I have truly been enjoying our first few "summer school" classes! It has been especially wonderful to teach students who have been with me since last September AND students who have just begun their studies at SCALE! During this time, we are (and will be!) learning new skills, revisiting "old" ones, and practicing all of them to mastery!
Today's classroom lessons inspired practice in the areas you will see below! Have fun, and bring any questions you may have to Wednesday's class! P. S. If you did not have a chance to share your writing piece today, please bring it to class on Wednesday. I look forward to reading your work! Keep working on the "Quizzes" paper, and we will review that handout on Wednesday, as well. Part One. Plural Nouns Directions: In the following sentences, please decide if the plural noun shown in bold print is spelled correctly. 1. The puppies were so adorable; I wanted to bring them all home! Correct Incorrect 2. Sue plans to attend a lot of partys this summer. Correct Incorrect 3. There were so many childs at the fireworks last week! Correct Incorrect 4. Do you know how many women will be at the event tomorrow evening? Correct Incorrect 5. Harry's grandchildren will be visiting him this weekend. Correct Incorrect 6. The men who are running for office are all equally qualified to win. Correct Incorrect 7. There were so many deers at the zoo; I tried to take a photo of as many as I could! Correct Incorrect 8. The O'Sullivans have been running a successful garden shop for the past ten years. Correct Incorrect 9. There were lots of bunnys in my yard this morning. Correct Incorrect 10. How many cities did you visit on your trip to Maine? Correct Incorrect Part Two. Plural Possessives Directions: Please fill in the blanks below with the plural possessive form of the word shown in parentheses. Example: The (boy's, boys') jackets were given to them by their Aunt Jane at Christmas. Answer: boys' Remember to insert our "L Finder" in between the last letter of the word and the apostrophe to see if the word left is the form you want. In this case, the word "boys" would remain, and since "boys" is plural, an added apostrophe s makes it the correct answer as a plural possessive. 1. The (womans', women's) group will be meeting every Tuesday evening in August. Answer: 2. The (child's, children's) rides at the playground were safe for their age group and fun for all! Answer: 3. Have you seen the (mens', men's) suit jackets in that department? Answer: 4. When will we meet our two (friend's, friends') families? Answer: 5. Did you see (Monday's, Mondays') schedule for just next week? Answer: Part Three. The Appositive Directions: In each of the following sentences, please underline, circle, or highlight the appositive. Note: An appositive is a word or group of words that renames a noun in a sentence. It is in balance with that noun and offers an effective way of adding more information to our writing. Example: My dad, the best father in the world, should get an award for all the kindness he showed me in my life. The appositive is shown in bold print above. It is another way of speaking about "my dad" and can take its place in the sentence. For instance, we could simply say: The best father in the world should get an award for all the kindness he showed me in my life. We could also say: My dad should get an award for all the kindness he showed me in my life. But having both in the sentence gives us more information about how the author feels about her dad! Now it's your turn! 1. At the restaurant, I ordered fish, an Alaskan salmon. 2. The doctor, a well-known surgeon from Massachusetts General Hospital, will be speaking at the event. 3. Massachusetts, the state where we all currently live, is part of New England. 4. Did you see that beautiful car, a 2024 Ferrari? 5. His brother, Tom, is going to college now. 6. My friend Sandy works in Boston. 7. I will be going for a swim at the beach, Hampton Beach, and then I'll get ready for the concert. 8. I took two tests, the HiSET and a GED, and I feel confident enough to pass all subjects! 9. His favorite color, purple, was used to decorate the poster's design. 10. Marie's favorite band, the Rolling Stones, put on a great show the other night! 11. I always enjoy visiting Cape Cod, my favorite vacation spot! 12. Jill picked up the book, an exciting Agatha Christie mystery, and planned to read well into the night. Bonus: Please find a singular possessive noun in one of the sentences above! Bonus 2: Now find a contraction in one of the sentences above. Bonus 3: Select one (or more) of the sentences above and make it the opening line of a paragraph you will write. Create a story around it, and add four to five more sentences. In your story, be sure to include one more appositive of your own.
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I am so excited to be working with you for five weeks this summer! It will give us a good opportunity to review many of the skills we learned throughout the year, as well as to study areas that are new to us. Since today is the first day of our new class, it will be important to assess which skills need the most work. To this end, you will find a short pretest for you to try out! Do not worry if you are unfamiliar with any of the areas--the purpose is to help me map out the material we will study during these next five weeks! Have fun!
Part One. Grammar Directions: In the following sentences, please answer the questions asked! 1. Even though it is raining, I will be heading to the beach today. The subject of this sentence is: 2. I am so happy you are in my class! The subject of this sentence is: 3. Wow! This is fabulous is an (exclamatory, interrogative) sentence. (Please select one answer.) 4. While I am at school The above is an example of a complete sentence. True False 5. In the morning, Jill likes to have a cup of coffee to start her day. In the above sentence, "In the morning" is a (prepositional phrase, clause). 6. The coats belong to the girls; they are the girls' coats. In the above sentence, girls' is used correctly. True False 7. Tom, the owner of all the sports stores, (is, are) a successful businessman. Second Question: Can you name the appositive in the above sentence? 8. Will you please answer these questions? The above sentence has correct punctuation. True False 9. Here is what I'm thinking: we should meet right after the game. The above sentence has correct punctuation. True False 10. Sam has visited Boston, Massachusetts, Trenton, New Jersey, Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine. The above sentence has correct punctuation. True False Part Two. Idiom of the Day While waiting an hour for the train, Jane wondered yet again when her ship would come in. The idiom, which is a twist in language, actually means: Part Three. Cause and Effect Before Sami had a successful concert, she practiced the piano three hours a day. Name the cause: Part Four. Writing Use the following story starter as a jump start for a story you will write. Please continue the story using the same verb tenses, parallel sentence structure, and point of view. Enjoy! It was a hot, summer evening when Manny made a major decision. It happened as he drove his car down Route 495 toward the home he had only lived in for five months. The closer Manny got to his home, the more nervous he became. His wife Sylvia was not going to be happy at all with what he was about to tell her. The Ultimate Review
Hello to all my classes!
We have been using several archived lessons lately, and now it's time for a new one! Part One. Idiom of the Day Jenny did not think much of Terrence's dreams of becoming a professional actor. "When pigs fly," Jenny would simply say whenever someone spoke about it. What does the idiom in bold print mean? Idiom #2 of the Day My mother used to say that Trevor was a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Have you ever heard someone use the idiom in bold print? What do you think it means? Part Two. Grammar Challenge Directions: The sentences below contain many skills we have studied this year. Please select the correct answer as indicated. 1. This is the guitar player (who, whom) I told you about. 2. (Lie, Lay) the dishes on the table while dinner is in the oven. 3. (Who, Whom) is your friend talking to? 4. (Who, Whom) is ringing my doorbell at this time of night? 5. (Its, It's) time to demonstrate how much grammar you have mastered! 6. That table has lost one of (it's, its) legs. 7. The child was not feeling well, so he (lay, laid) down all afternoon. 8. (Sit, Set) the papers on everyone's tables before class begins. 9. Let's see if we can find out (whoever, whomever) made that delicious dessert. 10. The book I am reading, (which, that) has been named a New York Times Best Seller, is so suspenseful! 11. The car (which, that) he just bought is his nicest one yet. 12. My friends, who live close to our school, (is, are) coming by later to visit. 13. In the morning, I can hear the footsteps of my neighbor, (who, whom) takes a walk at 6 a.m. every day. 14. Please bring the flowers to Jenny and (I, me). 15. Tom and (I, Me) will be attending the event together. 16. Sarah is as tall as (he, him). 17. Julio's new puppy jumped up on (he, him). 18. Do you know (who, whom) took the last cookie from the tray? 19. Janelle (lay, laid) the papers carefully on the table, and the wind blew them away! 20.(You're, Your) doing a great job!! Part Three. Colon or Semicolon Directions: Please circle either a colon or semicolon that works best in each sentence below. 1. The students were told to bring the following items (: ;) pencils, pens, and notebooks. 2. I have visited Boston, Massachusetts (: ;) Chicago, Illionois (: ;) and Honolulu, Hawaii. 3. My friend Sandra is meeting me at Tuscan Village (: ;) she can't wait to see all the new shops that have opened. 4. He had one plan (: ;) to pass every HiSET before the end of the school year! 5. Sylvia had the best weekend (: ;) she hopes to do the same things next weekend. 6. Here is what I think (: ;) we should give him one more chance. Part Three. Literary Terms Directions: Please fill in the blanks below with the correct literary terms. Try to do so without checking notes or phones. This is the only way to see which ones we need to review more carefully! Not all literary terms we have studied have been included here. 1. A deliberate exaggeration is also known as . 2. A direct comparison that does NOT use like or as is known as a . 3. When you give human qualities to an inanimate object, you have used . 4. You make an when you make an informed guess about something that uses your own background knowledge and details from the matter at hand. 5. If you use the same sound to start several words, you are using . 6. When a character in a story does the opposite of what you would expect them to do, such as when a person who is afraid of the water suddenly becomes a lifeguard, this is known as . 7. If you use words that sound like the action they are naming, such as the word swish, you are using what is known as . 8. The main character in a story is called the . 9. The problem this character faces is known as the . 10. The opposing force that tries to stop the main character from getting what she wants is known as the . Part Four. Writing Directions: Use each of the following words from our last vocabulary lesson (11) in a sentence of its own, with one catch: use either a colon or a semicolon in each sentence that you create! Example One: He alienated all his friends because of his rude behavior; this would continue until he finally learned how to interact with others. Example Two: This sticky substance will adhere to the following items: heels of shoes, your fingertips, and anything it touches. Word List absurd compile adhere contempt affluent defect alienate doctrine assess dogmatic Thank you, as always, for working so hard!! As so many of you continue to take and pass the HiSETs (and now GEDs, as well), we have noticed there are several skills that deserve some additional practice time (and a spot on this Lessons Page)!
In order to mimic the spelling activity that we have found to be ambiguous on practice tests, I have created a few paragraphs with a section in bold print that we need to check carefully. I will include directions for each part below. Directions Part One: Please look at the words in bold print in the paragraph below. Then, look at the words in the list that follows. If any words from the selection have been misspelled, please choose the correct spelling from the list. We will do this activity together to be sure we all understand! 1. It had been a very long day for Joe. Every meeting he had attended at work had been filled with problems his supervisor was having with employees, but not many solutions had been offered. Just when Joe was leaving for the day, his immediate boss asked Joe and his peers to fill out a survey regarding how affective the meetings had been, and how they could be improved. a. imediate b. pears c. survay d. effective Directions Part Two: Please read the following paragraph and answer questions that follow regarding the words in bold print! 2. The HiSET can be completed successfully as long as directions are followed carefully! In order to do this, we are going to practise often to be sure we understand every skill that apears on this test. For instance, there are several spelling areas that deserve our attention. We will look at these areas and answer questions from every possible angel! In the paragraph above, only one word in bold print is spelled correctly. This word is: a. practise b. apears c. attention d. angel Directions Part Three: Please read the following paragraph carefully. Be sure to check the words in bold print. A question will follow the paragraph, which will refer to these words. 3. No one was available to help Tim with his order. He had shopped online and was scheduled to pick up his groceries from a side entrance at Stop and Shop. But when he had arived at the store, he realized that the entire parking lot was empty. What was going on? Was the store closed today? Tim tried calling the store, but even the recording he received did not offer much information. Friends were headed to his house at that very moment, and Tim had run out to pick up some nice desserts. What was he supposed to do now? In the paragraph above, please look at the words in bold print carefully. From the list below, please select the correct spelling for the word that has been misspelled. a. arrived b. empty c. received d. desserts e. supposed |
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