“If I should stay/I would only be in your way…”
As these lyrics caressed our ears over the past few decades, few of us realized that these were examples of English grammar in its proper usage. Naturally, they then became a part of today’s lesson.
The students walked into class while I played the late Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You.” They then worked on their Warm Up activity while listening to Beyoncé’s rendition of “If I Were A Boy” and “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani (this song used the melody of “If I Were A Rich Man” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof“).
Once the lesson was in full swing, we reviewed the subjunctive mood again and expanded that to include all three verb moods: indicative, imperative, and subjunctive. I also provided them with the flow chart below to help them discern what sentences utilized which moods.
We then reviewed examples of the subjunctive mood interspersed with videos of alternate versions of the songs above to illustrate the use of the subjunctive in context of songs as additional examples of modern literature.
Homework:
- Read for 30 minutes.
- Study for subjunctive assessment.
- Study for Friday’s vocabulary quiz
- Input your “If I Were President” speech onto KidBlog.
- Respond to the “Dear Dr. King” posts of at least 2 other classmates. Try to respond where no previous responses were made.
PowerPoint:
The Subjunctive: Day 2
The fun of learning about the subjunctive mood is that it is quite confusing, frustrating, and part of our standards. That said, today, the students took a quick quiz solely for the purpose of seeing how much they understood from yesterday’s class. They then had the opportunity to work on more practice with the subjunctive. Since grammar is a tricky beast, I have included some additional practice and resources to help with understanding the subjunctive mood, when to use it, and how to implement it in a sentence.
- English Page’s Mini Tutorial: “The Subjunctive”
- Wikipedia Article: “English Subjunctive”
- English Club: “The Subjunctive Mood”
- For Dummies: “Using the Subjunctive Mood in English”
- Grammar Girl: “Subjunctive Verbs”
- Carson-Newman University: “Moods in Verbs”
Tomorrow will be another day of answering questions, applying what we have learned, and of trying to tackle this beast called the subjunctive.
Homework:
- Read for 30 minutes
- Input “If I Were President” speech into KidBlog
- Respond to at least two of your classmates’ “Dear Dr. King” letters on KidBlog
PowerPoint:
Friday, March 29th, 2013
We capped off this week with a continuation of our ELA Olympics. Each of the teams in class were competing quite hard to gain the most points. Today, we put our emphasis on two things: the ELA Infographic Project and sentence trees. I had a Q & A session with the students to make sure that everyone was clear on the expectations of the project (which is due next Friday, April 5th and no later). We then broke sentences down into their parts of speech and then looked at how the words came together to make phrases, clauses, complete subjects, complete predicates, etc.
Just as a refresher (for those of you parents who might not be familiar with sentence trees):
HOMEWORK: Read for 30 minutes. Continue work on the ELA Infographic Project (due Friday, April 5th).
PowerPoint: Status Report 3.29.13
Monday, October 8th, 2012 in Review
It’s always important to review concepts in a fun way. Today we reviewed the sentence parts, phrases, and clauses that had been covered in class thus far (minus gerunds, next time) through a Sentence Auction. Each sentence part, phrase, or clause was assigned a dollar amount. This will serve as the minimum bid price for each sentence. As the students work in pairs (or groups of three) to create the most expensive sentence that makes sense, one “expert student” served as the “appraiser” to verify that the sentences were grammatically correct. Our end goal is to put the sentences on a sentence strip which will be auctioned off to other student groups. This assignment will be concluded tomorrow.
We watched a video clip from the Discovery Channel Show “Auction Kings” where the students were able to see what an auction looked like in real-life. This served to give everyone background on exactly what the Sentence Auction would entail.
HOMEWORK: Take a look at the homework for the week (which can be found here).
PowerPoint: 10-8-12 Fun Times at the Sentence Auction
Thursday, October 4th, 2012 Recap
Thursday’s class began with our usual grammar practice. After a review of the focus standards for the day, we picked up where we left off yesterday. A “mission briefing”set the tone: follow the clues some more, complete the tasks, and move on to the beginnings of our Sentence Auction. This Sentence Auction, which will begin Friday and finish Monday, the 7th of October, is where the students will sell sentences they have created. The monetary value of each sentence will be determined by what each sentence contains.
Sentence Auction Guidelines:
HOMEWORK: Re-read pages 141-148 in your Reader/Writer Interactive Workbook. This time, answer ALL of the questions on pages 149-150.
PowerPoint: 10-4-12 Follow the Context Clues
Friday September 7th, 2012 in Review (and welcome aboard)
Let me first extend a warm welcome to the parents who have just signed up to follow this blog through their email. Thank you for your support!
Friday we brought together all that we had learned this week through a freestyle rap review in the style of Jimmy Fallon’s “Ready, Set, Flow.” Not all of the classes got a chance to do this entirely, but all were exposed to this concept for future reviews (in a much more fun and interactive way). It was then time for our weekly quiz over the sentence parts of predicate, direct object and indirect object. After completing the quiz, it was then time to write our weekly BCR. This week, to reflect our in-class discussions, the students had the opportunity to choose from one of the topics below:
- Topic 1: Has ‘The American Dream’ been deferred as Langston Hughes mentions in his 1951 poem. Include examples to support your claim.
- Topic 2: Can men and women fully be equal in society? Why or why not? Include examples to support your claim.
- Topic 3: What issue do you think politicians should not address? Why should this issue be off limits? Include examples to support your claim.
HOMEWORK: None! Have a safe and wonderful weekend!
PowerPoint: 9-7-12 Truth, Justice, and the American Way
Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 Recap
After the wonderful, 3-day Labor Day weekend we did a review of the basic sentence parts: subjects and verbs/predicates. We then took a 10-question quiz on complete subjects and predicates as well as abstract nouns. Finally, the lesson wrapped up with notes, discussion, and practice identifying direct objects.
HOMEWORK: AC: Write a 5-sentence story using SVO (Subject/Verb/(Direct) Object). Highlight the sentence parts (Subject/Verb/(Direct) Object) in different colors. 2nd, 6th, and 7th: Write 5 sentences that use SVO (Subject/Verb/(Direct) Object). Identify each sentence part (Subject/Verb/(Direct) Object).
PowerPoint: 9-4-12 Subjects, Verbs, & Direct Objects