Beautiful Weather!

         

          The past couple of days have been such a tease!  The weather has been getting warmer, which means summer will eventually be here!  Of course, spring comes first, but I anticipate the summertime all year long.
          Summer is my favorite season.  I love going to the beach.  I also enjoy lounging outside in the pool in my backyard.  My son loves the pool, so we usually spend most of our time there.  I love to spend the summer outdoors because of the beautiful weather.  I feel that there are many more things to do when there's nice weather.  You can ride a bike, play sports, take a walk, go to a park, or just relax.  There are so many fun things associated with summer, and the best of all is ice cream!  What is your favorite season?


Vocabulary:

 

Summer

Pool

1. Tease (transitive verb): To bring a little of something that you may want, but not enough to satisfy.  (For example, to tease with a small piece of chocolate, and want more)
2. Summer (noun): One of the four seasons; the season where it is usually very hot (over 80 degrees) and sunny. Summer is during the months of June, July, and August.

Spring

3. Spring (noun): Another one of the four seasons; the season where it is usually rainy and warm (around 60-75 degrees).  Spring is during the months of March, April, and May.
4. Anticipate (verb): to wait for something that is expected.

Beach

5. Beach (noun): a place that many people visit during the summer; it is outside where there is sand and the ocean.

An example of someone lounging

Boy riding a bike

6. Lounge (verb): to sit comfortably, recline.
7. Pool (noun): a small area of water, that is inside something that holds the water.  It is usually in someone's backyard.
8. Bike (noun): a machine that has two wheels and is moved by a person's feet.  People usually ride bikes for fun, or for exercise.
9. Sports (plural noun): activities played for fun, that involve physical and skill qualities.  Examples: Basketball, hockey, football, lacrosse, gymnastics, golf, ice skating, etc.
10. Associated (verb): Connected with something else in a way.

Sports

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise (Correct/Incorrect): Choose if the underlined word in the sentence is correct or incorrect.  If the sentence is correct, write correct in the blank.  If the sentence is incorrect, write the correct word in the blank.

1. __________ I went to the sports and played in the sand.

2. __________ The boy rode his bike down the block.

3. __________ I like to play associated like gymnastics and bowling.

4. __________ The months of summer are March, April, and May.

5. __________ During the summer, it is very hot.

6. __________ I am anticipating the day I graduate from school.

7. __________ When I tease outside on the porch, I read a book and relax.

8. __________ She always tries to associate the girl who sits next to her, and it isn't nice.

9. __________ Apples are associated with bananas because they are both fruit.

10. _________ I can swim in the tease during the summer, because it is in my backyard.



Grammar Point (Adjectives):

Adjectives are describing words that modify nouns.  They tell the noun what color, what size, what kind, and how many.  Adjectives give a clearer picture of what is being described.  For example, if I told you that I saw a monster, you would not know what it looked like.  But if I told you the monster was big, lumpy, scary, green, and had three eyes, you would get a much clearer picture in your head.

Color: Green monster - green is the adjective describing the color of the monster, which is the noun.
Size: Big monster - big is the adjective describing the size of the monster, which is the noun.
What kind: Scary monster - scary is the adjective describing the kind of monster, which is the noun.
How many: three eyes - the monster has three eyes, which is how many eyes the monster has.  It is still describing the monster, which is the noun.

For more information about adjectives, click here.
For practice with adjectives, click here.

 

Grammar Cloze Exercise:

  Choose your favorite season.  Write about what happens and what you like to do during that season.  Make sure to include at least 5 descriptive adjectives within your writing, when describing the season.

 

Fun Zone

         

          Last weekend, my boyfriend and I brought our son to Fun Zone in Farmingdale.  Fun Zone is an indoor place, combined with arcade games, a few rides, food, bowling, mini golf, a bouncy castle, and more.  My son has been asking to go, because my stepfather took him there a while ago, and he wanted to go there again.  He was especially excited about the bouncy castle. 
          When we got there, I noticed that most of the rides weren't even in service.  They looked as though they were completely understaffed.  My son asked about the bouncy castle, and it took a while to even find someone to help us get to it.  Most of the employees were hanging around the redemption center (where you cash in your tickets for prizes).  It looked very unprofessional.  But anyway, he was able to play, and he had the whole castle to himself.  He had a blast!  The best part was it was only five dollars for a whole hour!
          Everything else was pretty horrible, considering most games didn't work.  I used to manage an arcade, so it was very difficult for me to see how unorganized, unprofessional, and run-down this place was.  Although the place was not that great, my son was happy.  And that is all that matters! 


Vocabulary:

1. Arcade Game (noun): a coin-operated machine that is used for entertainment. (Newer arcade games can be operated with cards).

Arcade Game

2. Ride (noun): a machine that people can go in, that moves around in some way.  It is usually operated by an employee, and it is for fun.

Example of a ride - Roller Coaster

3. Bowling (noun): a sport, where the player tries to knock down ten pins with a heavy ball (bowling ball).

Bowling

Mini Golf

4. Mini golf (noun): a sport, where the player tries to get the ball (golf ball) into a hole with the use of a golf club.
5. Bouncy Castle (noun): a big, air-filled structure, in the shape of a castle.  Since there is a lot of air inside, the kids can jump inside and bounce.

Bouncy Castle

6. Understaff (verb): not enough workers for a business to run correctly.

Redemption Center

7. Redemption Center (noun): a place where tickets that are won from arcade games can be turned in, and the person can get a prize, depending on the amount of tickets they have won.
8. Unprofessional (adjective): not meeting standards of a job, or sloppy.

Examples of Unprofessional Attire

9. Horrible (adjective): unpleasant, not good.
10. Manage (transitive verb): to be responsible for, a supervisory position in a job.
**In service means working at the moment.  The rides were not in service, because they were not working at the moment.


Vocabulary Cloze Exercise (Match the word with the correct definition.):

1. _____Redemption Center                a. To be responsible for employees and important job tasks
2. _____Bouncy Castle                       b.  An example of this would be a roller coaster
3. _____Manage                                 c. A machine that is operated with a coin or card to play a game
4. _____Mini golf                               d. To have a limited amount of workers
5. _____Unprofessional                      e. Unpleasant
6. _____Arcade game                        f. A sport that consists of a heavy ball and ten pins
7. _____Understaff                            g. A big structure filled with air that children can bounce on
8. _____Bowling                                h. A sport where the goal is to get the ball into the hole
9. _____Ride                                     i. The place where tickets can be cashed in for prizes
10.____Horrible                                j. sloppy


Grammar Point (Subjective Pronouns):
          A pronoun replaces the name of someone or something, with the use of words such as: he, she, it, you, we, and they.  For example, look at this sentence: Laura loves apples.  We could replace "Laura" with "she".  She loves apples.  "She" replaces a girl, while "he" would replace a boy.  This makes sentences less repetitive (using the same word over and over again).
          A subjective pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject in the sentence.  For example, I wrote: He was especially excited about the bouncy castle.  "He" is the subject, which could be replaced with "my son".

For more help on pronouns, check out this website.


Grammar Cloze Exercise:

          I gave you an example of a subjective pronoun within my blog entry.  Find the rest of the subjective pronouns.  Then, write a short story, making sure to include at least 3 different kinds of subjective pronouns.  (He, she, we, they, it, you)


For more practice with subjective pronouns, click here.