Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, we honor the service and sacrifices made by men and women in the armed forces. Veterans day is always observed on November 11th.

It is quite easy to confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day because both days honor our military service members.  Memorial Day (which is always the fourth Monday in May) honors American soldiers who died courageously during their military service to protect our freedom. Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans (dead or alive) and is the day when we can gives thanks for their honorable service in order to protect our freedom.

Vocabulary:
Veterans (noun) - A person who has served in the military.

Sacrifice (noun) Giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone.

Armed Forces (plural noun) - The military forces of a nation.

Honor (noun) High respect.

Courageously (adjective) - Brave.

Tribute (noun)- Something that you say, give, or do to show respect or affection for someone.

Vocabulary Exercise:

An Acrostic poem is a poem where you choose a word or name and use each letter in the name or word as the beginning of a word or line that tells you something about the topic did the first one for you.

Write and acrostic poem using the word below:

Veterans fight for us.
E___________________________________________________________________
T___________________________________________________________________
E___________________________________________________________________
R___________________________________________________________________
A___________________________________________________________________
N___________________________________________________________________

Grammar Point:
Parentheses are used to enclose information that clarifies or is used as a side note. There are a few rules to remember when using a parentheses. Those rules are:

• Periods go inside parentheses only if an entire sentence is inside the parentheses. 
• You must punctuate correctly when punctuation is required both inside and outside parentheses.  Example: You are late (aren't you?).Look at the question mark within the parentheses. The period after the parentheses is necessary to bring the entire sentence to a close.
• Parentheses are not part of the subject. Example: Joe (accompanied by his trusty mutt) was always welcome.
• Commas typically follow parentheses rather than  them.
  
  Incorrect: When he got home, (it was already after midnight) he fixed dinner.
  Correct: When he got home (it was already after midnight), he fixed dinner.

Write 5 sentences telling me what you like about Veterans Day and be sure to include a parentheses in each.

Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time seems to cause confusion every year. If you are wondering what Daylight Saving Time is, it is a time cycle that starts in the early spring when you set your clocks ahead one hour. Due to the fact that the sun rises very early in the spring and summer months, setting your clocks ahead by an hour gives you more daylight in the evening. In the fall, the exact opposite happens - we set our clocks back an hour to gain an extra hour of sunlight in the morning, so that we're not heading off to school or work in the dark.

Daylight Saving Time comes to an end on the first Sunday of November, every calendar year.  This year, it ended on November 6th. It is commonly referred to as "falling back" and gives us all one extra hour of sleep that night, and one less hour of sunlight in the evening for the rest of the season. 

Vocabulary:
Confusion (noun) - Not being clear in one's mind.

Cycle (noun) - Events that are repeated in the same order.

Ahead (adverb) Into the future.

Opposite (noun) A person or thing that is the reverse of someone or something else.

Gain (verb) To get something.

Vocabulary Exercise:   Complete the vocabulary word jumble below.  Some of the letters have been filled in for you.

1. hadea            _ _ _ a _

2. ycelc           _ _ _ l _

3. tpospoei      _ _ _ o _  _ t _

4. gnai             _ _ _ n

5. nuonsocif    _ _ _ _ _ s i _ _


Extra practice:
How many words can you make with the letters that were given to you?

Grammar Point:
Daylight Saving Time is always capitalized because it is a proper noun.  A proper noun is more specific than a regular noun. A proper noun gives us the actual name of the person, place, thing, or idea and must always be capitalized.

Make a list of five proper nouns and use each one in a sentence.

My Best Experience

My best experience was interning for a prestigious record company during my last year at St. John's University.  My completion of an internship was instrumental in the commencement and longevity of my career in the music industry because I was taught the following three keys for success: forming strategic alliances/partnerships, multi-tasking, and  accountability.

First, there is an old adage that says "It's all about who you know." I learned early on that the strategic alliances and partnerships formed at private industry events is truly the most dominant, determining factor as to who is hired for the positions that are most vied for. Sadly, I quickly discovered that your degrees and achievements carried very little weight in the entertainment industry. Managing to get hired relies 80% on who is your industry social circle.  Secondly, the ability to multi-task effectively and efficiently is a priceless talent.  As an intern, I was required to provide clerical office support in the promotions department, complete graphics design assignments for the marketing department, an assemble sales reports simultaneously on a daily basis. While it was a daunting task at first, my ability to successfully handle so many responsibilities at once assisted me greatly in being hired as the sales/promotion assistant for six staff members upon completion of my undergraduate coursework. Thirdly, you will be held accountable for everything when things go wrong. Although cronyism dictates the hiring process, you will very rapidly find yourself alone to face any and all consequences when things awry.

In summation, the three aforementioned skills that I acquired afforded me the opportunity to have a very successful career in the music industry. My career spanned a fifteen-year period and included work in the marketing, sales, promotions, administrative and publicity departments. The lessons I learned were priceless tools that have stayed with me throughout my adulthood and helped me to achieve professionally as well as academically in the collegiate environment.


Vocabulary:
Prestigious (adjective) - Respected.

Commencement (noun) - Beginning.

Longevity (noun) - Length of service.

Alliances (noun) Coming together.

Accountability (noun) - Accepting responsibility for your actions

Adage (noun) - A traditional saying.

Vied (verb) - Compete.

Achievement (noun) - Accomplishment.

Simultaneously (adjective) -  Happening at the same time.

Daunting (adjective) -  A scary task

Cronyism (noun) - Giving jobs to friends.

Summation (noun) -  A brief description of the most important information about something.

Aforementioned (adjective) -  Mentioned before.

Acquired (verb) - To gain or get.

Span (noun) - To continue through a period of time.

Collegiate (adjective) -  having to do with a  college or its students.


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

1. The moon landing was a monumental ___________________.
2. Seven bidders _________ for the rare painting.
3. Jane is so shy she finds it __________ to go to a party.
4. Helen __________ language by practice and habit rather than by study of rules and definitions.
5. Meanwhile the king had formed an ___________ with Henry VII.
6. It was ____________ frightening and annoying.
7. At the ____________ of 1865 this trade was at its, highest point.
8. Baseball players are held to a higher level of _____________ than any other athletes in the world.
Grammar Point:
Conjunction - A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g., and, but, if ).

In my passage above, I used the conjunction and several times.  Remember the acronym FANBOYS: For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So and write one sentence per conjunction listed in the acronym.