Know How You Learn

Recently, my son and I were meeting about our novel. Joshua started to describe the changes he thought we should make to a particular scene and told me I could just jot down whatever I thought I needed to. I told him to hold on for a minute while I got a blank sheet of paper, then I promptly did the following:

1. Numbered each note as he spoke
2. Put sub notes under the note with the character’s initial and the motivational changes that Joshua thought we needed (M: Needs to begin this scene….)
3. Drew arrows to and from things as he spoke

Then when I was ready to rewrite that scene, guess what I did? I typed those notes all up–complete with the numbering and sub-numbering, etc.

Why am I telling you this? If you are a student, pay close attention to HOW you learn. I could not have written from paragraph notes. I could not have written with a word or two for each point. I could not have written from my handwritten notes–I needed to type it up in order to further understand it.

Whatever you do as a student to learn tells you a lot about how you learn! Utilize this information for test preparation, writing projects, and more. And like I always tell my students: “You know more than you realize you know!”

day 82: homework help—final sentence writing help

A few more ideas for encouraging/helping your child with sentence writing, then we’re on to something new!
  1. If your child is hesitant to write because of penmanship difficulties, either teach him how to type (use a typing program for young kids) or write for him as he dictates to you. He needs to see that penmanship difficulties do not mean that he is unable to write. Writing is thinking. Penning is art.
  2. Try having him write sentences about things you are doing. For example, have him write a sentence each day in a journal about that day or every Saturday about the weekend.
  3. Or have specific things listed at the top of a journal for him or her that he/she writes about:
    1. Monday: Weekend
    2. Tuesday: Food
    3. Wednesday: Book
    4. Thursday: Animal
    5. Friday: Person
    6. Saturday: Movie
  4. Have him write a sentence under a picture, similar to captions. These pictures may be ones that he has drawn or colored or cartoons or pictures from a book.
  5. Make a list of nouns and a list of verbs. Have him write a sentence using one word from the noun list and one word from the verb list. For example:
NOUNS                                               VERBS
Dog                                                     run
Boy                                                      jump
Girl                                                     catch
Radio                                                  blare
Cow                                                    ate
For more sentence writing help, along with help in other areas of language arts, for the second/third grade level (i.e. already reading well), check out the sample of the our books, “Character Quality Language Arts,” Level Pre A (https://www.tfths.com/samples.php ). There is a full month that you may use with our child free of charge. Happy writing!

days 13 & 14: roots and affixes list

I am putting all of the roots and affixes I want to share (from our CQLA curriculum) together for two days (rather than dividing them up in two entries). Feel free to print them off, give a sheet to each of your kids, tape it on the fridge, work on a root or affix a week…however it can help you or your kids/students.
    (a) GEN–birth, race, kind                                                              
 generous, generate, generation, geneology, gender    
           
b) DIC, DICT, DIT–tell, say, word
        dictate, verdict, edict, contradict, predict, diction, indict
  
    (c) SPEC, SPIC, SPIT–look, see
 perspective, aspect, spectator, spectacle, suspect     
           
d) SUPER, SUR, SUM–above
        surpass, summit, supersede, superstition
  
   
   (e) TENT, TENS, TEND, TENU–stretch, thin                                           
 tension, extend, tendency, tendon, tent, distend         
(f) TRANS–across
transfer, transient, transitory, transgress, transport
  
    (g) DOC, DUC, DAC–teach, lead                                         
          conduct, document, doctrine, induce, indoctrinate                    
 (h) CO, CON, COM-with, together
company, collaborate, comply, congruent,
(i)              VERS, VERT–turn                                                                      
 convert, revert, subvert, divert, diverse, extrovert, versatile          
  
(j) LOC, LOG, LOQU–word, speech
        
        eloquent, logic, apology, monologue, dialogue, prologue
    (k) SEN–feel, sense                                                                                  
  sensitive, sensation, consent, dissent, assent, sentiment  
                 
(l) DE–away, down, off
denounce, defraud, decry, deplete, devoid, defile
  
    
    (m) NOM, NOUN, NOWN, NAM, NYM–name, order, rule
anonymous, nominate, renounce, renown, misnomer                                                      
(n) CLA, CLO, CLU–shut, close
          closet, enclose, disclose, include, conclude, seclude
  
      
    (o) VO, VOC, VOK, VOW–call                                                      
vocal, advocate, vocation, convoke, revoke, avow     
                        
 (p) MAL–bad
          malicious, malady, dismal, malign, malevolent
  
      
    (q) FRA, FRAC, FRAG—break
fracture, fraction, fragment, fragile, frail, fractious                                                                                        
   (r) OB–against
          objective, obsolete, obscure, obstruct, obstinate
  
        
    (s) SUB—under
          submissive, subordinate, sublime, subtle, subversion                                                                                                        
(t) AB–from, away
 abandon, abhor, abstain, absolve, abstruse, abstract
  
       
    (u) GRESS, GRAD—step
progress, regress, gradual, digress, degrade, transgress                                                                       
 (v) SEC, SEQU–follow
          second, sequel, sequence, consequence, prosecute
  
  
     (w) PRO–much, for, a lot 
prolific, profuse, prodigal, prtracted, prodigy, propensity                                                                   
  (x) QUE, QUIS–ask, seek
           inquire, question, request, quest, query, acquire, querulous
  
     
     (y) SACR, SANCT, SECR—sacred
sacrifice, sanctuary, sanctify, sanction, consecrate                                                                   
 (z) SCRIB, SCRIP–write     
                     scribble, describe, script, prescribe, ascribe, inscribe
  
                                                             
   (aa) PATHY, PAS, PAT–feeling               
          apathy, sympathy, empathy, antipathy, passionate                                  
 (bb) DIS, DIF–not
                                  disdain, dissuade, dismay, disparate, disparage
  
  
  (cc) CIRCU–around
circumference, circulation, circumstances, circumvent                                                            
 (dd) NON, UN, IN, AN, A–no or not
  
nonviolent, uncooperative, inappreciative, anonymous
  
  
  (ee) AD–to  
          adhere, adjective, addict, adverb
                                                                          
(ff) INFRA–below
 infrastructure, infraction, infrared, infra-bass
  
  
  (gg) AMBI—both
  ambidextrous, amibguous, ambition, ambivalent                                                                                
 (hh) EPI–on
 epidemic, epic, epitomy, episode

day 5: another “they’re”

Do you remember the “their and there” Wacky Words (WW) from the other day? “There” is another WW that goes with that pair—it is the word “they’re.”

First, a little “there/their” WW review is in order:

1. There
    a. Has the word here in it: there.
    b. Remember, here and there.
    c. Examples:
            i. There are seven cats on the barn.
            ii. There is one more piece of cake.
          iii. Put the books over there.

2.Their                                                                                                                                                        
    a. Their has the word heir in it: their.
    b. Their is a pronoun that shows ownership.
    c. We call this a possessive pronoun.
    e. Examples:
            i. Their home is up on the left.
            ii. I hope their dogs are not loose.

 
Enter the WW “they’re.” It’s not really as tricky as it seems if you following TFT Publishers’ (Training for Triumph) cardinal rule for understanding when to use a contraction and when not to:

When you are about to write with a contraction, say the “contraction” in its “uncontracted” form—and you will immediately know if you want to use that word or a different word altogether.

Examples:
1.     We are going to they’re party—SAY…We are going to “they are” party. WRONG! You need “their”—the party belongs to them.
2.     We should park over they’re—SAY….We should park over “they are.” WRONG! You need “there”—here and there—a place to park.

This works for any contraction, any time you are writing! If you follow this one “saying the uncontracted word aloud before you write the contraction” tip, you will never write a contraction when you shouldn’t.

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