Back to School!


September has arrived! I hope you are as excited as I am to kick off the new school year! A couple of things that I always look forward to are meeting new students, going on school trips, and learning new things. It can be difficult to get back in the routine of things after being home for summer vacation, but the beginning of the school year is a very thrilling time! It is a time filled with many activities, excitement, and fun! It is important to follow your teacher's directions to have an easy transition into your new class. It may seem intimidating entering a class with new peers, however, it is important that you remain confident, engaged, and willing to learn! You will adjust to your new class in no time!

Vocabulary:
Difficult (adjective)- hard to do, make, or carry out
Routine (noun)- a regular course of procedure
Thrilling (adjective)- causing a feeling of great excitement or happiness
Transition (noun)- passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another
Intimidating (adjective)- causing a loss of courage or self-confidence
Peers (noun)- one that is of equal standing with another
However (adverb)- in spite of that: on the other hand
Engaged (adjective)- involved in activity
Adjust (verb)- to bring to a more satisfactory state 

Vocabulary Exercise:
Fill in the blank with the correct vocabulary word.

            Michael had a ___________ time waking up for school in the morning because he was used to sleeping in during summer vacation. Michael had to _________ to his new daily ___________. During summer vacation, Michael did several __________ activities with his family. For example, he went on rollercoasters and went whitewater rafting. Michael had a great summer, ___________, he is very excited to start the new school year. Michael cannot wait to see his __________ on the first day of school. Michael knows that the ____________ to a new class can be nerve-racking and it is often ____________ meeting new people, but he is ready to be ___________ in classroom activities! With this attitude, Michael is set to have a great school year!


Grammar Point:
The passage above often uses commas to separate words in a series. A comma must be used to separate each item in a list of three or more items. For example: He had bread, milk, and eggs for lunch.

Grammar Exercise:
1. Create a sentence in which you list three or more items, utilizing a comma to separate each item.

2. Identify sentences in the above passage where items in a list are separated by a comma.

3. Which of these sentences uses commas correctly?
             a) The students must bring, their pencil cases calculators, and notebooks to class.
             b) The students must bring their pencil cases, calculators, and notebooks to class.
             c) The students, must bring their pencil cases calculators and notebooks, to class.
                ________________________________________________________

Information about back to school for parents, students, and educators from the United States Department of Education: https://www.ed.gov/backtoschool
                    https://blog.ed.gov/2016/08/9-back-to-school-pro-tips/

Comments

  1. Teacher: JackieSeptember 30, 2019 at 6:56 AM

    I think your topic is a terrific one for kids' return to school. The links are helpful as are the vocabulary words and definitions. You have an idiom "kick off" in the second sentence. This should be included in your word list because nonnative speakers might not know it. I like the comma explanation and exercise.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ashley Mehale's ENL BlogSeptember 30, 2019 at 5:38 PM

    Great blog! I like the vocabulary words that you chose for this entry!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elena AlmeidaNovember 11, 2019 at 10:49 AM

    Having students identify which sentence has the correct or incorrect use of commas is a great idea! Some adults still have trouble with that. You can also use that type of exercise for semicolons too.

    ReplyDelete

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