Project in a Day

Posted on November 25, 2014 by mrsrp

Hi VRPs.

Our time together as a class is fast coming to an end. We’ve been through a LOT this year: some of it positive; some of it not; some of it wonderfully fun; and some of it awfully difficult. At the end of it all though, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t swap our year together for ANYTHING.

As I write this I’m not sure what year level I’ll be teaching, or even at which school I’ll be next year BUT I do know a couple of things. And I need your help with a few of them:

1. I want my new students to know about you because you’ll all be part of the one big family. Remember that once you’re one of my kids, y0u’re always one of my kids.

2. I want my new kids to know the highlights of our year together so that they have an idea of the kind of awesomeness I expect from my kids.

3. I want you to share your tips and advice for how to make the most of their time with me.

This will be your project for Wednesday 26th November. Working with a partner you will need to produce a digital response to each of these points. (That means you need to create THREE responses.) They are three VERY different tasks so I encourage you to think creatively. You might like to create a pretend family photo (you could use Pic Collage perhaps?) for task 1… Or perhaps a timeline (maybe a Keynote presentation with a new slide for each month?) for task 2… Or even do an interview (create an iMovie maybe or write a letter on your blog?) for task 3.These are just suggestions though, you are free to use whatever digital tool fits your purpose. And remember: your audience will be other kids. Not me. Not other adults. KIDS. (So think carefully about the language you choose and the text structures you include.)

This project asks you to reflect on our year together, on me, and on the students in our class. You will need to think back and try to remember what we did in the first half of the year. You will need to analyse the behaviours and attitudes that have helped you succeed (or not) this year. It’s a big project but I know you can do it.

And here’s the exciting part of the project… For me at least… The day after the project finishes we will view all responses and vote on the best one for each point. I will show these to my next class.

So. Help me? Please. Put in your personal best. Show me – and my next class – how creative, reflective and helpful you are.

Love,

Mrs RP.

It’s Time to Run Away from these Run-on Sentences

Posted on November 18, 2014 by mrsrp

Yesterday I read a sentence – written by a VRP – that had 97 words in it. 97! It didn’t make much sense, and I was worn out by the time I worked out what they were trying to say. It was a sentence that looked a lot like this: I went to the shop and I bought lunch and I ate my lunch at the park and I walked home and I played on the playstation and I called up my friend and we hung out at the beach and I came home exhausted from trying to write all of this in one sentence. This sentence also has a name: they are called lazy sentences. Yes. Lazy. This is collection of simple sentences joined together with a co-ordinating conjunction (and) to make it seem like a compound sentence instead of the writer putting a little effort into making them interesting compound or complex sentences.

There’s an easy way to correct that kind of sentence: stop writing them. You’re all better than that. Be interesting writers. Go on. I dare you.

There is another kind of long sentence that pops up quite often in writing too. It looks more like this: I like shopping I don’t like shopping centres I like to go to Rundle mall. These long sentences also have a name: they are called run-on sentences.

There are a few ways of correcting this kind of sentence. We’ll explore them in more detail in class but here’s a quick summary:

1: Make separate sentences. I like shopping. I don’t like shopping centres. I like to go to Rundle Mall.

2. Join the clauses using a semi colon. I like shopping. I don’t like shopping centres; I like to go to Rundle Mall.

3. Link the clauses with a co-ordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) I like shopping but I don’t like shopping centres so I like to go to Rundle Mall.

4. Make one of the clauses dependent by adding a subordinating conjunction (since, which, that, because). I like shopping although I don’t like shopping centres; I like to go to Rundle Mall.

It’s time to get running away from these long sentences. (Long AND run-on.)

Copy this text and correct all of the long and run-on sentences.

I woke up early on Sunday morning and had a shower I decided that I was going to cook my family pancakes and went to the fridge to check that we had all of the ingredients we did I got them out and started cooking there were only 5 people home I was lucky I didn’t have to make lots like normal when I was nearly finished I woke everyone else up and they all had showers and then set the table and we sat down to eat our breakfast together one of the children had lemon and sugar and the other two had jam I like golden syrup and cream Geoff only likes maple syrup the boys cleared the table and did the dishes and it was a lovely breakfast.

THEY’RE Sitting Over THERE With THEIR Friends

Posted on November 14, 2014 by mrsrp

An interesting challenge – even for really confident spellers – is knowing the difference between homographs, homophones and homonyms. I’m going to let you in on a little secret though: if you think about the words morphologically (remember that means about the base words) it’s EASY to work it out.

Let’s start with homograph: We know – from our prior learning in Science and Growth & Development – that homo means ‘the same’. That leaves us with graph. We can predict – based on our understanding of graphic novels, graphs and graffiti – that graph has something to do with drawing or writing. If we combine these two ideas we come up with a word that means ‘written or drawn the same way’. So for example: console (as in your PS3) and console (to comfort someone). These words are spelled exactly the same but have very different meanings.

Let’s break up homophone in the same way: We already know about homo, which just leaves phone. We can predict – based on our understanding of telephone, microphone, earphones – that phono has something to do with sound. If we combine these two ideas we come up with a word that means ‘sounds the same way’. So for example: no (the opposite of yes) and know (to be aware of something). These words sound exactly the same but have very different spelling and meaning.

This brings us to homonym. This one is a bit trickier because nym isn’t so obvious. If we think carefully though we can see it in words like anonymous and synonym which both have meanings related to names. So if we combine this idea with the meaning of homo we come up with a word that means ‘same name’. A homonym looks and sounds the same but has different meanings. So for example: bat (the nocturnal creature) and bat (the cricket equipment). These words are spelled and pronounced exactly the same but have very different meanings.

Recently in our writing activities I’ve that nearly everyone is mixing up the spelling of their homophones. More specifically I’ve noticed that people are using one spelling for both/all of the homophones. So, today we’re going to challenge ourselves to improve this area of our writing.

There will be 8 game stations. at which you will have 7 minutes. At each station you will find a paint chip (yay! I found another way to use them!) with some homophones. You will have to work quickly because you will need to discover the meaning of each word, write one or more sentences that demonstrate your understanding of the difference between them and finally share your sentences with the other people in your group to check your understanding. When the bell goes, you will need to move to the next station and quickly get on with the next set of words.

Can you find any homophones, homographs or homonyms in this post other than the obvious examples in my explanation?