Tuesday's Class

Due today: Chapters 5 and 6 of Fever 1793. And yes, there was a very easy 10-question quiz.

We started the day with MAZE testing. I don't remember what MAZE stands for, but I think it's an acronym. It's a very short standardized test that involves some reading and choosing of right words. Stress free. They took the test during the first semester, and I believe the school will make me do it one more time before the end of the year.

We went over the rest of our vocabulary word parts for List 8. Our next test, by the way, isn't going to be until next Wednesday. That'll give them some extra nights to study and me some extra time to review in class. Here were today's word parts:

tact like in the words contact and tactile. What do you think it means, parents?
voc like in vocals, invocation (a prayer), convocation, and vociferously (adverb meaning "in a loud, boisterous way")...Can you guess what that word part means?
rid like in ridicule, ridiculous, and riddle. And speaking of riddles, what is brown and sticky? Ask you students for the answer. Also, ask them what the word part rid means.
nym like in acronym (used up there), pseudonym, and homonym. Can you guess this one?
meta like in metamorphisis (remember that "morph" means "shape") and metabolism (what changes our food into energy). How about that one, parents?
Finally, oid like in the word humanoid or xyloid. Xyloid is an adjective that means "resembling wood" and bigfoot would be a humanoid, not quite a human but looking like one.

Ask your son or daughter what the word parts mean if you're having problems. They learned them today while making fun of my artwork.

After the novel quiz (very easy), the students finished reading chapter one of An American Plague and did some work searching for sensory details the nonfiction author used, things that remind them of what's going on in the novel, possible causes for the rapid spread of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia, and signs that something was wrong in the summer of 1793 in our nation's temporary capital.

I'm putting grades on the computer tonight. I'll explain exactly what those mean in tomorrow's blog entry. Until then, try to survive the snowpocalypse that is going on outside right now!