Tag Archives: nouns

Reteaching, Moving Forward, Beginning Bias

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Second and sixth periods had a bit of reteaching. (We looked at some of the ways we can determine a word’s part of speech.) We’re done with nouns, pronouns, and adjectives now, though, and we’ll move on to verbs tomorrow. We’ll finish up the whole parts of speech unit by the end of next week.

First period finished up verbs. Those linking verbs can be tricky, but I think we’ve got them down.

Fourth period went over yesterday’s test, then we began the new unit on bias and propaganda.

Homework
  • First, second, and sixth: none.
  • Fourth period: complete the lesson on bias (and take notes).

Test, More Review, And Linking

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First period began linking verbs. They’re tricky, so we’re taking our time.

Second and sixth periods worked on a review of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. It was something of an informal assessment to determine if we need any re-teaching.

Fourth period had their parts of speech test. The word is, it was a hard test.

Homework
  • First, second, and sixth periods: none.
  • Fourth period: none (except for the weekly writing assignment).
    (I know I said you’d have homework, but come on — after a big test? It can wait a day.)

Nouns and Assorted Parts of Speech

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First period completed pronouns, looking at how some words usually thought to be pronouns (indefinite and demonstrative) can also be adjectives depending on the context.

Second and sixth periods went through a super-quick review of nouns.

Fourth period completed the parts of speech review.

Homework
  • First and sixth periods: none.
  • Second period: answer the EQ (What are compound nouns?).
  • Fourth period:

Contracts and Parts of Speech

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First and fourth periods continued their work with parts of speech. First period went over nouns; fourth period completed verbs, covering phrasal verbs, auxiliary verbs, and linking verbs.

Second and sixth periods almost completed their class contracts. We’ll finish them up Monday.

Additionally, I introduced fourth-period students to the new weekly writing assignment.

Homework

Taking Notes

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First, second, and seventh periods continued with the procedures and rules for class. We also looked at how to take notes.

Fourth period began a lightning-quick review of the parts of speech. We’ll be having a test on them some time next week.

Homework
  • First, second, and sixth periods: none.
  • Fourth period: Find the notes for pronouns (on this site) and review them for class tomorrow.

Tests and More PASS Practice

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First, second, and seventh periods all had a test on nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. We spent the remainder of the time going over examples of PASS writing test responses, evaluating and discussing the individual essays’ strengths and weaknesses.

Fourth period took the final quiz on Romeo and Juliet and we continued watching the film version. We’ll be starting tomorrow with the balcony scene and finishing up Wednesday.

Homework
  • All classes: journal.

Nouns, Balconies, and Act 3

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First and seventh periods began a slow overview of the eight parts of speech, beginning with nouns today. We’ve neglected grammar this year, and now we’re going to remedy that. We’re continuing with the literature circles tomorrow.

Second period went over act three from Much Ado About Nothing. We’ll finish the play by the end of next week.

Fourth period finished Romeo and Juliet II.ii. We’ll slowly begin picking up the pace: we’ve become more comfortable with the text, and I’ve decided we’ll do some of it through home readings.

(New pictures of second and fourth periods at the gallery.)

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: continue reading your book (you’ll need to have all the work completed next Wednesday).
  • Second period: complete the study guide for act three.
  • Fourth period: answer the essay question on the R&J discussion forum.

Nouns and Antigone

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First, second, and seventh periods finished up working with specific nouns. We used a couple of examples to see the importance of and practice using specific nouns.

Fourth period continued with Antigone.

The Antigone Chorus

The Antigone Chorus

We also added a new point to the comprehension tips list we’re making. (I added one more to the list that we didn’t go over in class.)

Homework
  • First: none.
  • Second and seventh: complete birthday dinner descriptive writing.
  • Fourth:
    • study for parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, and adjectives) test tomorrow;
    • read

Specific Nouns, Sensory Details, and Antigone

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First and seventh continued working on improving our use of specific nouns. Second period worked on the same thing, but then, having some extra time, we returned to sensory details to look at how to include them without being so direct: “I smell,” or “I hear.”

Fourth period continued working on Antigone. We began by creating a step-by-step guide on how to parse a difficult sentence in a challenging selection and understand it. A study guide for Antigone is available here.

Fourth period will be having a parts of speech test Thursday on nouns, pronouns, and adjectives.

Homework
  • First: none.
  • Second period: re-write the sensory detail example from Friday’s lesson.
  • Fourth period:
    • read through page 129;
    • come ready to share how you parsed two sentences from the reading.
  • Seventh period: finish writing from class.

Stems (List 21)

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First, second, and seventh period began working on stems list 21. We looked at the individual stems and how they relate to the words. We will be having a quiz on the first ten words on Friday; the test on all words will be the following Friday.

Afterward, we discussed the important of specific nouns in writing. As our initial example, we explored the various possibilities of a single sentence: “Last night, I ate meat, vegetables, and dessert.”

“What’s wrong with that sentence?” I asked.

“We don’t know what kind of meat,” students responded. We looked at possibilities, and tomorrow we will begin applying it to our own writing.

Fourth period continued with Antigone. Beginning with the prompt, “It is justifiable for a citizen to break the law when…”, we asked the question of when it’s morally permissible to break the law.

Homework
  • First period:
    • flash cards;
    • re-examine writing and make five nouns more specific.
  • Second and seventh periods:
    • flash cards;
    • alphabetical listing of specific nouns.
  • Fourth period:
    • read through page 125;
    • continue working on list of allusions (proper nouns and proper adjectives).

Personal Pronouns and Nouns

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First period worked on the use of specific nouns in writing — using things like “roast beef” instead of the more generic “meat.” It provides details to one’s writing, and details make for interesting writing.

Second period worked on some of the allusions presentations, then worked on QAR questions regarding I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Fourth and sixth periods looked at personal pronouns in both the nominative and objective case and did some practice work.

Homework
  • First period:
    • complete the lists of specific verbs;
    • write a one-paragraph description of a childhood fear and change three general verbs to specific verbs;
    • prepare for selection test tomorrow.
  • Second period: finish questions for chapters 41-34.
  • Fourth and sixth periods: finish the practice handout we began in class.