IEW- Week 23

We had small classes in both periods today. Weather, illness, difficult circumstances, loss of grandparents (we're keeping you in our prayers)..... yeah, there were a lot of empty chairs and missed smiles.

Please come and join us next week as we read our final papers and hang out in the picnic shelter for food and fun. Pot luck kind of fun.... but if you forget to bring something... come anyway! We want to see you one last Tuesday before summer break (Seriously, how can we actually use the word summer when it snowed today???? That is just not right!).

Today in class we discussed some advanced dress-ups:

dual adverbs: Zoey cunningly and carefully crept down the hall.

dual verbs: Jessica studied and worked all night long.

dual adjectives: The small but fluffy puppy licked Hannah.

as well as teeter-totters:

adverbial: Jeremy longingly and fervently dreamed of fishing because it was his favorite thing to do.
(notice the dual ly, verb, www.asia.wub clause)

adjectival: Mary Blake read the wonderful and exciting book which was given her as a birthday present.
(notice the dual adjectives, noun, w/w clause)

For those of you who are first tour students, please do not feel as if you need to include these in your paper. These are advanced techniques for those who need a bit more challenge. They are not required.

I am really looking forward to reading all of your papers next week! We'll read them all in class and then head on out to par-tay! You've earned it!

What an amazing blessing each and every one of you have been this year. Thank you moms for the privilege of being able to sow into your children. Their smiles have stolen my heart and I am humbled to be on the receiving end of such sweetness from them. They are treasures.

If anyone needs anything this week while you are finishing up your papers, shoot me an email!
Melissa

IEW- Week 22

This is a record! Good thing this is a three week paper (still lesson #24) and I handed out a lesson plan and the final checklist last week! In keeping with that plan, today we would have gone over some tips and reminder points about good solid introduction and conclusion paragraphs today. This is a modified version of my teaching notes. If you have any questions please let me know.

Also, one of my IEW videos is missing and I neglected to write down who I lent it to! If you have it, would you please bring it to me next week? Thanks a bunch!

Ephesians 4:29; Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is  good for build up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those that hear.

I don't know about you, but I certainly need some grace this time of year. This class has been such a blessing to me personally and since this bizarre weather keeping throwing us curve balls, let me say it now so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. I have enjoyed getting to know each of you and your amazing sons and daughters! Reading their papers week after week, I feel as if I've gotten a window into their minds. They are treasures each and every one. I pray that they are encouraged to press on with this paper in the face of some crazy roadblocks. And, I hope that my words build you up and bring you grace where you need it. It has been an amazing journey for me to study what scripture says about words as we study how to use our words in writing. Thank you for joining me!

If anyone is struggling, please call me this week. I will talk you through any questions that you have.

      First semester we talked about “telling them what you are going to tell them, tell them, reminding them what you told them.” We have done introductory paragraphs for papers this semester too but they have looked a bit different. They’ve included “background information” so that your reader knows what you’re talking about before you start talking. For this paper, you are going to do both.

-What is a “Hook”? :  Something that makes the reader want to read more of your paper.  Here are some examples:

-     QUOTATION hook: Use an attention getting quote from the person/subject you are talking about: Albert Einstein said, “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.”

-     QUESTION hook: Ask a thoughtful question that makes the reader listen carefully to find out the answer: “Did you know that over 60% of words in the English dictionary have Latin roots? In the fields of science and technology, over 90% of words have Latin roots.” 

-     NARRATIVE hook: Use a vivid description or story to get an emotional response from your reader: “Can you imagine a world without a way to leave a note for a friend? That would be the case if we had no written language communication system.”

-     DEFINITION hook: You can also begin by defining exactly what you will be talking about: “Science is defined as a practical and intellectual activity that systematically studies the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” 

-     -FACT hook: You can use a really interesting or unusual or unexpected fact to open your paper. “41.7% of Fortune 500 companies use some form of technology to train employees!!”

-     SUSPEND INTEREST hook: (Leave out important information so that your reader wants to find the answer.) “It is a $56 billion dollar industry. It is gaining traction in the corporate world. 46% of college students used it last year! It is online educational opportunities.”

-     COMMAND hook: “You must decide for yourself! Will you take your own education seriously?”

-     FRAGMENT hook: “Math. Latin. Science. Language. History. There are many things to study, which one will capture your imagination?”

* Talk about each idea and allow the students to brain storm ideas to use one in their own paper.

     To conclude our papers, we will creatively restate our thesis and our points. But we need to find a final “one-two punch” that wins our case and explains why we really feel that the subject we chose needs to be important to education today. Just like creating the perfect meal for a special holiday, we want this last paragraph to include all of the very best tidbits that we can shove into it. It needs to state the most convincing, most important, most exciting piece of information of the whole paper. It needs to have the “knock out punch.” Many of the same techniques used for the introduction paragraph can be used for the conclusion paragraph as well.

* Take some time to brainstorm conclusion ideas.

Remind students to be thorough in writing their paper at home. Make good word choices and think carefully about making statements that back up their thesis. Pretend you are trying to convince someone that they need to study the subject you chose. 

If anyone did not get the handouts from last week and wants them, please let me know. 

May your week be blessed, your papers be fun to work on, and the sun be shiny next Tuesday! Haha!
Melissa

IEW- Week 21

Today we kicked off our very last paper of the year. It's a three week, five paragraph essay. Lesson 24 Level B should be easy for us all to do given the time allotment however, it's the end of the year and if life gets in the way, mercy abounds.

In class we discussed the how and why of the project: this is an opinion paper but you may use research to back up your opinion. This is NOT a research paper. The structure and format are spelled out in detail along with some really wonderful prompts and questions on pp. 159-163. This week we are focusing on the three body paragraphs.

I passed out my personal lesson strategy for my own boys and you are welcome to use it or chuck it, whatever makes it work for you.  If you choose to use my lesson plan, I do ask that you read it start to finish before you jump in as I wrote in snippets to conserve space (didn't want to hand you a ten page tome!) and it might make better sense to you if you see the big picture before you begin to tackle the details.

Also, Julie Hilts has told me that an app. exists for IEW! There is a free version as well as a full version for purchase that contains a thesaurus.

If anyone needs an emailed copy of the lesson plan, I can do that. I also have an emailable copy of the math game (Bagels, Fermi, Pico) from today. They seemed to enjoy it. It is also an app. 

Please do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by this. I know some of you are still without power and there is much grace poured out in your direction! Let me know if you have any questions.

Blessings,
Melissa

IEW- Week 20

Well!

Three weather days in one year! It's not a first but it is unusual and leaves us in quite the quandary.

After much consideration of all possible solutions, we think the best one is to simply drop Lesson #25 from our agenda and to take the remaining three weeks to cover Lesson #24. This will allow everyone to do a better paper and maybe even to step it up a notch.

Please take this week to really refine the paper that was to be turned in today and make it amazing. This is also a great week to review vocabulary and the grammar rules that are on the white pages at the back of the student binder. Don't forget our marble challenge! One for the paper, 5 for a picture, 10 for a drawn illustration, and 25 for the best title in each class.

I found this Disney video clip of "The Brave Little Tailor" on YouTube. It isn't the story in our book but it is cute and something to watch while sipping some hot chocolate. It's from the 30's and be aware that the giant does do some smoking.

If anyone would like more specifics on how we tackle this in class, please let me know. I will be making some suggestions on how to finish the book over the summer if anyone would like to go that route. The last lessons in the book are quite advanced and intended for Level B and C students. However, I am here to answer any concerns you may have or talk through anything that isn't clear. Please let me know if you need anything.

 

Have a blessed week, see you next Tuesday!

Melissa