Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vocabulary
Week 17

1. filibuster– the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.
2. cacophony – harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.
3. magnanimous – generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: to be magnanimous toward one's enemies.
4. litany– a prolonged or tedious account: We heard the whole litany of their complaints.
5. sinister – threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous: a sinister remark.
6. transcribe – to make a written copy, especially a typewritten copy, of (dictated material, notes taken during a lecture, or other spoken material).
7. plume – a large, long feather
8. prudence – caution with regard to practical matters; discretion; regard for one’s own interests
9. mortal – subject to death; having a transitory life: all mortal creatures.
10. lobbyist – a person employed by a particular interest to lobby
11. procession – the act of moving along or proceeding in orderly succession or in a formal and ceremonious manner, as a line of people, animals, vehicles, etc.
12. goad – something that encourages, urges, or drives; a stimulus.
13. echelon – a level of command, authority, or rank: the top echelon of city officials.
14. frowzy – dirty and untidy; slovenly
15. erroneous – containing error; mistaken; incorrect; wrong: an erroneous answer.
16. glower – to look or stare with sullen dislike, discontent, or anger.
17. incognito– having one's identity concealed, as under an assumed name, especially to avoid notice or formal attentions.
18. monarch– a hereditary sovereign, as a king, queen, or emperor.
19. mutable – liable or subject to change or alteration.
20. presage – something that portends or foreshadows a future event; an omen, prognostic, or warning indication.
21. brandish - to shake or wave, as a weapon; flourish: Brandishing his sword, he rode into battle.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Vocabulary
Week 17

NOTE: Please make sure to write all the words in your notebook so that you do not lose or forget them. Any words you fail to define in class are homework. I will be checking words tomorrow and there will be a quiz on these words at the end of the week.

filibuster
prudence
erroneous
cacophony
mortal
glower
magnanimous
lobbyist
incognito
litany
procession
monarch
sinister
goad
mutable
transcribe
echelon
presage
plume
frowzy
brandish

Friday, February 18, 2011

February 18th, 2011

LANGUAGE ARTS QUICK HITS

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please except my apologies for my recent lack of communication. I have been under the weather and finally took a sick day yesterday. I thought that I had sent a Homework Alert and updated my blog in regards to this weeks homework and vocabulary, when in reality I have not. Again, please forgive this lapse. I have moved this weeks vocabulary quiz to next Tuesday 2/22/2011 (because of the three day weekend) and passed out hard copies of the vocabulary words and definitions. Additionally, I have included them in this email and updated my blog.

* President's Day - No school this Monday 2/21/2011

* ISATS Approaching - ISAT testing will begin February 28th. Please remind students that this testing is important for them and the school. Standardized

* Today we began class with a writing prompt that asked students what three objects they would take with them if they had to leave home and live on their own. Objects varied from extremely practical to sentimental to just plain silly. I shared my three objects as well and we wrapped up the exercise with a very interesting and informative conversation about credit cards, how they work, how credit card companies make money and the importance of not buying things you can't afford or pay for.

* We started reading D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths earlier this week as a group. Today students read independently and took an open book quiz on the myths about Hera, Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Ares.

* HOMEWORK - students who did not finish the open book quiz are to take the quiz and reading home to complete over the weekend.

* HOMEWORK - Reading Responses due Tuesday


Vocabulary

Week 16

1. ambiguous– open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations

2. blithe – very happy or cheerful; casual or indifferent

3. emissary – a representative sent on a mission or errand

4. haphazard – characterized by lack of order or planning, by irregularity, or randomness; determined by or dependent on chance; aimless



5. careen – to sway or cause to sway dangerously over to one side

6. meridian – a point or period of highest development, greatest prosperity or the like

7. atrocious – extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, or brutal



8. cede – to yield or formally surrender to another

9. indigence – seriously impoverished condition, poverty

10. avarice – a desire to hoard wealth, uncontrollable greed

11. boast – to speak with exaggeration and excessive pride, especially about oneself

12. modicum – a moderate or small amount

13. drivel – childish, silly or meaningless talk or thinking

14. embezzle – to take or steal funds for one’s own use, as money or property entrusted to one’s care

15. emir – a chieftain, prince, commander, or head of state in some Islamic countries

16. averse – having a strong feeling of opposition, antipathy, repugnance; opposed

17. carcass – the dead body of an animal

18. fraught – filled with

19. bolster – to support or reinforce, strengthen

20. mordant – sarcastic

21. montage – the technique of combining in a single composition pictorial elements from various sources, as parts of different photographs or fragments of printing, either to give the illusion that the elements belonged together originally or to allow each element to retain its separate identity as a means of adding interest or meaning to the composition.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Monday, February 14, 2011

Vocabulary
Week 16

NOTE: Please make sure to write all the words in your notebook so that you do not lose or forget them. Any words you fail to define in class are homework. I will be checking words tomorrow and there will be a quiz on these words at the end of the week.

ambiguous
cede
emir or amir
blithe
indigence
averse
emissary
avarice
carcass
haphazard
boast
fraught
careen
modicum
bolster
meridian
drivel
mordant
atrocious
embezzle
montage

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wednesday, February 9th, 2010

LANGUAGE ARTS QUICK HITS

* Checked Week 15 Vocabulary - (yesterdays homework) and reviewed definitions with students citing words in real word examples and uses. Students who do not have the words completed receive a zero for the assignment because they are given an entire class period to get this work completed. Week 15 words and definitions are listed below in this email as well as on my blog. QUIZ - Week 15 vocabulary quiz will be this Friday 2/11/2011. I hope to play a review game with students tomorrow - however time will dictate if that is possible, please have students study and review words a little each evening leading up to Friday.

* Passed back Week 14 Vocabulary Quiz - quizzes were passed back and reviewed as a group. I then collected quizzes to be included in student conference portfolios. Grades have been entered in the online grade book for your review.

* Started review of our poetry unit. We discussed as a group the meaning and importance of history as well as the role it plays in our lives and culture. We discussed different types of poetry and techniques. I wrapped up this discussion by reading the sonnet XVIII Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day? by William Shakespeare and If by Rudyard Kipling.

* HOMEWORK - (Due tomorrow 2/10/2011) - Students were given a handout explaining how to write limericks and free verse poetry. We reviewed and read examples of both types of poetry and wrote examples of both as a class. Students were then given half a class to complete today's homework assignment which is to write two limericks and one free verse poem to be read aloud in class tomorrow. I will read students poems IF THEY ARE TYPED, otherwise students must read their own work. Please assist students with rhythm and rhyme schemes of limericks - which rhyme AABBA. Students struggled to understand the difference in rhythm in A lines vs B lines.

* REQUEST - please send students to school tomorrow with old magazines that can be cut up, used and discarded. I am specifically looking for magazines with colorful or interesting font selection. PLEASE SEND ME YOUR OLD MAGAZINES!

* HOMEWORK - READING RESPONSE - Due Monday 2/14/2011 - Parents and guardians please stay on top of your child's Reading Responses. Remember, the purpose of the Reading Response is to monitor and make certain students are reading at home. If students are getting frustrated with Reading Response I am open to other options - but they must discuss ideas/suggestions with me in advance. Simply not doing the work is not an option and will incur a zero grade - these zeros quickly add up and are detrimental to final language arts grades.

* Parent Teacher Conferences - I will be sending an update to parents and guardians I am conferencing with in the near future. The District is allowing teachers to make up conferences through several different venues including - a traditional face to face meeting, email, phone or even SKYPE (yes! we are equipped with Skype)

Vocabulary

Week 15

1. colossal – extraordinarily great in size, extent, or degree, gigantic; huge

2. dolorous – full of, expressing or causing great pain or sorrow; grievous; mournful

3. emblazon – to decorate with brilliant or bright colors

4. inherent – existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, part or quality



5. combustible – capable of catching fire and burning; flammable

6. menial – lowly and sometimes degrading

7. forensic – pertaining to, connected with, or used in courts of law or public discussion and debate; suited for argument



8. implacable – not to be appeased, mollified, or pacified, can’t be calmed down

9. embroil– to bring into discord or conflict; to involve in contention or strife

10. impish – mischievous, trouble making; characteristic of an imp

11. fraud – deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, trying to gain profit or gain by unfair or dishonest advantage or practices

12. languid – sluggish or inactive, spiritless, weary, exhausted

13. emollient – having the power of softening or relaxing, soothing – (esp) to the skin

14. mania – excessive excitement or enthusiasm; craze

15. emote – to show or pretend emotion; to portray emotion in acting

16. fickle – likely to change, not constant or loyal

17. implicate – to show to be involved, usually in an incriminating manner: to be implicated in a crime

18. eminence – high station, rank, or repute; an elevated position

19. ingrate – an ungrateful person

20. insidious – intended to entrap or beguile, stealthily treacherous or deceitful

21. satire – the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like in exposing vice, folly or foolishness; a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision or ridicule

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Vocabulary
Week 15

NOTE: Please make sure to write all the words in your notebook so that you do not lose or forget them. Any words you fail to define in class are homework. I will be checking words tomorrow and there will be a quiz on these words at the end of the week.

colossal
implacable emote
dolorous embroil fickle

emblazon impish
(also, what is an imp???) implicate
inherent fraud eminence
combustible languid ingrate
menial emollient insidious
forensic mania satire

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

February 1, 2011

Vocabulary
Week 14
1. arsenal – a place for making and storing weapons (arms) and military equipment
2. asinine – extremely or utterly foolish
3. grievous – causing grief or great sorrow, serious
4. braise – to cook (meat) slowly in fat and with little moisture in a close pot
5. cache – a hiding place (esp.) for persevering provisions, a reserve, stash or stockpile
6. candor – unreserved, honest or sincere expression
7. carnage – great destruction of life, a slaughter or massacre
8. defame – to injure or destroy the reputation of by libel or slander
9. libel – a spoken or written statement or representation that gives an unjustly unfavorable impression of a person or thing
10. levity – a lack of seriousness
11. gander – the act of looking, a glance
12. impetus – a driving force, impulse, incentive
13. implore – to plead, beg or beseech
14. malleable – capable of being shaped with pressure
15. mangy – decayed, deteriorated or fallen into partial ruin because of neglect or misuse
16. maraud – to roam about and raid in search of plunder, to pillage
17. plunder– something taken by force or theft
18. congeal – to change from a soft or fluid state to a rigid or solid state, as by cooling or freezing:
19. tawny – of a dark yellowish or dull yellowish-brown color
20. vestibule – a passage or hall between the outer door and the interior parts of a house or building.
21. soliloquy – an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself or is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts): Hamlet's soliloquy begins with “To be or not to be.”