Board Notes: Conclusions Defined

Some students had a difficult time understanding the writing prompt that asked students to write their "conclusions" about a topic.   When faced with the unknown, people tend to go with what they know.  So, many students made the mistake of summarizing instead.

These board notes are intended to clarify for the future:

Conclusions = insights, recognition of patterns, lasting impressions, final thoughts

Summary = repeating the information in a smaller form, describing what was already said in brief

Religious Holidays

Just a friendly reminder that there is no homework for religious holidays for those that celebrate them.

For example, students who are celebrating the coming Rosh Hashanah will not be required to do homework.

Per the school policy, this does not exempt students who do not celebrate that particular holiday from doing homework on that particular day.

Grammar Mini Lessons - Writing Numbers and Their, There, They're

9/28/16 Mini Lessons

MINI LESSON

Spell out small numbers.  

Don't use numeric characters.

When writing for a business or publication – not to mention an English or college class – student often make a common mistake of typing the numeric characters for numbers instead of actually spelling them out.

For example, “I read the story of the 3 little pigs.”

This is not correct form for the context for formal writing in a class. 

Instead one should write:  “I read the story of the three little pigs.”

The exception to this is when you write dates like 1942, or December 21^st, 1967, or address like 1300 Derby Road.  

Another exception to the rule is times.  For example, this was written at 12:17 PM.

Bigger numbers may use numeric characters, such as over 2,525,116 students read this log last year.  

But for smaller numbers, you would almost always spell them out.

MINI LESSON 

There / they’re / their

Examples:

<location>

I put the remote control for the television over there. 

<contraction of “they are”>

They’re going to the movies together.  

<possession of something>

The crazy, predatory, cannibalistic squirrels like to hide their victims inside of nutshells.  

Close Reader Short Response

These are board notes from the "What to Bring" Close Reader written response we discussed in class today.

Mini Lesson: Subject Verb Agreement

Mini Lesson:

Recently several students have demonstrated that they could use a review on the grammar concept: subject verb agreement.

Here is a common example of an error made by students:

"Him and his father ran a race."

This is a problem because Him and ran don't agree with each other. They sound funny.

Check:  Him ran a race?  

Nope.

But if you change Him to he, you will see the difference.

Check: He ran a race?  

Yup.

So....

Better:  He and his father ran a race.

Using Apostrophes: Plurals verseus Possessives

Here are some board notes to share that came up today while reviewing the most recent sentence composing quiz.

At the convention, the dentists all gathered to celebrate fluoride.

PLURAL - Dentists

Today after school, I have an appointment at the dentist’s office.

POSSESSIVE - Dentist’s

At the convention, many of the dentists’ patients gave thanks.

PLURAL POSSESSIVE - Dentists’