Extra work was assigned in class today. A handout with two crossword puzzles has to be done by Friday. One crossword puzzle covers 20 words from Monday’s two root words. The other crossword puzzle covers 30 words from the Treasure Island glossary through chapter 13. Why do we have to do these two crosswords? It’s not because Mrs. Scales simply has nothing better to do than create more handouts or grade more papers. It isn’t even because crossword puzzles are good exercises for the brain. No, let’s be perfectly clear: It is because so many students are not studying their root words or reviewing the glossary words for our reading on their own. If we won’t do it on our own, the only choice left is to make it an assignment which will be graded. The lesson being, do the work that is assigned if we don’t want to have to do extra.

Our DLW sentence for today was: If you could crush an lump of coal with enough pressure you’d get a diamond for you like the ones mined in South Africa. The errors are with missing Commas (To separate Phrases and Clauses), Apostrophe, and incorrect use of an Adjective (Articles) an a Pronoun (Reflective). Just as explained yesterday, from now on every correction in the sentence must be accompanied with the rule and location of that rule to receive credit for the correction. Again, this is an example of having to do more work because students were not taking the time to look up the corrections and missing grammar errors that they should have been able to find. The really good news is that anyone who gets 90% or higher on this week’s DLW sentences and weekly review paragraph will no longer have to do the DLWs.

The root word today was:

ROOT WORD CARD #50 PRO—forward, before, in front of

This ROOT-WORD is the Prefix PRO which means FORWARD, BEFORE, IN FRONT OF. It is a very simple ROOT-WORD to learn and most convenient to use. It opens doors to a variety of things from the PROfessional who is today called a PRO, all the way back to ancient days in Rome when the meanest work was done by the lowest class citizen called a PROletarian.

1. Proceed : PRO ceed (pro sede’) v. To go forward; advance

2. Procedure : PRO cedure (pro see’ jur) n. Method of going toward a goal

3. Proclaim : PRO claim (pro klame’) v. To bring before the public

4. Proclamation : PRO clamation (prok la may’ shun) n. A notice officially declared

5. Procure : PRO cure (pro kyur’) v. To get; to gain

6. Produce : PRO duce (pro kyur’) v. To lead forward; as, produce a play

7. Production : PRO duction (pro duk’ shun) n. The act of bringing forth

8. Profess : PRO fess (pro fes’) v. To take vows; to openly admit

9. Professor : PRO fessor (pro fes’ or) n. One who professes; a teacher of high rank in an institution of higher education

10. Profession : PRO fession (pro fesh’ un) n. Art or skill which is the result of study and experience

11. Progress : PRO gress (prog’ res) n. The act of going forward to a goal

12. Progressive : PRO gressive (pro gres’ iv) adj. Causing the going forward

13. Progression : PRO gression (pro gresh’ un) n. The orderly going forward

14. Project : PRO ject (pro jekt’) v. To throw forward; to create a plan

15. Proliferate : PRO liferate (pro lif’ e rate) v. To bring forth by rapid production

16. Prolific : PRO lific (pro lif’ ik) adj. Bringing forth young or fruit

17. Promote : PRO mote (pro mote’) v. To move forward; to advance in station

18. Prolix : PRO lix (pro liks’) adj. Drawn out; needlessly prolonged

19. Proficient : PRO ficient (pro fish’ ent) adj. Showing skill; adept

20. Profluent : PRO fluent (prof’ lue ent) adj. Flowing smoothly

Today was also a Writing Workshop day. Our letters from a Treasure Island character are due tomorrow at the start of class. We also talked about Robert Louis Stevenson’s incredible sentence fluency and have to do the next revision to our Anchor Pieces. On a fresh copy of our piece of writing we were instructed to highlight at least three sentences in blue. Then using the sentence fluency handouts in our English Binder we have to make revisions. The revised copy must say Sentence Fluency Revision under our header and be stapled to the copy that we highlighted blue. This writing assignment is due on Friday.

Our homework assignment was to read and update our study guides through chapter 15.