My Best Friend

My best friend, Brianna Pace, is the most compassionate person I have ever met in my life. She has a heart of gold, and she is always willing to help those in need. Brianna is studying to become a Speech Language Pathologist at Molloy. She also works with students who have disabilities at Center for Developmental Disabilities, which I commend her for. She always has a smile on her face no matter the struggles she may face in life. I admire her compassion for others the most. If her friends have any problems, they usually always go to her about them because she is a great listener, and she always knows how to respond with kindness. That is what I admire the most about Brianna, and I hope to acquire her great qualities.

Vocabulary:
1. compassionate (adjective): showing concern for others
2. willing (verb): ready to do something for others
3. studying (verb): spending time to acquire knowledge/ to review
4. commend (verb): praise
5. struggles (verb): strive to achieve although there may be difficulty
6. admire (verb): look at happily
7. acquire (verb): to obtain
8. qualities (noun): excellence of standard

Vocabulary Activity:
Please write each vocabulary term three times, and create a sentence on your own using the term correctly.

Example:
compassionate compassionate compassionate
Leo is a compassionate person because he always shows how much he cares about his friends and family.

1. compassionate
2. willing
3. studying
4. commend
5. struggles
6. admire
7. acquire
8. qualities

Grammar Point: NOUNS
Traditionally nouns are defined as a person, place, thing or idea. A process that has become a noun also counts. For example, the scientific method has turned into a noun because it is a process. In the paragraph there are many nouns. Some examples are Brianna Pace, Molloy, students, etc.

Nouns have head nouns, pre modifiers, and post modifiers. The head noun is the most important noun within the structure. The pre modifier comes before the head noun, and the post modifier comes after the noun, but is a group of nouns.
For example: The dog on the bed.
Head noun= dog
pre modifier= the
post modifier= on the bed

Please visit the following websites if you need assistance on nouns:
https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/nouns/
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/nouns/
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/noun-what.htm

Grammar Activity: In the paragraph below, please circle all of the nouns.

When my brother and his friends were sitting in my living room, I ordered pizza for them to eat because they were hungry from a long day of playing football in my yard. They played a couple of games and came inside to watch more football on the television. They were able to catch the Jet Game, and the Giant Game that followed. It seemed like they had a fun Sunday afternoon.

Please define what a noun is and list 4 nouns off of the top of your head. They can be anything.
A noun is _________________________________________________________________.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Pumpkin Picking

Over the weekend, I went pumpkin picking with my boyfriend, Paul. We drove to Schmitts Family Farm in Melville. We went on a hay ride, we walked through a corn maze, fed animals at a petting zoo, and picked four pumpkins. We had such a beautiful day! It was so much fun!! After a fun-filled day at the farm, we went home to carve and paint the pumpkins we picked. First, we cut a hole at the top the pumpkin to take out all of the seeds/insides. Then, once the pumpkin was empty, we carved a scary face in it using a special carving knife we bought at Stop & Shop. Paul and I had a contest of who carved the best pumpkin, posted a poll on Instagram, and let our friends decide who won. Of course, I won and had the best carved pumpkin. They both came out awesome and we had such a great Sunday!

Image provided by Google Images

Vocabulary:

1. pumpkin picking (noun): A farm that stocks a large amount of pumpkins. People usually go select pumpkins around Halloween time, as an American tradition.
2. farm (noun): an area of land that grows crops and has animals
3. corn maze (noun): a maze cut out of a corn field
4. hay ride (noun): ride in a wagon that carries hay and people
5. petting zoo (noun): zoo, which visitors can feed and pet animals
6. carve (verb): to produce an object or design
7. decide (verb): to come to a conclusion

Vocabulary Activity:
Use the correct vocabulary word from above to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
1. At the _________, there were many animals and vegetables.
2. They made a _________ out of a corn field.
3. We drove about twenty minutes to the pumpkin patch to go _________.
4. Did you _________ which face you are going to carve into your pumpkin?
5. How are you going to _________ your pumpkin?
6. At the _________, I fed baby goats.
7. I thought the _________ was going to be a bumpy ride, but it was not.

Grammar Point:
 A verb is the key to create meaning. Verbs are the pivotal parts of clauses because they are the expressions of events or processes.

There are different types of processes of verbs: material, behavioral, mental, verbal, existential and relational.

Verbs can be known as verbs of doing or action words.

Examples of verbs:
jump, dance, sing, say, write, read, walk, run, hop, love, etc.

When creating sentences about verbs be sure to include:

• What is the process? (verb/verb group)
• Who/what are the participants (noun/noun groups) in this process?
• What are the circumstances in which this process takes place?( when/where/how)

Example: After school, Ashley cut her hair with scissors.

What is the process? Verb = cut

Who/what are the participants in this process? Ashley, her hair

What are the circumstances in which this process takes place? After school, with scissors

Please visit the following sites:
https://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/verbs.htm
https://chompchomp.com/terms/verb.htm

Grammar Activity:
Fill in the correct verb from the word box.

dove     draw     eat     read     write  

1. I _________ into the deep end off of a diving board.
2. I can _________ a piece of cake, cookies, and a pie for dessert.
3. Did you _________ the book "Wishtree," written by Katherine Applegate?
4. An illustrators job is to _________ the pictures, and an authors job is to _________ the words in a book.

Create 4 sentences using the following verbs:
walk     run     dance     sing  
You may change the tense of the verb, and the sentence can be about anything.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Sick Day

Most people are super excited when they have a sick day! They are so excited to spend their day in bed watching movies or catching up on new shows! However, I am not one of those people. When I have to take a day off of work for a sick day I end up feeling guilty. Last night, I had an allergic reaction. I still am unsure of what the reaction was to, but my eyes were very swollen. I was able to take Benadryl before I went to sleep, and I was hoping when I woke up in time to get ready for work, the swelling would have gone down tremendously. It did not! My eyes were still swollen when I woke up, so I began to get nervous because I did not know what I was allergic to. I was home by myself because my parents had just left for a vacation to Hawaii (must be nice!!!), but I did not want to bother them or make them nervous before they got on the plane. I ended up having to take the day off from work and I took Benadryl all day long. I was able to relax, which was much needed, and I was able to catch up on some of my homework, but I did miss my day at work. I hope that I will be able to get back on track and go back to work!!

Vocabulary Terms:

1. guilty (adjective)- responsible for wrongdoing

2. allergic reaction (noun)- occurs when immune system reacts to a harmless subject or the allergen 

3. swollen (verb)- part of body becomes larger or rounder in size

4. Benadryl (noun)- an antihistamine used to treat systems of allergic reactions

5. tremendously (adverb)- to a very great extent

6. nervous (adjective)- to be nervous or anxious

Vocabulary Activity: 

Unscramble the words in the sentences. Then re-write the sentence with the correct vocabulary term. 

1. I felt tgyiul when I was not able to go to work although I did not feel well.

2. When you experience an llgareic teracnio, your eyes can swell up.

3. My ankle was wsllone after I fell off of the curb. 

4. If you are experiencing an allergic reaction you can take neydBaer to fix your symptoms. 

5. My eyes were swollen tmderneudsylo.

6. I was souvenir when I was home alone.

Grammar Point: Comma Usage

1. Use commas to separate independent clauses. 

Example: I went to the beach, and then I ate a sandwich.

2. Use commas after an introductory clause or phrase. 

Example: When I ate lunch, he called me on the phone.

3. Use a comma in between all items in a series. 

Example: (listing) I like apples, bananas, and grapes.

4. Use a comma to set off nonrestrictive clauses. 

Example: Johnny, my cousin, will be coming over.

5. Use a comma to set off appositives.

Example: The Jets, the rulers, are going to win the Super Bowl.

6. Use a comma to indicate direct address.

Example: Anthony, I do not believe you are correct.

7. Use commas to set off direct quotations.

Example: He said, "Do you think they will get married?"

8. Use commas with dates, addresses, titles and numbers.

Example: Today is Saturday, October 5, 2019.

Information found at: https://www.iue.edu/hss/writingcenter/documents/Commas.pdf

For more information about commas visit:

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQOX3UdeAZI

Grammar Activity: 

Place commas in the correct spot using a red pen. 

1. Yesterday was Friday October 4 2019.

2. Last night Paul and I watched the Yankee game on television.

3. When you go to the grocery store please buy bread chicken and ice cream.

4. I went to the park it took 5 minutes to walk there.

5. She asked me "Do you want to ride with me?"

Create 5 of your own sentences using commas correctly.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.