Warm Up Set 5

Below are the warm-ups that will be collected on Friday, January 26th. The slides in YELLOW are extra credit as they were done before the beginning of the semester. Some slides state that the warm-up will not be counted because it was part of another assignment.

Even if you have all your warm-ups, you should review ALL of these slides to ensure you get AS MANY POINTS AS POSSIBLE! 😉😉😉

Handouts from Friday - Grammar Review Packet and "Anthem" Notes/Anticipation Guide

Below is the Grammar Test Review packet. It is extra credit on the grammar and writing test.



Below is the Guided Notes for the introduction to "Anthem" and, below that, is the powerpoint with the information needed to fill in these blanks.





Finally, this is the anticipation guide students completed on Friday and Monday. We used this assignment to lead our debate and discussion in class today. This assignment was due Tuesday, January 23.

Grammar - Quincunx (cont.)

Today, we discussed complex sentences, subordinating conjunctions, and dependent clauses. We added notes to our quincunx over all three of these topics.

Both compound and simple sentences do not involve dependent clauses, but complex sentences do. A complex sentences is when at least one independent clause and one dependent clause are joined with a subordinating conjunction (we call them AAAWWUUBBIS words!)

A subordinating conjunction is special because it has the power to transform a clause, whether it's independent or dependent, into a dependent clause.

So, how exactly does this work? Here's an example.

A clause consists of a subject and a predicate (everything after the subject). A predicate can include a verb and an object or just the verb. Here's two examples of the same subject with different lengths of predicates:

1. the students wrote
2. the students wrote an essay

Both of these contain a subject (the students) and a predicate (wrote/wrote an essay). If we attach a subordinating conjunction to the beginning of it:

1. while the students wrote
2. while the students wrote an essay

Neither are complete thoughts. They need to be joined with an independent clause in order to become a complete sentence.

Now, since complex sentences involve two different types of clauses, the reader has to be able to tell when one clause ends and the other begins. And since the subordinating conjunction can be in the middle or at the beginning of the sentence, there are two ways to signal the change from one clause to another.

If you start with your dependent clause (the part with the subordinating conjunction), you need to use a comma to signal the transition:

While the students wrote, the teacher helped out.

OR

While the students wrote an essay, the teacher helped out.

Notice that both dependent clauses work even though one has a longer predicate than the other. 

If you want to start your sentence with your independent clause (the part that doesn't contain a subordinating conjunction), the subordinating conjunction itself will tell the reader where your dependent clause begins.

The teacher helped out while the students wrote.

OR

The teacher helped out while the students wrote an essay.

After we completed our notes, we went on the hunt for each sentence type in Lord of the Flies and our own writing and added them to the underside of each flap. 

When pulling your example from reading, don't forget to format your quote like this:

"Quote from the book." - Page #, Title

A few things to remember (SERIOUSLY, YOU SHOULD READ THESE):

• Transitions and prepositions (words that indicate location or time) do not alter the sentence type. For instance
• "Later, we went to the movies" is a simple sentence. If you remove the word "later", which is a transition, you have "we went to the movies," which does not contain any conjunctions and is an independent clause.
• "We wrote poems for each other" is also a simple sentence. "For" may be a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS), but that is not its function in this sentence. The best way to test if something is a compound sentence is to remove the FANBOYS and replace it with a period. If both of the new sentences make sense, then it is a compound sentence. If not, then it is likely the FANBOYS is actually a preposition instead
• "We wrote poems. Each other." Yeah, that doesn't make much sense.  
• The answer to the bonus question this week is to write two example sentences: one compound and one complex. The catch? They must have something to do with cats. You may email them to me before 3 on Friday for 5 extra credit points on an assignment from this week or write them on a pinboard card and submit it to the pinboard during class. 

Grammar - Quincunx

This week, we will be focusing primarily on...GRAMMAR! Of course, the most EXCITING subject in all of English!

Okay, so grammar isn't totally exciting and amazing, but it IS important!

Today, we focused on grammar in terms of sentence structure by creating a tool called a quincunx (pronounced kwin-chunk). Creating the quincunx involves some paper folding, so watch the video  below to learn how.

Supplies needed: One piece of 8.5x11 or 11x17 paper, scissors (optional)



Once you have your quincunx created, we first wrote notes about the building blocks of sentences: words, phrases, and clauses.

Words are the smallest units; you can't have a sentence shorter than one word!

Phrases are groups of words that are connected in some way like "a brown dog" or "runs down the street."

Clauses are like phrases but they must have a subject (something doing some kind of action) and a predicate (everything after the subject, including the verb/action). For example "a brown dog runs down the street."

Independent clauses can stand on their own as sentences, like the one above: "A brown dog runs down the street."

Dependent clauses cannot stand on their own as sentences because they do not represent complete thoughts. For instance, if I attached the subordinating conjunction "while" to the clause above:
"While a brown dog runs down the street..."

The first sentence type we took notes over were simple sentences

Notice the sample sentence at the bottom of the notes.

The second sentence type we looked at were compound sentences. Compound sentences can be created by joining two simple sentences (or more) with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (also called FANBOYS).

We took notes over coordinating conjunctions on the inside of our quincunx.

On block day, we will discuss complex sentences, dependent clauses, and subordinating conjunctions as well as fill in examples from both our reading and writing of each sentence type.

Get some sleep tonight and remember, it's always in style to use proper grammar and punctuation!

Capitalization Rules

During the second half of class, we reviewed capitalization rules, which you can see below:



A few rules not listed: you also capitalize regions such as the South, the Midwest, etc. You would also capitalize the adjective forms of these terms, such as "Southerner." You should also capitalize acronyms such as R&B, NBC, and USA. 


Using these capitalization rules, we then applied our knowledge to a couple of sample essays that have all capitalization removed. We highlighted or circled all the words in the essay that are supposed to be capitalized. These practices are due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, January 9th.

HINT: There are 38 words that should be capitalized on page 1 and 27 words that should be capitalized on page 2.

Vocabulary Unit 3

For the first half of class, we completed our notes over vocabulary unit 3. Below are all of the links needed to complete these notes at home and prepare for the quiz on Tuesday, January 23rd. 

These links can also be found under the Vocabulary tab. 

Vocabulary Unit 3

1. Context Clues Sentences
2. Notes Chart
3. Vocabulary Powerpoint to fill out the Notes Chart above
4. Quizlet to study
5. Extra credit Frayer model handout (complete 1 model for each word for a total of 10 points extra credit) - due Tuesday, January 23rd

HOMEWORK/IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENT: Persuasive Annotations - Partner and Independent Practice

Today in class, we applied what we worked on yesterday to another essay from our essay packet, specifically the essay with the header "Persuasive - 11." Follow the annotation directions from the half sheet to annotate this essay and then assign the essay a score point. Finally, using the language from the scoring guide, explain why you think the essay deserves that score point.

We then moved on to individual practice. Again, you are following the same process of annotating and assigning a score point, but you are just doing it on your own this time. You may annotate an essay of your own from your writing folder - for some of you this may be good because you already know where your thesis is and what your examples are - or you can annotate this sample essay.

The independent annotations are due Monday, January 8th after the warm up. 

Persuasive Essay Review: Annotating

Today, we began our review of persuasive essays by completing an annotation activity. We began first by reviewing what we would be annotating for and creating our color coding key.

So, we are looking for 8 different things in our sample essays (and eventually, our own essays).

1. Indented paragraphs, marked by an arrow
2. Thesis statement, which I will highlight in PINK
3. Topic sentences, which I have underlined in RED. Topic sentences should relate to the thesis. If they don't, they aren't topic sentences. 
4. Detailed examples, concrete details, and proper nouns, which I will underline in LIGHT BLUE. Proper nouns should be denoted with an exclamation mark. 
5. Commentary, or how your detailed examples relate back to your topic sentence or thesis,  which we will denote in the margins. You can't have commentary if you don't give detailed examples!
6. Restated thesis in the conclusion, which will be underlined. 
7. Illegible words, which we will circle and denote off in the margins. 
8. Transition words and phrases, which we will draw a box around. We will also note if they transition between similar ideas or transition to a new idea. 

Afterwards, we will use the scoring guide to determine what score point each essay deserves and why. 

We began with the first essay in THIS PACKET. It says Persuasive - 8 at the top. These are all sample essays over the prompt "Write an essay stating your position on whether it is better to live in a large city or a small town." 

First, we marked the indented paragraphs with arrows. This helps us see the structure of the essay, but also makes it easier to find things like the thesis and topic sentences. 

Next, we read through the introduction and found the thesis. We wanted the sentence that told us which side the author picked and why. 

We did find a sentence that told us the author thought that large cities were better and small towns were not so great, but it didn't really gives us a reason why, so we made a note of that off to the side. 

Now, we had to go through the body paragraphs and locate the sentence that told us WHY the author believed big cities were good and small towns were not so good. It took us a little while to get to it because the author begins by telling us BAD things about big cities, which doesn't really match their thesis. Finally, about three sentences towards the end of the first body paragraph, they state why they like big cities: because of what they provide. 

The second body paragraph also began by giving evidence that contradicts the author's thesis. It wasn't until the final sentence of this body paragraph that the author states a reason why they dislike small towns: it's "just not my choice."

Our next step was to go back into the body paragraphs and identify the detailed examples - those things that occur in real life or in our observations that prove our reasons are valid and logical. We identified two examples in the first body paragraph: things you need are close by and it could be considered safer in a big city. 

Notice that the author uses NO proper nouns! This means they really don't have specific examples or concrete details. Without these two things, it is unlikely that they scored higher than a 2.We made a note of the lack of proper nouns off to the side. 

When we looked more closely at the second body paragraph, we couldn't really find any examples. We found the author's opinion on the friendliness of small town citizens, but no examples or observations they could point to in their writing. Again, they used no proper nouns. 

For step 5, we determined that it was impossible for the author to give any commentary - to explain how their examples relate to their thesis - because their examples were too vague to comment upon. We noted the lack of commentary at the top of the essay. 

No commentary makes me a sad panda. 

Next, we turned to the conclusion to try and locate the restated thesis where the author restates that they think big cities are a good place to live. Out of the three sentences in the conclusion, we decided the first sentence most obviously reaffirmed the author's opinion that larger cities were a better place to live. 

Most of our classes agreed the majority of the essay was easy to read, but a few people made note of a couple words that may have been considered illegible such as "alot" and "automobiles" in the second body paragraph.

Finally, we located 3 transitions within the essay. They were annotated by drawing a box around them. We also observed that the third transition, "furthermore," was used incorrectly by the author. Rather than further explaining the same idea, the author actually transitions to a new idea. 

By the way, the bonus question this week is the purpose of transitions and at least two examples. To get credit, put your answer on your post-it note when I hand them out after the announcements on Friday. 

In order to determine the score point of the essay, we summarized our findings regarding the essays organization, examples/details, and use of language (transitions, spelling, punctuation, and grammar). 

In short, we agreed that this author had alot to work on, but ultimately had a coherent structure to their essay - intro, body paragraphs, conclusion. They also had a thesis, despite it not being very clear. They also gave a reason for their position, but did not clearly support it. Many students suggested that, based on these characteristics, the essay deserved a score point of 2. We highlighted a few key phrases in our scoring guide to justify this score. 

On Friday, we will continue to annotate essay examples with a partner before moving on to annotating independently. We will also complete the persuasive triangle handout students also received today. 

Fall Semester Reflection and Goal Setting

Welcome back from our winter break! I know it was probably very difficult to leave our warm beds these past few days, but we are almost to the weekend and I am very happy to see most everyone back in class.

Yesterday, we began by reflecting on the progress we have made so far this year. Specifically, we completed a Reflection and Goal Setting form. You can see it at the end of this post.

Does your progress in the fall semester show your true potential?

In order to complete this assignment, you will need to log in to HAC. If you are unable to access your HAC account because you do not know your password, your house secretary should be able to give you your current password.

Here are the steps to take to access the correct view in HAC to complete this assignment:

1. Log in to HAC
2. Click on Classes
3. At the top of this page, there are three drop down menus. Select the one that comes after the words "report card run"
4. Select 1. This is your first nine weeks grades.
5. Hit Refresh View to the right.
6. Your first nine weeks grades should appear. Record your first nine weeks average in the space provided on the handout. Count up how many Zs or 0s are listed. Write this off to the side.
7. Return to the drop down menu at the top of the page. Now select 2. This is your second nine weeks grade. 
8. Hit Refresh View to the right.
9. Your second nine weeks grades should appear. Record your second nine weeks average in the space provided on the handout. Count up how many Zs or 0s are listed. Add that to the total you wrote in step 6. This is your answer to #4 on your handout. 
• Some phones or computers may show a prompt that there are multiple marking periods in a particular nine weeks. If this appears, select the option S1 from the drop down menu and hit "Continue"
10. You may not be able to view your total semester average. You may leave that space blank. 
11. If either your first or second 9 weeks average is below an 80, you need to move on to #2 on your handout. If both averages are above an 80, you can skip #2.
12. Complete the rest of the handout. 

Students who were absent from class should turn this assignment in as soon as possible. You can find the handout below.