day 80: homework help—helping young students learn to write sentences

After a student is reading well (and sometimes even before if things are not quite taught in order), he will start learning to write. Remember this is not penmanship. Penmanship is penning words. Writing is putting words together to form sentences. Sentences are then put together to form paragraphs. And paragraphs are put together to design essays, reports, and stories.

A student can learn to write sentences either by writing them himself or by dictating to you and having you pen the sentences for him. Either way, here are some “sentence writing tips”:

1. The CAVES acronym shows that a sentence must contain five parts: Capital; All makes sense; Verb; End mark; Subject. You can use this with your child as he writes sentences to evaluate if he truly has written sentences or just a group of words. (If he doesn’t fully understand the subject-verb part, ask him if his sentence has someone or something that it is about. And that someone or something doing or being something (verb). He doesn’t even have to know the terminology to see if the subject or verb is missing from a sentence.
2. The other two “easily visible” part of CAVES—capital and end mark—can be spotted quickly by your student as you ask him for each one.
3. The last one, All makes sense, is best discovered orally (both now and in writing for years to come). This is because what a person thinks he wrote (and reads silently) is not always what he truly wrote. Thus, if he reads something silently, he will often read in his head what he meant to write, not what he actually wrote. If he reads it aloud, he will “hear” it. (Incidentally, we use this “hear” your errors approach in our writing books for high schoolers as well—not just for individual sentence writing.)
4. If he is learning to write sentences and feels at a loss as to what to write, point out the speaking-writing connection to him by dialoguing:

Student: I can’t think of anything to write.

Teacher/Parent: What did you do today?

Student: school

Teacher/Parent: Say it in a complete sentence with “I” as the subject.

Student: I went to school.

Write this down for him, showing him once again that the written word is simply the spoke word written down.

More homework help for early writing tomorrow. Happy learning!

day 79: homework help—the reading and writing connection for young students ii of ii

If you have a child/student who is learning to write sentences and simple paragraphs (and has reached reading fluency—the stage in which he or she does not rely on controlled readers but can pick up most things at an upper elementary/beginning middle school level and read them), there are many things that you can do to help him or her.

1. Teach him/her the five parts of a sentence---CAVES—Capital; All makes sense; Verb; End mark; Subject. Help the student find these things in his sentences or in sentences that he reads.
2. Teach anything about the writing process informally that can be taught informally. This is for parents and educators alike. Point out that a sentence begins with a capital letter as he reads to you. Ask him what the (?) at the end of the sentence means. Talk about why a word is capitalized in a sentence (it’s at the beginning or is someone’s name). These informal teaching times will carry over to his real writing.
3. Understand the difference between penmanship and writing. Penmanship is art. Pure and simple. I would almost say (but can’t bring myself to do so since I have a degree in elementary education and a two hour credit in penmanship!) that “you either have it or you don’t.” Writing is putting words together to form sentences then paragraphs, then stories/reports/essays/letters—anything! If your child has penmanship difficulties (as many young boys do), do not let this distract him from writing. Pen for him as he dictates to you. Teach him to type. Remember, penmanship is not writing. Writing is writing.
4. Show him that writing is just the spoken word written down. Have him talk slowly to you while you type. Read it back to him. Tell him that if he can speak, he can write (even if the penmanship and spelling are not there yet!).
5. When he is first learning to write sentences, do not make him sound out every word. Just tell him how to spell the tough ones and move on. (There is even research out there now strongly suggesting that when it comes to spelling, “you either got it or you don’t.” Nowadays with computers and spell check, no person should be uneducated or feel stupid because of spelling problems.)
6. Have him dictate sentences about anything (his day; his favorite show; his favorite game; etc.) and write them in large letters with a highlighter. Have him write over the highlighter with his pencil. Have him read the sentences back to you. Then make a big deal out of it—your child can write!

When starting to read and starting to write, a child needs a great measure of success to keep going and feel confident in what he is learning. Making the reading and writing connection in the elementary grades can help do that for your child.

day 77: homework help--reading and writing connection part i of ii

One of the best ways you can help a child become good in language arts (which carries over to all of his school work--since all school work involves reading, comprehending, etc.) is to help him become a good reader. Yesterday I posted some links for laying a foundation for strong readers. Today I will give you some thoughts on early reading for those who are helping young readers practice their reading skills--then I will give some ideas on the reading/writing connection.

If you have a new reader in your home that you are trying to help with reading at home, try these "homework helps":
  
1. Be sure he reads from a book every day. So much reading instruction nowadays is workbook oriented. This is like taking piano lessons while only doing theory books--with no actual playing time. If his school does not have oral reading time each day (or even if it does--sometimes it is only a sentence or two read by each student), be sure to practice reading with him at home. (I will put links below for readability information.)

2. Try the "you read, I'll read" approach. Have him read a page or paragraph then you read a page or paragraph.

3. If he gets stuck on a word that you think he knows, remind him of what he knows about it:
a. Remember, this rhymes with light and bright. You had this word before.
   b. Do you remember what the e at the end of the word makes the first vowel say?
   c. How do you think Rabbit feels? Would that word be sad or silly based on how he probably feels?


4. If he is stuck too long or you do not think he knows a word, tell him what it is (and anything about it that might help him in the future) and move on. Do not get bogged down on each word.

5. Ask your librarian for help getting a reader that is truly at his level (or check out the links below for vocabulary controlled readers). Do not believe those readers that say K level in the corner but contain two syllable words!

6. Read aloud to him from a chapter book or other book that he enjoys to make the reading experience pleasant for him.

7. Reward him for practicing reading at home--stickers, coins, candy--it's worth bribing for!

Tomorrow--more on the reading/writing connection in the early reader's life! Check out our links below for more reading help for your young student.


Readability Levels of Materials: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-176-summertime-beginning-reading.html


Choosing Readers (starts with this day then moves on for several more): http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-173-summertime-beginning-reading.html

day 76: creating a reading environment

I don't want to re-invent the wheel--and I also want to be sure to keep LL 365 short....or I might lose my privileges (or so my family says!)...so while I am going to spend a little time on helping  your struggling reader in this month's Homework Help, I am not going to spend too much time on reading in general.

So...I will direct you to our sister blog, Positive Parenting, a weekday parenting blog for Christian families. The link below will lead you to the first of three entries about creating a reading environment in your home for new readers. There are so many things that parents can do to create a learning environment--and build a love for reading, whether your children go to school or homeschool.

Blessings to your family as you seek to help your children in the areas of language arts, reading, and writing!

http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-244-creating-environment-conducive.html

day 75: homework help week--helping kids learn sentence writing

Welcome to Homework Help Week at Language Lady 365! We are going to interrupt our regular posts to provide help to parents (and teachers) in helping their children/students with language arts, reading, writing, and grammar homework.

Roadmap for the week:

1. Starting with some reading help! Reading is the inverse of spelling in the same way that addition is the inverse of subtraction. Build a strong reading background, helping  your student to reach "reading fluency," and a love for learning, and you will go a long way way in helping him or her in language arts in general--and all learning eventually.

2. Then sentence writing, including...

a. Penmanship vs writing
b. Beginning sentence writing
c. Copy work
d. Reading and writing connection
e. Writing "from his brain" and from a source for little ones

Thanks for joining us!

day 74: phrases, clauses, and sentences

We have talked at length about what a sentence contains:

C apital

A ll makes sense

V erb

E nd mark

S ubject

CAVES!

Again, most people have trouble witht the A one--All makes sense. When a "sentence" doesn't make sense, it is often because it is not a sentence at all, but it is a phrase or a clause.

We are going to talk in detail about phrases and clauses in the upcoming weeks because we are going to talk a lot about sentence structure--openers, simple sentences, compound sentences, etc.

So...a little "phrase and clause" lesson is in order first:


1. Phrase--

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that is not a sentence

c. Group of words that is not a sentence and does not usually contain a subject and a verb (though may seem to have one or the other)

d. There are various types of phrases--the one that people are most familiar with is the prepositional phrase--begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition:
      i. over the clouds
     ii. into the clouds
    iii. around the clouds
   iv. within the clouds
    v. under the clouds


2. Clause

a. Group of words

b. Group of words that might or might not be a sentence

c. Group of words that contains a subject and a verb

d. Two kinds of clauses

     i. Independent clause--also called a sentence

     ii. Dependent clause--also called a subordinate clause


Don't despair! These are not as complicated as they sound! You write with them all the time--but I hope to help you recognize them and punctuate them correctly in sentences--over the next few weeks!

Happy writing!

    

day 73: send in the cavalry or calvary?

Another confusing word pair--cavalry and calvary. And yes, we will see them written incorrectly over the next few weeks as Easter approaches! How can you differentiate between the two in this Wacky Word pair?

As a Christian, I have a unique way of remembering calvary and cavalry--see it helps you!

1. Cavalry--

a. A group of miliary people
b. We often say, "Send in the cavalry" to indicate help is needed
c. I remember this by remembering that the V comes before the L---Victory comes first if the cavalry comes caValry.

2. Calvary--

a. The hill on which Jesus was crucified
b. I remember this by remembering that the L comes before the V--Calvary denotes Love--CaLvary

day 72: does winnie the pooh like to wander or wonder?

Another quick tip for you!

1. Wonder is spelled like ponder—and they both mean to think
2. Wander is spelled like land—and you wANDer all over the lAND (or wAnder has an A in it and Area has an A in it—and you wAnder in an Area)

So…does Winnie the Pooh like to wander or wonder?

1. Pooh: “I’d rather be wondering.” OR
2. Pooh: “I’d rather be wandering.”

Well, I’ll give you a little hint. My daughter was a thinker—always thinking and/or reading---as a child (and still is!). When she had to do something she didn’t want to do—or her thoughts were interrupted by something, she would say, “I’m just like Winnie the Pooh. I’d rather be wondering!” In other words, she, just like Pooh Bear, would rather be pondering/thinking! J

day 71: proper adjective part ii of ii

In the last post, we introduced proper adjectives and gave instruction on capitalizing them. A proper adjective is essentially a proper noun that has been put into adjective form. Words are different parts of speech based, oftentimes, on their suffixes. For example, loveliness (with the ness suffix) is a noun...but changing a suffix often changes a word's part of speech. Thus, lovely is an adjective; loveliness is a noun.

There are many other difficulties with proper adjectives and proper noun elements within common nouns.

For example, animal, flower, plant, and tree breeds are not capitalized (i.e. husky, mockingbird, rose, poison ivy, and sycamore tree). However, if a proper adjective or proper noun element is part of the name, that part of it is capitalized (but the rest of it remains lower case):

1. black-eyed Susan (Susan is a proper noun in other contexts, so it gets capitalized here as well)

2. Australian sheep dog

3. Alaskan husky

4. Jack Russell terrier

More on caps and proper nouns later!

day 70: the proper adjective part i of ii

As I said in an earlier post, capitalization can be extremely tricky. We have a tendency to think that the noun is the first part of speech we learn, so it's automatically simple to locate, which isn't true at all (it's true we learn it first--just not true that it is simple!). A noun can become many different parts of speech. (Take the word school--I'm going to school you (verb); The school children (adjective); She is so schoolish when she explains things (adjective); and Let's go to school now (finally, the noun). One cannot truly find the part of speech that a word is out of context. (Be careful of programs that teach parts of speech out of context if you are choosing grammar materials for your children.)

The same thing is true of capitalization--we learn it early yet it is far from simple. Cap this in this instance but not in this. Cap this when it is used as an address but not when it is used in a non-address scenario. And on and on.

Into that madness, enter the proper adjective--another capitalization nightmare, in many cases. Essentially, a proper adjective is a proper noun used as an adjective. The key to using this properly (with the proper capitalization) is knowing for sure that the word is usually a proper noun (without having context, in many cases!).

For example, the following words are capitalized when used as adjectives:

1. Spanish....Spanish speaker

2. Jesuit...Jesuit priests

3. Israeli....Israeli captives

4. French...French braid

More confusing to come tomorrow! Stay tuned to the English blog! (Yes, cap that proper adjective!)

day 69: infinitive and prepositional phrase quiz—answer key!

Beside each of the phrases provided, write an I if each is an
infinitive; write PP if it is a prepositional phrase.

            1. to go       I    

            2. to sing           I

            3. to the government        PP   

            4. to a boy           PP

            5. to walk          I

            6. to be      I    

            7. to see    I      

            8. to France   PP       

            9. to John Adams  PP       

            10. to crush        I

            11. to believe      I    

            12. to his belief     PP     

            13. to write          I

            14. to the sun      PP    

            15. to confess     I      

day 67: west or West?

Capitalization can be so tricky! Capitalize Susan in black-eyed Susan but not geraniums. Capitalize Mom in Tomorrow Mom is taking us to town. But not mom in Tomorrow my mom is taking us to town. Capitalize President when referring to a certain president but not mayor unless his or her name is with the word....agghgh.....

And so it is with compass directions!

Here's the run-down:

1. Capitalize a direction when it is referring to a specific location or place:
   a.We are going out West for vacation.
   b. My daughter is in South Carolina.
   c. She is moving out East.

2. Do not capitalize a direction when it is referrig to a compass direction:
   a. Turn west at the light.
   b. We live on the south side of the road.

Tricky huh? I'll give you a few more in days to come. Study hard! :)

day 66: brothers-in-law or brother-in-laws?

This tricky plural rule is probably misused more than it is used correctly!

The key to making hyphenated words plural is to pluralize the first part--the noun part.

Thus, the following words are pluraled as listed:

1. Brother-in-law---brothers-in-law

2. Sister-in-law---sisters-in-law

3. Mother-in-law---mothers-in-law

4. Father-in-law---fathers-in-law

You are making the brother, sister, mother, and father plural--not the law part!

Exceptions are when an adjective comes first:

1. Great-grandma---great grandmas (you are not making great plural)

2. Great-nephew---great nephews

day 64: infinitive and prepositional phrase quiz

Beside each of the phrases provided, write an I if each is an infinitive; write PP if it is a prepositional phrase.

            1. to go           

            2. to sing           

            3. to the government           

            4. to a boy          

            5. to walk          

            6. to be          

            7. to see          

            8. to France          

            9. to John Adams         

            10. to crush         

            11. to believe          

            12. to his belief          

            13. to write          

            14. to the sun          

            15. to confess           

Day 63: Infinitives part ii of ii

Infinitives continued…

1. They are easily confused with prepositional phrases containing the preposition to. If students learn early on when to is being used as part of an infinitive (when it is with any verb) and when it is used as a prepositional phrase (when it has an object following it), they will become better writers (for many reasons we will discuss later).
1. Infinitive: He wanted to run.
2. Prepositional phrases: They went to town.

3.  Infinitives are easy to recognize
because they always are to + verb.
Examples:

                a. to think

                b. to be

                c. to show

      3. To can also be a preposition (a word
that shows position). To know if the to is an infinitive or a preposition,
follow these rules:

                a. Look at the word following the to.

                             b. If the word following to is a verb, you know
it is an infinitive. For
example: to know

                            c. If the word following the to is anything else
(noun, pronoun, adjective, etc.), it is a  prepositional phrase. For
example: to the house

   

4. Any verb can be an infinitive. It just has
to have a to in front of it.

 

5. The to is part of the infinitive. For
example: in the case of to see, the complete verb is to see, not just see.

Tomorrow: Infinitive “pop” quiz…can you tell the difference between an infinitive and a preposition with to? J

day 62: merriam webster online

Want to share a super source for those helping kids with homework, reading a difficult book, teaching...well, really, anybody. It is Merrriam Webster's Online Dictionary.

Some of the features we like:

1. Type in any word--it finishes them for you (for those who say, "I can't use a dictionary if I don't know how to spell the word to begin with"!)
2. Type in any word and get the definition
3. Type in any word and click "thesaurus" to get synonyms and even some antonyms
4. Click on the speaker and listen to someone say the word--we do this every week before we give spelling tests to ensure that we are pronouncing harder words correctly for our students
5. Links at the bottom of the dictionary page for each word with more sites, etymologies, and much more!

Trust me...you will love Merriam Webster Online!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

day 61: infinitives part i of ii

Earlier I said that we teach two main categories of verbs—action and Be a Helper, Link verbs (BHL verbs).

There is another “category” of verbs that you should learn, however. That is the group of verbs (also used as other parts of speech) known as the infinitive.

We teach infinitives as verbs (and early on) for a couple of reasons:

1. While they might act like other parts of speech (i.e. modifying, being the sentence’s main subject, etc.) at times, more often than not, they act like verbs.
1. They can describe what a subject is doing: The girl decided to write the letter.
2. They can have BHL verbs with them: She had to take her medicine.
3. They can have adverbs with them (when they are comprised of action verbs): She wanted to write beautifully.
4. They can have direct objects with them (when they are comprised of action verbs): The girl wanted to eat chocolates.
5. They can have predicate adjectives with them (when they are comprised of BHL verbs): She wanted to be careful.

They can have predicate nominatives with them (when they are comprised of BHL verbs): She wanted to be an actress.

Tomorrow—more on infinitives.

day 60: understood subject

You have been learning the characteristics of a subject and a verb. There are unique subjects, however, as well as unique verbs.

You have already learned that the sentence’s main subject has the following characteristics:

1. It is usually in the first part of the
   sentence (the subject part of the sentence as opposed to the predicate part).
2. It is usually a noun or pronoun.
3. It is the word that the whole sentence is about.
4.  It is the word that tells who or what did the verb.
   
                                

However, what do you do if a sentence does not appear to contain a subject?

For example, what is the subject in this “sentence”:

Learn your subjects well.

In the sentence that you examined above, it looks like there is no subject!

In this sentence, the subject is you! The sentence is really saying You learn your subjects well.

Sometimes sentences that are direct commands or parts of conversations do not have a subject written down, but the writer intends for the subject to be an understood you.

  This is called the understood subject.

           
Sentences with understood subjects have the following characteristics:

    1. They do not have the subject
written.  Examples:

                                  1) Do not forget to write to Grandma.

                                      a) Who should not forget?

                                      b) You

                                  2) Try to be a light in your home.
                                      a) Who should try to be a light?
                                      b) You!

        2. They are often commands of some type. For
               example: Get off the furniture!

         3. They usually begin with the verb of the
sentence: Water the plants.

          4. Sometimes they can begin with adverbs:
Carefully water the plants.

day 60: sorry to "inconvenience" you with my spelling! :)

What "language mishaps" have driven you crazy lately? Mine is how everybody puts up signs that say "Sorry for the inconvenience" without checking how inconvenience is spelled! Agghh.....surely it isn't that much of an "inconvenience" to look it up! :)

Others? Signs that have the following errors are recent ones:

1. It's when the person means its

2. "There going fast" instead of They're (say it uncontracted---they are...and you will know if you have the correct one!)

3. No mark between phrases to show that a phrase ended and another one started---

          Great Sale on
          Tires Get Your
          Oil Changed Today


Even this is better:

        Great Sale on
        Tires---Get Your
        Oil Changed Today


Enough complaining for tonight! Have a happily-correct grammar week!

day 59: understood subject

You have been learning the characteristics of a subject and a verb. There are unique subjects, however, as well as unique verbs.

You have already learned that the sentence’s main subject has the following characteristics:

1. It is usually in the first part of the
   sentence (the subject part of the sentence as opposed to the predicate part).
2. It is usually a noun or pronoun.
3. It is the word that the whole sentence is about.
4.  It is the word that tells who or what did the verb.
   
                                

However, what do you do if a sentence does not appear to contain a subject?

For example, what is the subject in this “sentence”:

Learn your subjects well.

In the sentence that you examined above, it looks like there is no subject!

In this sentence, the subject is you! The sentence is really saying You learn your subjects well.

Sometimes sentences that are direct commands or parts of conversations do not have a subject written down, but the writer intends for the subject to be an understood you.

  This is called the understood subject.

           
Sentences with understood subjects have the following characteristics:

    1. They do not have the subject
written.  Examples:

                                  1) Do not forget to write to Grandma.

                                      a) Who should not forget?

                                      b) You

                                  2) Try to be a light in your home.
                                      a) Who should try to be a light?
                                      b) You!

        2. They are often commands of some type. For
               example: Get off the furniture!

         3. They usually begin with the verb of the
sentence: Water the plants.

          4. Sometimes they can begin with adverbs:
Carefully water the plants.

 

day 58: Be a Helper, Link Verb Song

To help you remember the Be, a Helper, Link verbs, there is a little rhyme
that you can sing to the tune of ABC’s (or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”):

            ABCDEFG

            Be, a Helper, Link verbs,
            HIJKLMNOP

            Is, Are, Am, Was, & Were.

            QRSTUV

            Be, & Being, Been, Become,
            WXYZ

            Has, & Had, & Have are ones.
            Now I said my ABC's

            Can, Could, Shall, Should—they are fun.

            Next time won't you sing with me?

            Will, Would, Do, Did, Does, & Done.
            ABCDEFG

            May, Might, Must—they are some as well,

            HIJKLMNOP

            Appear, Look, Seem, Remain, Taste, Feel, & Smell.

 

day 57: two classes of verbs—action verbs and being, helping, linking verbs

There are two main classes of verbs that we teach in our books: action verbs and being, helping, and linking verbs. Obviously, there are various tenses of verbs. And yes, there are verbs that can have objects (i.e. direct objects) and verbs that are not known for having objects. And there are dozens of other ways to categorize verbs.

However, we have found that the best way to teach any grammar skill is to teach it as it relates to writing. After all, we learn grammar for writing and speaking (not to choose the correct answer on a grammar quiz!). Thus, we focus on action verbs and another group of verbs that we affectionately call Be a Helper, Link verbs—being, helping, and linking verbs all grouped together.

There are many reasons for this, and since many teachers have questioned us through the years, I will give our reasons here—and then tomorrow, introduce you to a simple-as-pie way to learn (or teach your kids/students) all being, helping, and linking verbs in one easy swoop!

1. Action verbs all have the same characteristics (regardless of whether they are transitive, intransitive, passive, active, etc. etc.):
1. They show that the subject did some type of action.
2. They can all have adverbs with them.
3. They can have direct objects following them:

                                                    i.     I gave the book away. (Action verb—gave; Direct object book)

                                                  ii.     She spoke the words clearly. (Action verb—spoke; Direct object words)

                

2. Being, helping, and linking verbs all have the same characteristics:
1. They show the state of being of the subject: He was here.
2. They cannot have adverbs with them.
3. They can have predicate adjectives following them: He was smart.
4. They can have predicate nominatives following them: They were the ones.
5. Most of them may be used as helping verbs—each one can help a base word by telling when the base verb took place: They were reading the novel in class.

For those reasons, we group action verbs all together as action verbs—and being, helping, and linking verbs all together into BHL verbs (Be a Helper, Link)—being, helping, and linking verbs.

Join us tomorrow to learn all thirty-two of these in one day! Smile…

day 56: action verb pop quiz answer key

Find the action verbs (those that are infinitives—to plus a verb and those that are action verbs without to. Remember—a sentence can have many action verbs throughout it.

1. Joshua and Jonathan drove to the church early, opened the doors, and began shooting hoops.
2. Ray went to work early since he wanted to be home in time to go to basketball practice with Jacob that evening.
3. Since the regular coach attended a meeting that day, Josiah coached the kids with enthusiasm.
4. Kayla went to work right away, meeting people and helping where ever she was needed.
5. Donna loved to write, edit, and teach.
6. Kids tend to laugh loudly, play rough, and jump around when the weather starts dumping rain too many days in a row.
7. She was going to cook the meal, clean the dining room, and pay bills, but her novel was calling her name.
8. They did not want to be late arriving since they were about to perform a very important piece.

day 55: action verb pop quiz!

Are you ready to see how good you are at finding action verbs? Time for another pop quiz!

Find the action verbs (those that are infinitives—to plus a verb and those that are action verbs without to. Remember—a sentence can have many action verbs throughout it.

1. Joshua and Jonathan drove to the church early, opened the doors, and began shooting hoops.
2. Ray went to work early since he wanted to be home in time to go to basketball practice with Jacob that evening.
3. Since the regular coach attended a meeting that day, Josiah coached the kids with enthusiasm.
4. Kayla went to work right away, meeting people and helping where ever she was needed.
5. Donna loved to write, edit, and teach.
6. Kids tend to laugh loudly, play rough, and jump around when the weather starts dumping rain too many days in a row.
7. She was going to cook the meal, clean the dining room, and pay bills, but her novel was calling her name.
8. They did not want to be late arriving since they were about to perform a very important piece.

day 54: compound verbs

Sometimes a sentence may have two verbs. This is called a compound verb.

If the subject of the sentence does two different things, it has a
compound verb. Examples:

Joshua wrote and edited.

1. What did Joshua do?
2. Two things:
1. Wrote
2. Edited

Kayla passed out medicines and took blood pressures.

1. What did Kayla do?
2. Two things:
1. Passed out medicines (passed)
2. Took blood pressures (took)

Sometimes a sentence can even have three or more verbs.

Verbs can be all throughout a sentence -- in opener, the main part of
the   sentence, and clauses at the end.

For example, in the sentences provided below, notice all of the bold fonted action verbs.

1. When Cami got to the church, she answered her emails, picked up her mail, and made phone calls but not before she ran into an old friend and chatted for a while.
2. If the kids wanted to perform the drama, Kara knew that they must learn to listen carefully to instructions rather than playing around during class.