Chris Wondra . com

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Every day I have students work on their editing skills by finding and correcting mistakes in a paragraph. Today one of the sentences was:
In September 1846, a german astronomer Johann Galle became the first to observe the planet Neptune.
One of my students wanted to make this change:
In September 1846, a german astronomer Johann Galle […]

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A little levity, a little truth.

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I get a lot of comment spam on this blog. To date, Askimet, my spam filter, has captured 9,277 incidents of spam. This amazes me. I wonder who these spammers are and why they think what they’re doing is the least bit affective. I mean, I can’t imagine clicking over on […]

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Almost every day, my students get a vocabulary word. Then, every ten days or so, they have a quiz. There are three parts to this quiz:

Matching
Fill in the blank, and
Using in a sentence.

I’m correcting just such a test right now and thought I’d share a few of the more interesting sentences I’m getting. […]

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I like sugar in my coffee and was stirring a hot cup this morning when the question came. She’s a sweet girl, really.
“Mr. Wondra, can we eat fresh fruit in here?”
“Yes.”
“Can I go get my apple?”
“Sure.”
A few minutes passed.
“Mr. Wondra, do you have a knife?”
“No.”
“Of any kind?”
“No C___, I don’t have a knife of […]

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I know my timing may be a little off here, but is it ever too early to start talking about this?

. . .What?
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I’ve mentioned before that, in an effort to keep kids writing and thinking, I’ll often have them request things of me (change of grade for example) in writing. Obviously, logical reasoning and compelling details are more effective. In short, if you’re a kid that’s going to play the percentages–you’re going to come with […]

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This morning, during announcements, I learned that this week we are celebrating/recognizing:
Breast Cancer Awareness
National Bus Safety Week
Red Ribbon Week
National Chemistry Week
National Forest Products Week
I thought that wasn’t nearly enough.  So this week I will also be celebrating on a daily basis:
Today, Monday, Oct. 22: National Nut Day
Tuesday Oct. 23: National Mole Day and Tv […]

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Periodically we’ll get a wasp in the house. You know how it is.
One moment, you’re snacking on toast with peanut butter and chocolate chips, and the next, all hell breaks loose because a wasp starts dive-bombing random targets around the room.
The toast? Fuggetaboutit. One eye’s on the wasp, the other, frantically […]

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