Huge Vocabulary Test on Friday! Are you ready?

1) Flashback-A scene that breaks the normal time order of the plot to show a past event.
2) Folk Tale-A story with no known author, originally passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth.
3) Foreshadowing-The use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot.
4) Free Verse-Poetry that is "free" of a regular meter and rhyme scheme.
5) Imagery-Language that appeals to the senses--sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
6) Irony-A contrast between what is expected and what really happens.
7) Legend-A story, usually based on some historical fact, that has been handed down from one generation to the next.
8) Limerick-A humorous five-line verse that has a regular meter and the rhyme scheme (aabba).
9) Main Idea-The most important idea expressed in a piece of writing.
10) Metaphor-A comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another thing.
11) Mood-The overall emotion created by a work of literature.
12) Myth-A story that usually explains something about the world and involves gods/superheroes.
13) Narration-The kind of writing that relates a series of connected events to tell "what happened."
14) Nonfiction-Prose writing that deals with real people, events, and places without changing any facts.
15) Novel-A long, fictional story that is usually more than one hundred pages in length.
16) Onomatopoeia- The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.
17) Oral Tradition- A collection of folk tales, songs, and poems that have been passed on orally from generation to generation.
18) Paraphrase-A restatement of a written work in which the meaning is expressed in other words.
19) Personification-A special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman or nonliving thing or quality
is talked about as if it were human or alive.
20) Plot-The series of related events that make up a story.
21) Poetry-A kind of rhythmic, compressed language that uses figures or speech and imagery to appeal to emotion and imagination.
22) Point-of-View-The vantage point from which the story is told.
23) Prose-Any writing that is not poetry.
24) Refrain- A repeated word, phrase, line or group of lines in a poem or song or even in a speech.
*Continued on the next post!!!

Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog

Somtimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds you around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People dwho have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it. And in return, love loves you and never stops.

By: Taylor Mali

"Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog" An Epithalamion

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you 're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash of love
ain't no one going to mess with you.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love. To be continued......

Busy! Busy! Busy! That is what we are.....

New Vocabulary: *Received February 24, 2011
abandon (v) - to leave or give p completely; to discontinue
abdicate (v) - give up power, authority or the throne
abduct (v) - to take away by force, kidnap
abnormal (adj) - not typical, average or normal
aboriginal (n) - the original inhabitants of a country
absolute (adj) - without restraint, not dependent on anything
absolve (v) - to free from blame, debt or responsibility
abstain (v) - to voluntarily refrain from
abstract (adj) - not concrete or related to specific things; no easy to understand
apogee (n) - the point in the moon's or a satellite's orbit when it farthest from the earth or the body it orbits

New Vocabulary!!!!

Prefixes to Learn: co, col---with, together cooperate, collect
com, con----with, together combine, connect
syn, sym---with, together synonym, sympathy

1) coexist (v) to exist at the same time or in the same place
2) coherent (adj) sticking together; connected, related in some way
3) collaborate (v) to labor together
4) collide (v) to come together with great force; to clash
5) composite (adj) made of separate parts or elements
6) compund (v) bring together; (n) a mixture
7) concordance (n) an agreement or harmony
8) congregate (v) to gather together
9) symmetry (n) elements on both sides of a line that have the same shape, size and arrangement
10) synthesize (v) to form a new thing by combining parts from other things; to unite or merge

Upcoming Field Trip

Yippee! The sixth grade has an upcoming field trip to Louisville, Kentucky. We are going to see Tuck Everlasting at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The students are currently reading or have read this book. We will be using this performance to compare and contrast the book/novel and the 'live' performance. We were fortunate to participating in the 'Play It Forward' program which students to make donations toward ticket prices to lower the cost for each individual.

On-Demand Writing is ongoing! Students are reading and responding to these prompts. They are working to write the best introductions, body paragraphs complete with details and closings that will inspire their peers and community to reach out to each other.

Good luck to the Cougars! The sixth grade teams are playing hard! Go Cougars!

Rules, Freak the Mighty, Lawn Boy, The Outsiders and Across Five Aprils

Skills- Currently this class is reading Rules by Cynthia Lord. The plan is to finish this book by January 12...we have had some interruptions from the weather unfortunately. This book is priceless because it deals with sibling rivalry, puberty and learning to accept who we are as individuals.

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen is a book that deals with economics and the changes that can happen in a twelve year-old's life when he is presented with a riding lawn mower. Unexpected opportunities fall into this young man's lap...he becomes an entrepreneur overnight. He learns how to become a capitalist who must diversify labor and distribute wealth.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton proves to be a timeless book with lessons to be learned concerning relationships, social class and the importance of connections within our families/communities.

Freak the Mighty pairs two uncommon young men who depend on each other for survival.