Background      For the summer of 2014, I had six major projects:  1. Complete the first grade of the Ideal KISS sequence. This took much longer than I thought it would, but it was completed. It turns out, however, that the vocabulary and some of the concepts may be too advanced for first graders. (See below.) 2. Develop a 40-minute presentation that I might be able to give locally or elsewhere to explain KISS and perhaps get some additional assistance with it. This took about two weeks, but the local library never responded to my offer to give it. There may be other local options, but finding them would take time. 3. Write a series of short articles critical of the Common Core, especially from the KISS perspective. These were completed, and I am hoping that they will attract interest from people who oppose the Core. 4. Write letters or articles that would make more people aware of KISS. I sent out a dozen or so, but the problem appears to be that most people have an automatic negative response to "grammar," and explaining KISS in a short letter (or article) is very difficult to do. 5. Resolve some copyright problems with a book manuscript that I have been working on for several years. I was surprised that NCTE (The National Council of Teachers of English) gave me no trouble using their materials, but other publishers created major problems. The time it takes to find out who owns the copyright, and then contact them, is unbelievable. It also does not help that many of them do not understand the idea of "Fair Use." I resolved this by deciding to reduce the materials I want to use and by paraphrasing instead of quoting, but there is one quotation that I still would like to get permission for. To do so, I have to get a user name and password, just to ask a question about it! 6. Revise the book manuscript.  Even though I did not spend nearly enough time on my house, yard, and garden, the preceding five took so much time that I did not get to this until the week before classes started. Since then, this has been my first priority.

The Book Manuscript      The book manuscript was started by an invitation from an editor at a publishing company. It was completed and rejected--unless I was willing to pay to have it published. The editor, however, suggested that I revise and resubmit it. I'm not sure that the publisher would still be interested, but the combination of theory, research, and grammar that is behind KISS requires at least a short book-length manuscript to explain. Thus I want to get the manuscript completed, even if I have to look for another publisher.      I'm actually happy that it was rejected. In revising, I decided to drop a large section that dealt with the political and "research" arguments against teaching grammar. I became stuck, however, on the chapter on "Grammar and the Improvement of Reading." I've always felt that a formal study of how sentences work helps students read better, but Professor Sandra Stotsky's The Death and Resurrection of a Coherent Literature Curriculum made me consider the question more closely.      We learn oral language by listening and talking; we learn reading and writing effectively only by reading (a lot) and writing. But most students (most people) don't read that much. And, although some linguists have claimed that all the grammatical constructions appear in the writing of primary school students, these linguists ignore the studies on natural syntactic development. The primary difference between oral and written language is the depth at which constructions are embedded within other constructions. I think I could explain this to the average educated person (one need not be an expert), but that will require some additional statistical research on my part. See below. How long that will take, I don't know. But the research even behind a ten-page chapter will take a lot of time.

The "Ideal" Sequence      The "Ideal" KISS Sequence is the most recent main branch of the KISS site. Unlike the original "Grade-Level Workbooks" (See below.), the "Ideal" sequence introduces basic constructions (subject, verb, adjective, adverb, prepositional phrase) in first grade. It assumes that students have mastered these before they move into second grade. In second grade, as in all the following grades) there is a brief review of what students learned previously, but the second grade book will build on the first; the third on the second, etc. These books also include many more reading selections and writing assignments. They are, in other words, significantly different from the  "Grade-Level" books.      Because KISS originally began in third grade, I had to make many entirely new exercises for the first-grade book. That book having been completed, my intention was to complete the second-grade book (and perhaps even the third) by the middle of the summer of 2015. Unfortunately, it appears that I may have made the books too hard for many first graders. Some members of the Yaho KISSGrammarGroup have stated that the vocabulary is too advanced and that some of the concepts are beyond the ability of first graders. This being the case, I may have a major problem, but given the amount of time that will be involved in fixing it, and the number of options, I'm waiting for more feedback. Responses to the following questions will be helpful: 1. Is the original second grade "Grade-Level" book easier than the "Ideal" first-grade book? If so, could the second-grade book be modified into the first grade "ideal book"? 2.

 

Problems with IG 1      I want to thank members of the Yahoo KISSGrammarGroup for their questions about the first grade "Ideal" book. My plan was to finish the second grade book by the end of next summer, but it seems clear that I misjudged the difficulty of exercises for the first graders. Therefore, it does not make sense to work on the second grade book before I can get the first grade book set better. I am therefore asking for your suggestions. If I understood correctly, there are three basic problems: 1. First graders had problems with identifying tenses (past, present, and future). I have modified the exercises by deleting the requests to identify the tenses. The important thing in first grade is that the students should learn to identify the tense helping verbs as parts of verb phrases. They can learn the tense names later. 2. Some students were confused by the prepositional phrases in the early exercises on identifying subjects and verbs. I suggested moving ahead to do some exercises on prepositional phrases first, and apparently this helped. I have also added to the teacher's edition the suggestion that students should be able to use the lists in the instructional materials as they do the exercises. Is there still a problem here? 3. The third and most difficult problem is the vocabulary level. There are several ways of addressing this problem, some of which are: a.) moving some of the exercises to the second grade book (thereby making it faster to complete). These might include the "Vocabulary" section and the section on "The Hare and the Tortoise." b.) including the entire source article first--as a reading/vocabulary exercise. c.) reducing the number of exercises in the first grade book. I have a question here about the writing exercises. I included them because the Common Core does expect first graders to write; but are the KISS writing exercises too difficult for first graders??? Note that if we eliminate the writing, we could also move section 12, on Basic Punctuation, to grade two.    At this point, I'll note that KISS was originally designed to start in grade three. But if students can master some basic concepts in grade one, it will make the entire sequence easier. The basic objectives for grade one are: 1. Identifying simple subjects and verbs. My college students had trouble because they could not remember that "am," "is," "are," "was" and "were" should always be underlined twice. Would this be too difficult for first graders? 2. Identifying simple complements (the words that answer the question "whom or what?) after the verb. 3. Identifying compounds (in subjects, verbs, and complements) 4. Identifying "You" as an understood subject. 5. Identifying simple prepositional phrases. This is the second place where my college students got hung up. They simply needed more time and practice. (Should this section be put right after the section on simple subjects and verbs? Doing so might result both in less confusion and more practice with prepositions.) 6. Identifying Nouns Used as Adverbs, Interjections, and Direct Address. These were included because they appear frequently in the reading of first graders. (To some extent, I got carried away with trying to enable first graders to identify the functions of most of the words in what they read.) Should this be moved to second grade? 7. Understanding Nouns and Pronouns. The primary objective here was to enable first graders to identify the nouns, and especially the pronouns, that function as subjects, complements, or objects of prepositions. Should this be moved to second grade? 8. Identifying Adjectives and Adverbs. If first graders can do most of the preceding, the addition of adjectives and adverbs should not be too difficult. It also introduces the idea of noun and verb phrases. 9. Basic punctuation. If first graders are not expected to do much writing, then this can be moved to second grade.      Before I can improve the ideal first grade book, I need feedback on these questions. The more specific you can be, the more helpful you will be. You might, for example, at a minimum tell me which exercises include vocabulary that is too difficult for first graders.      My need for input on these questions is one of the reasons that I am currently focussing on statistical research and on the book manuscript. Thanks, Dr. V.

 
 
 

(Statistical) Research on Natural Syntactic Development

 
 
 

The Grade-Level Workbooks