Black Friday Shopping Deals!

Recently, I have posted about the holiday of Thanksgiving.  I hope you all enjoyed the holiday with your family, friends, and delicious meal! Today, I want to discuss the day after Thanksgiving.  The Friday after Thanksgiving, it known as "Black Friday."  "Black Friday" is the day that begins the holiday shopping season.  On this day, all retailers and stores off many extreme discounts on their products.  Many items such as clothing, electronics, and home furnishings can be purchased at a fraction of the normal prices.  This Black Friday, many stores open at 10:00pm on Thanksgiving night!  Did you see any crazy lines outside of stores?
This year was the first time I decided to take part in the Black Friday fun.  My mother, cousin, his boyfriend and I decided to first check the deals at the local mall near my parents' home.  We first waited on line to enter Macy's, the department store.  We were told that we had to wait for twenty people to leave the store before we were allowed in.  There were so many people there, that there was a wait to even get in!  Then,once we were inside we spilt up, and did some Christmas shopping.  The deals were great!  After Macy's, we went went on to other stores including H&M, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Express, The Gap and Aldo.
After the mall, we went to Best Buy.  My cousin bought a flat screen TV for 80 dollars.  It normally cost 280 dollars.
Overall, my first Black Friday shopping experience was really fun.  I enjoyed my time with some of my favorite people shopping at 1:00 in the morning, but next year I think I will sleep in!

Vocabulary
1) retailers: stores, places that sell things
2) extreme: not typical, very great
3) furnishings: furniture, or things you put around your house
4) purchased: bought
5) deals: an great price
6) department store: a large store that has different departments which sell different types of items like women's clothing, men's clothing, children's clothing, shoes, jewelry, make-up, etc.

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling the blanks with a vocabulary word from above.


1) Vincent went to Macy's, which is a _______________________, to buy his Dad a gift for his birthday.
2) White water rafting and skydiving are ________________ hobbies.
3) On Black Friday, I ________________ many Christmas gifts for my family and friends.
4) My new house is empty, so I need to buy some ___________________ to fill it up.
5) I could not believe the ___________ on Black Friday; I saved over $300.
6) The Gap, Express, and H&M were just some of the ______________ that were offering deals that I could not resist on Black Friday.

Grammar Point
Conjunctions are words in English that join two simple sentences together to make one compound sentence.  Some conjunctions that exist in English can be remembered with the acronym FANBOYS.  This acronym stands for the following:

F= for
A= and
N= nor
B= but
O= or
Y= yet
S= so

In English, we must put commas in our sentences BEFORE the conjunction, or before one of the FANBOYS.  Read the following example:

I enjoyed my time with some of my favorite people shopping at 1:00 in the morning, but next year I think I will sleep in!

The two sentences are:
1) I enjoyed my time with some of my favorite people shopping at 1:00 in the morning.
2) Next year I think I will sleep in.

These two sentences are joined together by the conjunction "but".  Notice I also wrote a comma after the word morning and BEFORE the FANBOY "but".  Watch the Schoolhouse Rock video below!

Grammar Exercise
Combine the following sentences by using a comma and a FANBOY.  Re-write the complete sentence.

1) School was fun yesterday.
I think tomorrow will be better.

2) The first store did not have what we were looking for.
We went to another one.

3) My cousin did not find that many deals at Macy's.
I found so many!

Schoolhouse Rock!

In class, we are always talking about some kind of grammar aspect.  For most students, grammar can be a rather dull and boring subject to talk about.  When I was younger, I didn't think it was that interesting either.  Recently, I was discussing grammar with some of my colleagues and they recommended that I use the cartoon Schoolhouse Rock to demonstrate some grammar concepts.  Schoolhouse Rock was a popular cartoon that was originally on the air from 1973-1985.  It later came back on the air in 1993 and ran until 1999.  Each week, viewers would learn a song that taught something.  The subjects taught on Schoolhouse Rock were grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics and civics.  So, to enhance our knowledge of grammar, I have included a video that I want you all to watch.  This video is entitled "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here." This video will help you better understand adverbs.

Vocabulary 
1) aspect: one part of something
2) dull: not shiny or not exciting
3) colleagues: the people you work with
4) cartoon: animated TV show, made from drawings
5) demonstrate:  to show
6) concepts: an idea

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above.


1) Mariah is not that interested in social studies, she thinks its rather ___________.
2) Using music sometimes helps us remember certain school _____________.
3) We can use Schoolhouse Rock to _________________ certain grammar topics.
4) One _________ of grammar that Schoolhouse Rock sings about is conjunctions.
5) Many of my ____________ and I like to share different internet videos to use in our classrooms.
6) There are many educational ____________ like Schoolhouse Rock that can be used in the classroom.

Grammar Point
Adverbs are words that modify verbs or sometimes adjectives.  This means that adverbs answer the questions when? how? in what way? and to what extent? For example, in the sentence "Recently, I talked to my colleagues," recently would be the adverb which answers the question when?  When did I talk to my colleagues?  Recently would be the answer.

Grammar Exercise
Watch the above Schoolhouse video again and then identify the adverbs in the following sentences.  Underline the adverb in each sentence.

1) Maya quickly read the book for ESL class.
2) We went to the restaurant yesterday.
3) He carefully completed his math homework.
4) Jayson, come over here!
5) I will visit my grandmother tomorrow.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Nothing says fall like some football! Every fall I know that I will loose any hopes of spending time with my boyfriend on a Sunday.  Sundays are for football.  All day long, loyal football fans will spend their entire sundays in front of their TVs rooting for their favorite teams.  If they are lucky, they may even attend a game at their favorite team's stadium.  For me, football reminds me of my uncle, who like my boyfriend, is a loyal New York Jets fan and spends his Sundays in front of his flat screen high definition TV cheering on the big green.  I, too, am a fan of the Jets and of the game in general.  While I do not spend my entire Sunday in front of a TV, I do enjoy watching the Jets and going to professional games.  I also like to cheer on the Deer Park Falcons at both the varsity and middle school level.  I was also a big fan of the Cortland Red Dragons, my alma mater.  My favorite player is Mark Sanchez of the Jets.  He is the quarterback.  The one who throws the football to the players, who then run to the end-zone to score touchdowns.  Have you ever seen a football game?  What's your favorite team?  Who's your favorite player?

Vocabulary
1) loyal: showing or giving support to someone or something
2) entire: whole thing
3) rooting: cheering on, being a fan of a time
4) varsity: high school level
5) alma mater: the college that a person attended
6) touchdown: when a player runs into the end-zone with the football, scores 6 points for the team.

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling the blanks with a vocabulary word form above.


1) Julio plays ___________ football at Deer Park High School.
2) I am a ____________ fan of the New York Jets and the New York Yankees.
3) The ________ game lasted three hours.
4) After catching the ball, Andy ran and scored a ________________!
5) My _________________, Cortland State has a very good athletics program.
6) This Sunday, I will be ______________ for the New York Giants because I want them to beat the San Francisco 49ers.

Grammar Point
Homonyms are words that have more than one meaning and are spelled the same way.  For example, the word fan has two meanings.  It can mean a person who is fan or something, like a Jets fan or a Giants fan.  However, it can also mean the machine that is used to cool off a person or a room.  These words can be tricky when reading.  You will need to use context clues to figure out which meaning is needed for the reading to make sense.

Grammar Exercise
Read the following list of homonyms.  Can you write a second definition for each homonym?

1) play: to engage in activity for fun, or ________________________
2) watch: to look at something, or ________________________
3) train: to practice for something, or ________________________
4) can: to be able to do something, or _________________________
5) sweet: a sugary taste, or __________________________

It's Thanksgiving Time!

This year Thanksgiving will fall on November 24th.  This traditional American holiday is celebrated to commemorate the early settlers of our country and the Native Americans that harvested the land.  The date of the first Thanksgiving is debated by many historians but many agree that it was held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1921.  Families across our nation, typically celebrate this meal with a large turkey dinner. It truly is a eating holiday and a time to be thankful for not only the food that we have to eat but the families and friends we have to celebrate with.  Many typical side dishes include mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, yams, green beans, corn, carrots, biscuits, and many other dishes.  Desserts are also a big part of the Thanksgiving meal.  Pies are popular on this holiday, especially apple, pecan and pumpkin.  My family also has cheesecake and carrot cake.  We also have cannolis and triamisu which are more traditional Italian desserts but we love to have these because we are Italian American.  You might be wondering why so many desserts Ms. Hermanek? Well, my mother, aunt and good family friend usually do the cooking at my mother's house and we usually have anywhere from 20-25 people over for dinner.  The eating begins at 1:00 with appetizers and good conversation and there's usually football on the television.  Everyone is encouraged to dress causally and to come and relax and have a good time.  It truly is one of my favorite holidays and I have always felt lucky to have it at my childhood home with my mother and aunts cooking a delicious meal.

Vocabulary:
1) traditional: something that is past on from one generation (older people) to the next generation (younger people).
2) commemorate: to remember, show respect for something
3) harvested: farmed, to get food from the land
4) debated: argued about
5) historians: people who study history
6) encourgaed: recommended to do something

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above:


1) The holiday of Thanksgiving has been studied by ______________ for many years.
2) The students were _______________ to bring in canned food for the Thanksgiving Food Drive.
3) My mother ___________ with my father over whether to cook the turkey in the oven or a deep fryer.
4) Fourth of July is a national holiday that ________________ the signing of the Declaration of Independence by our founding fathers.
5) Potatoes is a vegetable that is _____________ on Long Island.
6) The turkey dinner is the _____________ meal served on Thanksgiving Day.

Grammar Point
You know that synonyms are words that mean the same or close to the same thing.  Today, we are going to talk about antonyms.  Antonyms are words that means the opposite.  For example, you know the word traditional.  Traditional means something that is passed on from to generation to another, so it was been around for a while.  Modern is the antonym of traditional.  Modern means something that is new and recent.

Grammar Exercise
Now that you know what antonyms are, can you think of antonyms for the following words?  Write an antonym for each of the words below:

1) casual ____________
2) relaxed ____________
3) interesting ___________
4) busy ____________
5) flavorless ____________
6) full _____________

The Wonderful World of Poetry

Have you ever written poetry before?  Do you have a favorite poem?  I never considered myself much of a writer, especially a writer who can write poetry.  However, I was introduced to some really interesting ways to write poetry by a distinguished writer, Barbara Novack.  She really got me thinking about poetry and wondering if  I could write some poems all myself.  Here's my favorite that I created:

Vacation
Warm, Breezy
Relaxing, eating, laughing
Beaches are my favorite kind
Vacation

Why, thank you.  I thought it was pretty great myself.  Now it's time for you to try!

Vocabulary:
1) poetry: a type of writing that shows the writer's thoughts and feelings
2) considered: to have thought about something
3) distinguished: well-known, famous for something
4) breezy: windy
5) relaxing: something that makes you feel rested

Cloze Activity:  Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above.


1) The student was ______________ for the Student of Month because she is such a great student.
2) I love riding my bike in the fall, especially on a ___________ day.
3) My vacation was very __________, I was always feel rested laying on a beach!
4) I like to express my feelings, so I began writing ____________.
5) Ms. Kennedy is a colleague of mine, she is also a ____________ writer.

Grammar Point
We have talked about adjectives many times in class.  Synonyms are words that mean the same or close to the same thing.  For example, breezy is a synonym for windy.

Grammar Exercise
Can you think of synonyms for the following words?  Write a synonym for each of the following adjectives.

1) tired __________
2) happy ___________
3) sad _____________
4) smart _____________
5) skinny ____________

Veteran's Day

This Friday, November 11th, we will be celebrating Veteran's Day.  Schools, businesses and local public offices will be closed in observance of this holiday.  This holiday was established in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson to honor all the veterans of our country.  November 11th marks the 11th hour of the 11th day of November in which Germany signed the Armistice to end World War I.  A veteran is a man or woman who has served our country in the armed forces.  The armed forces include all the branches of our military.  This includes the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy and the United States Air Force.  This Veterans Day we will be researching and learning about both famous and local Veterans that have served our country.  We even have teachers in our school who are veterans.  It is important for us to remember our veterans who have been so courageous and dedicated to our country.  We must be respectful and appreciative to these heroes.  One of our Veterans Day assignments will be to write a letter to a veteran thanking him or her for their service to our country.  Do you know any veterans?  Is anyone in your family a veteran of this country? of their native country?  What kind of questions would you want to ask an veteran?  Can you imagine doing the job of our military men and women?

Vocabulary:
1) observance: honoring, following a holiday
2) established: created, formed
3) branches: parts, sections of something
4) courageous: brave, having no fear
5) dedicated: being loyal and true to something
6) appreciative:  being thankful for something

Cloze Activity: Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above. 


1) The United States Air force is just one ______________ of the United States Military.
2) The veteran was very ______________ of the letter of thanks he received from the students of Robert Frost Middle School.
3) Due to the ________________ of Thanksgiving, school will be closed November 24th and 25th.
4) Robert Frost Middle School was ______________ in 1992.
5) Veterans are truly _________________, in fact they are the bravest people I know.
6) Mark is a very __________ friend, he is always loyal and truthful.

Grammar Point
We have discussed in class that a noun is a person, place, thing or idea.  There are two types of nouns, common and proper.  Proper nouns are names of people, places, things or ideas.  They must be written with a capital letter.
For example:  City is a common noun.  New York City is a proper noun because it is the name of a specific city.

Grammar Activity
Write the word common next to each common noun.  Rewrite the word correctly (with a capital letter) if it is a proper noun.

1) president ________________
2) president obama _______________
3) month ___________________
4) november _______________
5) robert frost middle school _________________
6) college _______________

Modern Family

Do you ever feel like you have a crazy family?  Do you ever feel like other people would never understand how your family works?  Well, have I got the show for you! Modern Family is a TV sitcom in its third season on ABC.  The sitcom is based on a blended family that lives on the same street.  Phil and Claire are parents to teenagers Haley, Alex and Luke.  Claire's father, Jay, lives next door and is married to Claire's stepmother Gloria, who is around the same age as Claire.  Also living on the block, are Claire's brother Mitchell and his partner Cameron. Mitchell and Cameron are proud parents to their baby girl Lily, who they adopted from Vietnam.  Week after week, millions of people tune into this comedy at nine o'clock to watch the funny cast of characters living their lives in suburbia.  This TV show seemed to be popular right from the beginning of the series.  I would say that is because while everyone might not have a same-sex marriage in their family or step-parents or step-siblings, everyone can relate to how the family relates to one another and is always there for each other.  So when you are feeling like your family could not get any crazier, tune into Modern Family for a good laugh.  It might just make you feel better.

Vocabulary:

1) sitcom: TV comedy

2) season: year of a television show

3) blended: mixed, combined

4) stepmother: when your father remarries, his wife is this to you

5) adopted: a child who gets new parents, different parents from their birth parents.

6) suburbia: towns outside or surrounding a big city

Cloze Activity:  Complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with a vocabulary word from above.

1) I have a large ____________ family because both my parents remarried after their divorce.

2) The TV show Friends ended after its tenth _____________ on the air.

3) Deer Park, North Babylon and Dix Hills are all towns in ______________.

4) How I Met Your Mother is another popular ______________.

5) I now have a _______________ because my father remarried.

6) My brother and his wife ___________ a baby boy named Ryan from China.

Grammar Point

Question Marks are used when writing a question.  A question is a statement that is seeking information. If the statement is not a question, we use a period or sometimes an exclamation point.

Grammar Activity

Read the following phrases and determine if it is a question or a statement.  If it is a statement, put a period.  If it is a question, write a question mark.

1) When does the TV show start__

2) My favorite TV show is Modern family__

3) What is your favorite TV show__

4) What channel is your favorite TV show on__

5) I like to watch TV with my family__

My Embarrassing False Cognate Experience

I grew up speaking English with my family.  When I was in the seventh grade, I chose to study Spanish as my foreign language requirement for graduation.  During my senior year at Ward Melville High School, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in teaching Spanish.  After graduating from high school, I went to SUNY Cortland and majored in Adolescent Education in Spanish.  While in my junior year there, I decided to study abroad in Salamanca, Spain.  While I was studying Spanish there, I lived with a family.  I had my own room in their apartment, where I slept and would eat three meals a day with Beni, my host mother and José, my host father.  One morning, I woke up late for class.  I got dressed quickly, grabbed my bag and headed out the door.  As I was hurrying down the street, I dropped my notebook.  Some very nice strangers helped me gather my papers.  After saying thank you, I began walking quickly in what I thought was the direction of school.  After a couple of blocks, I realized I was heading in the wrong direction and that I was going to arrive even later to class.  When I finally reached my school, I ran up the stairs and arrived at my classroom.  As I was rushing up the stairs, I was rehearsing what I was going to say to apologize to my professor.  I knew I wanted to say I was sorry and that I was embarrassed for being late.  As I sprung open the door, I announced "Lo siento, estoy embarasada."  What I had intended to say was that I was sorry and embarrassed for being late.  I received a very strange grin from my teacher and a few weird looks form my classmates.  As I found a seat, another American student leaned over to me and said "Doesn't embarasada mean pregnant?" Instead of saying I was embarrassed, I announced to the whole class that I was pregnant.  Now, I was really embarrassed!  This is an example of a false cognate.  A false cognate is a word in one language that looks or sounds like a word in another language and has a DIFFERENT meaning.  Cognates are words that sound or look alike and have the SAME meaning.

Vocabulary:
1) requirement: something that you have to do
2) pursue: choosing to do or follow something
3) graduating: completing high school
4) majored: what you choose to study in college
5) gather: to bring to together, collect
6) blocks: parts of streets, from one corner to another

Cloze Activity: Fill in the following blanks with one of the above vocabulary words.
1) The school is four ___________ away from my house.
2) You must complete the foreign language _____________ in order to graduate.
3) Please ___________ your belongings and meet me in the office.
4) After _____________ from high school, the students will continue to college.
5) While in the college, the teacher ____________ in education.
6) The student wants to ____________ a career in politics.


Grammar Point- The Present Progressive:
The present progressive is a way to express something that is occurring in the moment, or happening right now.  To form verbs in the present progressive, you must add -ing to the end of the word.  For example, the verb graduating is the verb graduate plus the ending -ing.

Grammar Exercise:
Write the following verbs in the present progressive:

1) Follow _________________
2) Study __________________
3) Learn __________________
4) Reach __________________
5) Speak __________________

Dancing With the Stars

It's that time of year again!  Back to school and one of my favorite reality television shows has begun!  Dancing with the Stars is a dance competition that features many different types of celebrities.  Each celebrity is paired with a professional dancer and together they perform a new ballroom dance each week on live television.  The dances performed so far have been the Jive, the Quickstep, the ChaCha and the Waltz.  This year celebrities include former talk show host Ricki Lake, Los Angeles Lakers player Ron Artest, reality television stars kristin Cavallari and Rob Kardashian, actresses Chynna Phillips and Elisabetta Canalis, actors David Arquette and J.R Martinez, U.S. World Cup Soccer Team goalie Hope Solo, talk show hosts Nancy Grace and Carson Kressly and LGBT activist Chaz Bono.  After each performance in their glittery costumes and ballroom shoes, the celebrities and their partners fall victim to the the criticisms of the three judges, Carrie Ann Inalba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.  Celebrities must wait with co-host Tom Bergen while they hear the judges' critiques of their performances.  They are then sent backstage to be interviewed by co-host Brooke Burke and to receive their scores.  Each judge gives a score of one to ten with the best possible score being a thirty out of thirty.

Vocabulary 

1) competition: contest between performers
2) celebrity: famous person
3) professional: an expert, or someone who does an activity for work
4) ballroom: a large space where dancing is done in groups of two or partners
5) criticisms: what the judges think of the dancers
6) interviewed: to be asked about

Cloze Activity


1) The news reporter _______________ the winning team and asked them many questions about the game.
2) Justin Bieber is a famous ________________ because he is known around the world for his singing career.
3) This weekend, there will be a dancing _______________ and all are welcome to compete.
4) You should take dance lesson from Stephanie because she is a ________________ and knows what she is doing.
5) The contestants need to listen to the judges' _______________ and improve their dancing if they want to stay on the show.
6) I arrived early to the ________________ for my dance lessons with my new partner.

Grammar Point
Proper Nouns- We have learned that a noun is a person, place, thing or idea.  There are also proper nouns.  A proper noun is a name of something or someone.  For example, in this paragraph, the ChaCha, the Quickstep and the Jive are all proper nouns.  They also all have capitol letters because names are capitalized in English.

Grammar Assignment
Can you identify the proper names from the list?  On the lines that follow, write P for a proper noun and C for a common noun (which is a regular noun, not a name of something or someone.)

1) Ricki Lake ________________
2) the judges ________________
3) the celebrities _____________
4) Carrie Ann Inalba __________
5) the Waltz _________________

The First Day of School

On September sixth, I, like many teachers and students around the country, started the school year.  This is my fourth year teaching at Robert Frost Middle School in Deer Park.  I jumped up out of bed around 5:30 am, which I had not done since June.  I jumped into the shower and got dressed.  I ate my breakfast, prepared my coffee with french vanilla creamer and I was out the door.  Even though I was dragging my feet when I first woke up, as I started my commute, I felt lucky.  I felt lucky to have a job and especially one that I was just as happy to go to in the morning as I am leaving in the afternoon.  As I walked into my building, I saw many familiar faces that I had not seen all summer.  After many hellos and last minute decorating, the bell rang and I was ready to welcome this year's students.  I hope I can inspire them to learn and to care about their education like so many great teachers have inspired me.

Vocabulary:

1) prepared: got ready
2) dragging my feet: moving slowly
3) commute: car ride to work
4) lucky: better off
5) familiar: people I know
6) inspire: to make someone want to do something


Cloze Activity: Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary word from above.


1) I hope to ______________ the next generation of children to become caring adults.
2) I was ___________________ to science class because I knew it was going to be boring.
3) I feel ______________ because I have lunch with all of my friends.
4) I am ________________ for today's test because I studied all night.
5) I live very close to my job so I do not have a long ____________.
6) My teacher looked so ______________.  I think I met her last year.


Grammar Point:
Adding the suffix -ed to a verb makes the verb in the past tense.  This is called the regular past tense.  For example, the phrase "I prepare," indicates the present tense or something that is happening right now.  When -ed is added to "I prepare" it becomes "I prepared". "I prepared" means that I got ready in the past.

Grammar Assignment:
Can you change "learn" into the past tense?  Write the verb ______________________.  Now, write a sentence using the verb in the past tense. __________________________________________________