We continued to research in the library.

What we did is listed on this page.

Students are encouraged to research on their own.

Grades are updated on HAC

I entered two participation grades and the notebook check from the sentence structure test a little while ago.  There are a few students that did not turn theirs in to be checked.   I was pretty liberal with the grading of the notebooks.  I wanted to see that students labeled lessons and kept everything basically neat.  As organized as I was in presenting the notes, the students are not as organized.  It is a skill they develop over time... just as I did.  The grade represents how I think they are progressing in the skill of note taking.

Ant Research Continues

          Today's goal was to establish which ant the students think is worthy to be squished or not squished (If there is such a thing that deserves to be squished will be debated later!)  After the chart was finished, I lead the students through the first twp paragraphs of the article.  I showed them how they are to read every article through the eyes of BOTH positions.  I also showed them how to not plagiarize.  They should not have two windows open side by side.  They should read the article on one window and then switch to the other window to write the notes from their memory.  I will be discussing bibliography on Friday. 

Tuesday, November 29: How do you take notes?

1. Be sure to finish the chart from yesterday.

                    15 minutes

                    ***Print out and hand in.***

      2.   Facts about ants worksheet

                    Open and save this document: Facts_about_ants_worksheet_2011.doc

                    Go to this web page: Facts about ants

                  

                    Gather details that both sides will use in the debate.

Research week is important for the ant debate!

In two of my classes, the opponents sat across from each other.

Here are the links we used today:

Calendar

Ant Debate

Today in the Library

Should the ant in the story get squished by the boy in the story?

More than likely, your argument for either position is going depend on knowing a few important details about ants and their behaviors.  Furthermore, since this is a debate and you need to be prepared, you need to be aware of what your opponent might say.

Goals for this week in the library:

1. Figure out what type of ant we are dealing with.  (Just do Terminix to start.)

            Find details about that ant that support your position.

            Find details about the ant that your opponent might use against you.

    Figure out other types of ants it COULD be. 

Be aware of the behaviors of other types of ants.

2. Determine the truthfulness of the arguments the boy and the ant use.

3. Examine the motivations of the boy and the ant for their behaviors.

4. Compile notes from trusted sources.

5. List those sources to show that you did not just make up these facts.

            We will make a bibliography. (www.easybib.com)

If you take one note, write down the title of the article, author, and the site address!

Remember, for maximum points in your debate, you must mention book, movie, and articles by title!

Have a nice Thanksgiving break.

Students should come back ready to research for the ant debate.
-MrBoZ

The web page for the ant debate is up.

We have begun the ant debate.  All the information you will need is on this page.

We will begin research in the library after the break.  This week we are watching The Ant Bully.

If you want to see who your child is debating, go to the link above and scroll to the bottom. 

Due Dates: (each of these is a grade)

Dec. 2: All research in library done

Dec. 5: Note check, and bibliography

Dec. 8: Outline due

Dec. 15: First debates begin

Dec. 14: Rough draft of essay due;

Dec. 21: Ant essay due!

                Typed

                     Times New Roman 12 font

                     single spaced,

                     normal margins

                     Bibliography

                     No pictures in the essay

I told the students that they need to trust me.  I will get them prepared for the debate, but they need to do the footwork.  

Here are the State Standards that I will be covering in this unit.

Grades are updated on HAC

Today we took the sentence structure quiz.  ( I also handed back the essays now for sections 4 and 5).  If you go on HAC, you will see a few grades for this MP.  It is early, though. 

We are beginning a big unit now that will last until the holiday break.  There will be lots of grades in December.  The second MP is my hardest.  I hope the students can stay focused!

Have a nice weekend.

Sentence Structure Quiz Friday

Homework:
Quiz on Sentence Structure
Be sure to have the notes we have taken.  They will be collected.
They can be used on the test.  They can be copied from my web page.

Today:
We took the quiz on Unit 5 vocabulary.
I reviewed some of the key terms that the students need for the sentence quiz tomorrow.
Then I began the next unit: the ant debate.

When I get time, I will put up the web page for the ant debate.  I have done this for years.  In a nutshell, the students are going to argue whether the boy in the story Hey, Little Ant should or should not step on the ant in the story.  By the Thanksgiving break, the students will be paired up to compete against each other.  After the break, we will start researching for the debates.  However, before the break, we will watch the movie The Ant Bully.  Over the next few weeks, I will be teaching them how to create a strong argument.  I will also be teaching them how to defeat their opponent's arguments.  Trust me, this is a challenging but fun unit.  I have students that come to me years after having me and they still remember how they did in the debate!

More details will follow. 

Quiz on Vocab 5 tomorrow

Homework:
Sections 3, HB, and 6 should make flashcards to study for the quiz

Today:
We discussed the following notes on finding subjects and verbs in unusual order.  Most times, the subject is followed by a verb which describes the subject or tells what it does.  In these sentence, the verb is before the subject, which can trip students up.

Lesson 7: Subjects in Unusual Order

In a question, the subject usually comes AFTER the verb or between parts of the verb phrase.

            Is she ready? (Yes, she is ready.)

            Does the weather look good for the game?

                                          (Yes, the weather does look good for the game.)

To find the subject, turn the question into a statement.

            Are you staying home? (Yes, you are staying home.)

The subject of a command, or imperative sentence, is usually “you.”

            (You) Meet us at the concession stand.

            (You) Bring money for snacks.

To find the subject in a sentence with “here” or “there,” look for the verb and ask the question who or what.

            Here comes your all state championship team. (Your all state team comes here.)

            There goes our best rebounder. (Our best rebounder goes there.)  (Go to page 20.)

Just another grammar day.

Homework:
Section 6 should finish flashcards for unit 5.
All classes should be done unit 5 vocab unit.

Quiz Unit 5 on Thursday
Quiz on Sentence Structure on Friday

Today:
We just pressed on studying the four types of sentences.
We also identified if a sentence is a fragment, run-on, or a complete sentence. 
We still have two more days to get ready for Friday.

Two quizzes this week.

Homework:
Completing the Sentence Unit 5 Vocab
Vocab quiz Thursday
Sentence Structure test Friday

Over the next few days, I will be plowing through the sentence structure lessons.  It will not be exciting, and students will need to pay attention.  Here are the items that students must be able to identify on Friday.  I will be giving them a paragraph with underlined sections.  They will have to say what the underlined section is.

Sentence Structure test Friday

Simple subject

Simple predicate or verb

Complete subject-

Complete predicate-

Verb phrase      Verb and its helping verbs, creates the verb tense

Action verb        run, jump, play

Helping verbs   (notes)

Linking verbs     the state of “being”    I am happy.  I am the teacher.

Compound subjects             S and SV.  My brother and my sister jumped.

Compound verbs                 S V and V.  My brother jumped and played.

Compound sentence                      SV, and SV My brother cried, and my sister laughed.

Fragment                               S missing V

Run-on                              SV SV missing proper punctuation to join

                                                        My brother cried and my sister laughed.

Sentence types:

Declarative               SV.

Interrogative            SV?

Exclamatory             SV!

Imperative               SV.     SV!

If you can find the subjects and verbs, everything else follows.

That slimy little hairy alien waddled across the purple bridge because she was blue.

Homework:
None

Today:
I took the students to the computer lab to practice the idea that sentences are made of words, and each word has a purpose.  If you go to this page, you will see a refrigerator with magnets on it.  I first had the students divide the words by color.  Then we discussed the purpose of each group of words.  Then I had them build five sentences using words from each group.  I plan to use the magnets in class this week to reinforce the lessons from today.  Check it out.  (Some of the sentences the students created were crazy!)

November 9, 2011

Homework: 

Choosing the Right Word Unit 5

That is all.

-MrBoZ

Sentence unit is rolling along.

Homework:
Synonyms unit 5

Today:
We finished discussing complete subject and complete predicate.  We are almost done lesson two of eight. 

The grades have been entered.  Done.

We begin two weeks of sentence structure study.

The 1st MP grades are done on HAC.  What is there is the grade.  I round up at .8, not below.  There is no extra credit. 

Homework:
Pictionaries Unit 5
(You can check the calendar on www.mrboz.com to see other due dates.)

Today:
We began our sentence structure unit.  You can find the notes for the unit on my web page.
Today we only got done the notes for lesson 1. 

I posted the narrative recordings for downloading

http://www.mrboz.com/MrBoZ/Narratives_2011_Download_Page.html

If you are interested in hearing your child read his/her narrative piece, go to the link above.  You might be able to just click your child's link and listen.  However, if you want to keep the recording, you should right-click and save the file on your computer. 

I wanted to put all the recordings up, so I just used initials as identifiers.  Please note that it is Last Initial then First Initial.  It took a lot of effort to make and post all of these, but it is worth it. 

FYI- I still have to enter three participation grades into HAC.  Other than that, almost all the grades are done.

The marking period is over.

The grades are updated on the HAC.  I still have to enter a few participation grades and a few make-up assignments for a few students.  I plan to do this Friday.  But I have entered the quizzes from Thursday and the scores from the oral presentations.

I will not be able to grade the narratives from sections 4 and 5 for this marking period.  That grade will have to be the first grade for the second marking period.

Next week we will start a short two week unit on sentence structure.  Students will be expected to bring a notebook each day to take notes.  We will also be starting vocab unit 5. 

The students will have a sub on Friday.  Shhhh.  (My daughter needs to go to the doctor.)

Still recording.

Homework:
Finish the vocab unit
Study for Thursday's quiz.

Section HB recording grades are on HAC. 

I am currently half way through grading the section 3 essays.  Those grades should be up before tomorrow.