Week 23

This week we visited another verbal, the gerund. This is a verb+ing used as a noun.

We looked at the verbal "studying" by using it in many sentence patterns and in most of the noun usages. As you review, look over ideas we studied at the beginning of the year such as noun usages.

You can also continue to review verbs, principle parts, and conjugations.

You can just review, review, review! Pick some of the things you learned that you found especially interesting or maybe choose the things you found especially challenging! Have fun relishing in all that you have learned this year.

For our last writing assignment, we are writing the final paragraph of the critique (lesson 13).

Remember to:
-avoid personal pronouns
-be strongly opinionated
-give examples

Use your final sentence to sum up your opinion about the story you are critiquing.

Week 22

WOW! We are learning sooooo much! Don't get overwhelmed.

If the new information feels overwhelming, take this time to review the things that we have already covered. This week we focus on:

1. S-Vl-PN and S-Vl-PA in our sentence patterns
2. adjective in our parts of speech (descriptive, limiting, and possessive)
3. compound-complex in our sentence structure

Keep working through all six tasks on the task sheet until it becomes easy.

If those things seem like old hat, then:

It is time to dig into verbals, both infinitives and participles
You could try adding a participle used as an adjective to a sentence this week.
Keep working with those verb anatomies as well: progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive.
Use your task sheet to focus in on the newer areas you are studying.

Special thanks to Elise for reminding us that participles can be used as ADJECTIVES or VERBS.


MOMS, don't be afraid to try things that you might not know the answer too. It is great to work through problems with your kids that you might not exactly know how to solve. It models for them two important things. First, you show them the process of working through a difficult task. Second, you show them that they do not need to be afraid to try things. Maybe even more importantly, you show them that fear of the unknown and fear of failure should not stop them!

We have had such a great year! Keep pressing on!


In our writing, we are beginning lesson 13, the critique. Read through the lesson, including the example that follows the lesson. The biggest difference in the first four paragraphs is that the student writes about the story instead of telling the story. Follow the organizational structure of character, plot, and climax.

We will work on paragraph 5, the actual critique next week.

Students do not need to turn in their papers this week.

Week 21

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything! James 1:4

Students can turn in a diagram of this verse for a ticket. :)

Press on, my friends! Though the year is coming to a close, keep up the good work and finish strong!

This week, we began to look at VERBALS. We looked at the infinitive form a a verb, which is usually used as a noun. Often it is the beginning of a noun phrase. Mastery sheet Q looks at verbals. In addition to your conjunction review, spend some time with infinitives this week. We will look at other verbals in the coming weeks.

Don't forget that students can identify the structure of the sentences in the story I emailed. Each sentence is worth a ticket.

Speaking of tickets, students will earn a ticket for every vocabulary word that is included in their writing this week.  Repeated words are not allowed. Moms, please make sure the words are properly used and that they make sense in context. The vocab words must be clearly marked in order to receive a ticket.

We reviewed introductions and conclusions for personal essays. You might also try to use some of the advanced writing techniques we discussed in class: duals and teeter-totters.

Drew, Caleb, and Evan will be presenting on Tuesday!

Week 20

We revisited prepositions this week!

You might find it helpful to review phrases as you look for prepositions and prepositional phrases in your sentences this week.

**One ticket for each diagrammed sentence that includes a prepositional phrase--maximum of 5. (Have your student put their name on their work!)

Continue to work with verbs as you go through sentences. You can rewrite the sentence (or just say it) in a different time or with a different form. Try making your simple verb a progressive or perfect verb.

In math, we sang "The Prime Song." Try singing it this week. Many 6th and 7th grade math students work with fractions. It is very helpful to know prime numbers when reducing or converting fractions.

In our writing, we began lesson 21, writing a personal essay. This is a five paragraph assignment that will be due in two weeks. Students should KWO and write at least two of their paragraphs this week, but nothing need to be turned in.

**The ticket challenge for this assignment is to include as many vocabulary words as you can. Be sure your student marks them in the margin.

Lesson 22 continues this lesson, helping create the intro and conclusion. We will work on lesson 22 in class next week. The final paper will be due on week 22.

Week 18

Happy Valentine's Day!

This week we reviewed all the sentence patterns by looking at some Valentine trivia.

I hope this encouraged you a bit. The question confirmation technique works for any sentence! With two weeks off, don't hesitate to try sentences that are not in the text. Dive in and talk about them. Don't worry if you don't have the correct answers right away. Older students will appreciate the discussion more and more; as they enter the dialect stage, the desire for understanding increases.

Continue working through all six tasks on your task sheet.

Review, review, review your task sheets from the past weeks. Sheets A-O have all been covered at some point during the year, but some of those details may have slipped away. (Who was SPIDO?) Sing through our songs too.

In our writing, time we talked about using excellent presentation skills.

We also talked about some components of a good visual aid. Here were some of our ideas:
Clear, easy to read
Large pictures, maps, diagrams, etc.
Organized, neat
Colorful, but not crazy

Remember the visual aid should aid your presentation, not detract from it.

There are great suggestions for attention getting openers in your Student Resource Notebook on pg. 46.

The best way to be ready is to practice! Have your visual aid and speaking notes ready. Then begin practicing. Then practice again. Think about where you are going to stand, how are you going to hold your notes, and where will your visual aid be located. Practice creates confidence! Encourage your kids as they practice. Tell them the things that they are doing right before offering suggestions for improvement.

If you want to play the "Writing Game" at home, it is on pg. 54 of the Ancient History Teacher's Manual.

Have a great break!

Week 17

Adjectives are in review this week! Students can turn in the adjective mastery sheet for a ticket this week.

We also worked through the Quid et Quo sheet in class with our newest sentence pattern, S-Vt-DO-OCA. Keep using the QetQ at home. Try to get to task 6!

We continued to work with verbs this week. Use sheet N and O to keep digging into verb anatomy, and keep singing our "Verb Anatomy" song. We reviewed person, time, and tense...using dice. You can make dice like this at home.

Label one with person: 1st singular, 2nd singular, 3rd singular, 1st plural, 2nd plural, 3rd plural.

Label one with time: present, past, future (2 sides each)

Label one with tense: perfect, progressive, perfect-progressive (2 sides each)

Choose a verb and start rolling! You can start with just one dice, then add in more as your student becomes more confident.

We will play this again in class too.


For writing, nothing specific is due this week. Begin working with your sources. Don't forget to make your source page! Then look for three topics that are covered in two of your sources.

Start with Topic A. KWO from each source, then fuse.

The process is the same as the process with just completed with our Ancient Rome assignment.

Using real texts is a bit more challenging because all of the topics are not going to neatly match. Help your students sort through their texts. Help them find topics. Help them meet the challenge. (Do you like my parallel structure? Hint: That could be an advance dress-up for your student.) Guide them as they KWO from these sources. It can feel overwhelming because the books are not specifically designed to be source texts, like all of the readings in our IEW book. Encourage your students, because they know the process! Take it one step at a time.

The papers are due after our break!

Research Presentation Schedule

Week 19 March 5      Will, Logan

Week 20 March 12    Jena, Claire

Week 21 March 19    Taya, Joanie

Week 22 March 26    Drew, Caleb, Evan

Week 23 April 2       Julia H, Elise, Cam

Week 24 April 9       Julia G, Chloe, Eliya