Week 9 - The One Room School House and Verb Anatomy

Yesterday had to be one of my favorite days with my Essentials families!

From time to time, we combine our Essentials A and B classes.  Yesterday was one of those days!  So roughly twenty 9-12 year olds were under my direction as we reviewed, learned a little more about verb anatomy, practiced dressing up sentences, read papers, and had mental math challenge. 

The tutor intrepid, the energy incredible, the eagerness intoxicating, and the excitement interminable.

Students recite conjugations (what's that??). 

The simple, present tense of  To Play.

• I play
• You play
• He She It plays
• We play
• You (all) play
• They play

Now simple, past tense. Now simple, future tense.  We are conjugating the verb To Play! Now let's do the same for To Work.  No problem. A student names a verb - To Run.  Uh-oh! That's an irregular verb!  No problem, we can handle it!

Next students are asked to create sentences following a certain sentence pattern - then parse and diagram to make sure they did indeed create a sentence that followed the assigned sentence pattern. We chant the linking verb list, noting that the forms of the verb To Be are the most often used linking verbs. Students chant the preposition list while hopping on one foot.

Did I mention that many younger siblings were playing quietly in the back of the room?  ...hearing the chants.

We then flow into sentence modification - connecting dress-ups and sentence openers.  Students take one simple S-Vt-DO sentence and add adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and even a few www.asiab and who/which clauses.  Older students are called on to help the younger students in several of these exercises.

We spend a few minutes reading papers, pointing out topic/clincher, and a few dress-ups heard.  Younger students benefit from hearing the more refined papers of older or 2nd/3rd  year students.

We work in a quick Mad lib, while students reference their resource notebook of adverbs and adjectives.  As students rustle the pages of their resource notebook - new words are being introduced their brain and ever expanding vocabulary. (I love community!)

Finally - it's mental math time!  With a lap whiteboard, younger student take notes as the series of numbers and operations are orally spoken.  Older students try to only write the answer on their board.  Quiet dialogue is allowed between students as they check each other and help catch careless mistakes.

Oh my! The two hours are gone!  Our time comes to a close.  Students and families work together to clean up the room ,vacuum, empty trash, set room in proper order, help me take items to my van, ... until next week...

And there you have it!  Twenty-three students and though varied in age, we learn together and encourage each other along the learning journey.  Just like the one-room school house of old.

Have a great week with language and words! And keep drilling those multiplication tables! :)

Week 8 - May I Propose a Preposition for Your Sentence?

We're back at the language excavation site!

Digging deep and uncovering more language building blocks!

About, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, ... and so the Essentials (and Foundations) preposition chant goes!

These simple little words are called prepositions.

Here some helpful preposition and prepositional phrase facts:

1. Prepositions relate a noun or a pronoun to other words in a sentence.
2. Prepositions will always be followed by an object of the preposition (noun or pronoun) thus creating a prepositional phrase.
3. A prepositional phrase that answers an adverb question is called an adverbial phrase.
4. A prepositional phrase that answers an adjective question is called an adjectival phrase.

Do IT!

Taking our core, tried-and-true sentence:

Jesus wept.

... with the goal of making our sentence more interesting and informative, let's have some fun with prepositions and prepositional phrases.

When? --> After prayer, Jesus wept.

Where? --> Among the people, Jesus wept.

When we put a prepositional phrase at the beginning of sentence like this, we call it a prepositional opener. This is an IEW sentence opener and is a simple, stylistic writing tool.

Now you do it!

1. Pull out your list of prepositions

2. Create a simple sentence

3. See how many prepositions you can use to create interesting prepositional phrases that make your simple sentence, simply sensational!

EEL Extra! for Prepositions EEL Extra - Prepositions.

Week 7 - Enlightening and Vitalizing Adverbs

How? When? Where? Why? To what extent?

These questions are the most commonly used ADVERB questions.  Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.  They are powerful and fun! 

Answering these questions adds vitality to your writing. Bringing your writing to life, as the reader puts your main idea(s) into a greater context or related framework.  Adverbs bring color to the core idea or ideas your sentence is conveying.

Take the rather simple, relatively uninteresting sentence below:

Jesus loves me.

Could this sentence use a little color?  A little more life?  Be a bit more informative? Note the adverbs in italics.  Some are single-word (often -ly words), others are phrases, still others are clauses.

• How does Jesus love me? --> Jesus loves me unconditionally.
• When does Jesus love me? --> Yesterday, today, and forever, Jesus loves me.
• Where does Jesus love me? --> In the garden, Jesus loved me.
• Why does Jesus love me? --> Jesus loves me because He made me.
• To what extent does Jesus love me? --> Jesus always loves me.

Most prepositional phrases are adverbial, because they answer one of the adverb questions. These are called adverbial phrases.  More on prepositions NEXT WEEK!! So stay tuned!

Adverbial clauses contain a subordinating conjunction (refer to your conjunction chart in Appendix B/C).  The most commonly used subordinating conjunctions follow a nifty acronym:

• when
• where
• while
• as
• Since
• if
• although
• because

IEW calls these sentence openers - www.asiab sentence openers.  First year students will begin using these openers in their writing soon.  For 2nd and 3rd year students this will be review!

EEL Challenge: 2nd and 3rd year students should attempt EEL TASK 5 - the modification challenge - on this weeks compound sentences.  Using either an adverbial phrase and/or a clause.  If you add a clause, do you see the subordinating conjunction? Do you remember how to diagram a dependent clause? (hint: go to appendix A for a refresher) Parents, remember by adding dependent clause, we create a COMPLEX sentence!  Do you see the pieces coming together?

Review Time: Remember to review the imperative purpose and the implied you.  Work with students are using compound sentences and dissecting compound sentences until it becomes easy.  Your teacher sheets lead you right through the breaking down of a compound sentence into its elementary parts.  This deconstruction builds wonderful language skills that will also manifest themselves in the reverse process - stronger and clearer sentence creation.

Are you reviewing your memory work?  Add the adverb questions and subordinating conjunctions to your memory work... and review, review, review!  It makes the application and language analysis much easier and more enjoyable for the student!

Extra... Lively and captivating language... Do you have boys? Read a paragraph or two from Lord of the Rings series or CS Lewis series... or perhaps Homer or Aesop's works.  Girls? How about Hinds Feet on High Places or an except from Pride and Prejudice or the Elsie Dinsmore series.   These authors' story-telling style and commanding use of language have painted epoch stories in the hearts and minds of millions...

... perhaps one of our children will follow in their footsteps.

Week 6 - Conjunctions, Connections and Compounds

Conjunction junction what's your function?  Hooking up words, phrases and clauses. 

So the School House Rock song goes!

This week we see how conjunctions, specifically coordinating conjunctions, are used to join two or more independent clauses together in order to add more flavor, variety and complexity in our writing and overall communication.

Too many simple sentences, can make our writing a little boring and even... well... a little simple.  So let's learn some ways to spice up our writing and to make it more interesting!

Focusing on the coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS), let's create compound sentences using all of the coordinating conjunctions with the following sentences:

1. I ran home.
2. I was tired.

For--> I ran home for I was tired. (for is used to show cause or consequence relationship)

And --> I ran home and I was tired. (and is used to show similarity or association)

Nor --> I ran home nor I was tired. (nor is used to show similarity or association)

But --> I ran home but I was tired. (but is used to show contrast or opposition)

Or --> I ran home or I was tired. (or is used to show choice or omission)

Yet --> I ran home yet I was tired. (yet is used to show contrast or opposition)

So --> I ran home so I was tired.  (so is used to show result or consequence)

Notice that the NOR and OR compound sentences don't really make sense.  We would need slight modifications to the independent clauses to make more relational sense.  Like:

I didn't run home nor was I tired.

I could run home or I could walk home.

Coordinating conjunctions make sentences (and thus paragraphs) more interesting by showing relationships between your thoughts and ideas.  Ideas of equal importance often can be written in compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions.  It's all about relationship!  Coordinating conjunctions most often show similarity or association, contrast, consequence/result, or choice.

Add compound sentences to your writing assignment this week!

We have other conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, that we will delve into in more depth in the weeks to come, as we discuss complex sentences. But for now, simply add the conjunction mastery chart to your memory work, so we can have the vocabulary and lists loaded and ready to go!

Using the teacher sheets for this week, have fun taking apart compound sentences.

Week 5 - Informative Interrogatives

Who?   What?   Where?   When?   Why?   How?

Interrogatives, in the gentler sense of the word, have to be my favorite sentence purpose.  Interrogatives (questions) are the bedrock upon which relationships are formed and eventually mature.  Through the use of interrogatives you uncover the priorities, values, heart and mind of another person (and many times yourself). 

• How are you? 
• What is your favorite ________?
• Are you all right? 
• Is there anything I can do? 
• What would you do if __________?
• Do you know _______?
• Do you like ________?
• Have you ever _______?
• May I help?

Questions like these, enable us learn about the one of whom we are asking the questions.  In my mind, when a person uses questions like these it reveals an other-centeredness.  Someone that cares about hearing others and not just being heard.  Ahhh... good communication is key for healthy, strong relationships, isn't it?!?

Do you understand?

Jesus masterfully used interrogatives to reveal the understanding, motives and heart of others, especially the religious leaders.  I find the use of interrogatives in order to check understanding most fascinating!  Jesus had a disarming yet authoritative way of weaving interrogatives into his teaching to keep the student/person engaged and their mind actively focused.  Here are some examples from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7):

• You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?
• For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gathers do the same?
• Look at the birds... Are you not worth much more than they?... Why are you worried about clothing?
• How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?
• Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?
• You will know them by their fruits.  Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

Jesus wisely used interrogatives to make people think - confront and evaluate their current understanding of God and His ways and also their own identity and value.  I love the fact that Jesus did not answer all of his own questions... but simply allowed the questions to cascade over the listener's mind and heart like a refreshing, cool wave stimulating the shore of their understanding.

Interrogatives are powerful and essential tools for us as parents and teachers...  Be mindful of using them well and often along your family's learning journey!

 

Weekly Wisdom Words

“The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer...”

Proverbs 15:28a

 

Week 4 - Imperatives! Diagramming? Phonograms!

Another wonderful day of discovery and learning!  As we uncover more purposes and analytical tasks, students are enjoying the challenge.

Imperatives

This week we turn our attention to a new and unique purpose, imperatives.  Imperatives are commands.  They may have a noun of direct address, but always contain the hidden implied you.  Imperatives are always in 2nd person - as you are talking to a person and the verb is always in present tense. Refer to your field guide (EEL Guide) week 4 for more about imperatives.

Sentence Shuffle (by purpose) Taking some sentences from this week's EEL editing exercise (p 59), we transformed a few declarative and interrogative sentences into imperative sentences. 

Pharisees questioned him.    --->    Question him.

I also made the sentences from this week's Teacher Sheets into declarative sentences, and then had the students turned them into imperatives. 

I wept tearfully.      --->        Weep.    or   Weep tearfully.

We discussed the implied you and the verb tense change (if any).  This simple exercise produced some wonderful dialogue as we unearthed more language concepts and applied the concept utilizing our trusty tools (EEL tasks).

Diagramming

Let's make a picture of that sentence!  Diagramming helps us analyze the structure of a sentence and the role of each word, phrase and clause.  In my own children's writings if we encounter a sentence that seems unclear, I will have them stop and diagram it.  This helps the student to really examine what they are trying to say and the best way to say it.

Students should already be working on page B7/C7.  Students should be copying this page at first, then able to reproduce this page from memory.  Be sure students are drawing the diagramming lines, as these vary from sentence pattern to sentence pattern.

Phonograms

A phonogram is a sequence of letters that have the same pronunciation in several different words, e.g. "ear" in "earth," "heard," and "learn".  As you have taught your own student to read, you have no doubt already encountered the concept of a phonogram.  Here, at week 4, it is nice to remember to continue to work with your student on phonograms in the context of spelling or encoding - hearing the word and knowing the appropriate phonogram(s) that make up that word.  Reinforce phonograms by pointing them out in dictated sentences, readers, memory work, ... everywhere!

Remember - memory work (EEL Task 1)  is cumulative so keep reviewing!

How are you doing with your Teacher Sheets?  Do you feel yourself getting smarter?

Week 3 - On Location with Nouns and Pronouns

This week we have yet another discovery to dig into... Pull out your trusty field guide (EEL Guide) and review week 3's lesson information. (Still trying to figure out your field guide? Help is here!) This week is loaded with all sorts of information concerning nouns and pronouns and the central roles they play in sentences. 

Orderly Connections! In English, the location of a noun  in relationship to other words in a sentence dictates that noun's role (subject, direct object, indirect object, possessive, and object of the preposition).  In Latin, it is not the location of the noun but rather the noun ending that tells you the role the noun is playing in a sentence. Therefore in Latin sentences words can be in any order!

Week 3 also introduces EEL Analytical Task 3.  If this is your first time to look at this information , allow yourself to digest small pieces of information at a time.  We will be reviewing and discussing nouns and pronouns for several weeks, so be patient with yourself.  Refer to page A3 and A36 to see an overview schedule for the year - keep this framework in mind, there is a lot of review built in.

Remember EEL Task 1 is simply loading the grammar.  Putting in the data, vocabulary, lists, etc... into the brain for later retrieval and application.  EEL Task 1 points you to Appendices B and C for our grammar.  This week add the student mastery charts on nouns and pronouns from Appendix C to your student's studies and weekly memory work. 

Have your own laser printer at home? Want to print grammar pages on demand? EEL Appendix B and C download link ($15).

EEL Task 2 is simple dictation and checking sentence mechanics of spelling, capitalization and punctuation.  This is a simple task and results in students who edit their work more effectively and pay closer attention to writing syntax details.  So work on establishing the discipline of dictation in your home.  Just a few minutes a day.  We pick sentences from the EEL Guide, the Dictation Resource, but also from our favorite readers and scripture passages.  This year since we are spending so much time in John chapter 1 in the Foundations program, I will spend time applying the EEL Tasks to this passage. To practice some of the editing skills of EEL Task 2, I'll throw in some editing pages (from the EEL Guide Editing Exercises, like p47, or some variation of it).  Interesting to note that all the EEL Editing Exercises are from the book of John, specifically from the first four chapters.

Now on to EEL Task 3 Question Confirmation!  Refer to Appendix A (pp A10-A12) of your field guide to get the big picture of this task's purpose.  This task is a truly dialectic task, meaning you and your student dialogue using a series of questions.  This process of dialogue and thinking aids in the discovery of a word's role and/or part of speech in a particular sentence.

This leads me very nicely into our magical Teacher Sheets! (see below but see A21 in your field guide for a legible Teacher Sheet sample)  Some have even called these sheets Cheater Sheets because they contain the work, script and answers in order to teach us, the parent and student, this powerful analytical process!  These instructional sheets begin this week (see p50 for the first official Teacher Sheet).  They walk you step-by-step through EEL Tasks 1-6 for one sentence, providing the appropriate answers, examples and yes, even verbal scripts!

Teacher Sheets make us look and feel smart until we actually are .

New students and parents should feel free to stick only with Task 1-3.  Returning students and parents should do as much as they can!  You'll be amazed by the end of the year at the ease in which students can parse, diagram, modify and perform basic Quid et Quo on every word in a sentence.

A man has joy in an apt answer,

and how delightful is a timely word!

Proverbs 15:23

My family and I are off to the special CC week at Great Wolf Lodge and home school week at Williamsburg, VA to take in some history! 

See some of you there!

Week 2 - Unearthing Valuable Verbs

This week at our Essentials Excavation site, we reviewed structures, purposes, patterns and the eight parts of speech. Keep working through these lists and grammar with your students.  Each week we will have a part of speech focus...  This week is the valuable verb.

Week 2 in your EEL Guide contains in-depth information about this important and loaded part of speech - the verb.  This week's information will be your reference.  Throughout the year, we will peel back more and more layers of verbs and therefore will be visiting week 2's information for more understanding and details.  You'll also find the "grammar" of verbs listed in appendix B and C. Students (and parents) should work on memorizing this information. More information on understanding the EEL Guide click here.

Parents with younger students should be sure to consistently review the components that make up a sentence - subject, verb (predicate), first word of the sentence has a capital letter, the end of the sentence has an end mark, and it must make complete sense. 

Do it! Have students come up with a subject and a verb, then make their very own sentence.  A little more?  Have students classify the sentence by structure, purpose and pattern.

i.e. Subject = dog        verb = jump (any tense)    
sentence --> The dog jumped.
Classification would be....
Structure = Simple
Purpose = Declarative
Pattern = S - Vi

Another twist:  Have students take a sentence from this week's IEW poem or writing project and find the subject and verb.

Advanced or older student idea:  Use this page from the John 1 passage and edit this passage, located subjects and verbs, and more... go as deep as you would like as there are many language layers.  As you move throughout the Essentials/EEL year, you'll find you can pick up any sentence, from your favorite read-aloud to a classic to my personal favorite - a scripture passage, and analyze sentences and paragraphs.

In the EEL portion, we are analyzing  through a deconstruction process of sorts while in writing (or IEW), we are constructing ideas through paragraphs and sentences. 

Next week, we start using the EEL Guide's Teacher Sheets, which will model and lead us through the signature EEL Analytical Tasks... so stay tuned!

Dig as deep as you'd like this week and have fun!

Essentials - 411

Here are a couple of important links... If you have an Essentials Guide from 2007, you may have a strange A13 page (blurred or something of the sort). Is so, here is a pdf file you can print and replace it with Essentials pA13.

Invaluable pdf file for those NEW to the EEL Guide!  Want help in understanding the layout and appendices of the EEL Guide and more? Click here.

Next, for those of you who have your own laser printer at home, and would like to print pages from Appendix B or C on demand, here is a link to purchase the EEL Student Mastery Sheets download.

Psssst! Have you heard about the new CC site, Connected Classical Community. Connect with hundreds of families and educators across the US. When you register on the site, you have access to a few special Essentials printables... so you'll want to check that out! Visit Connected Classical Community and register now. If you decide you would like to subscribe to the Foundations Tier and you are a member of a local CC community, ask your director about the special coupon code to receive a substantial discount off the retail price.

Finally, note that the CC Press Room contains some important posts, announcements, press releases and wonderful CC history. So be sure to check out the CC Press Room from time to time.

Week 1 - The Excavation Site

The Big Picture

This week we mark off the boundaries of our excavation. It is important that we work within a defined and clearly marked area. During this marking off it is important not to get caught up in too many details, rather think of these first few weeks as a birds-eye view of language. So for first-year parents and students remember more details will come as we move through the year, so be patient with yourself and your student.

For the second and third year Essentials students... hang on! We are going dig a little deeper and a little quicker - so enjoy these first few weeks of review!

This week work with your students on some foundational vocabulary associated with language. The boundaries of structures, purposes, patterns and eight parts of speech. Throughout the week review these lists together. Right now these are just pegs, grammar of language.

CAUTION: Again let me reiterate, first-year parents should seek to begin simply with grammar. More detail and understanding will come throughout the year, but we must first put in place some important pegs in place to hang more information on...

Have a wonderful week of learning language, of teaching your children the importance of words and using them well, and of possibly falling in love with language yourself (in case you haven't already)!

Parent-Teacher Inspirations...

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Prov 25:11

Welcome to Essentials Excavations!

Welcome 2008/2009 Essentials parents!

This is a special thread of postings for the local Essentials program that I tutor. This label is called Essentials Excavations.

I will be posting information regarding the EEL portion of Essentials including parent-teacher encouragement and high-level class notes. I hope to have a new post every Monday (at least for the first semester!)

Why have I labeled these postings Essentials Excavations? Well of course, this is the Essentials program, which contains language and arithmetic essentials, but I have also chosen this post label for the following reasons:

Essentials... because we will be learning the essential pieces of language construction and special keys that will help us unlock and understand the embedded structure code within all romance languages.

Excavations... because WE (that's right you, me and the students) will be mining valuable language gems and discovering foundational language structures that date back to beginning of the romance languages. Cool!!

What we unearth will greatly benefit your current written and oral language skills, as well as your future language studies!

As with any educational endeavor parents involvement and leadership is key! May the Lord bless you in this coming year as we learn more about language this coming year!

So let's start digging!

Ode to Essentials

EEL is like language “structure” (the building)
IEW is like language “arts” (the décor)

EEL teaches language building blocks
IEW teaches writing and expression building blocks

EEL teaches detailed analytical thinking and romance language structure.
IEW teaches techniques for written expression

EEL focuses on the micro level – sentences to words and to revealing the underlying vocabulary code of language building blocks - learning syntax, structure and sentence components.
IEW focuses on the macro level – to topics to paragraphs to sentences – focus is on ideas and information being well expressed.

EEL is more comfortable for some students – as it is more exact and structured – some students find success here more quickly than others. There is a “right answer”
IEW is more comfortable for other students – as it has more room for expression, creativity – some students enjoy success here quicker than other.

IEW talks about using prepositional openers, adverbs, quality adjectives…
EEL defines the vocabulary used in IEW and writing techniques…

EEL teaches me to thoughtfully read God’s word, to make sure I understand who or what a pronoun is referring to, what the verb tense indicates, and more – important points as I seek to apply God’s promises, instructions, and imperatives to my life…
IEW teaches me how to paraphrase God’s word, and eventually retell the truths I have mediated upon ...

What is EEL? CC's Language and Grammar curricullum - The Essentials of the English Language Guide
What is IEW? This is Institute for Excellence in Writing approach to writing.

EEL and IEW complement each other wonderfully… And we haven't even spent time talking about the fun arithmetic games!