Monday, September 21, 2015

Why I Prefer Autumn


When I think of the four seasons, I always remember autumn with the most fondness and look forward to it with great anticipation. Autumn brings with it not only a fabulous array of leaf colors, but also many other welcome changes. The first day of autumn usually falls on my birthday, so my family and friends are always ready to celebrate it with dinners, ice cream cakes, flowers, and fun. Autumn also signals the beginning of the academic year, so I receive a host of new students and academic challenges that I look forward to. Another reason I like autumn is the important holidays that it ushers in: Columbus Day, Halloween, Election Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving. Also, the weather in New York changes from hot and humid to pleasantly cool. Harvest sales crop up everywhere, and the farms have bright, crisp apples of all kinds, freshly picked corn, and other autumn treats. It is hard to imagine a better time of year.

What is your favorite season? Why?

Vocabulary
autumn (noun) -- fall (September 23 - December 21)
fondness (noun) -- love, affection
anticipation (noun) -- joy, hope
fabulous (adjective) -- great, terrific
array (noun) -- variety
signal (verb) -- points the way to
challenge (noun) -- problem, difficulty, trial
usher in (verb) -- bring with it
crop up (verb) -- are, are held

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

1. I love the ________________, which begins in September. It does not bring the ______________ of winter, when there is too much snow on the roads.

2. There is an ________________ of activities, such as apple picking, the decoration of pumpkins, and ___________ views of the many-colored leaves.

3. The autumn _____________ cooler weather, but the weather changes also __________ that winter is coming.

4. Farmers wait for the autumn with ___________________ and ______________ because it means that their fruit and vegetables have all finished growing.

5. Parties ______________ to celebrate Halloween.

Grammar Point: Adjectives are words that describe nouns. In the passage above, there are several adjectives: great, fabulous, welcome  .... Write three sentences about your favorite season using at least three of the adjectives from my paragraph.

10 comments:

Mrs. Z said...

As I viewed your blog, I realized there are several ways you post information that are beneficial to Ells. I noticed that you not only give a definition of a word from the word bank, but you also bracketed the word class. That is a great technique employed which will help Ells begin to recognize the different parts of speech. I plan to use that in my future blogs.

Mrs. Z said...

As I viewed your blog, I realized there are several ways you post information that are beneficial to Ells. I noticed that you not only give a definition of a word from the word bank, but you also bracketed the word class. That is a great technique employed which will help Ells begin to recognize the different parts of speech. I plan to use that in my future blogs.

Mrs. Z said...

As I viewed your blog, I realized there are several ways you post information that are beneficial to Ells. I noticed that you not only give a definition of a word from the word bank, but you also bracketed the word class. That is a great technique employed which will help Ells begin to recognize the different parts of speech. I plan to use that in my future blogs.

Mrs. Evans' Blog said...

I love autumn as well! The holidays are the best. I hope you enjoyed your birthday!!

Unknown said...

Autumn is also my favorite season, since the weather is both cool and pleasant.

James Williams said...

I really enjoyed reading over this activity! Using the season change was a perfect way to take realistic situations and incorporate them into an activity. I also liked how they had to understand terms that relate to various seasons as well as filling in the blanks to assess how much they understood the seasons.

Unknown said...

I think autumn is a great season too! I love how cool the weather becomes after three long hot months of summer, especially when I can start wearing new clothes I bought for the fall season. However, I prefer spring over autumn every day because I love the start of warmer weather than the start of colder weather. Also, my birthday is in the spring season.

I think that your use of vocabulary was great in this blog! Also, I like how you defined your vocabulary words using one word or simple phrases.

Unknown said...

I think autumn is a great season too! I love how cool the weather becomes after three long hot months of summer, especially when I can start wearing new clothes I bought for the fall season. However, I prefer spring over autumn every day because I love the start of warmer weather than the start of colder weather. Also, my birthday is in the spring season.

I think that your use of vocabulary was great in this blog! Also, I like how you defined your vocabulary words using one word or simple phrases.

Anonymous said...

Autumn is also one of my favorite season ! I love the fall and crispy weather.
I like your grammar point, where you have the children write about their favorite season using adjectives they found in your paragraph. I like how they have to go back and look for a word that describes a noun. I also like how you have them choose their favorite season rather than have them write about what they like about the fall.

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed this post, because autumn is my favorite season as well! My blog post, "Wake Me Up When September Begins" focuses on the beginning of the school year, and discusses the change from summer to fall. One part of your post that I enjoyed was the part that discussed new academic challenges that come with the new school year. In my post, I tried to motivate students to look forward to showing their potential as September approaches, and to view this as an exciting time.

I liked your vocabulary as well. Especially, "to close in."