FINAL Zebra Assignment

This is your final zebra blog post assignment.  Be sure to finish all of your work, put your packet in the right order, and bring it to school on Monday, February 3, 2014.  Remember to sleep early the night before, and ALWAYS eat a good and healthy breakfast.

Assignment:  Write a paragraph with 5 or more sentences.  The topic:  If you were asked to compete in a one mile race, how would you train.  Use your bucket outline strategy to complete this assignment.  It is only one paragraph long.  Use transition words, be sure to indent, correct spelling and punctuation must be used.  Be neat.

Off Track - Zebra #16

This is a quick write assignment.  Please write non-stop for 10 minutes.  You will need a piece of paper, pencil and a timer.  If you don't have a timer, you can use a watch, or ask someone in your family to watch the clock for you.

The goal of this assignment is to write non-stop.  If you do this, you are practicing putting your brilliant ideas on paper.

Here is the topic…

Imagine that one day, in your city, in your state, in your country, and in your world, there were no numbers.  Everywhere you went, there would be no numbers.  For example, a house would have a word on it, like, "bird" or "paper".  So the address would not have a number in it.  Or, when you went to the store, and you wanted to buy a loaf of bread, the bread would not have an amount for the price.  It would have a picture, like a picture of a pair of glasses.  If you wanted to buy the bread, you would have to give the store your glasses.  So, back to the quick write topic.  If the world became numberless, what would life be like.   Please be creative, and think about different examples of what would happen.

Go!

Off Track - Zebra #15

Just a note… the last blog for Off-Track C will be Tuesday, January 28, 2014.  For the rest of the week, work on finishing you packets.

You are expected to bring all of your work to school on Monday, February 3, 2014.

Continue the great work and dedication!

Here is an assignment giving you practice with synonyms.  Synonyms are words that are spelled differently, but mean the same.  Remember, both words, synonyms and same start with "s".

Here are examples of 2 synonyms:  smile and grin
The child smiled at his mother.
The child grinned at his mother.

Notice that both smile and grin mean making a happy face.  They both can be used in the sentence.

Please give at least 2 synonyms for each of these words.  Write sentences using the synonyms that you came up with.  You may use the dictionary.  Remember to use book dictionaries.

mend
rapidly
task
tore
imaginary
cabin
wail
tilt
grow
dirty

You are great students!  Stay focused and confident in what you know!

Off Track - Zebra #14

Dear Students:  I hope you are having an excellent, nice day!

This assignment will give you practice with comprehension.  Comprehension is understanding what you read.  If you read something, and you don't understand it, then it would be a waste of your precious time.  So let's first think about some strategies for comprehension.

Clap out com-pre-hen-sion: the word has 4 syllables.  For fun, let's learn four strategies.

1)  Very quickly read through the questions before you read the passage.
2)  Read the passage while underlining key words.  Be sure not to underline everything!
3)  Start answering the questions, and be sure to look back at the passage for the answer.
4)  Use context clues to figure out meaning of words (definitions).

There are many other strategies, but the four above will help you get started in becoming a super comprehender!

Here is the passage from Matilda by Roald Dahl.

Chapter Title:  Miss Honey

     Matilda was a little late in starting school.  Most children begin Primary School at five or even just before, but Matilda's parents, who weren't very concerned one way or the other about their daughter's education, had forgotten to make the proper arrangements in advance.  She was five and a half when she entered school for the first time.
     The village school for younger children was a bleak brick building called Crunchem Hall Primary School.  It had about two hundred and fifty pupils ages from five to just under twelve years old.  The head teacher, the boss, the supreme commander of this establishment was a formidable middle-aged lady whose name was Miss Trunchbull.

Comprehension Questions:

1)  Why did Matilda start school so late compared to other children?

2)  The author, Dahl, uses alliteration in the passage.  Alliteration is where many of the words start with the same letter.  Example:  The green glue stuck onto the glass.  g - g- g.  Please find the words in the passage that show alliteration.

3)  What does the word pupil mean in the passage?

4)  Who is Miss Trunchbull, and how is she described in the passage?  List the adjectives.

Go back one more time, and double check to see if you have answered your questions completely.

Off Track - Zebra #13

This assignment is correcting sentences.  The better you become at editing, the better your writing will become.  You will be able to pick out your own errors before the teacher does!  That's a good thing!  Please correct and rewrite the sentences.

1)  last week I talk so much my throat hurt

2)  i got a doctors appointment tuesday at 745

3)  who wrote the book wayside school is falling down

4)  please set the alarm clock to wake up at 600 am

5)  grandmothers making me an blew dress

6)  would you like sum cinnamon toast

7)  the dog chewed my knew shoes

8)  did you get your ears pierced at the maul

9)  will you gimme another peace of paper

10)  saturday we is gonna go to dinner and to a movie

11)  turn those lights on please

12)  what instrument does you play

13)  helen rided a horse in a parade on sunday

14)  me and him have a book report that is do tuesday

15)  yesterday dad run in the marathon

Off Track - Zebra #12

I hope you are having a great and lovely day today.  Make sure you smile!

Directions:  Decide if the underlined words in the sentences below is a common noun, proper noun, or pronoun.

1)  Charles knocked over five trees with the blow of his tail.

2)  One day he decided that he would search for a friend.

3)  The average dragon's idea of a good time is to dance with a princess.

4)  Mrs. Kirby knocked a hole in the wall.

5)  They saw the elderly woman plowing her field.

6)  The sweet friend didn't realize that Charles was a dragon.

For extra practice, sketch the dragon.  Draw the largest part of the dragon first, which would be his torso (belly), then add his head, and wings/arms/legs and finally tail.  Be proud of your sketch no matter how it turns out.  Art is what you make it!  Have fun!

A Job Well Done

Congratulations to my 3rd grade tutee (student that receives tutoring).  This student's hard work is very clear.  The artwork, the writing, the attention to details, and careful placement of the cards shows this student's dedication!  Great job!  Keep up the great work!

Off Track - Zebra #11

It happened in 1947.  For the first time, an African American was stepping onto the field to play in a major-league baseball game.  Jackie Robinson was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the only team with enough courage to let this great athlete play.  That day, baseball's color barrier was broken.

Despite the racism he met both on and off the field, Jackie was named Rookie of the Year and led the league in stolen bases.  Two years later, he won the National League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.  Robinson made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Jackie changed baseball, but he also changed the way people thought.  Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said "Without Jackie Robinson, I could never have done what I did."

Assignment:  Please write 3 sentences that are facts from the above passage.  Also, please write 3 sentences that are opinions.

Remember, facts are statements that are true.  Opinions can change and usually state a belief.  People may have different opinions about the same thing.

Off Track - Zebra #10

Students, if you have been keeping up with the blog posts, you are already on your way to becoming super responsible learners.  Showing that you can work by yourselves (independently) means that you can take charge of your future, NO PROBLEM!  Smile!

In this assignment you will review contractions.  Remember, in general, the word contract means to become smaller or shorter.  So when we talk about word contractions, that means that two words join together, and then they become shorter.  The reason why they become shorter is because a letter or more has been taken out.  Then, an apostrophe has been added.  In a contraction, there is always an apostrophe!

Examples:  

they will >>>  they'll

it is >>>  it's 

The little comma in the sky is the apostrophe.

Directions:  Please change the contractions into the two words that they are made of.

1)  wouldn't 

2)  I'll

3)  they'd

4)  shouldn't

5)  that's

6)  who's

7)  you've

8)  he's

9)  haven't

10)  didn't

Off Track - Zebra #9

Dear Students, we are down to our last two weeks before we come back to school.  Let's make these last two weeks really count!  The way we do that is:  eat properly, sleep on time and wake up on time, exercise daily, finish our off-track packets and do all of the blogs.  You will still have a lot of time left over to do fun things.

Today's blog has to do with analogies.

Analogy is a noun, and it means "a comparison".  When two words are analogous, that means that they have a relationship.  

Example:  Food: eat   What do we do to the food? we eat it?  Then… if the word is water, the next word should be drink.

The analogy would look like this:

food: eat ::  water: drink

Here is another example:

book: read ::  television : watch

Please find the analogies:

1)  mittens: hands ::  socks :  _______

2)  house : live ::  car :  ________

3)  pen: ink ::  pencil :  ________

4)  lemon : sour ::  orange :  __________

5)  water : clear ::  milk : __________

6)  __________ : big ::  ant :  small

7)  __________ : smile :: sad :  frown

8)  __________ : green ::  sky :  blue

Off Track - Zebra #8

Please think of 5 words that rhyme with the following list of words.  Remember, they don't have to have similar spelling.  Use all of the words in sentences.  Please make the sentences interesting.  Use plenty of adjectives.

1)  belt

2)  food

3)  dancer

4)  guide

5)  location

Off Track - Zebra #7

Please read and correct the following sentences.  Check for punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.  Rewrite the corrected sentences.

1)  bruce is gonna be a snake in the play

2)  did you read the short story called sleeping ugly

3)  im gonna be model when i grew up

4)  lester, my brother, will be six years old on friday

5)  were only allowed to watch one our of television on saturdays

6)  did you vote for ben lily or armond for class president

7)  my friend alicia drives to fast

8)  dr barger run past the nurse he gave a patient a note

9)  ben dont have no games to play at his house

10)  nisha have went to dr martinez because she aint feelin good

11)  we eats our lunch at memorial park

12) mrs talbots class is gonna visit the museum wednesday

13) ill gladly give you a dollar in exchange for your for quarts

14)  will you ask the waitress fore another for

15)  the athlete runned seven races in won year

Off Track - Zebra #6

Please correct these sentences.  Check for errors in capitalization, punctuation, grammar, quotation marks, spelling, pronouns.

Write the whole corrected sentence.

1)  the weather man said that a cold wind will come threw on tuesday.

2)  i hope you brung a jacket for the field trip

3)  how many times have you saw the movie the lion king

4)  susan she has gave me her lunch money every day

5)  janet asked did you tried to call me last night

6)  i forget to get my math science and language books

7)  paul and rebecca is gonna by the new house on 1334 oak street

8)  peaches, my cat, got declawed on friday

9)  danielle said i am waiting for a phone call from my boss

10)  i won't never touch those toys again

11)  is carmen in you're class this year again asked sheldon

12)  brandon he has missed for days of school during the month of december

13)  my mother is gonna make brownies for my birthday on august 13 1997

14)  our neighbor mrs thomas has a brown dog named midnight

15)  does your backpack have a pencil eraser and paper

Off Track - Zebra #5

The suffix -ly can be added to the end of an adjective and change the meaning of the word.

Example:  safe + -ly = safely

The firefighter safely placed the lost kitten in the boy's arms.

Please change the base word by adding -ly and use the final word in a sentence.

bright, happy, bright, rich, sweet

Off Track - Zebra #4

Please rewrite this paragraph with the correct punctation, spelling and capitalization.

Snowed In

      The day was allmost over, and the class seemed to bee ready to leaf even though it wasn't dismissal yet.  Jody and Gaurav, the two students who sat by the door, hurried up and finished there assignements and pagged they're backpacks.  "Students, I have a announcement.  We are stuck, because there is two much snow outside, and the rowds are blocked.  None of your parents can get here yet, and we'll have to wait until the roads are clawed said the teacher.  All of the students looked at each other.  What are we going to do Ms. Cocla asked Jody.  We are going to play games, have snacks, and watch a movie the teacher said as she smile.  The class was happy that they would be able to have some fun until the snow clawed.

Off Track - Zebra #3

Math Word Problems:

1)  There are 16 farmers selling food at the market.  Only 5 of them are selling corn.  What fraction of the farmers are selling corn?

2)  Sam is selling 6 baskets of onions.  He sold 4 baskets of them by noon.  What fraction of the baskets of onions does he have left to sell?

3)  A farmer has 8 boxes of cabbage to sell at the market.  She sells 3 boxes in the morning and 2 boxes in the afternoon.  What fraction of the boxes of cabbage does she have left to sell?

4)  John has 5 barrels full of nuts.  He has 2 barrels of salted peanuts, 1 barrel of roasted peanuts, 1 barrel of pecans, and 1 barrel of walnuts.  What fraction of these barrels contain peanuts.

Please show work.  Draw pictures if you need to.  Circle you answers.

Off Track - Zebra #2

This assignment will help you practice the difference between fact and opinion.

Remember, fact is something that everyone agrees on, it may have a number and it is a statement that someone else cannot prove wrong.

An opinion can be a thought or idea that is not always true.  Someone else may have an opposite thought or idea about the same thing.

Here are some examples:

This classroom is way too cold.  OPINION
(For one person the temperature might be cold, the person next to them may feel it is just right)

There are 100 index card in that packet.  FACT
(If counted right, no one can say it has 99 or 101 cards)

Please decide if the following are facts or opinions.

1)  This keyboard is too hard to use.

2)  Tape is a very useful for art projects.

3)  Dancing is good exercise.

4)  There are fish found in the ocean.

5)  Blowing your nose too many times can make your nose fall off.

6)  Paper comes from trees.

7)  Six is a number.

8)  That boy can't run.

9)  For someone who can't walk, wheel chairs are very helpful.

10)  Basketball is the best sport in the entire world.

Off - Track Zebra #1

Hello Students!  I hope you are enjoying your time away from the classroom.  Remember, the world is also a classroom.  There is math, reading, writing, science and social studies everywhere we go.  Keep up with your off-track packets and reading/P.E. logs.

Today, we start our Zebra blogs again.

Here is an assignment to help you remember what a homophone is.  Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.

PART 1:

Please come up with one or more homophone for the below words.

Example:  By - bye - buy

1)  there

2) weigh

3) I

4) hare

5) maid

6) herd

7) not

8) sail

9) scent

10) see

PART 2:

Please write a sentence using each of the words above.  Also, use the homophone that you came up with in a sentence.  Remember, make your sentences 5th grade interesting.  Use plenty of adjectives, and don't start the sentences the same way.