IEW- Week 9

It was so wonderful to hear such fabulous reports! I just love the days when we can hear their papers in their own voice and see their eyes sparkle when they read something that they just know they wrote extra special! For me, this is the icing on the IEW cake. It is my fervent hope to have time next week to let the rest of the classes read their papers.

Yea!- we kicked off our Faces of History report. Hopefully, the extra handout packet will help you walk through the process at home. Please feel free to shoot me an email about anything that puts a hitch in things. Time in class is so short and there are always more questions than we have time to get to.

This report is a culmination of everything that we have done in class so far with an added twist. When the paper itself is written, we will use it as the basis for a first person monologue. Ideally the graduating students will be so familiar with their own work that they only need keyword notes on note cards to present it. Of course this is way too high of an expectation for the younger and more shy students so don't let this scare you or them! It goes back to the one room school house idea of letting the younger children see what the bigger kiddos can do and be inspired to work towards those goals. As I said in class, we will work on this together on week 11 and 12. I know that for many adults the greatest fear is public speaking so please, please, please communicate with me about this if you have any hesitation or concern. My heart is to inspire each student to be all that they can be and not for one second allow anyone to become fearful or intimidated. I do not ever want my own enthusiasm to become something that brings stress to the tender-hearted students that I so dearly treasure!

So, what to do this week? Nail down your topic if you haven't already and then narrow that down to 3 specific aspects of that topic so that you can then build 3 body paragraphs around those aspects. Begin your research and work on those KWO/Fused outlines. If at all possible, I would love for everyone to bring in at least one rough draft paragraph next week so that we can spend some class time working on dress-ups and sentence openers. Also, if everyone has their bibliography information with them, we can work on that too. Because the bib. info. is not given to you in an easy to use format like it was for the Knights report it may be more difficult to sort and use so I would love to be able to work together on it.

Here is a thumbnail of my intended class time for the next 3 weeks:

Week 10- work on adding dress-ups and sentence openers on our rough draft body paragraphs and begin working on our bibliographies BRING: AT LEAST ONE ROUGH DRAFT PARAGRAPH AND AS MANY REFERENCES AS YOU HAVE

Week 11- work on turning our research paper into a first person oral report and talk about creative/dramatic introductions and conclusions BRING: YOUR ROUGH DRAFT PAPER WITH INTRO/CONCLUSION IDEAS

Week 12- work on public speaking skills and practice reading our papers with dramatic flair BRING: YOUR FINISHED REPORT (You are still free to make adjustments if you would like to.)

Thursday November 21: If at all possible, I would love to have a dress rehearsal with the students at 2:00 at Christ Community. Dinner will begin at 6:00 :) We need a head count ASAP so we can make arrangements for food. A family meal that serves 4-6 depending on your appetite will be $10. The menu includes rustic bread, roasted chicken, vegetables,  and dessert.

Don't forget to think about costume ideas!

Here's the list of chosen topics:
Andrew: The Bard
Sydney: Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Jessica: Queen Elizabeth I
Zoe Zielny: Feudalism ?
Rachel: Catherine of Aragon
Abbey Stewart: Isabella of Spain or Eleanor of Aquitaine
Will: Charlemagne ?
Luke: Castles
Ginny: Genghis khan
Abigail: Elizabeth Woodvill
Jennings: Medieval fashion
Sarah mackenzie: Medieval Entertainment
Mary Blake: Architecture
Grace: Marco Polo
Abby Stegall: Shakespeare
Hannah: Napoleon Bonaparte
Jeremy: the Hundreds Year War
Jacob: Medieval Food

We ended up with many personal letters to go into our Indonesia care package and we raised $61! What isn't needed to mail this package will be set aside for the next one. It will be so exciting to get a response from around the world! Click here to read the latest update from their blog. Do be sensitive in leaving comments as we mentioned in class.

See you next week, can you believe we are nearing the end of our first semester together?
Melissa

IEW -Week 8

Sorry this post is a bit late. We had some family needs to tend to but I didn't forget about you!


We certainly got a lot done in class this week!

Let's start with the important things first:

*PAPER DUE NEXT WEEK: introductory paragraph, 3 body paragraphs on 3 topics (A is on Duties/Purposes of a Knight, B and C are student choice), conclusion paragraph and be sure to include a bibliography!

This paper encompasses everything we've learned in lessons #10-13. In class I only briefly mentioned lesson #13 (how to do a bibliography). If it's been awhile since you've done one, it's clearly shown in a labeled example on p. 89. Each of the source texts include fictional bibliographic information for them to use. Please email me with any questions and I will be happy to walk you through it!

A few extra tidbits of import:

Yea! We got our class letters to Indonesia written and I was absolutely thrilled by the wonderful thoughts that went into them! A multitude of thanks to the moms who took pictures. If you will please email them to me, I will put them with the appropriate letters. The moms in the first class talked it over and we think that printing the letters out so that the students can sign them next week will still allow us the time we need to get the package in the mail in time for Christmas.

So, you can still write personal letters and contribute money. We accumulated $12.45, not bad! That's almost half-way to the $30 VCR sized box and we have several people that wanted to donate. Remember, 4 marbles for any letters and 4 marbles for any donation! ;)

Speaking of marbles, we're nearly there and we want to get our party in soon so I'll be giving marbles away left and right..... hmmmmm, how about 2 marbles for every paper turned in with a picture on it? They still get 1 marble each for turning in a paper and for saying the admission ticket.

Lesson #13- p. 90 has a grammar practice exercise about semicolons. This is certainly not a requirement but if you feel the need for extra help it's there.

If you would, leave a comment on the blog with their FOH paper topic. I would like to formally announce it next week so that we can make sure that we have as little overlap as possible.

It's easy to leave a comment and it keeps it all in one place. Just click on the heading of the subscription email and it will take you to the actual blog post. Then, click on "leave a comment." You can leave it anonymously (with your name signed in the comment box) if you don't have a google account.

To review what we did in class:

Lesson #12 is all about taking the 3 paragraphs that you've already written and adding an introductory paragraph at the beginning and a conclusion paragraph at the end. We dissected what each one looks like and talked through the mirror imaging of it all. The book gives some really good instruction (pp. 82-83) on this if you are a bit lost but as always, I really am here to help so please don't shy away from asking.

Don't forget to put it in MLA format and to check off the Final Checklist and label in the margins!

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's papers. This is a talented group with lots of style. Their papers have made me laugh, look up words on the internet, and shake my head in amusement at their word choices (primarily the boys - blood and guts everywhere! Girls are very "frilly" even when writing about war!). 

These children are a joy and a blessing. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being a part of their Tuesday afternoons!

Have a great week,
Melissa

IEW-Week 7

Shout out to Mrs. Gains, last year's IEW tutor, who keeps up with us through our blog! We love and miss you!

Despite the picture chaos we managed to get in almost all of the review of the grammar rules and vocabulary thus far. Second class even got to a little bit of letter writing! I'm wracked with guilt over not completing those letters and I apologize profusely. :(  This week was a "breather week" and I tried to cram in too much. Don't forget that you have a grammar review quiz in your hands to use if you choose. ;)

Next week we will write some class letters to Indonesia and collect money for their Christmas package. If any student (or mom) wants to send a personal letter covered in stickers and drawings is highly encourage you to do so. We want to establish a relationship with this English Language Club so that they will have someone to connect with when they write letters back. We will send them another box with letters and goodies in February so putting names and faces together soon is an incredible blessing for us and them.

Along those lines, address the letter to "The English Language Club" and keep in mind that we cannot jeopardize their situation by referring to them as missionaries or  mentioning the work they are doing for the Kingdom. You can tell them about your church life or similar things about yourself. Honestly, I'm not sure how close we can walk that boundary and I do not want to create a potential "situation" for them so I suggest in this first letter to keep to the weather as they say in the South. Please also think about including pictures of you and your life. It can be as simple as printing it off of your computer! Along those lines, moms with smartphones, can you help me get some pictures of the class next week?

Now, on to the assignment: Lesson #11 is for you to keep on keeping on with the mini-research report. There is NO NEW INFORMATION (thus the reason why we could double back over our grammar rules and vocabulary). Make sure that this week you complete all 3 paragraphs. Topic A was what we did last week (Duties/Purposes of a Knight), Topics B and C are of your choosing. Go back in your mind to the list we made on the board on the topic of each paragraph in both source texts. You can choose from any of them. If you choose a topic that only has one source text, find a source of your own so that you can practice fusing 2 sources together.

Next week we will tackle Lessons #12 and #13. I highly recommend that you read ahead a bit. We will cover introductory/ conclusion paragraphs or sentences and how to do a bibliography. Then, our reports will be complete and ready to turn in.

THINK AHEAD:
-The faces of History Dinner Theatre is coming! Choose your topic and costume.
-It is tentatively scheduled for Thursday November 21.
-Everyone is welcomed to come for a medieval style feast that will showcase not only our Essentials students but also some Challenge 1 and 3 students who are also working on Shakespeare projects!
-Anyone that has a bent or interest in this type of event is heartily welcomed to join forces to make this fabulous!
-Don't forget to chip in a few dollars for our Indonesian Care Package!

Here are some links:

To the Indonesian Travel and Tourism website

To the blog for the Knott family

The blog has some funny stories and beautiful pictures as well as enlightening information about the people they are working with.

Have an amazing week and please, please contact me with any questions. Yesterday seemed a bit unorthodox and I'm concerned I may not have been able to answer questions properly.

Melissa

IEW-Week 6

Let the fun begin!This 3 week mini-research paper is a great warm up to our Faces of History report.

It will serve us all well if we moms read through lessons 10-13 right now before this project gets underway. It helps with the planning when you know where you're going!

Here's the Cliff Notes version:

THIS WEEK: Lesson #10: KWO/Fused Outline/Rough draft Topic A: Purposes/Duties of a Knight. The two source texts in the book give you all of the information that you need.

NEXT WEEK: Lesson #11: KWO/Fused Outline/Rough draft Topics B and C (student choice). Level B has the option to find an additional source text and choose a topic that isn't fully covered in the book.... remember the list we made on the board?

THE FOLLOWING WEEK: Lessons #12, 13: Introductory/ Conclusion paragraphs (Level B) or sentences (Level A) and bibliography.

Don't forget to go over the extra grammar rules about possessive pronouns and apostrophes and pronoun singular/plural agreement. Extra practice is in the back of the student book. You'll find it on the white pages that are NOT page protected.

Things to think about:
-things to ask our future pen pals in Indonesia and chipping in a few dollars towards a care package

-Thank you Susan Matthews and Rebekkah Stewart for stepping up to help out with our Pen Pal Project.

-what you want to write about for the Faces of History report that will be read at the Medieval Dinner Theatre on the Thursday evening after week 12 (The general public is invited so pass it along.)

-If anyone has any hidden talents that you would like to share, let me know. Shelley Brazinski and Patrice Reeves have stepped up to coordinate this event. We have already begun laying plans in place but we are open to any brainstorms you have and any skills we can exploit benefit from. ;O

-FYI- This is designed to showcase the students and their accomplishments. Please know that they can read a one paragraph report or they can take the full 3-minute allotment and give us a rehearsed in-character first person monologue taken from their FOH report. Whatever makes them comfortable is acceptable. More details will follow but keep this in the back of your mind as you shop the after-Halloween costume sales.

As always, email me with any questions and my lesson plans are available to anyone who wants them.

Have a blessed week!
Melissa

IEW-Week 5

This week we start chewing on the big stuff!

The assignment for this week is lesson #9: Fused Outlines from Multiple Sources and who/which clauses.

Don't forget, when you do your KWO for each source, you only need 3-5 facts per source and then you will fuse them together into one paragraph from which you will write your rough draft paragraph. The Fused KWO from which you write your paragraph can have up to 7 facts because every paragraph has 4-7 sentences! Remember to tie it up with a Topic Sentence and Clincher Sentence that repeat and reflect and a really great Title! Illustrations are always great..... hmmmm, sounds like an opportunity for extra marbles doesn't it? :)

Page 66 contains some extra practice for who/which clauses that may be beneficial for first timers. Don't forget, the who/which clause is NOT an interrogative sentence, it is an added snippet of information tucked inside a sentence to make it more clear or more interesting.

This is a warm up/ practice paper while get we our research juices flowing as we move towards the big and bigger papers.

Keep thinking about who or what you want to tackle for our Faces of History Dinner Theatre! It can be a Medieval topic such as "Clothing" or "Weapons" or "Feudal Lifestyles" too.

I was very impressed with how both classes came in and started copying notes! They are getting the hang of it. I'm looking forward to reading the Charlemagne and Viking papers this week.

This is usually the point in the semester when moms start having concerns or ideas or issues that they need addressed so please please, keep in communication with me. I am here to support you and want to wholeheartedly. Please bring me both negative and positive comments and thoughts so that we can work together for the benefit of these precious children. 

Have a great week,
Melissa

PS My personal daily lesson plan is available, just email me.