IEW-Week 24

What a fun way to end our year together! According to the combined class count, math was the favorite subject but history and science were close on it's heels. I loved that we got two votes for art. :) What a deliciously diverse group!

It was a fabulous day of reading papers and eating yummies- thanks moms! You rock.

I will be sending a flat envelope of letters to Indonesia soon. If anyone would like to send words of encouragement or stickers (anything flat), please bring it to me Tuesday night. The Knott family will be coming home on furlough soon and will hopefully be able to pay us a visit next year at some point! It would be lovely for them to have some names and faces to connect.

Thank you, thank you for making my year so full of smiling faces and imaginative interaction. Your children have been such a blessing and I cherish this past year so very much! It has been a joy to share my passion for written communication with these bright young minds.

Have an amazing summer!
Melissa

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

IEW- Week 19

Time is ticking! We've got three papers left, can you believe it?

Marble Madness is upon us:
1 marble for turning in your paper (or any past papers that you haven't turned in)
5 marbles for a copy and paste picture from the internet
10 marbles for a hand illustrated paper
AND
25 marbles for the "Best Title" (as voted on by the class)

We will be sticking with Unit 7 for the remainder of the year. This week, Lesson 23, is a Level A one paragraph paper due next week.

Next week (week 20) we start a two week paper, Lesson 24, and you can do Level A or B.

Week 22 we will start our last paper, Lesson 25, your choice of Level A or B and it will be due Week 24.

And that's all folks! Our marble jar should be full by then and then we can par-tay!

Don't forget that the point of doing this unit over and over again is to really hammer in the process and organizing strategy for future writing needs. This will create confidence as well as efficiency when they go to pull of those essays that'll be coming their way soon.

Remind them to use those critique words from last week and to make sure that the points they make in their paragraph are backed up with facts from the story. Many of them seemed to be leaning towards the tailor being a bad guy and that's totally fine (from a moral and  Christian perspective I think we can all agree on that) but there is much value in learning to "argue the flip side" or as our beloved Challenge B director always says to play "angel's advocate" to the popular viewpoint. This is especially so for those students who are becoming more dialectic or need more challenge but don't want to do the Level B assignment.

Let me know if I can be of assistance in any way or answer any questions that pop up as you dig in to this paper.

Blessings,
Melissa

IEW- Week 18

Thank you moms for making this a wonderful day! And thank you Rose for heading up the math part of it despite feeling so crummy.

All of the menus and worksheets were saved and page protected so that we can play this game again and again (sans food) until they get quite comfortable with the concepts of tax and tip and subtotals and unit pricing and all that practical math stuff. Thank you to all the moms who jumped in to help whoever needed help. Totally a team effort all around.

Now, on to the assignment of that week: Lesson 22. This lesson is very well laid out in the book and really holds your hand through the process. I highly recommend that everyone do Level A since this is a one week paper. However, if you feel you need an extra challenge, Level B instructions are spelled out on the last page of the lesson. It is a 3 paragraph paper with an opening topic and final clincher. If you really want to take it to the next level, the unit 7 chart in the student notebook lays out how to stretch this to a 5 paragraph essay.

Here's the scoop:
-one week
-one paragraph
-one thing
-can be first person
-illustrations get an extra 5 marbles

Nitty-gritty:
Pretending that you are a Medieval peasant who has visited 2014 for a brief 24 hr period, what are you going to tell your friends when you get back home? Pick ONE THING to describe and then use your 5 sense words (and other decorations and dress-ups and sentence openers) to put it in terms that they can understand (remember, you can tell them that you saw a cool telephone-eth ;) but they don't have a clue what a telephone-eth is. It would be better to describe it as a "magical box that voices come out of".... or "a box that lights up and rings"... or.... you get the picture).

Remember:
The goal is one well written, solid paragraph that practices the format that you will need in future essay writing from prompts such as on standardized achievement tests and college admissions essays. Don't forget the topic sentence, clincher sentence and a title that repeats and reflects. Just a reminder, a paragraph is 4 to 7 sentences.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me!
Blessings,
Melissa

PS- I know many of you are feeling quite under the weather and have sicklin's at home. Several of you have expressed concern. Grace and mercy to you! This is one of the reasons why this and the next few assignments are listed as Level A only. It's that time of year and we want to be practical as well as accountable. No crying in Essentials! Only you know the needs of your family.