Tag Archives: verbs

SLANTS and Verbs

Posted on by

I introduced the reader’s journal to first and sixth periods, and we finished up the last bit of information about procedures and guidelines. In doing so, I introduced them to SLANTS. We begin the heavy lifting tomorrow.

Second and fourth periods finished up verbs. We’ll breeze through adverbs and the other parts of speech during the week.

Homework
  • First and sixth: none.
  • Second and fourth:
    • return to the New York Times article;
    • find the following adjectives:
      • one adjective that could, in a different context, be a noun;
      • one adjective that could, in a different context, be a pronoun;
      • one adjective is always an adjective; and
    • find the following verbs
      • two action verbs;
      • one linking verb.

Bias, Verbs, and Conclusions

Posted on by
taken by ?????:Hmbr
Image via Wikipedia

First period finished up the parts of speech today. We’ll be having a test Friday. (It was scheduled for tomorrow, but we’ll be MAP testing tomorrow.)

Second and sixth finished up verbs. Just a little more work and we’ll be done with the parts of speech review.

Fourth period looked at a few newspaper articles to see how bias can sneak in (and sometimes enter blatantly).

Homework
  • First period: study for the parts of speech test.
  • Fourth period:
    • join Diigo.com;
    • join my Diigo group;
    • find three examples of bias in editorials/opinion pieces from major newspapers;
    • bookmark them on the Diigo group (see above) and be ready to present/explain your findings tomorrow.
  • Second and sixth periods: find articles for extra credit project.
First period: study for the parts of speech test.

Contracts and Parts of Speech

Posted on by

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

Final Management Issues and Adjectives

Posted on by

First, second, and sixth periods are all ready to begin the year. We’ve gone over the critical classroom management issues, and we’ve established a positive class atmosphere. We’re ready to get started.

Fourth period completed adjectives – lickety-split — and began verbs. We should finish the short unit on the parts of speech sometime early next week.

Homework
  • First period: none.
  • Second and sixth periods: decide on a goal for this year in ELA.
  • Fourth period: none.

Finishing Up Grammar

Posted on by

First, second, and seventh periods finished up verbs. Now that we’ve covered nouns, pronouns, and verbs, we’ll be trying to cover subject-verb agreement quickly before the PASS test.

Fourth period almost completed work on clauses. We’ll be starting a new unit on Great Expectations, with a grammatical focus on phrases, clasuses, and sentence types, and we are almost prepared.

Homework

Grammar Day

Posted on by

First, second, and seventh periods went over linking verbs in a desperate attempt to get subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement finished before the PASS writing test next week. We should finish up working on verbs tomorrow.

Fourth period went over clauses, both independent and dependant/subordinate. This is in preparation for Great Expectations, when one of the grammar focuses will be on sentence type.

Homework
  • All classes: journal.

Book Fair

Posted on by

All classes went to the spring book fair today. This year we were given only fifteen minutes in the fair, which seemed fair enough.

Afterward, first and seventh periods began working on linking verbs, with the eventual goal of working on subject/verb agreement.

Second period evaluated their PASS exams.

Fourth period worked on quoting and the use of square brackets.

Homework
  • All classes: journal

Test Review and Early Dismissal

Posted on by

Whew — what an odd day. First period went over yesterday’s test, as did second period. Additionally, first period began working with verbs. Second period didn’t get that far: Dr. Mark made the announcement regarding the early dismissal, and it became almost impossible to get back to work. (It also didn’t help that we had less than ten minutes remaining.)

Homework
  • All classes: journal.

Final Group Work

Posted on by

We completed the final day of group work for the memoir today. We’ll be spending two more days polishing it up, and then turn it in Monday.

English I began verbs today. We’ll finish up tomorrow, testing willing.

The testing in question is the Explore test. We’ll be taking that test Thursday and Friday.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: none.
  • Second period: complete second draft.
  • Fourth period: none (if second draft of Antigone analysis is complete).

Specific Verbs and Antigone

Posted on by

First, second, and fourth periods added one more element to on-going memoir assignment: specific verbs.

Specific verbs (also called “action verbs”) add vitality to writing.  They not only tell what’s going on but also give indications of how.

“Walk” is a boring verb. It could be used to describe any number of movements. “Shuffled” is a specific action verb. Someone who shuffles is someone who is tired, perhaps bored.

We define two elements in class. Specific verbs:

  • show a specific (not general) action;
  • include information about how the action is completed.

Source: Class Notes: Specific Verbs

To look at the differences between “boring” verbs and specific action verbs, one thing we did was show each other how “walk” can describe radically different actions. The students who did the strutting generally had the most fun:

DSC02091

Strutting Out

 

DSC02092

Strutting In

Fourth period continued with Antigone. We’ve come to the conclusion that Creon feels leaders should be obeyed without hesitation or question; we’ve discovered that Haemon has some views about the relationship between rulers and the ruled that might have been somewhat unorthodox during that time.

Homework
  • First and seventh periods: ten synonyms for “talk” and/or “say.
  • Second period: none.
  • Fourth period: correct and evaluate tests.