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 October 13- 17, 2008       

 

strong

nothing

everything

blank

trunk

Thanksgiving

they

then

north

there

 clothing

among

sting

hanger

lightning

chipmunk

shrink

without

though

thought

 

 

 

                                                                             

                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                ***  Help in world hunger and improve your vocabulary as well.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Go to this website   FreeRice

 

 

Challenge Words:  The book that we are reading this week is called:  Catwings!

 

Vocabulary words**

 

worried: feel anxious; be uneasy

tabby: a gray or tawny cat with dark stripes.

glide: move along smoothly. evenly

lighted: come down to the ground; come down from flight

 

 

 

**Students need to have a good grasp of what the word means.  Vocabulary definition does not have to be verbatim on the test.

 

 

SAT : These words need to be reviewed and known.  SAT words are tested a lot in the high school.  Start learning now!

                                                                          

                                                                                      

                                                                                                                               

frenetic: wildly excited or active

adamant: extremely stubborn

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAT Spelling Words plus definitions: 

 

 

Affable:  (adjective) means easy going; friendly.  The word affable derives from the Latin word meaning "to speak to."

Amenable:  (adjective) favorably disposed; willing to change.

Amiable:  (adjective) good-natured and likable.  The Latin word for "friend" is amicus.  It is the root for the French word ami (meaning "friend"). and the Spanish word amigo means friend.

Apt:  (adjective) suitable; appropriate; to the point.

Benevolent: (adjective) kind; generous.  The word benevolent combines the Latin word bene, meaning "well," and volens, meaning "to wish."  Literally meaning: "to wish well."

Camaraderie:  (noun) good will between friends.  Both the words camaraderie and comrade are derived from the same Latin word, meaning "roommate."

Conscientious:  (adjective) careful and thorough in work; guided by conscience and good moral sense.

Cordial:  (adjective) warm and sincere: friendly.  The English word cordial comes from the Latin word meaning "heart."

Decorous:  (adjective) proper; marked by good taste. 

Diligent:  (adjective) hard-working; persevering and painstaking.  The word diligent derives from the Latin word meaning " to honor and love."

Exemplar:  (noun) one who is worthy of imitation; an ideal model.

Gregarious:  (adjective) sociable and outgoing; enjoying the company of others.  The word gregarious derives from the Latin word meaning "the herd."  A gregarious person is one who mixes well with the herd ( of people).

Laudatory:  (adjective) expressing great praise.  The word laudatory derives from the Latin word meaning "to praise."  Other words sharing the same rood include applaud and allow.

 

 

 

 

                                         

                                                                                      

 

 

ebullience: intense and joyful enthusiasm

diffident:  no confidence

 

abhor: intense dislike or hate.

sanguine: optimistic; cheerfully confident

 

enervate: to weaken the strength or health of.

frenetic: wildly excited or active.

mercurial: subject to rapid change of mood.

 

stoic: indifferent to emotions or pain.

swagger: to boast; to strut or show excessive pride.

torpor: laziness; inactivity; dullness

 

adage: a wise old saying

adamant: extremely stubborn

candor: openness

 

frank: to the point, honest

rapport: a relationship of mutual trust

 

fulminate: To denounce  loudly and forcefully, to explode

laconic: using few words; not talkative

pugnacious: combative; eager and enthusiastic to fight

 

parsimonious: excessively cheap.

clandestine: secretive, usually with regard to concealing an illegal action.

jurisprudence:  the philosophy or science of law.

 

plagiarism:  To pass off another's ideas as your own.

replete: full; abundantly supplied.

ostentatious: showy, done to make an impression.

propriety: appropriateness of behavior; showing proper etiquette

 

aberration: a deviation from the way things normally occur or are performed

meticulous: extremely careful and precise

 

reticent: reluctant to speak; shy

contumacious: disobedient, rebellious

 

fractious: quarrelsome, unruly, likely to cause trouble

indolent: habitually lazy or inactive

 

obdurate: stubborn

surreptitious: done by secretive means

disingenuous: not straightforward; lacking in sincerity

 

slander: false charges and malicious statements about someone

coup: a brilliantly executed plan

itinerant: traveling from place to place

 

defunct: no longer effective or useful

inconsequential: unimportant

tenuous: uncertain, long and thin

 

tenuous: uncertain; long and thin

inconsequential: unimportant

bombast: pompous, wordy speech or writing

 

sonorous: having or producing sound

hackneyed: over used and overly familiar

prosaic: dull; unimaginative

lampoon: a broad piece of satire, usually

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science and Social Studies: 

 

 

                                                                                           Social Studies: September 2008

 

Students need to understand mapping.  They will understand the differences between Prime Meridian and the Equator.  They will learn about Latitude and Longitude.  Students will be required to know all 50 states, the capitals there of and be able to locate and label all 5 state on a blank outlined map.  Students will be required to know the 7 continents and major oceans.  These too will be labeled on a map.  Beginning exploration to the Americas and the explores from Europe will be researched, read about and discussed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued study of the United States Constitution, the learning of our Government branches and their jobs, The Bill of Rights, Westward Expansion, Trail of Tears.

 

 

 

We have just finished reading and discussing the historical times of the beginning of the United States of America in 1625.  The Pilgrims have arrived and started forming colonies.  The Puritans also have left England.  In 1629 the Puritans decide to come to America for religious freedom too.  They build their first settlement in Massachusetts Bay.  By 1630 - 1643, thousands of people have moves there. They set up their own assembly to make laws for their colony.  Rhode Island begins to be developed.  This state was formed form two individuals who did not fully follow the Puritan beliefs.  Roger Williams and Anne Hutchison left Massachusetts Bay in 1636.  Connecticut and New Hampshire are founded by a Puritan Minster Thomas Hooker who also did not agree with Puritan Leaders that stated that only church members should be allowed to vote in the governments of the Puritan colony.  Instead, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut would be drawn up as a new set of rules to abide by.

 

We have looked at the topography of the Eastern colonial states,  discussed Triangular Trade, and the beginning of slavery.  The next chapters that we will begin looking at are the Southern colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  We will look at the climate of these areas as well as the type of crops that grow..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students need to memorize the Preamble in the Spring of 2008, when we begin discussing the Constitution, our rights as citizens and the amendments to the Constitution.

                                                                                                                            

PREAMBLE TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

 

WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION, ESTABLISH JUSTICE, INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY, PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, AND SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY, DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                               Science: October 2008

 

    Currently we are studying micro-worlds, using telescopes discussing inquiry, reviewing life cycles and the Scientific Method

 

Please review the scientific method below with your student.

 

 

Parents please print this page and go over with your child.  Help to solidify the Scientific Method.

 

This week we will also be focusing on the scientific method terminology: These words need to be used and understood for science writing. 

The scientific method is a step-by-step way to find answers to questions.  First, ask the question, or state the problemPredict the answer, then test your prediction, or hypothesis.  A good test is to do an experiment and set up a control to compare the results .  Use senses such as sight, sound or touch (shape, color or texture) to make Qualitative observations during the experiment.  Answer what it looks like, smells like, feels like; note the similarities or differences.  Secondly, know what Quantitative observations are such as size (number, height, length) changes over time (dated entries!)..For example, the plant grew 1.4 cm.  It has 2 seedpods forming.  It has 10 flower blossoms etc.  Then record your data or information.  Study your information and then write a conclusion.  Many scientists who test a hypothesis many times may say their conclusion is a theory, or an accepted explanation of the problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                           

We have begun a unit in science on Flight and Motion and Design.  We will be studying the effects of energy on motion.  The students will be working in groups building K'nexs cars.  Students will build prototype cars and learn about manipulation of parts, investigate forces on motion, motion with a propeller that can store energy and how movement can change when acted upon by force by using weights.

 

Sir Issac Newton’s Laws of Motion 1.

(Late 1600s)

 

First Law:    

Law of Inertia

Newton’s states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object that is moving at constant velocity will continue moving at constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

 

Second Law:

Law of Gravitation

The second law states that the strength of the force of friction depends on two factors: the types of surfaces involved and how hard the surfaces push together.

(Newton realized that a force acts to pull objects straight down toward the center of Earth.  Newton called this force Gravity.)

 

Rough surfaces produce greater friction that smooth surfaces.  Why?

The force of friction also increases if the surfaces push harder against each other.  Try rubbing your hands together with very little pressure.  Now try it again but push your hands tightly together and rub them back and forth.  What did you notice?

 

Types of friction

Sliding Friction:  when two solid surfaces slide over each other.

Rolling Friction:   when an object rolls over a surface; an example would be the use of ball bearings.

Fluid friction:   when an object moves through a liquid or a gas.  An example would be to use motor oil in your car so that the parts move smoothly over each other to prevent excessive wear and tear.

 

Effects of Gravity:

Free Fall: when the only force acting on a falling object is gravity, the object is said to be in free fall.  An object in free fall accelerates as it falls because gravity’s force is an unbalanced force.  (Apple falling from a tree, or a ball dropped from a two story building)

 

Projectile Motion:

Rather than dropping a ball straight down, what happens if you throw it horizontally?  An object that is thrown is called a projectile.  Will a ball, if thrown, hit the ground as an object dropped?  Is it in free fall?

 

 

Weight on motion:

The force on a person or object at the surface of a plane is known as weight.  Weight is a measure of the force of gravity on an object, and mass is a measure of the amount of matter in that object.  Since weight is a force, you can rewrite Newton’s second law of motion,

Force  =  Mass   x   Acceleration, to find weight.

 

 

 

The law of universal gravitation states that the force of gravity acts between all objects in the universes.

 

 

Newton’s Third Law:

Action/Reaction

Newton’s third law of motion states that if one object exerts a force on another object, then the second object exerts a force of equal strength in the opposite direction on the first object.  

(Think of a hammer hitting a nail.  A hammer exerts a force on a nail, pushing it into a piece of wood.  At the same time, the nail exerts a force back on the hammer, causing its motion to come to a sudden stop.)

OR

(You probably have watched two ice skaters on the ice.  One pushes on the other one and both people move.  Each person moves with equal force backwards or in the opposite direction.)

 

Momentum:

When Newton presented his three laws of motion, he used two different words to describe moving objects.  He used the words Velocity and Momentum.  Momentum is the “quantity of motion”; momentum of an object is the product of its mass and its velocity.

 

Momentum = Mass  x  Velocity

 

 

 

1.  Cyr, Martha, Ioannis Miaouois, Michael J. Padilla, Physical Science, Prentice Hall, 2002, p316 – 335.