Snow Days

The snow is a beautiful aspect of living in the Northeast region of the United States. It is breathtaking to watch the frozen flakes fall and cover the landscape creating a winter wonderland. As an elementary school and even high school student, I would always look forward to snow days with great anticipation. I would be able to sleep late, relax without doing school work, and meet with my friends to go sledding or to play in the snow. Now as an elementary school teacher, there are many additional consequences to snow days that I had not been aware of as a student. Snow days interfere with previously planned lessons and test dates, creating a jumbled schedule. Assignments must be moved and adjusted to compensate for the missed school day or days. Snow days also greatly energize students, who would much rather be at home instead of sitting in front of me in the classroom. They are much more talkative and rambunctious which can make classroom management a challenge at times. Snow removal is also a concern of mine now that I am an adult who must drive to get to work. Since my family’s snow blower broke during the past snow storm, I was required to dig out my car and shovel my driveway, which was not a pleasant activity.  Although I still enjoy the snow, the past two snow storms have encouraged me to hope for an early start to spring.  

Vocabulary

aspect (noun)- a characteristic or feature

breathtaking (adjective)- extremely beautiful

jumbled (adjective)- mixed-up, confused

compensate (verb)- to make up for

rambunctious (adjective)- excited, wild

encouraged (verb)- to give support or hope

Vocabulary Exercise

Please fill in the blank with the appropriate vocabulary word.

The ________________________ puppy jumped wildly around the room when its owner came home from work.

Watching the sunset from a boat on the water is a ___________________________ experience.

When the puzzle pieces fell out of the box they were _______________________.

There are several ____________________to consider when purchasing a new house.

The mother _______________________ her daughter to try out for the track team since she loves to run.

The student tried to ________________________ for his missing homework by frequently participating in class.

Grammar Point

An infinitive is a verb form that can be used as a noun, an adverb, or an adjective. Most infinitives begin with to.  Infinitives are a verb form, not a prepositional phrase.

Practice with infinitives: https://www.sinclair.edu/centers/tlc/pub/handouts_worksheets/grammar_punctuation_writing/phrase_infinitive.pdf