Learning About Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences

Written by Marra

We are learning about different sentences to make our writing sound more fluent. Instead of just writing the simple sentences, “The dog jumped. The cat jumped.” we can that into a compound sentence. These sentences are important, but sometimes they can be tricky!

Here are a few quotes from students:

• "I think we need the skill of using these sentences." - Palmer  
• "It was a little tough at first, but then I figured it out." - Maddie 
• "I feel that complex sentences are tough." - Saoirse

And here are some examples of compound and complex sentences written and labeled by students:

I think this learning is important. We will probably use these sentences in our everyday life. If you are writing to someone, and you don’t use proper grammar, they may be confused. This is why we are learning this and what we are learning from it.

These sentences are a little challenging, but as Maxwell said, “If you use these sentences, it will help your writing. If you don’t include the proper grammar in your writing, no one will know what you're talking about.”

Here is a slideshow explaining simple, compound, and complex sentences:

Opinion Essay Challenge - Tie Breaker!

The essay challenge was supposed to have ended yesterday. However, after a total of 73 votes, there was a three-way tie in Mr. Salsich's homeroom!

(*See below for the winning essay in Mrs. McGowan's homeroom.)

Therefore, we are going to have another vote, this time with just the three top essays. This time, voting will also be limited to students within our district.

Below are the three final essays, followed by a new poll for selecting your favorite.

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Vote for your selection here (limited to students)

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In Mrs. McGowan's homeroom, the winning essay was "Help save The Chickens." Congratulations to all of the finalists!

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Opinion Essay Challenge - Vote For Your Favorite!

(Voting will close Monday, March 13 at 2:00 pm)

Our most recent blog post assignment was to write an opinion essay about a topic that interested us.

We needed to write a clear introduction, include three supporting reasons in separate sentences, use transitional phrases to link ideas together, and end with a concluding paragraph.

Mr. Salsich selected five essays from each homeroom as finalists for a challenge to see which essays would earn the writers a tin of controversial putty!

Does this stuff help people think, or just make them crazy?

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Please take a few minutes to read the essays below and then vote for the one you like the best.

These are the finalists from Mrs. McGowan's homeroom:
(If it's easier to read them in a separate tab, click the expand arrow in the right corner.)

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Vote for your favorite essay from Mrs. McGowan's class here: (You'll need to be logged in to your Google account to vote.)

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And these are the finalists from Mr. Salsich's homeroom: (If it's easier to read them in a separate tab, click the expand arrow in the right corner.)

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Vote for your favorite essay from Mr. Salsich's class here: (You'll need to be logged in to your Google account to vote.)

Thanks for your participation!

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Personalized Spelling Lists

In an effort to make spelling activities meaningful for each student, every student has their own personal spelling words to work on.

We start by having a weekly pretest based on certain spelling patterns and phonics rules. Any words the student gets incorrect goes into their word list of ten words for that week. If students get more than ten words incorrect, they pick the ten words they would like to focus on. If students only get three words incorrect, they fill in the rest of their list with words from their daily writing, daily reading, or from a list of commonly misspelled 5th grade appropriate words.

That way, every student has a list of ten words that fit their needs as readers and writers.

During the week, students work with a clock buddy to practice their words in any way that works for them. They have a menu of options, but can also come up with alternative ways to study. (Partners stay with the same clock buddy for each list, so they can get a sense of which words their partner has down cold, and which ones are a bit of a challenge.)

"Weak hand" spelling is a favorite word work activity. First you spell the words with your dominant hand, and then you spell them with your non-dominant hand. The results can be pretty funny!

After five or so days of word work, the clock buddy partners assess each other to see which words have been mastered and which still need some attention. Any words that are missed go right into the next list of words until they are mastered.

Below is a slideshow of the word work and peer-assessment in action:

So far, this has been a fun, effective way for students to work on words that fit their needs.

Student Blogs and Commenting Skills

Every student now has their own blog! You can visit the blogs of Mr. Salsich's homeroom here, and Mrs. McGowan's homeroom here. (Links to both classes are also in the sidebar on the right.)

Two weeks ago, to get us started on blogging and commenting, we did a "Paper Blog" activity. Each student wrote, typed, and printed a rough draft of our first blog post and then decorated it with a border.

Then everyone walked around and left comments on the blogs using sticky notes. 

We talked a lot about how to leave a quality comment.

A comment should keep the conversation and the learning going. We don't want to write "dead-end" comments that just say things like "Cool! I like The Red Sox too!" These are dead-end comments because they are hard to respond to and they don't open the conversation up.

Instead, we want to write "highway" comments that keep the conversation going and maybe take the post in new directions. Highway comments may have questions, connections, or suggestions in them. And they definitely have specific details and clear, correct writing.

Here is a link to a document with more tips (and expectations) for leaving a great comment.

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Below are slide shows of some of the paper blogs and the students commenting on them:

Mr. Salsich's Class:


Mrs. McGowan's Class:

Please check out the student blogs and leave one of the bloggers a "highway" comment! We will be sure to reply back!