THM Sadaqa Group

Language Arts/Reading/Grammar/Composition

Study Tips: http://www.studygs.net/writing/revising.htm

Grammar worksheets:

 http://www.chompchomp.com/handouts.htm

http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/partsofspeech.html

Elementary help with grammar and parts of speech

http://www.havefunteaching.com/language-worksheets/parts-of-speech

Create your own wacky web tale!

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

It is essential that participants learn the basics of writing in different styles to accomplish a goal depending upon the audiences.

Students should learn to:

• read, write, speak, listen, and view to construct meaning of visual, oral, and written texts
• read with understanding and respond thoughtfully to a variety of texts
• write and speak English/Arabic proficiently to communicate ideas clearly
• create works using the language arts in visual, oral and written texts
• choose and apply strategies that enhance the fluent and proficient use of language arts
• understand and appreciate texts from many historical periods, scholars, and Islamic cultural backgrounds
• employ language arts for a lifelong learning goal for work and enjoyment

Students should display:

• effort put into the project
• mastery of the material
• the finished projects
• ability to apply and translate what has been learned
• progress towards academic goals

Evaluation Methods for THM:

• content assessments
• development
• organization
• mechanics (grammar, punctuation, and usage)
• Journals
• reading list

The Purpose for reading:

• Reading for the literary experience
• Reading to be informed about a subject
• Reading to perform a task

Students are expected to:

•  write personal reflections and give responses to some assigned texts,
• Forming an initial understanding of what is being presented to them whether it be written or verbal content
• Learning to develop and interprete what different parts of text have in relationship to other parts of texts
• taking a critical stance to communicate information or to express ideas.
• read with understanding and fluency

Word Bank for Short Stories

Students may want to keep a written log or a writing folder for this section of the course. You may add words to this list to assist you in your writing or words that you have used in your short stories.

acceptance                 character          anonymous           caricature

sympathetic                conspicuous          identify            forebode

esteem                       perception            reverie             uneasiness

wholehearted             metallic                 inkling               mirage

A story is a work of fiction. Fiction is writing that comes from an author's own thoughts, concepts, and imagination. It is something made up - even if part of the story is based on real, factual, or true events.

The length of the Fiction determines how the story is classified. It is either as a short story or a novel.

What is a short story and a novel?

A short story usually revolves around a single idea and is short enough to read in one sitting. A novel is much longer and more complex. Fiction writing contains four main elements: character, setting, plot and theme. Please refer to class video for futher details on this subject inshaAllah.

• All students (6,7,and 8th) are responsible for the submission of written work on the following stories inshaAllah, NO EXCEPTIONS or EXCUSES. The story is read in class. Each story has its own set of vocabulary words; usually not more than ten words. Each story has classroom lessons and worksheets to complete. At the end of the story students are given a set of questions or a quiz or test to complete the section inshaAllah.
• The Treasure of Lemon Brown/ Paper on Homelessness --- 
• The Lie / Paper on "Falsehood leads to wickedness and wickedness leads to the fire (Hell), and a person persist in telling lies until he is written with Allah as a Kadhdhab (liar)."
• from Reflections on the Civil War/ Paper sabr in times of hardship
• The Clown/Paper Student Choice
• The Apprentice/Begin Prewriting/Drafting selection

Book report sample

Book report form

www.cvs.k12.mi.us/rcummins/images/Reading/Book_Report_Form.pdf 

• Preview the story
• Visualize the setting and the characters
• Make connections
• Ask questions as you read
• Make predictions (what's coming next)
• Clarify your understanding
• Evaluate the story
• Discuss the story

advancement                   consequently                     extensive                          outlook

revelation                         miscellaneous                   phenomenal                     consultation

unaccustomed                conventional                      comparable                      structure

thereby                             implication                        attachment                        predominate

Transitions Words

to begin with                 obviously                      therefore            moreover            nevertheless    

English: Traditional grammar

As a student we learn to classify words based on eight parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. Each part of speech explains not what the word is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next.

First, students must learn about The Sentence. There are four kinds of sentences. Each sentence has two parts. We discuss complete subjects, complete predicates, simple subjects, simple predicates, subjects that are used in an imperative or interrogative sentence, compound subjects, compound predicates, simple and compound sentences, conjunctions, complex sentence structures, correcting fragments and run-ons.

Pre-Semester Writing Assignment:

Your local masjid is organizing a special program for the youth called Among Companions. Write a letter offering suggestions or ideas that will help make the program successful. Include a dialogue, of a typical conversation between two friends your own age. (Make sure to use all 4 kinds of sentences in your writing and underline the simple subject from each sentence.) 

English/Language Arts: grammar assignment continued- please continue with what is a noun inshaAllah., Quick Review Topic: A Guide to Homework and Successful Studying Tips,

English: Traditional grammar (Discussion on What is a noun-continued), What is a noun? 3rd-6th , Noun Plurals 7th - HighSchool , 100 Misspelled Words, Vocabulary Building Advisor, Vocabulary Building Adivisor 2

Visit the Homework Helper section or Topic index Below:

Nouns: Singular, Plural, Possessive, Concrete and Abstract

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.

A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea. A plural noun names more than one.

The possessive form of a noun shows possession, ownership, or the relationship between two nouns.

A concrete noun names an object that occupies space or that can be recognized by any of the senses.

An abstract noun names an idea, quality, feeling, or characteristic. 

To find examples of commonly used abstract nouns go here:

www.scribd.com/doc/3887529/List-of-Common-Abstract-Nouns-Ig3 

Nouns: Proper, Common, and Collective

A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing. We capitalize proper nouns.

A common noun refers to people, places, or things in general.

A collective noun names a group. A collective noun is singular if it refers to the group as a whole, and plural if it refers to individual members of a group.

Pronouns: Personal, Possessive, Reflexive, and Intensive

A pronoun takes the place of a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun. We call the word or group of words that a pronoun refers to its antecedent.

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing by indicating the person speaking (the first person), the person being addressed (the second person), or any other person or thing being discusses (the third person).

(singular) I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it   (plural) we, us, you, they, them 

A possessive pronoun shows possession or control. It takes the place of a possessive noun.

(singular) my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its  (plural) our, ours,your, yours, their, theirs

A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun or another pronoun and indicates that the same person or thing is involved.

An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a noun or another pronoun.

Reflexive and intensive pronouns look alike. Their usage reveals the difference. They are personal pronouns that end in self or selves:

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Pronouns: Interrogative, Relative, Demonstrative, and Indefinite

Use an interrogative pronoun to form questions. Interrogative pronouns are who, whom, whose, what, and which. Other interrogative pronouns are whoever, whomever, whatever, and whichever.

Use a relative pronoun to begin a subject-verb word group called a subordinate clause.

who, whoever, whom, whomever, what, whatever, which, whichever, that, whose

A demonstrative pronoun points out specific persons, places, things, or ideas.

this, that, these, those

An indefinite pronoun refers to persons, places, or things in a more general way than does a noun or a personal pronoun. Example: Each of the winners chose his or her own prize.

all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything

both, each, either, enough, everybody, everyone

everything, few, many, most, much, neither

nobody, none, nothing, one, other, others

plenty, several, some, somebody, someone, something

            Verb Chart

Verbs: Action

A verb expresses action or a state of being and is necessary to make a statement.

An action verb tells what someone or something does. Action verbs can express either physical or mental action.

An action verb that is followed by a word that answers the question what? or whom? is called a transitive verb.

An action verb that is not followed by a word that answers the question what? or whom? is called an intransitive verb.

Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive, depending on their use.

Linking Verbs:

A linking verb links, or joins, the subject of a sentence with a word that identifies or describes the subject. The most common linking verbs are forms of be. Some examples are:

am, is, was, were, will be, has been, and was being

Other verbs that can be linking verbs

appear, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, sound, smell, and taste

Verb Phrases

The verb in a sentence may consist of more than one word. We call the words that accompany the main verb auxillary, or helping verbs.

A verb phrase consists of a main verb and all its auxillary verbs. Example: I am apologizing because I have arrived so late. Do you still have time?

Auxillary verbs:

Forms of be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been

Forms of have: has, have, had, having

Others helping verbs: can, could, do, does, did, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would

Example: I could have arrived on time if I had planned my day better.

acceptance                        ancestors                            experiences                       dreamt

visualize                            consideration                    obstacle                               eyewitness

encouragement                 industrious                         memorable                        present-day

remembrance                   diligent                                 challenge                             advantage

Transitional Phrases

In the beginning               in late years        in spite of this                    all this time         later on

list_of_adjectives.pdf

Adjectives

An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by limiting its meaning. Adjectives include the articles a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles; the is a definite article. Because they modify nouns, possessive nouns and some possessive pronouns are considered adjectives as well.

Example: The raging river roars through this narrow gorge.

A proper adjective is formed from a proper noun and begins with a capital letter. Proper adjectives are often created by using the following suffixes:

--an, --ian, --n, --ese, and --ish examples: American, Chinese, English

Many adjectives have different forms to indicate their degree of comparison.

Positive          Comparitive        Superlative

big                  bigger                 biggest

little                less                       least

list_of_adverbs.pdf

Adverbs

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb by making its meaning more specific. Adverbs answer the question how? when? where? and to what degree?

When modifying a verb, an adverb may appear in various positions in a sentence. If modifying an adjective or another adverb, an adverb appears directly before the modified word.

Example: Tammy said she really wanted to meet the very famous actor backstage yesterday.

The negatives no and not and the contraction --n't are adverbs. Other negative words, such as nowhere, hardly, and never, can function as adverbs of time, place, and degree.

Prepositions

A preposition shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in the sentence.

Common Prepositions:

• aboard     as     but (except)     inside     outside     toward
• about      at      by                    into        over         under
• above    before     despite        like        past          underneath
• across    behind     down        near        pending     until
• after      below       during       of         regarding     unto
• against     beneath     except     off      since          up
• along     beside         excepting   on     than       upon
• amid     besides     for      onto      through      with
• among   between   from    opposite   throughout  within
• around   beyond    in       out      to        without

A compound preposition is a preposition that is made up of more than one word.

Common Compound Prepositions:

• according to      apart from      because of        in front of       next to    out of
• ahead of           aside from      by no means      in spite of       on account of      owing to
• along with        as to              in addition to       instead of       on top of

Phrases that begin with a preposition usually end with a noun or a pronoun called the object of the preposition.

Conjunctions: Coordinating, Correlative, and Subordinating

A conjunction joins single words or groups of words. A coordinating conjunction joins words or groups of words that have equal grammatical importance. Coordinating conjunctions include and, but, or, nor, for, so and yet.

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal importance. Correlative conjunctions include both...and, just as..so, not only...but also, either ...or, neither...nor, and whether...or.

A subordinating conjunction joins a dependent idea or clause to a main clause.

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

• after      as though         provided (that)     until
• although    because       since           when
• as          before        so long as         whenever
• as far as        considering (that)     so that     where
• as long as        in as much as         though        wherever
• as soon as        in order that         unless        while

Conjunction Adverbs and Interjections

A conjunction adverb is used to clarify the relationship between two clauses of equal weight in a sentence.

"I left the keys in the house; consequently, I was locked out.

Conjunction Adverbs

• again       further      indeed    nevertheless       still
• also   furthermore    also       nonetheless       then
• besides     hence       likewose    otherwise    therefore
• consequently     however    moreover    similarly   thus 

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses emotion or exclamation. An interjection has no grammatical connection to other words. Commas follow mild interjections; exclamation points follow stronger ones. Common interjections include oh; oh, my; good grief; my heavens; darn; gee whiz; and well.

Appearance                       Textures                              Sounds                                 Smells

animated                             threadbare                         monotonous                      choking

dilapidated                         shorn                                    burble                                   exhilarating

iridescent                            silken                                    gibberish                             exquisite

translucent                         tingly                                     gabbling                               overpowering

Spatial Order Words and Phrases

above     below this          underneath        still lower     at the bottom       from one side to the other 

Why do we write?

The Basic Sentence

There are three types of writing: Narrative, Informative, and Pursuasive.

Our Goals for Writing:

• to write to communicate for a variety of purposes for various readers
• to write for the enjoyment of it, even if just for yourself alone.

Each writer should:

• establish focus
• develop content
• provide patterns of organization
• convey a sense of style
• demonstrate control of the conventions of standard written English

Each student work week contains 4 days inshaAllah Monday - Thursday. Students are expected to have FOUR journal writings per week for notebook checkpoints every three weeks. Meaning 4 a week = 12 at notebook checkpoint = 24 total writings per six weeks of school.

perspective                        abolish                  coordinate                          inquiry

expressive                          motivate              penalty                                 notorious           

wholehearted                   wrongdoing        override                               loyalist

contemplate                      authorized          negotiate                            cooperation

Transition Words and Phrases

thereupon          as I understood it             as a matter of fact          

in my opinion     it could be said                  in the final analysis

"Editorials are opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines, either in print or online. An editorial expresses an opinion about a current issue or topic. If no opinion exists, then the article is considered an expository text. The author of an editorial expresses a specific bias, with the intent of persuading the reader toward particular thoughts or actions."

visit here for more insightful information about the editorial:

http://www.creative-writing-ideas-and-activities.com/how-to-write-an-editorial.html

The Writer's Narrative Notebook weekly

Freewriting suggest that you write whatever comes to mind for a limited time period. Alhamdulillah, we shall put this to the test here in class inshaAllah. Using Islamic sources of information from Qur'aan, Hadith, Seerah, History and Biography accounts. You will be provided a prompt. Write complete sentences if you can, but generally you can write whatever comes to mind and Allah knows best. Don't think to hard just write. "Free flow" or "Freewriting" is just that nice flowing thoughts. we will discuss more later.

You will find the writing prompt used for this weeks class here in this section. Please write it in your notebook. Write your reflection (summary of your thoughts) about what is being said. Jazakillahu Khayrun. (3 to 5minute exercise) make sure you date it for later usage inshaAllah. Read more about brainstorming techniques below.

Writing Prompt #1 :

The Writing Process - An Introduction

1. Prewriting: Finding Ideas for Writing

2. Prewriting: Brainstorming and Clustering

3.Prewriting: Asking Questions

4.Arranging Ideas

5. Writing a First Draft

6. The Writing Process Lesson 1.6 Evaluating and Revising.pdf

7. Proofreading and Publishing

Making Words Your Own

Easy Steps to Writing a Paragraph

*Additional help sheet for Peer Editing

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson261/peer.pdf 

evidence             document           research              theory

investigate          miscellaneous   source                  scholarship

excluding             impartial              subsequent        outmoded

option                   selection              conclusion           characteristic

Transition Words and Phrases

contrasted with                                based on             cited above        nevertheless

according to                       in conclusion

Learning English Grammar Rules

What is a noun? and What is a Sentence?

Noun Plurals (7th Grade Beyond)

100 Words Commonly Misspelled in the English Language

Vocabulary Builders

Vocabulary Builders 2

We shall study the - 6 Writing Traits of Writing; then the Writing Process; and finally - How to revise a paper.

Does your child or children write sentences that only you understand?

Are they using descriptive language when trying to explain?

How are their spelling abilities or dictionary usage skills?

Let’s take a look at the following words for example

That's terrific!      Thats terifick!

Which one of these words would your child have chosen to be correct?

Please Read: How to write a research paper

What is Plagiarism?

Advanced Study...Writing Basics

The Writing Index...From English Works!

Learn about Islamic History, World History, American History and Geography

https://www.thmsadaqagroup.org/learningabouthistory.htm