Verbs of Cognition

A Fun Day in New York City

This past weekend, I went to Manhattan. My friend and I drove into the city, instead of taking the train. We took a bridge that cost no money to cross, called the 59th Street bridge. It was scary because we drove on the outside of the bridge, instead of through it. It was exciting though. Once we were in the city, we drove through Times Square. It was scary because there were so many people walking around sightseeing.  We went to a very fancy restaurant for brunch where they had people come around and dance while you ate. It was amazing! After brunch, we walked around Chelsea Piers. It was a gorgeous day outside to walk down by the water. We met some military men who told us all about the boat we were looking at. We then went shopping at some very small boutiques and then drove home. It was a very fun day!

Vocabulary :
Manhattan: The island that New York City is located on
Bridge: a road which connects 2 pieces of land over water
Times Square: A place in New York City with a lot of people and Broadway shows
Sightseeing: Looking at different places
Brunch: A combination of breakfast and lunch
Military: People who are in the army
Boutiques: Small shops

Vocabulary game: Fill in the blank

People who serve our country are in the ___________________.
In _______________ I can go shopping and see my favorite tv characters.
When I go ________________, I take pictures of all of the things I have never seen before.
_______________ is a meal where I can have eggs or a sandwich.
I think that _____________ have better clothing than big shops.
________________ is another name for New York City.
To get off of Long Island, I need to cross two _______________.

Grammar Point
Question Marks

A question mark is used at the end of a sentence to show the asking of a question.
Some words that give us clues to when a question mark should be used are WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW.

Example: When are we going to the movies? 
                 How are you doing?

Place the correct punctuation in the sentence. 

How do you get to the supermarket

All of the Disney movies are my favorite

Where do you think the cat is hiding

Who is the story about

The room is painted yellow

What do you like to do on the weekends

First Day of Spring!

March 20th marks the first day of spring! Finally, warm weather, blue skies and blooming flowers! Another name for the first day of spring, is the vernal equinox. It is a time where the sun reaches all parts of the earth, equally. The days start getting longer and warmer. During spring, all the birds migrate back north, from the warm weather down south and the bears wake up from their hibernation. The bees begin to pollinate the flowers and the sun shines brighter and brighter each day. The equator begins to tilt the northern hemisphere towards the sun for warmer weather and summer's approach.

Vocabulary:
blooming: to flower
vernal equinox:  the beginning of spring
migrate:  to move
hibernation:  to spend the winter inside
pollinate: to spread pollen, a flower's fertilizer, from flower to flower
equator: an imaginary line going across the middle of the earth.
hemisphere:  half of a sphere

Draw a line from the word to its definition.

1. Blooming                                                         a. To spend winter inside
2. vernal equinox                                                 b. half of a sphere
3. migrate                                                             c. to move
4. hibernation                                                       d. an imaginary line going across the middle of earth
5. pollinate                                                           e. the beginning of spring
6. equator                                                             f. to flower
7. hemisphere                                                       g. to spread pollen from flower to flower


Grammar Point
Simple Past Tense: the past tense of a word is putting the word in the form where it already happened.
Most of the time, with simple past tense, -ED is added to the end of the word. This shows that it has already happened.

jump-------jumped                                  climb-------climbed
walk-------walked                                   wish--------wished

Lets Practice!
Add -ED to the underlined words to make them happen in the past. Rewrite the word with the -ED ending on the line.

I walk to the store
   _________________

I play in the sand at the beach.
   ___________________

I jump  on my trampoline.
   ________________

Florida Georgia Line Concert

On Wednesday, February 25, 2015, I went to go see one of my favorite country music artisits in concert. Their band name is Florida Georgia Line. They have a lot of famous songs such as "Cruise" and "That's How We Do It Round Here". The band has 2 band members named Tyler and Brian. They both play guitar and sing. The concert was at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it was so exiting. I took a train to go to and come home from New York City Everyone in the audience was singing as loud as they could. A group of people even started line dancing in the aisles. It was one of the most exciting concerts that I have ever been to! Hopefully the come back to New York soon so I can see them again!

Vocabulary:

Concert: A live music show in front of an audience
Famous: well known
Guitar: a musical instrument with 5 strings
Train: a fast way of transportation on a track
Audience: a group of people who watch a performace.
Line Dancing: a style of dancing where people stand in a line and do the same dance moves.

Vocabulary Game:
               Find the words in the wordsearch, using the definitions provided .

Guitar                  
                                  Train
Famous
                                  Audience
Concert
                                  Line Dancing


Grammar Point
Present Tense: The present tense of a word is when the action is happening now. To show that an action is happening right now, -ing is added to the word.

walk---walking
talk----talking
cry-----crying

Add -ing to these verbs to make them happen right now.

1. I am __________(walk) to the store.
2. My mom is _____________(make) spaghetti for dinner.
3. Ralph goes _____________(swim) in the lake.
4. The student is ______________(do) their homework.

Black History Month

All February long, we have been celebrating the famous African Americans who have made a change in our history. February is known as Black History Month. It is 28 days where we acknowledge all of the African American people who have changed the world to make it a better place. There are parades, speeches, and televison specials which shows people the struggles that African Americans went through. Black History month started in 1915 after slavery was abolished. Back then, it was known as Negro week. It offically became Black History Month in 1976 when Gerald Ford, President of the United States, said that people should "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout history."

                                     


            Some famous African Americans are: 
                      - Martin Luther King Jr.                 -Sojourner Truth
                      - Rosa Parks                                   - Fredrick Douglas
                      - Harriet Tubman                           - Louis Armstrong
                      -Jackie Robinson                           - Barak Obama
                  
Vocabulary 

Change: to make something different

Acknowledge: to know something is there   

struggle: to have a hard time with

abolished: to get rid of

accomplishments: to do something you wanted to do

Seize:  To take 

Fill in the Blank 

1. Please ______________ the text message I sent to you.

2. Maria _______________ with her math homework.

3. Abraham Lincoln __________________slavery during his presidency. 

4. The British ________________ land from the Native Americans. 
5. When I get math questions wrong, I _______________ the answers. 
6. Graduating with honors is one of my greatest _____________________.

Grammar Point:

Comma: a punctuation mark which shows a pause between parts of a sentence. It is also used to separate items in a list and to break up thousands places in numbers. 

              ex: Remember to feed your rabbit, fish, and hamster. 

Comma Practice!
Place the comma in the correct location in the sentence. 

1. Remember when you go to the supermarket to pick up eggs milk bread and cereal. 
2. Sometimes I go to dance after school
3. After school please make sure you do your homework, walk the dog and take out the trash. 
4. Briana Kris Dana and Bridgette are going to the pumpkin festival this weekend. 

Valentine's Day

Its that time of year again, where love is in the air! You guessed it, it's Valentines Day! Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th where people express their love for each other by giving flowers and chocolate!

Valentines Day dates back to the 5th Centruy, named after Saint Valentine, a Christian martyr. It is said that the first Valentines Day card was sent sometime in the 17th century. According to the Greeting Card Association, 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are sent each year.

The tradition is, that loved ones use this day to let the special people in their lives know how much they mean. It is a glorious holiday where people foreget about all of the negative in their life and focus on the people who love them!

Who are you send a Valentine's Day card to?

Vocabulary

Valentine's Day: A holiday to celebrate love
Express: to share
Century: a period of 100 years
Martyr: someone who dies standing up for what they believe in
Card: a piece of paper given to someone to show how much you care
Glorious: worthy of being admired

1. On February 14th, people celebrate _______________________.
2. People like to _________________ how they feel on Valentine's Day.
3. 2015 is in the 21st ______________.
4. St. Valentine was a _______________.
5. People write _______________ to show how much they care on Valentine's Day.
6. Valentine's Day is the most ___________________ day of the year.

GRAMMAR FACT

Adjectives: Adjectives are used to describe nouns. There are a lot of adjectives that can be used to make your writing more exciting!
       -Instead of saying "said", a good writer might use
                        Exclaimed              Yelled             Stated             Mentioned        Uttered
                        Shouted                  Argued           Boasted          Asked                Stated
Rewrite these Valentine's Day sentences to make them more appealing.

      1.  On the table, was a box of chocolates.
      2. The man bought his wife flowers.
      3. Baby Cupid shot his arrows.
      4. The chocolates were good.

About Me

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

Let me tell you a little bit about me :)! I graduated with a bachelors degree in science from SUNY Cortland. It was very cold in Cortland. It snowed a lot while I was there. It is located in Upstate New York, just south of Binghamton.

 I am a huge New York Ranger fan and New York Jets fan. Although they are currently losing teams, I have to love my teams, I even have a dog named after Madison Square Garden!

Some more things about me, my favorite movies are Step Brothers and Fight Club. I am also an advocate of Netflix and love watching documentaries on different topics. My favorite television show is How I Met Your Mother.

I am currently a substitute teacher and absolutely love what I do! I hope one day to have my own classroom. I can not wait to get to know you more and am looking forward to a wonderful semester filled with excitement and learning!

Dana Goldstein

Vocabulary

BachelorsDegree :  a certificate earned for finishing college 
Snowed: frozen water which piles up
South: a direction opposite of north
Favorite: when something is your top choice
Documentary: a spoken, non fiction movie about a certain topic that gives information
Substitute : a teacher who fills in for the regular classroom teacher

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/code/BuildCrissCross.asp

Nouns: nouns are a person, place, thing or idea. 

      Some examples of nouns are: house, car, grandma, uncle, library, school 

Choose the correct nouns that completes each sentence. 

1. ______________( grandma, boat) makes the best cookies. 

2. Yesterday, my mom took us in the __________(car, library) to go see a movie. 

3. When I go to the _________________(park, basement) I play on the swings. 

Here is a link to help you to learn more about nouns!

NOUNS! NOUNS! NOUNS!

Here is a picture of my happy pup Madison Square Goldstein