Vocabulary Words #1 (Honors Option)

flourish- to grow luxuriantly: THRIVE

The crops flourished in the rich soil.

guerilla- a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harrassment and sabatoge

The guerrilla tactics lead to the winning of the revolutionary war.

renegade- a deserter from one faith, cause, or allegiance to another

Many scientists have been called renegades for their thoughts against religion.

repose- 1a: to lie at rest b: to lie dead c: to remain still or concealed

His hands were reposed in his pockets as he was standing out in the cold weather.

stereotype- idea that many people have about a thing or a group and that may often be untrue or only partly true

Many people like to stereotype teens, thinking that they are always up to no good.

symbiosis- the living together in close association of two different kinds of organisms especially when such an association is of benefit to both

Apple collaborated with AT&T for the "iPhone" which was a perfect symbiosis between humans and cell phone technology.

tariff- a list of taxes placed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods

During the Tea Act, colonists were forced to pay a tariff on the tea that they bought.

tempo- characteristic rate, rhythym, or pattern of work or activity

We had to practice at a faster tempo, because we were running out of time.

tranquility- quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity

After months of arguing, learning to communicate better finally lead to tranquility in their marriage.

tumult- violent and noisy commotion or disturbance of a crowd or mob; uproar

The tumult was at its peak as a protester gave a speech.

tundra- one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America

The arctic tundra is a habitat to animals like the white fox.

unanimous- of one mind; in complete agreement; agreed.

It was a unanimous vote that the girl should definitely win the contest.

Barder and the Flying Turban (Creative Writing #2)

The dog and the boy pictured to the left have a very close relationship. The kid (Mikey) goes and plays with the dog (Barder) often and finds comfort in the dog. The kid definitely uses his imagination and likes to pretend that they are traveling to faraway places. The only way they can travel is with Mikey's orange turban, which he pretends is his way of flight. Mikey has a baby sister named Grace, whom he likes to take with him on his adventures. Places where imaginary creatures exist such as dinosaurs, dragons, unicorns, etc. exist are their favorite places to travel. Those places are always made-up and don't really exist, but Mikey and Grace like to think they do. Barder is their protector, and Barder keeps them away from harm.

One day while playing in his backyard, Mikey sat on Barder's back as if he was riding on a horse, and he put on his orange turban. Mikey decided not to take Grace along this time, because she was busy playing with paint. All of a sudden, Barder and Mikey were flying through space. They were looking at Earth from a distance and were thinking of a place to travel to. Traveling was quick. All Mikey had to do was say the name of any location, and Barder would take him there. Mikey told Barder to take him to Greenland, in which he thought that everything in Greenland was green. As they arrived in Greenland, everything was what he thought it was. They people, cars, animals, streets, schools, etc., was green. Mikey was so fascinated. Even he was green himself. Barder and Mikey walked in a museum of the history of Greenland. A philosopher who was walking around explaining the artifacts introduced himself as "Mr. Green." Mr Green took them to the green gym which had a green swimming pool. Barder and Mikey jumped in. All of a sudden, Barder and Mikey were back in their backyard. Grace was mad that Mikey hadn't taken her along. Barder and Mikey were so sad to be back so quickly, that they didn't even realize that baby Grace had poured green paint all over them. Mikey also realized that the orange turban had fallen off his head, and that's why they were back in reality.

Creative Writing #1

Dayna Matthews is the name of the woman pictured. She is a mother to three young kids, and a wife to a man who is in the navy. Dayna works as a Dentist at "SmileCare" on Third Avenue, in New York City. She is a busy woman, considering she works three times a week, and the rest of the days is devoted taking care of her kids Dylan, age 2; Katherine, age 6; and Damon, age 11. Taking care of these kids is a full time job itself, while her husband is currently in Iraq, fighting for America. Dylan is at the age of the terrible twos, Katherine currently takes ballet class, and Damon is in the Little League with Pitcher as his main position. With this hectic schedule for her kids as a daily routine in her life, she rarely gets any time to herself.

It's Saturday afternoon, and the kids are at her mother-in-laws house, for she volunteered to babysit the kids, as it is her day off also. Dayna decides to take advantage of this time, and treat herself for a day of shopping. She ended up taking the subway, which she normally doesn't do, because for one thing, it's always a hassle getting the kids to and from somewhere, and also because she never liked the thought of taking public transportation. But with no kids around, and the convenience of the subway stopping just a few blocks away from the mall, she decided that today would be the perfect day for her to take public transportation.

She tried to spend her time peacefully at the mall, but every 30 minutes or so, Katherine would call her cell phone, complaining as to why her mother hadn't taken her along. "Katie honey, Mommy needs to buy Daddy's presents for when he comes home next week," she would lie. Dayna would always give her kids false hope that her husband Michael would be coming home soon, when she knows he wouldn't be home for another six months.

Dayna was shopping in Macy's, when Katherine had called her for the tenth time. She had decided that she should just go home now since she feels that she needs to get back to her kids. The only items that she bought for herself were two sweaters which were on sale. She was at the mall for five hours, but with the budget that she was on, she really couldn't find anything that was worth it. Because of the five hours of walking around the whole mall, she was exhausted, but she knew she still had to pick up her kids. She went to the Starbucks on the second level of the mall to buy a Caramel Frappacino for the caffeine that she needed to intake, to get her through the rest of the day. After, she proceeded to step back onto the Subway, to go to her mother-in-law's house to pick up her kids.