Due January 7 (Holes, Crossword, FI 18,19,20, & Study 25 Spelling Words)

Welcome back!
Your assignment for January 7, 2015:
1) Read every last page of the book, Holes. 

Make notes, know the characters, the setting, the mood. Think about the arc of the story, the conflicts, the resolution. 
What are some new vocabulary words that you learned by reading this book?
Discuss the story with your parents so that you can be ready for some great discussion with Mrs. Cotham.

2) Completed Frog Prince Vocabulary Word Crossword Puzzle
3) FixIts & Vocabulary through #20!

4)  Practice those spelling words that I gave you in December (from The Magician's Nephew). The spelling test is on January 21, 2015.

surprised
bachelor
indignantly
exploration
discovered
smuggler
burglars
emigrant
haunted
suggested
lantern
desperate
mystery
explanations
measured
candlelight
immigrant
deserted
microscope
absolutely
pantomime
congratulate
1 Samuel
2 Samuel

WITs need to know the spelling of the bolded words only



Everyone else needs to know the correct spelling of all 25 words

Due December 17 (4 Christmas choices. FI 16,17 & vocabs)

I know you will enjoy this essay. Choose your topic:
St. Nicholas (NOT Santa Claus)
  1) Catholic Notebook
  2) Nicholas Loses His Cool
Good King Wenceslas
  1) StoryNory 
  2) Good-King-Wenceslas 
The Epiphany
  1) Catholic Culture (Epiphany - January 4, 2015)
  2) Three King's Day
 Candlemas
  1) Feast of Purification - FishEaters
  2) The Presentation of Jesus - Candlemas History
Banned words: give, get, go, come, see, eat, say, big, pretty, nice

           1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
        ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
        2)  OPENER requirements:
        (2), (3), (vss)
3)  Fix It
4)  Vocabulary assignment
no banned words & no contractions

1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
2)  OPENER requirements:
(2), (3), (5), (vss)
3)  No DEC requirements:
4)  Fix It & Vocab
no banned words & no contractions

 

1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
2)  OPENER requirements:
(2), (3), (4), (5), (vss)
3)  No DEC requirements:
4)  Fix It & Vocab
no banned words & no contractions  

All FIX ITs can be found in the pdf on the side bar

 

Due December 11 (FamilyChristmas tradition, FI#15 & vocab)

This is a fun assignment! 
Write your essay about a Christmas tradition in your family. Be ready to read (with gusto and joy) to the class.
NEW BANNED WORD: GIVE or any form of that verb

           1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
        ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
        2)  OPENER requirements:
        (2), (3), (vss)
3)  Fix It
4)  Vocabulary assignment
no banned words & no contractions

1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
2)  OPENER requirements:
(2), (3), (5), (vss)
3)  No DEC requirements:
4)  Fix It & Vocab
no banned words & no contractions

 

1)  DRESS UP requirements:  
ly, ww, bc, asia, QA, SV
2)  OPENER requirements:
(2), (3), (4), (5), (vss)
3)  No DEC requirements:
4)  Fix It & Vocab
no banned words & no contractions  

FIX IT #15 can be found in the pdf on the side bar

AND JUST FOR FUN . . . . 

Remember our little discussion about this?

 


Banned words:
give
get
go
come
see
eat
say
big
pretty
nice

Due December 3 (LapBook, Portfolios, FI#14, vocab)

Mrs. Cotham will be teaching our Literature part of class on December 3
1) Portfolios should be up to date
2) Lapbook  due for WITs. Extra Credit for all others

Reminder (also see Nov 19 details):
Students were given the a Magician's Nephew Lapbook Starter Packet. Feel free to use it and even add to it.  Maybe your WIT wants to draw a picture, write a poem, create some foldables of his or her own, add a photograph, write an essay, create an adjective list about a favorite place or character in the book, record lovely vocabulary words from the book, write a review . . . . . .

If you are more of a "notebooking" type of home educator, feel free to adapt this.

If you have not yet explored the world of lapbooks, here are a couple of links to help get you started:
http://jimmielanley.hubpages.com/hub/simplest-lapbook-ever

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159948224238832650/

Magician's Nephew Lap-Book Example

FIX IT #14 can be found in the pdf on the side bar

Due November 26 (Enjoy Thanksgiving!)

Due November 19 (Library, Vocab Test, MN Essays, LapBooks, FI#13)

First Year, JV, and Varsity Assignment:
Essay for Mrs. Cotham relating to The Magician's Nephew. 
Two paragraph minimum.  No IEW indicators required but please practice your IEW skills when writing.          

Choose one of the three below themes to write the paper:

1).  A look at the book from a biographical view of C.S. Lewis
2.)  A comparison to The Book of Genesis
3.)  The student's opinion on what the most important part of the book was (the climax) along with their support of why they felt it was the most important.

__________________________________________________________________________

Our WITs' Literature Assignment is a LapBook.

This is a project that needs more time than one week to complete.  

First Years, JV, and Varsity students may complete this assignment for extra credit. I expect more than the bare requirements described in the packet though. If you would like to submit this for extra credit, it must reflect your age, talent, ingenuity, and skill level. Lapbooks are fun . . . . go for it! LapBooks may be turned in on December 3, 2014.

The central topic is The Magician's Nephew.

Lapbooks are as individual as the students making them, but here are some common characteristics of most lapbooks.

1.  minibooks or foldables -- small books with interesting folds and flaps that just beg to be opened.
2. all minibooks focus on a central topic
3. minibooks are affixed into a file folder (or cardstock) folded into a shutterfold
4. lapbooking offers the opportunity to be creative with colors, folds, graphics, drawings, etc.
5. lapbooking is highly graphic -- lots of images, drawings, shapes, colors, and pictures.

Students were given the a Lapbook Starter Packet. Feel free to use it and even add to it.  Maybe your WIT wants to draw a picture, write a poem, create some foldables of his or her own, add a photograph, write an essay, create an adjective list about a favorite place or character in the book, record lovely vocabulary words from the book, write a review . . . . . .

If you are more of a "notebooking" type of home educator, feel free to adapt this.

If you have not yet explored the world of lapbooks, here are a couple of links to help get you started:
http://jimmielanley.hubpages.com/hub/simplest-lapbook-ever

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/159948224238832650/

Lap-Book Example

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. Cortez and Mrs. Cotham will not be back from San Antonio by November 19 so Mrs. Harrelson will be substituting.  Class will begin at Mitchell Library @ 9:30 (instead of 9:00)  Remember, no drinks or snacks at the library.  

CLASS PLAN:
• Vocabulary Test
• Timed-writing sample
• Turn in Vocab and Fix-its Week 13
• Submit The Magician's Nephew papers
• Please bring Lap Books to turn in if you completed one.
 
Mrs. Cotham will review The Magician's Nephew papers over the Thanksgiving break and return to complete the discussion of the book and give the students feedback on their essays after we return to class on December 3.

There will be no writing homework over the break, however, please have all returned papers 'portfolio ready' when class resumes in December.  Mrs. Cortez is all caught up on grading but unfortunately the papers are with her in San Antonio.  She will return everything she has next class.



Fix It #13
JV and Varsity: watch for the alliteration decoration. See the Appendix page A-6.

Week 13
When he was a teenager sad to say Arthur was a bit swollen-headed and pretentious. One humid afternoon in July young Arthur was riding through a forest in his fathers kingdom, seeking some shady relief from the sweltering sun. 

About halfway through the forest his horse reared up, startled, a young boy stood in the path. “Please sir I’ve lost my way”, the boy pleaded would you kindly give me a ride out of this desolate forest 

Out of my way peasant the prince retorted, oblivious that the boy was a magician in disguise, instantly the boys voice thundered For you’re lack of compassion and courtesy, you must spend your days as a frog. 

He zapped the air and the prince found himself hoping off the saddle, and plummeting onto the ground. The magician continued “perhaps as a frog you will learn humility and gratitude for simple kindness’s people might offer you [quotation continues] 

pretentious 
desolate 
oblivious 
plummeting

Due November 12 (Audio, Magician's Nephew, & FI #12)

1)  Read and review The Magician's Nephew.
2)  Learn something about the author
3)  Frog Prince Fix Its #12 (found below)
4)  Vocabulary assignment
5) Send me a recording of your reading of, David Finds a Helper. 832 766 2172

1)  Read and review The Magician's Nephew.
2)  Learn something about the author 
3)  Frog Prince Fix Its #12  (found below)  
4)  Vocabulary assignment
5) Send me a recording of your reading of, David Finds a Helper. 832 766 2172

1)  Read and review The Magician's Nephew.
2)  Learn something about the author  
3)  Frog Prince Fix Its #12     (found below) 
4) Vocabulary assignment
5) Send me a recording of your reading of, David Finds a Helper. 832 766 2172

GENERAL REMINDERS:

Essays should be typed. Be sure to follow essay format requirements 
KWOs, vocabulary words, Fix Its should be handwritten.

Vocabulary words are bolded in the Fix Its. Write each word's definition, part of speech, and a sample sentence using it correctly.  

Fix Its need to be re-written, making corrections as needed. There are hints and requirements preceding each Fix It. Please note that the highlighted instructions pertain to Varsity Students only. 

Fix Its:

Introduce the [T] Transitional sentence opener. See the Appendix page A-6.  

• Watch out for an illegal #4 sentence opener. Remember that “the thing after the comma needs to be the thing doing the inging.”  

Week 12  

 

Princess Dorinda reluctantly slank to the door and opened it a crack just wide enough for the frog to squeeze through. I guess you can come in she sighed audibly.  

  

Hopping, she let him traipse behind her to the resplendent dinning hall. “Thank you for you’re hospitality sire I’m Arthur,” the frog introduced himself.  

  

Dorinda, her father commanded Pick Arthur up and let him feast unstintingly from you’re golden plate. Yuck I won’t touch another bite she moaned again. “Be that as it may—a promise is a promise,” King Morton reminded him.  

  

Now, what Dorinda Maribella and King Morton did not divine was that Arthur was not truely a frog, but a prince! You may have surmised this all ready but they hadnt read any fairy tales lately.  

  

  

audibly:  
resplendent:  
unstintingly:  
surmised:

David Finds a Helper

That morning David said to Mother, “Why does the milkman come at night?” “He does not come at night, David,” said Mother.
“I heard him, Mother,” said David. “I heard something go clinkety, clinkety, clinkety. Father and I looked out. We saw the milkman and his truck. 
It was just like night.” 
“Maybe it was dark,” said Mother, “but it was morning. Most people are not up when the milkman comes.”
 “I would be afraid to go out in the dark like that,” said Ann.
 Mother said, “The milkman is not afraid. He wants to help people. If he were afraid we would have no milk for breakfast. Most people want milk for breakfast. The milkman brings it to them.”
“That is kind of him,” said David.
“Is he one of our helpers, Mother?”
“I wish I could talk to him some day,” said David.
“I would thank him for all he does for us.”
Then David and Ann said good-by to Mother and Baby Mary. Away they ran to school.

Due November 5 (TEST & Portfolios & FI #11)

As per our "comma and clauses discussion" in class....

This week's assignment:
November 5: 
Portfolios
Fix It and vocab 
TEST: Know all 8 supports for main idea or thesis in an essay. 

Hints - remember the labels that go along with the stick-figure man

And, Mrs. Harrelson's mnemonic: 

O, PARADES

Observation
Personal Experiences
Analogies
Research
Anecdotes
Description
Examples
Statistics
 
Upcoming assignment  
November 12: 
Make sure have read The Magician's Nephew 

GENERAL REMINDERS:
vocabulary words, Fix Its should be handwritten.


Fix Its:

Note that when an em-dash is used to indicate a break in thought, it needs to be closed if the original thought continues. Similarly, parentheses need to be closed.  

• Advanced students may identify decorations. A simile is included in one of these passages. See the Appendix page A-6.  

Week 11   

Dorinda may have had her deficiencies but she did tell the truth when asked directly  

“A frog”. “What did he want”?   

  

(Now you and me might have trouble with King Mortons rejoinder—why didn’t he think it unusual that a frog would knock at the castle door? but remember, this is a fairy tale which is allowed to be bizarre.  

  

Gushing tears yet again which Dorinda could expediently turn on and off like a faucet she sobbed the story of the frogs rescue of her ball, and the promises she had foolishly made.  

  

Surely you wouldn’t make me like touch that slimy, old thing? she groaned piteously.  

“Daughter you are a royal princess, your word, of all peoples, must be trustworthy.  

  

deficiencies:  
rejoinder:  
expediently:  
piteously:



Last but not least, a picture of our hard-working class as they perfect their team sentence challenge: