Magnolia English Grammar

2019-2020

Course Summary

In this course, students will review core grammar concepts in English through games and exercises. We will also read key works of literature and discuss them together, looking at writing features and themes. The theme of the literature for the year will be “Reality through Fantasy,” and will analyze themes in fiction that directly apply to our lives and our walk with God.

Want more details? Check out the syllabus and scope and sequence!

Small changes will be made along the way to fit the needs and pace of the class.

Homework and Links

March 3

• Week 23 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 14-15 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes on what you notice about the lions. Bring all of your notes to class next class. Be ready to share.

• Review all of your notes about the lions. Think about the meaning. Write a response to:

  • What do I learn from the passages about the lions in The Horse and His Boy?

  • How does this apply to my life?

  Your response should be in well-constructed paragraphs and well-constructed sentences. You will at least write two paragraphs. Your meaning being clear is more important than length.

February 25

• Week 22 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 11-13 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes.

February 18, 2020

• Week 21 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 9-10 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes on stylistic features you like and on experiences with the lions.

February 11

• Week 20 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 6-8 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes.

• Reread the paper I gave you in class showing you a way to write a clear thesis and connect the main ideas throughout the essay back to the thesis. Can you see how each main idea is connected to the thesis? Underline words and ideas that connect it.

• Use what we studied today on cohesion to write a final draft of your reflective essay on The Wise Woman. Check your rough draft for:

  • A clear thesis. Make sure the end of your first paragraph has this clearly written. Then, make sure the ideas of the thesis are connected in your main idea statements for paragraphs 2,3 and 4. Make sure your conclusion restates the thesis. This helps make your essay cohesive.

  • Spelling and grammar

  • You may need to completely rewrite your essay to transform it from a rough draft to a final draft. It is fine with me if you hand-write or type it. You will just need to ensure you have edited it well.

February 4

• Write out your essay. Be sure you use the main idea sandwich in every paragraph:

  • Main idea

  • Details/Supporting examples from the story/Examples

  • Details/Supporting examples from the story/Examples

  • Details/Supporting examples from the story/Examples

  • Main idea

• Week 19 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 3-5 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes.

January 28

• Week 18 of Fix It Grammar

• Read the packet I gave you. Fill in the outline for your Response to Literature essay on The Wise Woman.

• Read Chapters 1-2 of The Horse and His Boy. Take notes on (1) reflections of God in the book and (2) stylistic features you like.

January 21

• Fix It Grammar Week 17

• Bring all your notes for the story The Wise Woman. Go back through and add notes about:

  • Character flaws and character development

  • The Wise Woman’s approach with each girl and how it relates to how God works in our lives

  • Next week, we will begin an essay about it.

• Fill out one more verb chart with a verb of your choice (in class some chose “skate” or “race.”

• Be sure you have the book The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. Next week, you will begin reading it.

January 14

• Finish reading the story The Wise Woman. Bring all your notes to class next time.

• Do Week 16 of Fix it Grammar

December 10

• Week 14 (this week) and Week 15 (over break) of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 9-11 of The Wise Woman, or the Lost Princess-A Double Story. Take notes.

• Consider:

  • Which child in the story do you most relate to?

  • If “The Wise Woman” (representing God) were to take you away to work on you, what would she be focusing on? (Pray Ps. 139:23-24:

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts![a]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting![b]

• Take notes on your reflections on this. You will use these notes and your notes from the book to write a reflective essay.

December 3

• Week 13 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 6-8 of The Wise Woman, or the Lost Princess-A Double Story. Take notes on (1) stylistic features you like and (2) sections related to character flaws and character development. (If you haven’t found the book yet, it is about $4 at Thriftbooks and under $10 at Walmart

• Study for exam. Use the Sheet I gave you to review for the exam. Here are some of the pages you will want to be able to fill in:

  • Parts of Speech

  • Well-Constructed Sentences

  • Well-Constructed Paragraphs

  • Types of Verbs

  • Don’t forget to study the other items on the Review Sheet and to study the verb “Serve” through all of the verb tenses.

  • * If you study 3 hours or more, I will give you +10 bonus points on the test.

November 12 Snow Day

Week 10 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 1-2 of The Wise Woman, or the Lost Princess-A Double Story. Take notes on (1) stylistic features you like and (2) sections related to character flaws and character development.

• Take your outline and try turning it into three paragraphs. Look back at the handouts in your notebook on Well-Constructed Paragraphs. This will help you. Also, what we did in class last time we were together will help.

• Adjectives: Read the attachment (click this for link) (About 1.5 pages of reading: The first page, start a little over half the page down at “Adjectives and Adverbs.” Read till Review Exercise E. Do Review Exercise E.

November 5, 2019

This week, we reviewed capitalization and began looking at pronouns. We also looked at how to write a paragraph and different lengths of essays (paragraph, 5-paragraph, 3-paragraph). For this week:

• If you don’t already have it, get the book The Wise Woman and Other Stories by George MacDonald. We will begin reading this next week.

• Finish your outline for how Brian grew throughout his time in the wilderness in the Hatchet. We talked about different possible topics for how he grew, such as:

  • In bravery, patience, and creativity

  • In physical, intellectual, and emotional strength

  • In problem-solving skills, courage, and perseverance

  • OR a different approach: How he was at the beginning, how he grew, and how he was at the end

• Read the articles handed out on:

  • Pronouns Chart

  • How to use Pronouns

  • How to write an essay (pages 326-330)

October 29, 2019

• Week 8 of Fix it Grammar

• Fill in your outline for a 3-paragraph essay about how Brian grew throughout his time in the wilderness in The Hatchet. You can follow this pattern if you’d like:

  • What Brian was like before he was stranded

  • How he changed and grew during his time in the wilderness

  • How he was different at the end of the story

• Be ready to share your favorite examples of good writing from the book next week.

October 22, 2019

• Week 7 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 18-Epilogue of The Hatchet. Take notes.

• Bring all your notes on The Hatchet to class next week. Be ready to:

  • Share your favorite 3 examples of good writing style in the book.

  • Share what you noticed about Brian’s growth throughout the book.

• Read Capitalization Rules.

• Study Sentence Purposes . Be sure you have all 4 verses for the purposes of sentences memorized. Quiz next week asking:

  • Match punctuation with sentence purpose (Imperative= . !; Interrogative= ?; Declarative= .; Exclamatory !)

  • Match the Bible verse with what type of purpose it represents.

October 15, 2019

This week, we were looking at imperatives (commands). We are taking the interviews from last week and turning them into short videos for next week. Everyone has an instruction sheet for using Adobe Spark, and we went through it in class, but if they have any trouble, please have them call me so I can talk them through it (or email).

• Week 6 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 15-17 of The Hatchet. Take notes.

• Create your short Adobe Spark video retelling the story of your interviewee. When you finish:

  • Email it to me angela.b.edmonds@gmail.com before next week’s class.

  • To email a large file, you can use https://wetransfer.com/ (it is an easy, free way to send larger files.

• Memorize 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 as an example of Imperative Sentences “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

October 8, 2019

This week, we are looking at interrogative sentences (one of the four purposes of sentences. This week, students will create questions and interview someone they respect. They should ask this person for an interview today or tomorrow (rather than wait until the last minute and hope their chosen person is available).

• If they did not do their gratitude and praise log last week each day, I sent it back with them to complete this week. They should only do one compliment each day and praise for one set of 3 attributes each day. They will get a better grade completing it and turning it late than they would have turning it in incomplete.

• Week 5 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 12-14 of The Hatchet. Take notes.

• Complete and Interview: Select someone to interview about the topic of “Could you please tell me about a time that God worked in your life?” Get permission to make a brief video retelling their story. Ask them your interview questions and take good notes.

  • Next week, they will turn their interview into a video with Adobe Spark (it is free, but you must make an account). Though it is not required this week, your student may want to start to become familiar with the program. I’ll show them how to use it next week.

  • I showed them an example of the “Podium Story” (interview of a grandma) but there are more examples here of ones my son did like this, such as The Miracle Hand. These were obviously made by a smaller child, but the concept is similar.

• Memorize 1 Cor. 4:7 as an example of Interrogative sentences. “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

October 1, 2019

We are looking at exclamatory sentences (one of the four purposes of sentences). Notice that praise and compliments are both often spoken as exclamatory sentences (sometimes declarative). This week for homework, you will be using a lot of exclamatory sentences and memorizing an exclamatory Bible verse.

• Today: Read the handout on Sincere, Specific Encouragement so that you are ready to begin the log.

• Daily: Fill in the Gratitude and Praise log each day. Give one sincere, specific complement to someone in your life (a different person each day), and praise God for 3 of His attributes (different ones each day if you can. Look them up if you need to).

• Week 4 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 9-11 of The Hatchet. Take notes.

• Read Gratitude and the Brain

• Memorize Ps. 145:3 (exclamatory sentence example): “Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.”

September 24, 2019

• Week 3 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 6-8 of The Hatchet. Take notes.

• Pick a person you admire. Describe them (person, personality, attitude, character, etc.) Write a paragraph using declarative sentences. Try to use 4 different patterns in your paragraph. Be sure to include all the Parts of a Paragraph.

• Memorize 1 John 4:8 “ 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

September 17, 2019

• Put 3 examples in each part of speech into the Parts of Speech chart (3 determiners, 3 nouns, 3 adverbs, etc).

• Week 2 of Fix It Grammar

• Read Chapters 3-5 of The Hatchet. Take notes. I will check your notes and the % read of Chapters 1-5 next week.

• Complete handout on phrases, clauses and sentences.

Note: This page is in progress. I’ll add below more documents and references critical for this course. Right now, the below images are just placeholders for what I plan to put there. Please pardon this work in progress!