March 23 and on--

Check Google classroom-- Long distance learning begins!

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Hi on Thursday afternoon. Thanks for waiting
Today's writing prompt. 
What is it that you are absolutely sure you will never forget about being this age, and why have adults forgotten it?

If you are a visual person as well, or instead, why not draw a response to that? 

(Short grammar lesson below)

Thanks  again to all of you who sent yesterday and today. I will compile some of your work and post tomorrow. Keep it going! 
I am also working on setting up google classroom. Hope to be there by next week.

In the meantime, here's Annie. 


Grammar Lesson. A short one, the difference between it's and its.
Confusing the two is one of the most common mistakes in the English language. It's a contraction, short for it is. Or it has. It is never used for anything else. 
WRONG and RIGHT -Its absolutely amazing that people often mistake its use.
RIGHT -- It's absolutely amazing that people often mistake its use.

The word ITS is possessive even though it does not have its own apostrophe.  Like other possessive pronouns, none of the have apostrophes. Consider how silly this looks: my's name, his's cat, your's house. 
Brief exercise: Write one paragraph of four sentences using both the possessive for of its and the contraction. 
An example: 
Its small nose was bent of of shape when the chihuahua  ran after him. "It's crazy," I thought to myself. "Why would a strong tabby cat be annoyed by a tiny little dog?" Its other housemate, a tawny colored cocker spaniel, often ignored the cat, much to its delight. It's just the chihuahua that creates problems. 





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Annie

Annie
National Dog Day

Contacts

msilver@twinhillsusd.org

About Me

Sebastopol, CA
After many years as a newspaper reporter and writer, a job that I was lucky enough to love, I got my English teaching credential, hoping to pass on to kids how to find their unique voice and clearly communicate what they think and feel. Public school educated in Philadelphia, college in New York City (Barnard College), transferred to and graduated from UC Berkeley in English and received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. Yay, my son, my student in 8th grade, is now a Cal alumni, too, a 2017 graduate with a degree in computer science, now working at Google (You Tube) as a product manager. William Faulkner is one of my favorite writers, as well as Anne Lamott, Langston Hughes and many of the nighttime, satirical comedy shows. On my top bookshelf sit Nobel Prize winning writers Toni Morrison and Orhan Pamuk, along with friends who have won Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, who started writing in junior high or in writing groups in Sonoma County. Go public education in California!

"Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction"

The digital revolution and teens, from the New York Times--
"Sean's favorite medium is video games...he sometimes wishes that his parents would force him to quit playing and study..."