New IXL Assignment - Commas

By Monday, November 3, you must have done exercises A.1-A.5 in the SEVENTH GRADE level of IXL.  These exercises are designed to sharpen your skill for using commas.  In order to get any credit at all, you must score at least 90 percent.  If you do that, you will be given a score of 90.  However, if you score 100 percent, you will be given a score of 100 and will be eligible for bonus points at the end of the nine weeks.  BE SURE TO DO THE RIGHT EXERCISE (at the 7th grade level). It looks like this:

YOU MUST SIGN UP FOR "NEWSELA."

Newsela is a news reading service that Mr. Stephens will assign in order to increase your reading skills. Also, by requiring you to write about the news you've read, Newsela will help you shape better writing skills. We will occasionally discuss and debate these news articles before we write about them.  Therefore, you must sign up.  Look at the following image for instructions.  (Mr. Stephens will give you a 20/20 points for signing up!)  Start by going to the following website and following the directions below--https://newsela.com/ :

THE VIDEO FOR THE BRUSH STROKES 2 LESSON

If you are having trouble viewing the video for Brushstrokes 2 on the classroom.google.com site, try using this link:
BRUSH STROKES 2 VIDEO

Information Form

Please go to the following Google Form and fill out the info:
http://bit.ly/1pAEkVM

IXL Helps Me with Pronouns!

Pronouns are very important in speaking and writing English.  I could bet you a million dollars that every day on which you have spoken at least one word, you have used pronouns.  And I would win that bet!!!

What are pronouns? They're words that stand in for nouns. Here are some: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them, my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

We use these every single day of our lives. On some days we use them a hundred times or more.

But here's the thing.  We don't always use them properly.  Remember when you were just a baby and said things like, "Me wanna cookie!"  You don't remember that?  Well, your parents do.

Remember last weekend when you said, "Mom, me and Caitlyn wanna go to the mall"?  In both of those cases, you were not using pronouns properly.

Here's another example: "Mr. Stephens gave a bad grade to Justin and I."  (Would you say, "Mr. Stephens gave a bad grade to I"?)  And here's one more that I hear a lot, "I'm not telling. That's between she and I."  (Properly, it should be "That's between her and me," which doesn't sound proper. But it is.)

Here's another thing.  Sometimes we don't use pronouns when we should, and as a result our writing (or speaking) sounds boring. Look at the sentences on the left in which there are no pronouns. They sound ridiculous, don't they?  Now see how much better the sentences on the right sound when we replace the maddening repetition of "Mr. Stephens" with pronouns.

So today, we will begin work on pronouns using IXL. Here's what you need to do. As usual, go to Hoover Schools sign-on link for IXL. (Remember to write click on the link and use the "OPEN LINK IN NEW TAB" option so that you can easily go back and forth between the blog and IXL):

https://www.ixl.com/signin/hoovercs

Once you're signed in. GO TO FIFTH GRADE.  I'm going to repeat that because last time a few of you went to the wrong grade and did the WRONG assignments.  GO TO FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE!!!!!!

Once you're in fifth grade, start work on

O.1, O.2, O.3, O.4, O.5 

It looks like this:

You are going to have questions.  And that's what your teacher is here for.  When/if you get answers wrong, FIRST, read the explanation that IXL provides stating why you got it wrong;  SECOND, if you don't understand the explanation, call me to you--or, if you're working at home, e-mail me--and I'll explain.

Remember, you are to get at least 90 percent, but the goal is to master the skill, which means 100 percent.

And, yes, this is a graded assignment.

Good luck.

Going Further with Brush Strokes - Participial Phrases

We have learned about and have written some sentences using (present) participles.  Remember these are --ing words formed from verbs but they are not part of the verb in a sentence.  Here are some examples (participles are in italics):

Slipping and sliding, the kitten scooted across the ice.

Under his boot he felt a snake, twisting and slithering. 

Dancing and singing, Cadence rushed onto the stage.

Today we're going to take participles a little further.  We're going to write some participial phrases. This means we're going to put some words after the participles to form phrases.  Here's an example:

Singing a new song, Cadence rushed onto the stage.

Do you see how this can tighten up your writing?  For example, let's imagine you have two things you want to say:

Cadence rushed onto the stage.  They were singing a new song.

Saying it in those two sentences, not only takes more words, but it sounds boring. However, with a participial phrase, you can state the same ideas in just one sentence and with fewer words. Plus, you also sound better!

Singing a new song, Cadence rushed onto the stage.

So you begin to see how using this brush stroke (the participial phrase)--not all the time, but from time to time--can help your writing.

Okay. Now let's go to a Google Form and Mr. Stephens will lead you through three fairly quick exercises to help you write with participial phrases.  Go to this link:

http://bit.ly/1nlkF0g

Working with Verbs on IXL - Assignment

YOUR WORK FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2014

Welcome back.  I hope you had an enjoyable three-day weekend. Today I want you to work on your mastery of verbs by using IXL.  Pay close attention so that you do the correct assignment.

Be sure to log on to IXL through the HOOVER portal. You may wish to right-click the following link and press "OPEN LINK IN NEW TABL" so you can keep the blog open at the same time you're working on IXL. Here's the link to IXL (right-click it) PRESSING HERE.

THIS WILL BE A GRADED ASSIGNMENT
A 30 PERCENT GRADE

GO TO FIFTH GRADE.  I'm going to repeat that because last time a few of you went to the wrong grade and did the WRONG assignments.  GO TO FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE FIFTH GRADE!!!!!!

Once you're on the FIFTH GRADE page, choose the following options, and get at least to 90 percent on each of the exercises. (Getting to 100 percent gives you mastery, and at the end of the 9-weeks, I will give bonus points for mastery; but today you need only get to 90 percent in order to make your required work that I will enter in the grade books as your first grade for the second 9-weeks grading period.)

So that's H.1, H.2, I.1, I.2, I.3, I.4, and J.1

Good luck!

PLEASE FINISH THE VIDEO AND THE GOOGLE FORM

Today (Tuesday, Oct. 7) we got started on the Brush Strokes lesson and the Google Form that goes along with it.  For POINTS that will help your grade, you need to complete the Google Form that is based on the video we watched today.  You can find the Video by PRESSING HERE.  And you can find the Google Form by PRESSING HERE.  If you have any questions, email me at gstephens@hoover.k12.al.us

INTRODUCTION TO WRITING BRUSH STROKES

Mr. Stephens is going to show you a video starring himself explaining brush strokes.  When he tells you to, go to the Google Form by PRESSING HERE.  And follow the instructions as Mr. Stephens tells you.

Yet another IXL assignment. (Yay!!)

Hello, 8-4, as you know, I'm out today, and you have a substitute teacher. Treat her with respect and courtesy, please.  Now . . . here's your assignment:

Open your Chromebooks . . . oh, wait! I guess they're already open . . . and log on to IXL through the Hoover portal:

https://www.ixl.com/signin/hoovercs

You remember the log-on routine, using your regular username (the ol 19 . . .  number) and your regular password.

Once inside IXL, go to SEVENTH GRADE.   Do those first five exercises on commas
A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5.

If you finish with that, then go to C1, apostrophes.

Remember you are working at SEVENTH GRADE level.  Don't make the error of doing exercises on the wrong level.

Good luck.   See you Monday!