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in English, we began with a review of commas and quotation marks, proper placement of modifiers and the connotation of adjectives.  students worked through two  passages, aware of a proportional time limit, but able to work past it.  we discussed idioms and their place on the test.

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in math, we continued through the pretest, assessing retention and understanding of specific algebraic and geometric concepts, while also applying strategies to narrow choices.

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in reading, students worked through a timed social science passage; in science, students completed a timed passage analyzing an experiment to answer questions.

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students were given a writing prompt, three possible perspectives and a template to guide each through developing their written opinion essays.  we gave emphasis to the thesis statement.  then, students were directed to work on a restatement of that thesis immediately using sentence variety as well as synonyms.  students also gave attention to moments of transition between paragraphs. 

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in English, students worked through one  passage, aware of a proportional time limit, but able to work past it.  we discussed consideration of the title as an indicator of the overall theme and a review of apostrophes.

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in math, we continued through the pretest, assessing retention and understanding of specific algebraic and geometric concepts.

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in reading, students worked through two timed passages (humanities and natural science), choosing for themselves which order to complete the passages

 

in science, students practiced gaining a clearer picture by finding the main idea in the introduction and the main point of the figures (graph, table or chart) to answer questions.

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each student completed a guided writing assignment stating their stance on a given topic.  they worked to develop an introduction with a hook narrowing to a purpose statement;  their argument  with support; a counterargument and rebuttal; and a conclusion that restated the thesis and provided a final push toward persuading toward their perspective .

our  lesson today centered on a common thread across the five sections:

 

in English, we trimmed sentences down to subject and verb, examined the uses of the semi colon and colon and practiced our goal of keeping it simple.  students took  an untimed portion of this section and assessed their personal performance.  

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in math, students completed a short pretest over both algebraic and geometric concepts.  we discussed strategies of methodically eliminating answers and plugging in given answers.  

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in reading, students completed a portion of the reading test focusing all attention on the passage  in order to detect a unifying theme and overall perspective.  we considered the types of questions in this section.

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in science, students practiced paraphrasing differing hypotheses, narrowing down the ideas of each, comparing the similarities and contrasting the differences.

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each student completed a timed writing assignment stating their stance on a given topic.  they provided a purpose statement, their argument, a counterargument and a conclusion.

The focus of this course is an introduction to the ACT that helps students understand the EXPECTATIONS, PURPOSE and FORMAT of the test. Classes will consist of instruction, guided practice, and a cycle of testing, assessing and correcting portions of ACT style questions. Students will also practice writing essays. The goal is to provide students with the tools and knowledge that allow for continued independent preparation based on their individual strengths and challenges.

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The course will remain open with 6 students and close with a maximum of 10 students. 

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The timeframe of the course considers those students who are preparing for the 13 April test date, as well as those students with plans to take either of the summer exams (8 June or 13 July), after concluding the spring semester and utilizing additional summer weeks to continue practice and preparation.

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The cost of this 20 hour course is $350 payable to Brighton Academy plus a $30 supply fee for math text and copies, payable to Torrey Spradlin.  To register please put checks and name of student in black file box in the file marked Heather Kelso.  The file box is located at the horseshoe shaped front desk when you walk into the front door of the church.