one of the oldest she always took care of everything and everyone. As she got older her family became smaller. Her children died of cancer along with her husband. But none of that stopped her. She still always looked after everyone. She would give my Aunts money if they needed, let them stay with her. She also took my mom in when she was just eleven. My Granny was an amazing person. To me she is the most beautiful person, not just by looks, but how she was as an individual." (156 words)  -From the PTA Reflections Photography winners

PTA Reflections proposal due Monday

Homework:
Quiz 4 on Friday
PTA Reflections Proposal due Monday

Please include the following in the proposal:

1. Together we can ... what?  Example: Together we can bake cookies.
2. Explain the type of project you will be making.  Include your plans to get the project done.
3. Explain what message you want to convey about the theme "Together we can."  What do you hope the viewer will think or feel about togetherness?

This should be on a separate sheet of paper.  The explanation should be about 250 words.  You can think of this as a dry run for the real 250 word piece that will be handed in with the entry on November 23.

If you have any questions about the project, please see my web page. 

I handed out the requirements for each type of art piece.  I made links on the project web page.

November 9, 2010

Homework:
Completing the Sentence Unit 4
PTA Reflections idea proposal due November 15th.  (More details tomorrow.)

Today:
Entered the Choosing the Right Word into the responders.
I had the students think about what "togetherness" means for the PTA contest.
We discussed the following notes on sentence structure.


Notes for Chapter 1: The Sentence and its parts

Lesson 1
A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.

Every complete sentence has two basic parts:
A subject and a predicate

Complete subject- all the words that tell whom or what the sentence is about.
Some architects bring nature indoors.
(Who or what does something?)

Complete Predicate- verb and all the words that complete the verb’s meaning.
Some architects bring nature indoors.
(What does the subject do?)

Professional Model: (find simple subject and simple verb)
This dreamer from the prairie states didn’t copy other people’s designs.



Find the simple subject and simple predicate.
1. Frank Lloyd Wright designed an unusual home in the Pennsylvania woods.

2. The owners called the house Fallingwater.

3. Sections of the house jut over a waterfall.

4. Its stone walls blend in with the natural surroundings.

5. More than 130,000 people visit the site each year.

6. Tourists can see a very different house near Spring Green, Wisconsin.

7. The architect Alex Jordan built House on the Rock on a column of sandstone.

8. Its many rooms contain unique furnishings.

9. An automated band plays music all day for the tourists.

10. This odd house attracts half a million visitors a year.

November 8, 2010

Homework:
Choosing the Right Word Unit 4
PTA Reflections due Nov. 23

Today:
We finished learning about the four types of sentences and took a quick assessment on the responders.
We reviewed the vocab words.
We brainstormed ideas for the PTA contest.  The students made a list of things we can do together.  I hope this stimulated them to think about what they can photograph.  See my web page for details.

I took this picture at Fair Hill this weekend.  I showed the students some of the other pictures I took yesterday.  I want the students to try to take an artistic picture for the contest.

Types of photos

Homework:
Pictionaries 11-20 and synonyms unit 4 vocabulary.

As part of getting students ready to do the PTA Reflections Contest, I discussed how I divide pictures along a continuum.  It ranges from Documenting to Artistic/Documenting to Artistic based on the picture's purpose.  On the documenting side, the pictures are there to, well, document.  They are plain.  On the other extreme, the pictures are artistic; they are pieces of art that contain colors or lighting or a variety of other characteristics that make the picture more than just a picture.  In the middle is artistic documenting.  These are pictures that document, but they have artistic qualities.  See the pictures below.  I will try to get students to think about composing a shot rather than just snapping a picture.

I am excited to see what art form the students choose.  I must confess, I am hoping that students take pictures.  (FYI- Students will be responsible for printing their pictures.)






 This picture is artistic.

This picture is artistic/ documenting.

This picture is documenting.





For more examples of pictures, we explored MSNBC's The Week in Pictures.

"Together we can..."

Homework:
Pictionaries 1-10 Unit 4

"Together we can..." is the theme for this year's PTA Reflections Contest.  I am getting the students started on the contest over the next few days.  Then I will let them work on the project at home.  The piece will be due November 23.  On that day, students will turn in their piece, an application, and a 250 word explanation of how their piece explains the theme.

Here are some links:
My assignment page for the contest.
The National PTA Reflections Contest page

We are almost done all the recordings.

I plan to post what I have tonight if possible.
There is no homework.
In my section 4 class, I set up a few presentation competitions.  Guess who won in each picture!
(They all did nice jobs, but one had to win.)