For every week that has a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in school, we will have a regular set of vocabulary assignments. Each Tuesday a vocabulary lesson is due; we correct that in class. Each Wednesday the vocabulary sentences are due--see the directions in the 2011-12 reading contract on the middle school class materials page. Each Thursday we have the vocabulary test.
Last week we spent a lot of time in class going over basic MLA format rules. I expect students to follow MLA rules on all their papers, including their vocabulary sentences each week. All this week I took vocab sentence samples and "graded" them in class so everyone could see what needed to be fixed and how to fix it.
We also started memorizing 50 prepositions in class (which you can find on the "Style Stuff" page in middle school class materials). The first test on the 50 prepositions (in order and spelled correctly) will be Wednesday, September 29.
You can find the lesson about prepositions and prepositional phrases in Elementary English. I think parents should ask their children to duplicate the lesson from class this week. Kids, that means I want you to teach your parents about prepositional phrases. Don't forget to use the cups--and the water!
For September students are writings vocab sentences that start with one or more prepositional phrases. I think using prepositional phrases is pretty easy for most of the class. The only real problem comes from the fact that a few prepositions can also be subordinating conjunctions. That means some can start a prepositional phrase or an adverb clause. The embedded document below shows the difference.
It also gives an example of each of the 50 prepositions, in order, used in a prepositional phrase, even if not all of them are at the beginning of the sentence. Look for the sentences where the prepositional phrase is at the beginning. They are the examples for what I want students to do for their vocab sentences.
PS
The story is mostly fact.
Last week we spent a lot of time in class going over basic MLA format rules. I expect students to follow MLA rules on all their papers, including their vocabulary sentences each week. All this week I took vocab sentence samples and "graded" them in class so everyone could see what needed to be fixed and how to fix it.
We also started memorizing 50 prepositions in class (which you can find on the "Style Stuff" page in middle school class materials). The first test on the 50 prepositions (in order and spelled correctly) will be Wednesday, September 29.
You can find the lesson about prepositions and prepositional phrases in Elementary English. I think parents should ask their children to duplicate the lesson from class this week. Kids, that means I want you to teach your parents about prepositional phrases. Don't forget to use the cups--and the water!
For September students are writings vocab sentences that start with one or more prepositional phrases. I think using prepositional phrases is pretty easy for most of the class. The only real problem comes from the fact that a few prepositions can also be subordinating conjunctions. That means some can start a prepositional phrase or an adverb clause. The embedded document below shows the difference.
It also gives an example of each of the 50 prepositions, in order, used in a prepositional phrase, even if not all of them are at the beginning of the sentence. Look for the sentences where the prepositional phrase is at the beginning. They are the examples for what I want students to do for their vocab sentences.
PS
The story is mostly fact.
