Stop! And Enjoy Life

       The past couple of weeks for me have been extremely busy. Between my job and my school work, I hardly have anytime to do things that I enjoy. This weekend and next will be comprised of lesson planning and paper writing. The one draw back of being a teacher is having to do work at home and now that the semester is coming to an end I have lots of assignments to complete. Christmas is right around the corner and I still haven't had the time to decorate my house. I think my house may be the only one on the black that hasn't put up their lights yet. In the midst of all my work, I seem to have forgotten how to enjoy the holidays. Instead, decorating the house, buying Christmas gifts, and sending Christmas cards are just more items to add to my To Do List.
       Life sometimes gets so hectic that we aren't able to enjoy the little things. I would love to go into the city and see the Christmas tree and the windows at Macy's, but I just don't think I'm going to have time. I would prefer to lay on my couch and watch Christmas movies all day instead of writing lesson plans and papers. I think about how busy people are and how it is a shame that things we should enjoy like Christmas shopping and decorating becomes a chore. I can honestly say that I will be the happiest person when this semester is over and I am on my winter vacation. I can't wait to spend time with my friends and family and not have to worry about work.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Comprised

2. Semester

3. Assignments

4. Midst

5. Hectic

6. Prefer

7. Shame

8. Chore

 

Definitions:

1. Comprised: to include or contain

2. Semester: half of a regular academic year

3. Assignments: a task, work to do for school

4. Midst: to be in the middle of

5. Hectic: busy

6. Prefer: to like one thing over another

7. Shame: to be disgraced or embarrassed

8. Chore: a job, or task

 

 

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise:

1. The retirement party ____________________ of co-workers, family, and friends.
2. I am almost finished with the fall ___________________.
3. Our ____________________ are due on December 19th.
4. I found my lucky sock in the __________________ of all my clothes.
5. The holidays are usually a _________________ time for people.
6. I _________________ chocolate ice cream over vanilla.
7. It is a _______________ you can't come to the party.
8. My one ___________________ at home is to wash the dishes.

Grammar Point: Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that connects other words or groups of words. In the sentence Bob and Dan are friends the conjunction and connects two nouns and in the sentence He will drive or fly, the conjunction or connects two verbs. In the sentence It is early but we can go, the conjunction but connects two groups of words. Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions which connect two equal parts of a sentence. Coordinating conjunctions are: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. A mnemonic device to remember the coordinating conjunctions is FANBOYS. Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence that are not equal. Subordinating conjunctions are: After, Although, As, When, While, Until, Because, Before, If, Since. A mnemonic device to remember the subordinating conjunctions is AAAWWUBBIS.

Click here for a song about conjunctions

 

Grammar Activity

Click on the following link for a worksheet to practice conjunctions.

Conjunction Worksheet

Directions: Combine each pair of sentences with the conjunction in parenthesis to make a new sentence.

Baby Shower

       Today was my friend's baby shower. She lives in North Carolina now so I haven't seen her since she became pregnant. She looked magnificent! I had such a great time with my friends. The shower was so well planned. At each place setting was a cookie that said, "It's a boy" and a day planner. Then, there was a BINGO game to fill in with gifts we thought she was going to receive, an unscramble the words paper, a paper where we had to guess flavors of baby food, and a paper with baby pictures of the mother and father-to-be and we had to guess how old they were in the pictures. I was terrible at the game where we had to guess the ages of the baby pictures. I thought they were much older than they really were. I also did not do well guessing the flavors of baby food. However, I did do well unscrambling the words. Some of the words were difficult such as Braxton Hicks and midnight feedings. She received a plethora of gifts. I don’t know how she is going to transport all of her gifts back to her home in North Carolina. In the invitation was a poem that suggested guests do not bring a card, but instead bring a book and write a note to the baby and parents-to-be in the book. I thought this was a marvelous idea.

Vocabulary Words:

1. Pregnant

2. Magnificent

3. Place setting

4. Braxton Hicks

5. Plethora

6. Transport

7. Marvelous

Definitions:

1. Pregnant: When a woman has a baby developing in her body

2. Magnificent: beautiful or wonderful

3. Place setting: a plate, silverware, and a glass on a table for a meal

4. Braxton Hicks: contractions, or false labor contractions

5. Plethora: many

6. Transport: to move from one place to another

7. Marvelous: great, wonderful

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise:
1. My friend is __________________ and is expecting a baby boy.
2. The view from the Empire State Building was _____________________.
3. I put a ____________ ____________ where each person will sit at the table.
4. My friend thought she was going into labor, but it was just ________________ _______________.
5. The store had a __________________ of books to choose from.
6. I used a truck to _________________ my belongings from New York to my new home in Florida.
7. The Queen of England looked _____________________ in her gown.
 

Grammar Point: Articles

An article is a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun. There are only two articles a and the, but they are used very often and are important for using English accurately. The word a (which becomes an when the next word begins with a vowel) is called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The word the is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. Whenever you see an article, you will find a noun with it. 

Grammar Activity

1. Which is not correct?
a. the monkey
b. a apple
c. a clock
d. the ball

2. Which is not correct?
a. an elephant
b. a bat
c. the dog
d. a cats

3. Which is not correct?
a. the tie
b. an hat
c. a shirt
d. the pajamas

4. Which is not correct?
a. I see a cat.
b. I see the cat.
c. I see her cat.
d. I see cat.

Click here for a worksheet on articles