Mr. Edgar’s Blog

OK, I know you’ve all been waiting for it, so here it is:

This trimester’s extra credit, worth a good amount of points, is to write me a letter explaining what you learned this trimester, what you need to work on, and what you did and didn’t like so far. Also, please include your goals for next trimester and what you intend to do to reach them.  This is due next week on Monday (11/23).

It seems like many of you are catching on to the mini mints by this point, but this one is a bit tricky:

“What dictionary is considered to be the most comprehensive of past AND present usages of words in the English Language?” 

(That’s right, folks, it is possible to be a dictionary nerd, too).

Remember, you need to give me a reliable source for where you got your information.

-Mr. E

Today, I found a really cool webpage which tells you the probability of all sorts of things that happen.  The people that made it use tons of surveys and research statistics, and it’s some pretty amazing stuff.  You can find the webpage at http://www.bookofodds.com/ , but please be aware that I did not look through all the information on this webpage and I have no idea what is and is not searchable.  Please be smart and keep things school appropriate, since this little post is not intended to promote this website or its content but something cool I found.   Enjoy, and leave me a comment if you find anything cool!

-Mr. E

OK, here’s the deal: for one mint, come up with the best mnemonic for the 6 traits of writing.  Best one gets a double prize.

The 6 traits are, in case you forgot:

• Content and Ideas
• Organization
• Conventions
• Word Choice
• Voice
• Sentence Fluency

Good luck!!

OK folks!!! Here is your first mini-mint assignment of the year (get excited)!!  All you have to do is leave a comment answering the following question, and I will give you a mint for it if you answer 

correctly.  However, you don’t get a mint if you don’t tell me where you found your information (you have to tell me the webpage or encyclopedia/book).

Here is your first question:

Why do we capitalize both letters in the word “OK”?

Dr. Pepper. Its name sends shivers up my spine, as it is easily my FAVORITE drink of all time.  What’s yours?  Shampoo (don’t drink that just because I asked)? Lemonade? Drop me a comment and tell me all about it.

For those of you that check, I am sorry, but the activity we did today in class is not available for download.  This is due to the fact that I copied it from a grammar book and did not create it myself.  Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience.

-Mr. E

Per request of my 6th Graders, here are the 8 parts of speech and their definitions:

Noun: A person, place, or thing.  It’s anything you can kick.

Verb: Anything you can do (and some things you can’t).  It’s an action word.

Adverb: It describes a verb or another adverb.   Words such as quickly, etc.

Adjective: It describes a noun or another adjective.  This includes words like fuzzy, red, three.

Pronoun: It takes the place of a noun, including words such as it, they, he, she,  and us.

Preposition: This is a word that tells when or where something is/happened.  Words such as before, after, during, above, below, in, on, and under are all prepositions.

Conjunction:  And, but, for, or, nor, yet, so….Cha-Cha-Cha.

Interjection: One-word exclamations.  All the words that come to mind when you’re yelling to your friends.

Enjoy, and good luck on tonight’s assignment.

Okay, okay, so I’m not Crazy Eddie (not a bad nickname, though…), but the picture was just too good to pass up.

Folks, it has been far too long since I posted, but boy did I need a break!  I’m glad to be back for another year of educationality (not a real word, but fun nonetheless, I learned that unreal words can be exciting from our friend D.E.W.).  I am finally back after a summer of great adventures, and I am proud to say that this year, I will be teaching 4 sections of seventh grade and only 1 section of sixth.  While I am sad that I am no longer in the 6th grade hallway, I am excited to be seeing so many familiar faces in the week(s) to come!  Stay tuned, ’cause I’m BACK!

Someone mentioned to me that I should make a post about favorite words.  Now, I am following through.  I don’t know what my favorite word is, but I do have a few that I think are fun to say (and spell):

-Anonymity

-Vicarious

-Incarceration

-Veritable

-Ineptitude

What are some of your favorite words (remember, keep it school appropriate)?  Have a most wondermous (not a real word) day!