I don't know how many of you are fans of the Harry Potter movies, but if you are or even better if you are a fan of Charles Dickens-OK I do know none of you are but a teacher can hope right? Anyway, if you like the actor Daniel Radcliffe might like to check him out when he was just a little kid. His first acting role was in the BBC's David Copperfield, he was nine at the time. PBS's Masterpiece Theater is re-airing it as part of their Masterpiece Classic collection starting in March. I remember watching this production from when it aired the first time and it is excelent. You can watch it on TV on Sunday evenings or you can watch it on your comptuer too. Check out the web site, there is even an interview with Daniel about how he landed the part, and be sure to watch it come March. If you give it a try I know you will enjoy it ; )
First I want to thank you for the cooperative and productive way your groups worked during class this morning. I really appreciate it! Second here are the Cold War vocabulary words. I don't know how to attach them to the page as a Word document (if any of you know please tell me) so I am putting them in the text of this post. Just copy and paste them into Word if you want to print it out at home. Good luck on getting them done, and to those of you who did not bring in your note cards REMEMBER them tomorrow!
Cold War-Event satellite nations-Place containment-Issues/Idea Truman Doctrine-Idea/Issue Marshall Plan-Idea/Issue Berlin Airlift-Event Berlin Wall-Place North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Idea/Issue Warsaw Pact-Idea/Issue United Nations-Idea/Issue 38th parallel-Place, Idea/Issue demilitarized zone-Place perjury-Idea/Issue censure-Idea/Issue Harry S. Truman-Person Joseph Stalin-Person Douglas MacArthur-Person Dwight Eisenhower-Person Joseph McCarthy-Person Communist sympathizer-Idea/Issue Iron Curtain-Idea/Issue, Place North Korea-Place South Korea-Place East Germany-Place West Germany-Place Armistice-Event Korean War-Event Communism-Idea/Issue
As most of you know I went to the Renaissance Festival last Wednesday with TVHS. We all had a great time, if you get a chance to go with your family or friends you should. Be prepared for people in costumes, ducks in costumes (I kid you not!), jousting, funny shows, birds of pray, fun stuff to buy and this my favorite part the bungeetrampolinethingie. It costs $6 to go on, but it is worth it. It was the most fun I have had in ages, even though I did break one of the bungee cords! It is set up to look like you are jumping up among the masts of ships and any of you that really know me will know that was a big selling point for me! What you probably don't know is that I just adore big trampolines. The best part was at the top of the jump I felt so free and weightless, and for just a moment each time it seemed I would stay suspended there above the crowd. As you can see from the video I tried to do a flip but then the bungee broke, I think I could have done it if I had more time to practice. Enjoy the clip. Arg, ahoy and shiver me timbers!
We spend a lot of time talking about words in school, and not just in Language Arts class, we study vocabulary words in Science, in Social Studies, in Spanish, even in Math. Congruent anyone? We understand the world around us through words and use them to express ourselves to others. But how many of you like words? How far would go to save a word from being kicked out of a dictionary?
Believe it or not dictionaries take out words each year. Don't ask me how they do this, maybe there are word detectives running around counting every time they hear someone say a word, but people at dictionaries figure out what words people are no longer using and replace them with new words that have just come into being. Now I like words and my sister REALLY likes words, she reads books all about words and where they came from (and you thought I was a nerd) and I think it is great how fluid language is. Language and words are not just something we learn in school, but is something we create by how we use it. Back when I was in elementary school you could search all day and never find the word Internet in the dictionary. It had not been invented yet. Now words like frenemy and bling are being added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). For those of you who don't know the OED is the bible of words, it is no dictionary.com.
Now, back to those old words no one is using any more. Some people are upset about these words being taken out of the dictionary. They feel that they add variety and color to the way we talk. Some of them have created this web site Save The Word to bring back some of these words into our every day vocabulary. I am sure few of you will believe me but this site is fun! Check it out, come on it just takes a second to click on the link ; ) and you will see. One of the things you can do on the site is to adopt the word and try to get other people using it again. As we established earlier today the end of the quarter is coming up soon and the bowling party is going to cost 50 Bobcat Bucks. I know a lot of you would like opportunities to earn more Bobcat Bucks so every time I hear one of you use one of these lost words in everyday speech I will give you a one.
So go ahead adopt a word and give it a good home in your vocabulary. Who knows, you might just pick what will become the new hit word.
PS
I know some of you were having a hard time find the WordSmyth site. Click on the link it will take you there, remember you need to register but it is free and much better the other dictionaries.
I came across this interesting video last week. It outline how the president, or really let's be realistic, the White House staff used to grow their most of their own food. I think some of you know that I love to garden and I thought this was really cool. Those of you who did not watch "Saving Private Ryan" took part in our conversation about victory garden's in WW II. For those of you who were watching the movie, people grew as many much of their own food as possible. These home gardens were called victory garden's because people thought they would help the Allies win the war. There is a new movement now for people to start growing victory garden's again, this time to help make the US more independent from other countries. Transporting food over long distances uses lots of gas, the more we can cut down on using gas the less we will need to import from other countries. Plus, have any of you ever had something fresh out of the garden? Things just taste so much better. So watch the video and then vote in the poll and let us know if you think President Obama should start his own victory garden.
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