My Hair

My hair is brown and curly. It is no longer chemically processed. Like Alice Walker, I too believe that oppressed hair puts a ceiling on the brain. Everyone wants what they don't have. If a woman has straight hair, she wants it to be curly, if she has curly hair, she wants it to be straight.

If she has short hair, she wants it to be long and vice versa.

At this juncture in my life, I accept my hair for what it is. It's just hair; everybody has it. I have been relaxer free, with no chemicals for about 3 years. On hot and humid days, my hair tends to become frizzy. I use gels and pomades to tame it.

If I want to wear a straight hair style, I will blow dry my hair and use a flat iron. It looks perfect; and I love it.

I am happy with my hair.


Vocabulary
Curly: (adjective)- curly or tending to curl
Believe: (verb) - to have faith in
Juncture: (noun) - point of time
Accept: (verb) to take or receive
Frizzy: (adjective) - formed into tight, small curls
Perfect: (adjective) - perfect; without flaws

The dolls hair was ____ and blond.
You must always ____ in yourself.
At this _____ in her life, she was able to go to Paris for vacation.
It is very hard for Doris to _____ the truth about her son Pierre.
The are in love and they make the _____ couple.
Due to the humidy, her hair was _______.

Grammar Point
The paragraph above has several adjectives, which describes nouns (my hair)
Identify the adjectives and the words they are describing.
Write about your hair. Use at least 6 adjectives.

The Nook

Ever since I can remember, reading has been one of my favorite activities. Throughout the years, I have acquired quite a library. Books are every where. Lo and behold, Barnes and Nobles has launched a new e-Reader called The Nook. It is supposed to be in competition with Amazon.com's Kindle.

With an e-reader, all of your books are digital.

Just like with an ipod, all of your music files and CDs are digital.

I am excited. It can hold 1,500 books and it also can hold a memory card. This means I can add up to 5,000 books. Oh, the possibilities are endless!

This e-Reader has wi-fi and Android technology. I can check my email. I can borrow e-books from the library, it reads pdf files, I can lend e-books to friends, it is an MP3 player, it can hold photos.

It will take some getting used to, but I will love having the extra space.

Vocabulary

Remember: (verb) - to recall to the mind

Launched: (verb) - to send forth, to release

Excited: (adjective) - stirred emotionally

Memory: (noun) - Storage on electronic device or card reader

Borrow: (verb) - to take and promise to return

Lend: (verb) - to grant the use of something on the condition that it is returned

Practice

Tasha has so many photos in her phone she needs a ______ card.

John was so ______ about having a new baby brother to play with.

Banks ______ people ______ and they promise to pay it back

A space ship was ______ to Mars.

I do not _____ where put my keys.

Grammar Points

What is an adverb? An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb, clause or phrase. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," and "how much."

Go to this website and fill in all the adverbs.

www.stickyball.net/grammar/107.html

Dry Hair Care Tips

The most common reason for dry and brittle hair can be usually found within your hair care regimen. Over processing with chemicals, excessive use of heat, lack of moisture and using the wrong hair products are just a few things that can make your hair dry. So what can you do to solve this?

1. Increase your deep conditioning sessions. Condition for a least once a week.

2. Moisturize your hair and ends daily

3. Cut back on the heat. If you're using heat daily, try to reduce it to once a week.

4. Protect your hair with a silk or satin scarf at night.

5. Let go of the dead weight. If your hair is damaged, just cut it and get it over with.

6. Try protective hairstyling. Buns, braids, wigs or anything that will shield your hair and ends from harsh elements.

Vocabulary

Moisture: (noun) - liquid diffused

Increase: (verb) - to become greater

Cut: (verb) - trim or pare

Protect: (verb) - to cover or shield from exposure

Dead: (adjective) - deprived of life, no longer alive

Harsh: (adjective) - severe

Cloze exercise/practice

The rice was overcooked and it contained too much __________.

You must decrease your calories and _______ exercise to experience weight loss.

She went to the salon to get a hair ______.

Wearing sunscreen at the beach can _____ you from harmful rays of the sun.

No one was talking, the conversation was _______.

Bleach is a _______ chemical that is found in most hair dye.

Grammar Point

How many adjectives are in this paragraph? How often do you practice a hair care routine? Do you think that most people care for their hair properly?

Perfect Lemonade Recipe

Perfect Lemonade Recipe


Ingredients
1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)
Method
1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.

2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.

3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

Serve with ice, sliced lemons.

Serves 6.

Vocabulary:

All of the following vocabulary words are nouns

Sugar: Sweetner
Pitcher: Container that holds beverages
Lemon: Citrus fruit that that has a tart taste
Sauce Pan: Small pan to heat or cook with
Juicer: Machine that extracts juice from fruit and vegetables
Ice: Frozen water made into cubes

Cloze Exercise:

The water was cold as ________.
Maura used the __________ to melt the sugar.
The __________ tasted sour.
Don decided to become a vegetarian, so he bought a _________ from Macys.
Can you please go into the refrigerator and bring me the __________ of iced tea?
Eating too much _______ can make you gain weight.


Additional Exercise:

Write a recipe for any meal and underline all of the nouns.

Are You A Prize?

Are you a prize? Do you put yourself on a pedestal or do you spend more time devaluing yourself?

This is not a promotion of vanity or self absorption. Rather
this is one of self awareness and self confidence.

One that can be a constant battle between the negative and positive whispers in your own head. I’ve noticed that as women we spend much of our time finding our own flaws and once we are done with that, then we proceed to find another person's flaws and point it out as well. Think about it. How much time do you spend finding your own flaws and comparing yourself to the images that you see in magazines and TV wishing you could measure up?


Tips To Help You Feel Good About Yourself:
For years, I spent energy in trying to fit into a mold that never fit me completely and comparing myself to others. The moments when I was happy with myself would quickly end because I would soon find something that I disliked about myself, whether it was physically or internally and my focus would zero in on that once again. What I am saying is that the time that you spend pouring down negativity upon yourself should be the time that you spend discovering all of the things that makes you special and indeed a prize.


Prize: verb (used with object),prized, priz·ing.to value or esteem highly,
to estimate the worth or value of

English - OH DEAR!

ONLY THE ENGLISH COULD HAVE INVENTED THIS LANGUAGE

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England ...
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT IF PEOPLE FROM POLAND ARE CALLED POLES THEN

PEOPLE FROM HOLLAND SHOULD BE HOLES AND THE GERMANS GERMS!!!

Vocabulary
Box: (noun) - container or a case
Imagine: (verb) - to think or believe
Explore: (verb) - to search for
Bunch: (noun) - a connected group; a cluster
Wise: (adjective) - knowledgeable
Alarm: (noun) - call attention; sound; outcry

Practice
Daniel placed the ____ on the floor
She set her _____ clock for 5 am in the morning.
Denise bought a ____ of grapes from the fruit stand.
Tom like to travel and _____ the world.
Jeffrey's grandfather is a ____ old man from Venezuela.
When Tony is stressed out at work, he likes to _____ that he is on Miami Beach.

Grammar Point
Write a paragraph using verbs to describe your day in school.

Two Eggs Over Easy Please

This is so funny to me. I can't help but to share it.I really laughed on this one. I could fully relate with it.

A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.

“Careful,” he said, “CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my gosh! You’re cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my gosh! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They’re going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you’re cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don’t forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt! USE THE SALT! THE SALT!”

The wife stared at him. “What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don’t know how to fry a couple of eggs?”

The husband calmly replied, “I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I’m driving.”


Vocabulary
Funny - (adjective) providing fun, causing amusement or laughter
Burst - (verb) to break open or fly apart
Listen - (verb) to give attention with the ear
Hurry - (verb) to move proceed or act with haste
Couple - (noun) two of the same sort considered together
Show - (verb) to exhibit or display


Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words:
She needed a ____ of minutes to finish her test.
He wanted to ______ to the radio.
George Lopez is such a _____ commedienne.
Charlotte was startled when the balloon _____.
They were late and had to _____ to school.
Can you _____ me the way to San Jose?

Grammar Points - Adjectives that describe feelings

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. It is a word that provides more information about another word. This can be used to describe feelings.

Example: Funny and exciting
Practice: Can you come up with 15 words that describe feelings?


For more information about adjectives, please go to the following website:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

How To Decorate A Tiny Living Room Space

Do you have a small living room and are not quite sure how to arrange the furniture? The living room is the place for family and friends to sit and visit, so a very special effort should be made to create a comfortable space.

1) Place of your living room furniture should center around a focal point which may be an entertainment center, bookcase or a very large window.

2) Think about your guests when you arrange the room. The living room should promote conversation. Set up cozy areas with a couple of chairs or a loveseat. Ideally, there should be between 4-10 feet between your sofa or loveseat and chairs so that the space does not seem cramped. If you move the pieces of furniture too far apart, conversation would be difficult.

3) Don't block your windows. Small living rooms need natural light if it is available to help create the appearance of a larger room.

4) Side tables should be at least as tall as the arm of the chairs and sofa. This will ensure that serving is easy.

Vocabulary

Room - (noun) a portion of space within a building or other structure separated by walls or partitions from other parts

Window - (noun) an opening of wall in a building

Cozy - (adjective) snuggly, warm

Conversation - (noun) informal interchange of thoughts

Available - (adjective) suitable or ready for use

Ensure - (verb) to secure or guarantee

Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words

The _____ was filled with toys.

Please close the _____, the room feels cold.

The couple shared a ____ dinner for their anniversary.

Are you _____ to work next week?

They exchanged small _____ at the bus stop.

Wearing a seat belts helps to ____ safety during accident.

Grammar Point

The first paragraph has 2 different sentences: a question or interrogative (?), a statement or indicative (.). Please write one of each on the same topic in the same paragraph.

For more information about sentences, go to this website:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm

How To Motivate Yourself To Clean

How To Motivate Yourself To Clean

Have you ever had one of those days when you just can't get started? Clean the kitchen, clean the bathroom, clean the living room, make dinner, wash the dishes? It nevers seems to end.

Here are some tips on how to motivate yourself to clean your home.

Turn on your radio or MP3 player to the music of your choice:

Nothing motivates me more than music. You can use your broom stick as a microphone and sing to the top of your lungs while cleaning. Before you know it, you're on to the next room

Get rid of clutter:

Even if you concentrate on a small piece or an area, the feeling of watching unwanted items being removed from your home can be invigorating and freeing.

Rearrange the room:

Once I start cleaning, I tend to move things around to give my space a new look. Changing up a room gives you the motivation to keep it clean and clutter free.

Try a new cleaning product:

I like trying out new products, so when something new comes along, take that as an opportunity to discover something new that can lighten your workload.

Watch home improvement shows:

Watch HGTV. Seeing renovated houses can motivate you to get up and start cleaning.

Vocabulary

Motivate - (verb) to provide with motives
Clutter - (verb) to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner
Invigorate - (verb) to fill with life and energy
Discover - (verb) to see; to get knowledge of to learn of; to find
Enlighten - (verb) to give intellectual or spiritual light to
Watch - (verb) to be alertly on the look out; look attentively or observe.

Cloze Exercise

Most disorganized people have _______ filled living spaces.
Hector wanted to _______ his car with an air freshner.
Angela tried to ________ her brother to stop smokings
Going to bible study on Sunday mornings always seemed to _______ Anthony
Vera did not want to ______ television today.
Delores went to Hawaii to _______ the joy of a tropical climate.

Grammar Point
Can you name all the verbs in the paragraph?
How do you motivate yourself to organize your living space? Write a paragraph

For more information about verbs, please go to this website
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm

Hearts For Haiti

For Valentine's Day, let us all give our hearts to Haiti. With the purchase of a chocolate lollipop made by our 10th Grade ESL students, for $2.00, the proceeds will go to purchase much needed items for the victims of the recent Earthquake in Haiti.

The items needed by the Haitian victims are hygenic products such as personal care items, first aid kits, baby bottles, over the counter medication, and clothing which will be purchased and sent over to Haiti via our 10th Grade ESL representatives for our Hearts For Haiti organization. We look forward to putting all our hearts together to make a difference.

Vocabulary

Purchase - (verb) to acquire by payment of money or its equivalent
Proceeds - (verb) something that results or acrues
Hygenic - (adjective) conducive to good health, sanitary
Medication - (noun) the use of or application of medication or medical substance
Representative - (noun) Person or thing that represents another or others
Organization - (noun) the act or process of organizing

Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words:

Washing your hands often is a _______ act.
She went to ______ three apples from the market.
Mr. Juarez was prescribed a ______ called Provacit for his inflammed ankle.
A ______ from the cell phone company contacted Mrs. Lopez about her bill.
PETA is an activist ___________against animal cruelty.
The ______ from the bake sale will help the soccer team purchase uniforms.

Grammar Point
Can you find all the nouns and verbs associated with helping people?
How are people who are victims of natural disasters helped in your country? Write a paragraph about it.