enema

duodectomy

chordotomy

Heinus

Meander

Welcome, class of 2015!

We are so excited to explore our new building and learn along with all of you by starting to use our vocabulary blog this school year.

As you read, watch TV, listen to music, travel, work, and use the internet, we hope you will keep track of unfamiliar words and post them here on our blog.  Each week our class will vote on a "word of the week" that we will study and practice.  That will help us all incorporate the new word into our vocabulary.

Periodically, you will be quizzed on the words we've studied in class to see how well you're paying attention.  Our quizzes will help you figure out how many new words you've learned.  You might just impress yourself...
 
Oh, and by the way, GO TROJANS!

Baby Bourque has arrived!

My dear, wonderful English 11 students:

I miss you all very much, and I'm proud to see you moving on to be GHS seniors.  I'm looking forward to attending the class of 2014 graduation next spring and seeing you in the fall.

Here's the announcement some of you have been waiting for:

Aurora Amélie Bourque (a.k.a. Rory) was born on Monday, June 17 at 1:14 p.m.

She weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces at birth and was 19.5 inches long (tall).

We returned from the hospital yesterday and now we're figuring out our new routine at home.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer and come back refreshed and ready for another school year.

Solace

Scrupulous

Periods 1, 4, & 6 Word of the Week: Preternaturally

This week, periods 1, 4, and 6 selected preternaturally as the word of the week.  We looked up the definition and discovered that preternaturally means "out of the ordinary course of nature; exceptional or abnormal."

We also discussed that the word preternaturally is an adverb, which describes an action or state of being verb.  In this case, it typically describes state of being verbs.  If we want to use the word as an adjective, we need to change it to preternatural.

We then made up sentences to describe some preternatural occurrences:

1. The snow in July is preternaturally strange.
2. It was preternaturally unusual to witness cats and dogs raining from the sky.
3. It was preternaturally strange to see a polar bear in the desert.

Period 3 Word of the Week: Lecherous

This week, period 3 selected lecherous as our word of the week.  This word has applied quite well to some of the literary characters we have studied this year, so students were able to give lots of good examples of people who demonstrate lecherous behavior, once we looked up the word.

Lecherous means "having or showing excessive or offensive sexual desire." 

Some of our examples of lecherous characters from literature included Abigail Williams from The Crucible, Troy Maxson and his father from Fences, and Malcolm from Macbeth, who fibbed about being a lecherous man.

Our sentences to demonstrate the meaning of the word lecherous were:

1. Zeus was a lecherous god; he had many illegitimate children.
2. Malcolm lied about being a lecherous man to test Macduff's loyalty.

All Classes - Word of the Week: obsequious

This week, every class chose obsequious as the word of the week!

We looked up the definition of obsequious and discovered that it means:

"obedient, or attentive to an excessive or servile degree."

We discussed the characteristics of an obsequious person and decided that the classroom example of this adjective is the teacher's pet.

Here are the sentences we created to show our understanding of obsequiousness:

1. The obsequious butler happily served his arrogant employer.
2. The obsequious teacher's pet was constantly bringing brownies to her favorite teacher.
3. The obsequious servant annoyed the master because he wanted to help with everything.
4. The obsequious intern did everything he was told to do and constantly asked his boss for more tasks (in a high-pitched voice).

Period 4 Word of the Week: legerdemain

Students in period 4 voted for legerdemain as this week's word of the week.  When we looked up the word, we discovered that legerdemain means "skillful use of hands while performing tricks."

We had a difficult time creating sentences to convey the meaning of this rare word, but here's what we came up with:

The magician's hands showed great legerdemain while he was performing the card trick.

Period 1 Word of the Week: fallacious

Students in period 1 voted for fallacious as this week's word of the week.  We looked it up, and we discovered that fallacious means "erroneous, tending to deceive or mislead."

We then wrote sentences to convey the meaning of fallacious:

1. Hitler was a fallacious dictator.
2. Cigarette ads give the fallacious impression that it is cool to smoke.

Periods 3 & 6 Word of the Week: loquacious

This week, students in periods 3 and 6 chose loquacious as our word of the week.  The word loquacious means "talkative" or "uses lots of words."  Students in both classes came up with sentences to demonstrate the meaning of loquacious:

1. Janessa is loquacious; she never stops talking.
2. The loquacious girl was giving me a headache with all her talking.
3. The loquacious teacher explained the problem for the entire class period.
4. When I skipped school, my mom lectured me loquaciously.

expropriated

arbitrary

flagellate

Periods 1 & 4 Word of the Week: Pragmatic

Both 4th period and 1st period chose pragmatic as the word of the week.  When we looked up the word pragmatic, we discovered that it means, "dealing with things sensibly and realistically," or "practical."

Both classes discussed the kinds of people who need to think pragmatically and then made up sentences to demonstrate our understanding:

1. The Boston police were pragmatic about giving information to the public; they wanted to keep their witnesses safe.

2. The pragmatic doctor carefully marked the patient's body before making surgical incisions.

Period 6 Word of the Week: Duplicitous

This week, period 6 chose the word duplicitous as our word of the week.  When we used a cell phone to look up the word, we learned that it means "deceitful."

We decided that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both very deceitful characters, and we made up a sentence to reflect our thoughts:

Lady Macbeth's behavior toward King Duncan is duplicitous; she puts on a fake personality to deceive him.