These are crazy times, and though I’ve wracked my brain lately on how to help my students, and others, stay on top of their ELA standards, I’ve struggled to find a forum where I can reach every body. Then, last night, when I was suffering from insomnia, it all clicked together. I will turn my blog into a place of learning. Once a week, typically on Monday, I will post lessons for middle school students. Each lesson will take anywhere from 20-30 minutes. I will provide structured education for different levels of learning, and on Saturdays, I will send out a newsletter, story, or quick tips to those subscribed to my website. Interested? Then, keep on reading…

Grammar:

Each day, you (the student, that is) will need to complete a grammar sentence. We will focus, primarily, on parts of speech. My suggestion, for students who perform better on the computer, is to copy the sentences below into a Google/Word document. Then, work on them from your computer. If you’d rather write this out by hand, be my guest. You will need a yellow crayon or highlighter, though.

Step 1: Find the articles in the sentences below. Highlight the article in yellow. Articles are the words A, An, The. Their job is to tell you when a noun is coming in the sentence.

1. The house was built on a large hill next to the high school. (Monday)

2. An elephant sat on the bale of hay near the circus tent. (Tuesday)

3. The last cookie sat in the container on the kitchen counter. (Wednesday)

4. A small dog ran in the front yard of an apartment complex. (Thursday)

5. Create your own sentence and highlight the articles in yellow. (Friday)

*Quiz for understanding: Grab the book you are going to read this week for silent reading. Count the number of articles you can find in the first paragraph. Ask your mom, dad, or guardian to quiz you on whether you got the correct number of articles in that paragraph. Well done, brilliant student. Well done.

Discussion: Summary Writing

Watch an episode of one of your favorite shows (my son would probably choose The Office). Then, ask yourself the questions below. After you have answered those questions, write a 7 sentence summary on the show you watched.

• Who was the show about?

• What was the problem?

• Where and when is the show taking place?

• Why is the main character part of the problem?

• How was the problem solved?

TOPIC/IVF Sentence: To begin your summary, you will need a topic sentence, or what we like to call an IVF sentence. I stands for identify what you read or watched along with the main character. V stands for verb it. F stands for finish the thought. Here is an example below…

• Identify: In the funny television show, The Office, Michael Scott

• Verb it: decided

• Finish the thought: to create the most epic Christmas party the office had ever seen.

• Now, take what you wrote for your IVF sentence, and make it the first sentence of your summary. Example below…

IVF/TOPIC Sentence: In the funny television show, The Office, Michael Scott decided to create the most epic Christmas party the office had ever seen.

Conclusion: Your conclusion sentence is almost exactly like your IVF sentence, except reworded.

• Example: In conclusion, Michael Scott decided to have the most amazing Christmas party for his coworkers, though it didn’t quite workout well, in this episode of The Office.

Draft it: Remember the questions you answered above? Those will become the meat and potatoes of your paragraph. Remember, an objective summary only wants you to list the important facts. So, keep your opinions out of the paragraph.

Edit: Go through the paragraph and check your spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Once you think this is all squared away. You’re ready for the next step.

Revise: Now, that you have a very rough draft of your summary, read it out loud, and see where you’d like to add some transition words (to begin with, furthermore, finally). Check to make sure the paragraph is how you want it to sound. Then, have someone else in your family read through it and offer suggestions. Once you have the paragraph where you want it, it’s time for the next step.

Final Draft: I always suggest typing out your final draft. I also suggest using MLA format when you’re typing. Click here to see an example of MLA formatting.

Grading: You can grade yourself. How cool is that? Use this quick rubric to help determine your grade on this summary writing excercise.

Silent Reading:

Every day, I’d like you to read for 20-30 minutes. After you read, create something based off of your reading. You can

• Journal using the summarization questions above.

• Draw a picture representing what you read.

• Write a letter to a character in the book.

• Discuss what you read with your parents.

• Create a Google Slideshow of your reading for the week.

• The options are endless.

Fun Friday:

If you finished all of your work for the week, you deserve a chance for a little fun. In my 7th grade ELA class, we have Fun Friday every week. We play educational games online (Kahoot, Nitro Type, Quizizz), and a lot of the time we play board games. Who’s up for a Connect Four Tournament? Anyone?

Helpful Hints:

I will send out a Newsletter of helpful hints on how to help navigate school from home. If you’re interested in receiving this Newsletter, click here and subscribe to my website. Make sure to confirm your subscription through your email address. If you can’t find the confirmation email, check your SPAM folder.

Hopefully this was helpful. Comment below to let me know what you think, or if you have questions you would like me to address in the newsletter. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now).