IEW - U.S. History - Week Twenty-one

IEW – Week Twenty-One

Put away your white boards and get out a pen or pencil. It is time for a vocab quiz. 10 minutes/grade.

Now pull out U.S. History Student book and SRN. Turn to page 13 in your SRN and page 170 in your U.S. History book.

Last week you wrote a report using information already stored in your brain. This week will be similar in t hat sense. However, this week you’ll be writing a story. Instead of a prompt statement, you’ll be writing from pictures.

Notice that this model outlines a three paragraph composition. Looking at page 170, you’ll notice three pictures. This means that each paragraph will describe one of the pictures.

Level A students, this will be a three-week assignment for you. I want you to put a lot of effort into making this your best paper yet. You will write one paragraph each week.

Level B students, this is a one-week assignment for you. Again, this should still be challenging, but I think it’s important to practice writing these longer papers in one week.

1. Let’s look at the picture at the top of page 170. On the top line of the blank outline, you write a topic sentence that tells what you see in the picture, the central theme. This sentence should be written in the past tense. Let’s come up with some examples of what the topic sentence may be here. (remember past tense) ex. Pa was ready to head for Oregon and the rest of the family was climbing aboard the wagon.-on board

2. Now, we’ll need to fill in some details. – on board- You can refer to page 13 of the SRN for ideas.

(use teacher’s book p. 81)

You will also need to fill in some background information in this first paragraph. What happened before this picture? What led up to this picture? When including background information, make sure that you use “had” to form the perfect past tense. This indicates that it happened before the events that are already in the past tense.

3. You’ll end the paragraph with a return to the central theme of the picture. This will be your clincher. You could say something like: Pa was ready. –on board

4. Level B students, you’ll be continuing to outline the other two pictures and writing your second two paragraphs. If you need help with outlining, your mom can give you ideas from the teacher’s guide.

5. Finally, after writing your outline, you’ll write your rough draft. You will be using the checklist on page 171. Level A students, you’ll be working on the first paragraph this week. This should be a fairly simple paragraph to write, so I want you to spend extra time working on the openers and dress-ups.

(If time)

Turn to page 177 and read “The Assignment” #3. Turn to SRN page 48 and do Personification worksheet.

You may want to add personification to your papers. If so, work through page 178 with your moms or dads for ideas.

Please read page 152 before next week’s class. It will help save time when we brainstorm together.

IEW U.S. History - Week Twenty

IEW – Week Twenty

Put away your white boards and pull out U.S. History Student book and SRN. Turn to page 137 in U.S. History book. (Vocab quiz has been rescheduled for next week, because there is so much to cover this week.)

Today, I am going to teach you how to do some creative writing. So far this year, you’ve learned how to take notes from another text. You’ve learned how to take notes from a large text. Finally, you learned how to take notes and write a paper from several texts, culminating in your stunning papers that you read last week. Now you’re going to learn how to write with no source text. Your source will be your own brain. Fun, yes?

Now, you don’t have complete freedom on this, you will still have a topic about which you need to write, also called a prompt. You will also have prompt questions that you will answer in order to help pull information out of your brain. However, the actual contents of the paper will still be your original thoughts.

As usual, there is a pretty big difference in the size of the papers for level A and level B students. Level A students will be writing a one-paragraph paper, and Level B students will be writing a 5 paragraph essay. You will only have one week to accomplish this. I considered shortening the assignment; however, I remembered that you’ll be in Challenge A next year. This is the length of paper that you’ll be writing almost every week, so getting in that groove now isn’t a bad thing.

The prompt for both your papers is the same. It is listed on p. 137 of your book.

One of the rights guaranteed to all Americans in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights is freedom of religion. This means that Americans may practice their faith freely without fear of persecution. How do you and your family practice your faith?

This is the question, or prompt, that you’ll all be answering in your papers this week.

First, I’ll give the instructions for Level A; then we’ll talk about Level B.

1. Begin with your topic sentence. Look at the information in the prompt. An example of a topic sentence could be: Because the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion, I can practice my faith freely. You’ll fill in your own topic sentence on page 138.

2. Next, you’ll think of things to say about how you practice your faith. To do so, ask yourself questions such as the ones on page 138. Write the answers in KWO form in the blank outline.

Let’s go through a few questions to make our own KWO, just to give you an idea of how this will work.

Whom do you worship? Why? What is he like?

When do you practice your faith? Why? Example?

Where do you practice your faith? Why? Example?

3. Then, you’ll use this KWO to write your paragraph. Start with your topic sentence. Then try to verbally explain your KWO to your mom or dad. They can help you put them in the best order. You may want to add in some ideas or leave some out. Your KWO isn’t a list of fixed facts. Because these answers are from your own brain, the KWO simply gives you ideas about what to write.

4. Finally, be sure to end your paragraph with a clincher that repeats or reflects words from your topic sentence. The checklist is on page 139.

Any questions? Can refer to lesson 25 during week.

Level A students, you can have an extended break.

Level B students, you may not get much of a break today, but I want to make sure that you understand your assignment. Turn to page 143 in your book.

1. To plan a 5 paragraph essay, you must first determine three topics for your body paragraphs. In other words, what three main ways do your practice your faith? Below are some possibilities, but you may choose others, as well. For the purpose of example, we will make out an outline in class, but it should be different than the outline you use, so don’t copy it down. Turn to page 144.

(On board)

I. Introduction

II. Practice, attend, church

1. Worship, via, singing, study

2. Hymns, praise, God, goodness

3. Joyful, grateful, salvation, Christ (questions in

4. pastor, teaches, Bible, hour teacher’s Guide

5. grow, understand, security, God’s will p. 70)

6. encourages, honor God, share

7. w/o, forget, honor, fooled

8. pastor, knowledge, friends, fellowship

Clincher: glad, attend, church

III. Praying anytime, anywhere

IV. Serving God by obeying His Word

V. Conclusion

2. For each of the three body paragraphs, get ideas about what to say by asking yourself questions. These generic questions should be memorized and are listed for you on page 144 on the left.

Who? Where? How feel? Include Good DEEDs:

What? Why? What is best? Details Explanations

When? How? What is worst? Examples Descriptions

3. End each body paragraph notes with an idea for a clincher that repeats or reflects words from the topic sentence.

4. Finish the outline by filling in ideas for the introduction and conclusion. Use your SRN for ideas of a dramatic opener.

5. Use your outline to help you write your essay. Follow the checklist on page 141.

In order to get this done in one week, you may want to outline and write one body paragraph per day. Then outline and write the intro and conclusion. If you write your rough draft on the computer, you may find it easier to correct it and complete the final draft in one week.

IEW U.S. History - Week Eighteen

IEW – Week Eighteen

Turn in your rough drafts.

Please put away the white boards and get out your SRN and U.S. Student book.

We have three lessons to go over today, so I’ll try to make each one brief.

First, this week, we will learn how to write an introductory paragraph and concluding paragraph. Thus far you have written reports no more than three paragraphs long, but a formal essay or report typically follows a model that is five paragraphs.

Turn with me to page 10 in your SRN. Note that there is an entire paragraph of introduction and an entire paragraph of conclusion. Let’s read through the required elements.

Now turn to page 107 in your U.S. History Student book. (Read through explanation of the elements)

Turn over to page 109 in that same book. (Read the sample intro and conclusion)

Now, for younger students, moms, you have a choice to make. They can either follow this model and end up with a four paragraph paper, or they can do what they did last paper. They could add a dramatic opener sentence and a final clincher sentence. It is up to you which they will do. However, if you have them write the full paragraphs, you may want to use the checklist on page 117, instead of the handout.

Questions?

Next, turn to p. A-17. (Read the anecdotal opening.) P. 113 - This opening is a very short paragraph, just a glimpse into a day in the life of your character. You can use this as an opportunity to add in a bit more detail or a fun fact or story. However, don’t use a story that is already in your paper.

Finally, turn to page 115. This lesson just reminds you to do two things: write a bibliography and attach it to the end of your paper, and be ready to read your paper to the class next week.

Assignment

This week you’ll be adding an intro and a conclusion to your rough draft, as well as writing the final copy and adding the Bibliography. Don’t forget to dress up or use your prop.
I look forward to seeing and hearing your presentations next week!

IEW U.S. History - Week Seventeen

IEW – Week 17

Put away white boards. Get out SRN and U.S. Student book.

How is your research coming so far? Last week, you should have read through and taken notes on your sources. Has everyone done this? If not, you seriously need to get that done quickly. You don’t want to have a ton of work to do at the end.

This week I want you to:

Look at the notes for theme #1.

Read through them all.

Stop and think: what bit of info would be interesting to start off with? What should you save for last? What notes are about the same kind of thing? Is there anything that isn’t really related to this theme?

Now, thoughtfully arrange the notes into the best order you can work out. This will be your Fused KWO.

(demonstrate on KWO page)

Next, brainstorm and use the thesaurus to get some good adjectives and –ly words and metaphors and similes. Add these into your KWO.

Write a rough draft of this paragraph. Keep the list of dress-ups handy so you can work them in as you write.

Older students, repeat this process on paragraph two.

The last theme is the most exciting theme, so spend some extra time on it. Make sure you brainstorm some good adjectives and –ly words and metaphors or similes. Write the rough draft.

Questions?

Grammar

Turn to page 77 in your SRN.

(Work through pages 77-79)

Please bring a copy of your rough draft next week. I would like to read over what you’ve done to that point.