One More Day

Happy Leap Year! The 29th of February comes only once every four years, and 2012 is one of those years. A fun fact that I have learned is that it takes the earth 365.24219 days to revolve around the sun, and that is why we have an extra day every four years! Another interesting piece of information is that on leap days a woman may ask a man to marry her. In 2010, movie called “Leap Year” came out and was based on this tradition set in Ireland. It was a romantic comedy, with the Academy Award nominated actress Amy Adams as the lead actress.

There are 366 days in a leap year. How can you remember which months have thirty days and not thirty-one? There is a rhyme to help you remember: “Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty-one, except February which has twenty-eight, in fine till leap year makes it twenty-nine.”

I think that using rhymes to help retain information is a useful tool to use. Another way to remember the number of days in a month is something I learned while studying French in college. We learned the months of the year by using our knuckles; either a knuckle or the space in between them represented each month.

Vocabulary Words

Leap Year- a year with 366 days
Revolve- to move in a circle or to come around again
Romantic comedy- a movie that has both romantic and comedic elements
Academy Award- an award in the American film industry for excellent performances
Rhyme- words that end in the same sounds
Knuckle- the joints of the finger (rounded parts when the finger is bent)

Vocabulary Activity- Answer the following questions using your new vocabulary words. If necessary, re-read the blog to help you find your answers.

1. How many days are in a Leap Year?
2. What revolves around the sun?
3. What is one romantic comedy?
4. Who has been nominated for an Academy Award?
5. Do the words fun and sun rhyme?
6. Where are your knuckles?

Grammar Point- Rhymes exist between words that sound the same, but do not start with same letter.

Grammar Activities-

Part 1- Identify the words that rhyme in the “Leap Year Rhyme.”

Part 2- Which of the following words rhyme? Don’t forget to say the word out loud to be sure a rhyme exists.
Year Day Knuckle Rhyme
Buckle Time Play Clear

Part 3- Create your own rhyme of four lines. Themes that you can write about include: holidays, colors, sports, and animals.

Love is in the Air

Saint Valentine’s Day is on February 14th; it is a holiday that celebrates love and romance. On this day, lovers around the world profess their love for one another. Stores sell candy, chocolates, stuffed animals and heart-shaped gifts. Florists sell out of roses, a common symbol of this holiday.

The week of Valentine’s Day, I reviewed Spanish vocabulary with my students covering the theme of love. Phrases that were on the list included: my love, my darling, and I love you with all of my heart. When the students came into the room I had the following poem written on the board:
Roses are red
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet
And so are you.

The students recognized this poem from when they were in elementary school. They remember this poem because it is short, simple and has a rhythm to follow. After reading the poem in English, we translated it into Spanish. Then the students were challenged to create their own short poems in Spanish. The activity was fun because they were able to use their new vocabulary lists and write cheesy, romantic poems or funny ones, it was their decision. In my opinion, holidays provide teachers with plenty of different opportunities to create learning experiences.

Vocabulary Words

Saint Valentine’s Day- a holiday celebrated on the fourteenth of February
Profess- declare, announce
Gifts- presents, items given without payment
Florists- people who sell flowers
Symbol- letters or images that represent meanings
Rhythm- a pattern of beats
Cheesy- overly sweet or emotional

Vocabulary Activity-
Part 1. Write the vocabulary word under the category of which it belongs. The categories include: Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives.
Part 2. Write your own sentences using the vocabulary words. You can use one word in a sentence or more than one if you are able.

Grammar Point-
Identify all of the descriptive words (adjectives) in this blog entry. Don’t forget in English adjectives typically come before nouns (people, places, things).

Grammar Activity-

Write your own short Valentine’s Day Poem using a simple rhythm. You can use the website below to give you some ideas. http://www.brownielocks.com/valentinepoems.html

A Birthday Brunch

A birthday is a wonderful reason to celebrate life. Last Friday was my Mother’s birthday, and we celebrated everyday of the weekend. I bought my mother a bouquet of flowers and pumpernickel bread, which is her favorite. We cooked a feast together that night; it included baked clams, mussels in a garlic sauce, and angel hair pasta. I also baked a red velvet cake and iced it with cream cheese icing. The red dye of the cake turned my hands a blood red color. On Saturday, we spent the day lounging around and watching our favorite televisions shows together. It was quality “mother-daughter bonding time.”

On Sunday we went to Rothman’s Steakhouse and had a fabulous and extravagant brunch. We drank and ate until we were stuffed. They served a variety of foods including: sushi, omelets, whole lobsters, shrimp, prime rib and a ton of desserts. We spent several hours together as a family, laughing and eating. It was a great day, and we didn’t even need to eat dinner later that night!

Vocabulary Words

Birthday- the day a person was born
Bouquet- a bunch, group of flowers
Feast- a big meal
Dye- a coloring tool that can be used to change the color of something
Lounging around- relaxing
Mother-daughter bonding time – time spent between a mother and daughter talking, and building their relationship
Extravagant- more than needed
Brunch- a meal of the day that serves both breakfast and lunch

Vocabulary Activity- Identify the scrambled vocabulary word that best completes the sentence.

1.On the weekends, I love to eat _____________ because I wake up later than normal. (hnurbc)
2.Every year I celebrate my _____________ on November 28th. (ydabthri)
3.He prepared the biggest dinner that I ever saw, it was a _________________.(tseaf)
4.The blue ______________ of my pants made my ankles blue. (edy)
5.Her husband will buy her a __________ of roses because they are her favorite flowers. (bteouuq)
6.I am doing nothing today but ____________________ the house. (gginnoul arndou)
7.There was too much, it was very ____________________. (ettxraaagvn)
8.That mother and her daughter were spending quality _______________ together. (ndonbig meit)


Grammar Point
The majority of the verbs in the story are in the past tense. Find them in the passage. Write them and then write the present tense form of each.

Grammar Activity

Write about the best birthday celebration that you ever had, be sure to remember the past tense.

Super Bowl Sunday: Commercials or "The Big Game"

On Super Bowl Sunday one can find many Americans huddled around their big screen televisions, mimicking the huddles that can been seen on the football field. Typically, I don't find the game of football to be interesting nor do I fully understand the rules. I find enjoyment in watching the television commercials and the half-time show. The commercials that take place during the four quarters of the Super Bowl are extremely expensive, costing over one million dollars.

This year in particular I was disappointed by many of the commercials, I found them to be lackluster. However, one of my favorite commercials of the night was for Doritos. In the commercial titled "Man's Best Friend," a man is gardening and comes across a collar for a cat named Fluffy in the dirt. A Great Dane then pushing a bag of Doritos in front of the man with a note stating "YOU DIDNT SEE NUTHIN." Next, the man finishes his bag and is asked by his wife, "Honey, have you seen our cat?" He answers "Nope" when he sees the dog with another bag of Doritos for him. I thought it was a hilarious commercial of "man's best friend" bribing his owner.

Vocabulary

Super Bowl- yearly football match between the best teams in the USA
Huddled- closely together, usually in a circle
Mimicking- copying, looking similar
Football- a popular American sport
Commercials- advertisements in between breaks from television programs
Half-time show- the performance during the break between the two halves of the game
Four quarters- the time of a football game is divided into four parts
Lackluster- not special, dull
Doritos- a chip company
Great Dane- a large and powerful dog

Vocabulary Exercise
Please put the correct word in the space provided.

Arthur loves to watch the ____________ every year with his family and dog, a __________. His family is always _____________ around the television, _____________ the players on the field. _________ is his favorite sport. When the teams are not playing, there are ___________________ and a __________________ is performed after two quarters. There are a total of ________________ in a football game. Hopefully the game is not ____________ or the only good thing will be eating _____________.

Grammar Point-

There are many nouns written in the story. Proper nouns are words, which begin with capital letters and are not at the beginning of the sentence. Proper nouns are often the names of people, places, or institutions. Find as many “proper nouns” in the story as possible and circle them.

Grammar Activity-

Write about viewing a popular sporting even from your country. Include as many “proper nouns” as possible.