School Journal 2017-18

5th, 2nd, 8-month old : snippets, slices, slabs of moments and doings

irregular, infrequent, and incomplete thoughts & lists on learning, education, play. or sometimes just snippets of conversation with our kids amidst life, which is one of the most beautiful and wonderful ways of learning. I will possibly include older snippets and slices involving work of the past; many of which now degree hold some level of humor or eye-rolling, as many examinations or remembrances of the past tend to do.

June 2018

June 06

Grammar. Review correct capitalization of names, titles, time of year and week, etc. Also: following certain types of punctuation, such as after colons. We also reviewed commas, and were to use in certain types of sentences such as letters, dates, and greetings and closings in letters.

June 05

Grammar. We review appositives. This is a noun or pronoun (or phrase) that identifies the noun that came before. For example: “The great leader of Very Long Media, Joseph Long, set forth the learning objectives for the upcoming school year with flair, aplomb, wisdom, and humility.” Joseph Long would be the appositive.

The example our 5th grader used: E———, my brother, loves his stuffed bunny and boy. “My brother” is the appositive.

She also reviewed adverbs - words that describe verbs or adjectives and often answer the question: how, when, where, etc. Not always, but often they end in -ly. Quickly, loudly, truthfully, etc. Also, there are different types of adverbs such as ones that deal with time, place, and manner, as well as comparative and superlative (e.g. more brilliantly, most brilliantly).

Just for fun - I think?! - she did a workbook page on capitalization.

May 2018

May 04

Grammar. Articles. I love when grammar throws softballs; topics you can race through and make you feel like you’re making all kinds of progress.

May 01

Grammar. Review tenses, including progressive present and past. Note: this is not a political statement. Just for fun, leap into adjectives practice: demonstrative, limiting, descriptive, comparative, superlative, predicate.

There’s the ageless refrain of students everywhere: why do I have to learn this? When am I ever going to use this stuff?

I have long answers that few people would find interesting. I have short answers, which few people might find interesting, but they’re short and since you’re already reading, you might as well do one more sentence. One short answer is that these get our brains thinking about why something is the way it is. We may not remember consciously, or be able to articulate what these different types of adjectives are - but somewhere, we are building a system, a root system, of knowledge that is based on consistency and on understanding where things come from. Including the ways we use language to understand everything around us and to communicate with others.

April 24

Grammar. Reviewing who versus whom with our 5th grader. Spoiler alert: most adults don’t know the difference very well either. Pro tip: uh…actually, I don’t have a pro tip. Who is a subject pronoun, whom is an object pronoun. That’s not very helpful. We go to doesn’t versus don’t. That’s easier. Now it should get easier, right? Okay, so…lie versus lay. Great. Back to who and whom please. Note: this is something I love about my wife and co-teacher, the Countess Becca: she cares about these things to and digs into trying to understand, remember, and use these words accurately. Honestly, she does a better job at it than me. I can do it though. I can.

Reminder: lie means to recline. It does not take a direct object. Lay means to place and it does take a direct object.

Her examples: When I go to sleep, I like to lie down on a place that is comfortable. When I finish writing, I lay my pencil on the table.

Also: can versus may. The former is about ability, the former is about permission. Pro tip though: don’t be that adult who thinks it’s hilarious to correct children every time they ask, in a perfectly pleasant and respectful way, if they can have something. Time and a place, all that.

Becca worked with her on that versus which.
These pronouns are helpful for knowing if you need commas or not. That has no commas and is used when the modifier is necessary for meaning. Which needs a commas (or commas) and is used when the modifier is not necessary.

Her examples: I like the rocks that my brother found. My sandals, which I just got, are very comfy.

April 17

Grammar. Review irregular verb particles. While we’re at it, spend some time on all the tenses for perfect verbs. Tenses and types of verbs fall into the category of knowledge that feels common sense; you know something’s wrong when you read or hear it - I has to go to the doctor - but to articulate what is wrong and why…that’s where the relationship between Mathematics and Grammar becomes more evident. You can know the right answer, but do you know how you got there and why it works? Or doesn’t? Also: semicolons (I love), colons (I merely like), sentence breakdowns, simple subjects and predicates. Why are these things important? Why why why why? They are, and I think we need to do a better job of articulating the why so we can better help students learn the how.

February 09

Grammar. The joy of verbs identifying as irregular and living in the tense of of past participleness.

January 2018

January 08

Grammar. More verbs and tenses. Participles of both the past and present variety.

November 2017

Grammar. The entire 5th grade class in our home (population: 1) covers verbs: present, past, future tenses. And then just for a little excitement, we dip our toes into infinitives. Ooh, exciting! I have to admit I love to boldly split them when no one’s looking, shhh…

October 2017

Grammar. A 5th grader reviews more pronouns. Indefinite and interrogative and demonstrative. Then onto verbs. Action, linking, helping, tenses. She dutifully plugs along. There is something quietly cathartic about reviewing some of these things.

September 2017

September 20

Grammar. Pronoun day! Subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, indefinite and interrogative and demonstrative and…so many pronouns. Do we even need them all? Some 5th graders (and adults) might say no.

September 17

Grammar. Review possessive nouns.

September 8

Grammar. One of our 5th graders* reviews concrete versus abstract nouns and singular versus plural nouns.
*our only 5th grader

September 1

Grammar. A 5th grader reviews the difference between common and proper nouns.